Well, we're back! And have been for a few weeks. It has taken me a while to settle back into reality. We had such a good time. I kept a journal on my computer while we were gone for each day, and thought I was going to post pieces of that, but now the lazy factor crept in, and this will probably not really say what I wanted to say about the trip. I will try to break it down in summary.
London was awesome, but we were crazy jet lagged. It was harder than last time. Maybe we're just getting old:) I had trouble sleeping, so I was a zombie until about day 3. Even in a zombie state, I loved London. I think mainly because it has so much history that is easy to relate to. It feels almost American, but older...well duh:) We saw the majority of the sights such as Big Ben, St Pauls, Tower Bridge, Tower of London, Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, etc. I The second day there were 250,000 protesters so public transportation got a LITTLE crazy. Then, some naughty protestors got crazy and lit fires in the street and spray painted historic sights...of course, I was paranoid--didn't help my sleep issue:) They congregated RIGHT out from our hotel which was scary! Everything ended up being fine, though.We did take one half day trip to Hampton Court Palace. It was beautiful. So peaceful.
Paris. I love it. It was my favorite. I could live there. for a while at least. I think it's a place where you'd continue to learn more and more about it, but never feel like you'd seen or experienced it all. The food the sights the language down to the dogs I saw while I was there:) so awesome. I think I really loved it because it was so "European" to me. It was what I picture a full out European city to be. The sights are just amazing, too. From the Eiffel Tower to the Louvre, Arc de Triomphe and Notre Dame, I was constantly taking something in. I even loved their metro. Also, I love how the neighborhoods are sorta sectioned off. Makes you feel like you're seeing multiple cities in one. I miss it.
Chamonix. The scenery here was incredible. The mountains were so steep and distinct. It was gorgeous. It was a great peaceful place to visit after our 6 days straight in huge cities. We saw and toured a glacier, went to the top of Augille di Midi (msp for sure) to see Mont Blanc, and we skiied at Le Tour. I worried about the skiing difficulty once I saw the mountains, but Le Tour was the only mountain still open, and thankfully the least challenging.
Nice. Perfect ending to the trip. By the time we got to Nice we were getting a little toured out, and this was a city where you didn't have to run from place to place to sight see. We just took our time walking through the Old Town, through the markets, up a hill to see the city, along the beach, etc. It'd have been cool to see the other areas around Nice (Cannes, Monte Carlo, etc), but we were out of time. I loved the pebble beaches here, and the water was really deep blue. Very beautiful.
Here are some pictures:
Our bags. For 11 days. So maybe we wore our outfits twice:)
Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, Thames
St Paul's Cathedral
Hampton Court Palace
Matt being a good tourist with his headphone tour on at Hampton Court
Tower Bridge
Media picture of the protests. Trafalgar Square
Another media picture I got off the internet since I was NOT down there taking pictures. I was in my hotel room looking out the window paranoid.
Last media picture.
Picture from Trafalgar the next day that I took before we left
Another picture from Trafalgar
Paris. San Chapelle. Loved the stained glass.
The Louvre
Oh, the bread. It was glorious.
Looking toward Concord and Arc de Triomphe from the Louvre
Eiffel Tower right when the lights came on
Seine
Notre Dame
Chamonix
Glacier tour
Le Tour
Nice
Walking along the beach
until next time!
which I refuse to believe is never.
:)
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