So .... Adam and I left our lil' munchkin a couple of months ago and went overseas. We have always talked about doing a Europe trip together, but just couldn't quite get it planned until this year. We found some incredibly low airfare on Kayak (round trip to Paris) and decided to pull the trigger. We only had about 12 days to travel, so we tried to pack in as much during that short span as possible...
Let the adventure begin!!!
Our amazing Adam and then the rental car on the side:)
Paris:
We started and ended with Paris. It was truly such an amazing place, and we packed our days in with about 15-16 hrs of sightseeing. We had a couple of days to see as much as possible....including the Louvre, Notre Dame and Champs Elysees.
Eiffel Tower
Musée du Louvre
The famous "Mona Lisa"
My home life, except for the naked baby, livy is usually clothed.
In front of the Seine River
The amazing Food:)
Having an amazing crepe on the Champs-Elysées street, just a normal day for us:)
Can't forget the duck I ate for dinner, Delicious!
Notra Dame Cathedral
Arc de Triomphe
Adam was so amazing at planning the whole trip. He did so great with the maps and I was so glad he knew where and what we were doing!
The orchestra that was playing in the subway, amazing! We both new the piece and had played it multiple times. They were playing Vivaldi's "Four Seasons".
Saint Michael's Fountain
Security for the big soccer game that night,
lets just say I was glad Adam was there to protect me :)
We ended our first day in Paris with a real authentic football game.
Adam wrote:
For me, though, it was the professional futbol (soccer) match we went to ... was the best birthday present ever! Never have I been to an athletic event and felt so much passion, hatred, spoil and anger in one single setting. The crowd was very ferocious the entire game, and celebrated like hooligans after every success. They chanted cheers, threw collateral and applauded their home club more loyal than one could imagine. Then, the best part, were the riots and fights afterwards. Bus loads of anti-riot police stormed the streets, equipped with shields, helmets and weaponry. And there were hundreds of them! One could only think a political uprising was taking place, but no ... the Paris St. Germain Soccer Club just won a match!
Happy birthday Babe!
Normandy Coast:
For Adam, the one place he had to see was the Normandy Coast, site of D-Day and the American Cemetary near Omaha Beach. It was a very somber experience driving out in the rural country, and seeing the landscape pretty much how it would have looked in 1944. We spent a couple of hours at the cemetery, honoring the near 10,000 Americans who are buried there. We even got to walk down to the actual beach, and saw actual bunkers, barbed wire, gunner stations and bomb craters from the invasion many years ago.
Invasion map routes and plans used.
Beaches Of Normandy Coast
Bomb craters
The cliff's that the army rangers scaled to get to the German bunkers.
German Bunkers
Barb Wire still there from the war.
A memorial they built after the war represented all the men and sons that stormed the beaches of Normandy. This was my highlight as well and I truly feel so grateful for those men that gave their own life, even at such a young age. Truly inspirational!
Belgium:
We spent one full day in Belgium, and of course couldn't pass-up a "Belgium Waffle" (below). We hung out in the city of Brugge for most of the day, which was a cool little town that felt like a mid-evil village sort of speak. We rented bicycles to cruise around the city, and simply mozeed around
Town's Square
Adam entertaining some Taiwanese tourists
Clock Tower
We rented a tandem bike for the day, so stinkin fun!
Beautiful parks
Famous Wind Mills!
I loved these, because they reminded me of my Dad.
He served his mission here and I have always wanted to come back.
more delicious food
FRITES!!!!
Brugge Canals
Chocolate Museum, ChocoStory. World Capital of chocolate!
Frite Museum!
Cheese Museum!
I LOVE BRUGGE!!!!
ROME:
We flew from Brussels to Rome the next morning. This was the end of our rental car experience, from this point on we used the railway system. While in Rome, we got to spend one full day checking out the ruins, and the highlight was definitely seeing the Colosseum, where thousands of gladiators fought to the death a long, long time ago. Astoundingly, the structure is still in tact and able to accommodate all of the visitors. We couldn't but help imagine the crazed fans from back in the day, cheering on their favorite athlete as they sparred, clashed and fought to the death. Truly barbaric for what they used to do for entertainment...and we thought college football fans were intense!
Colosseum
Roman Forum
Palantine Hill:
Residence of the Emperors for over 300 years.
This is where track and field came about.
The Emperor at the time started doing chariot races
because the Colosseum battles had killed so many people.
They had Army recruiting week.
Adam was in heaven playing with all the machinery!
Piazza Venezia
These guards are here 24-7 and
there are fire pits on each side of them that stay lit as well.
Trevi Fountain
This is where we mastered the art of coin throwing.
We definitely found love from the coin toss!
Vatican City
The Vatican has been it's own state since 1929. It even had security to get into the city and it's own national flag. This was definitely a highlight for both of us and we learned a lot about the catholic church and how it is run. On Wednesday morning, they had some sort of "devotional" in the Square, and the Pope himself came out dawned in his attire, receiving support of his thousands of followers who were in the square with us (think 'Angels and Demons'). He shared a few scriptures to the crowd (in Latin) and a few of his select Cardinals did the same. Truly a unique experience!! We also got a chance to see the Vatican, St. Peter's Basilica, the Sistine Chapel and the Spanish steps.
St. Peter's Square
The Pope arrived in a white car waving to the public
Vatican Museums
Sistine Chapel
Michelangelo's Painted ceiling
Roof of museum with St. Peter's
Basilica and Square behind us
Yes, this is Adam hopping the fence to get into St. Peter's basilica. There was at least a 4-5 hr line and we wouldn't have had time to go unless we did. I know it seams kind of Ironic to cut in line to get into a church, but it was well worth breaking the rules for, it was amazing!
St. Peter's Basilica
St. Peter's Square after the mass
Pope Swiss Guards
I called them Toy soldiers, this is what Adam wants to be when he grows up:)
More Rome Attractions:
Pantheon
The oldest temple still running and intact.
They have weddings and ceremonies there still to this day!
We thought the "action" photos would help spice things up, but I think we look even more nerdy...
Spanish Steps
This was so gorgeous and was our last night in Rome. We ate at a very quaint Italian restaurant and was serenaded by an Italian guy on his guitar singing english songs, very funny. I accidently left my paintings at this restaurant and had to come back the next morning, to our surprise they were still there, we are so grateful for honest people. We then headed our way up to Florence.
Our favorite hotel in Rome.
It was a commute from Down town, but very nice and priced well.
Exhausted from the busy day!
Florence:
This was an amazing place, it was so beautiful and yet had that small town feel, which was very different from Rome. This was definitely the capital of music in Italy and there were concerts playing all over. Our hotel was just a few feet away from Michelangelo's David statue (below). I know my college art history teacher would die if she knew all of those sculptures and paintings I have since forgotten, but luckily we were able to recognize a few of them!
Galleria Dell' Academia
Museum of musical instruments
They had a musical section in the Academia museum
of about 50 musical instruments from 1568 to the 20th Century.
Stradivarius Cellos by Antonio Stradivari
Oldest upright piano conserved today
Exploring the beautiful city of Florence!
Crazy Adam!
Catchin up on some laundry!
Cathedral of St. Maria
Piazza della Signoria
Town Square-Bell tower to right
Gelato----YUMMY!!!
We loved the romantic dinners all over Italy!!!
Boboli Gardens
Adam just washin up for the day!
Point Vecchio
Venice:
They say to "get lost in Venice" and we truly did. We just walked around the streets and enjoyed the city. There was more people there then normal because the Pope was coming to visit for the first time the next day. We relaxed while eating Gelato in St. Mark's square listening to some live Jazz, life doesn't get better then this!
St. Mark's Square
Gondola Rides
There were always gondolas going past through the canals. We enjoyed watching them and Adam would even try to serenade the boat as they passed. Very costly-- about $150 for a ride!
Hitchhiking didn't work to well, but it was worth a shot!
We bought a Euro-rail pass to get around, and for the most part really enjoyed viewing the countryside as we traveled. They were really nice rides with great views, food, and random people we got to meet along the way. The only mix-up was when we lost our passports while crossing country lines(Italy-Switzerland), and had to go stealth for a couple hours to go back and retrieve them (Jason Bourne-style)
Switzerland:
Switzerland was as picturesque and beautiful as you can get. We had a rough time getting there, but once we were there we truly enjoyed the Swiss Alps. We stayed in a small town named Grindelwald, which is up in the mountains near Interlaken, Switzerland. We biked in the alps, went golfing, enjoyed brats up at the top of "JungFrauJoch", and stayed at a nice little house where they made cheese. This is a place we are definitely coming back to, absolutely loved it!!
Our hotel was just behind this, so nice and smelled like homemade cheese, YUMMY!
It wouldn't be a true vacation for Adam if we couldn't squeeze in a few swings, so we stopped by a course and hit a bucket of balls.
JungFrauJoch
The train went to "JungFrauJoch", which was a two hour ride that scaled up the mountain to over 11,000+ feet high. We had to wear warm clothes, because it was a blizzard up there and people ski year round there.
For your "infotainment" I will proceed with more pictures!
The Jungfraujoch Train!
Almost to the top, look out point
Once we got to the top, it was a blustering blizzard, but had cool ice-caves we walked around (below).
Travel down the mountain
They had the best brats half way down the mountain,
I know my dad would have just loved them!
Great way to the end the trip with seeing this house with "Olivia" on the side. We truly missed our angel and definitely were excited to get back to her.
All in all, it was a great trip ... and we couldn't leave home without a nutella/banana crepe, which was our last craving of the trip. Surely, a food item they will serve in heaven. Just to summarize, we went from Provo - Paris - Normandy - Brugge - Rome/Vatican - Florence - Venice - Milan - Interlaken- Grindelwald - Paris - Provo. On the return trip home we couldn't squeeze our munchkin fast enough ... too bad all she cared about was grandma and grandpa!!
