Well, today was the day of over 1000 stairs. We had breakfast at the hotel (i love that their “instant” coffee machine uses real milk and makes tastier lattes than i can get in the states), then started by hitting the highlights at the Louvre for a few hours, Venus di Milo, Mona Lisa, and found a few “new” paintings I really liked as well (just have to match my photos with stuff online to figure out what they are).
After the Louvre the cloudy sky had started to break up and we had a nice walk by the Siene to a little neighborhood market area where we had lunch (a quarter roast chicken with rattatouille), then headed to Mr. Eiffel’s tower. They charge you almost twice as much if you take the elevator rather than the stairs and we figured it would be more of an experience if we took the stairs so off we went. Two sets of 350 stairs later we were at the second level of the tower which afforded some great views of the city. We walked around and took lots of pictures, took a look at the half hour plus wait (plus an extra four euro fee) and decided to opt out of the cramped elevator ride to the very top.
We headed back down the tower in the hope of making it to Napolean’s tomb before it closed, we were two minutes too late, oh well, we still had the Orangerie museum that was open late on Fridays according to both the time guide we got with our museum pass and Rick Steves. Wrong. We got up to the museum at 1815 and they had closed at 1800, the times we had were wrong (I checked their website and it did have the right closing time, note to self, check all museum times online before relying on them). So unfortunately didn’t get to see the Monet paintings, guess that just means I have to come back 😉
Instead we went to the Arc de Triumph and climbed another 250+ stairs to the top for yet another grand view of the city. It is amazing to see the twelve boulevards radiating out from that point and to see all the different areas of the city, from tree lined streets to skyscrapers downtown.
We consulted the guidebook for a place to eat nearby and found one that was apparently very good for lunch and was only a few blocks away so we headed there. As we walked up we could see it was really busy, a good sign. We got a table inside then waited (and waited) for someone to come take our order. When the server finally came she asked if we had reserved the table, we said no, and she very bluntly told us we would have to leave the table at 2030 because our table was reserved then (why they sat us there in the first place then I don’t know). We ordered and were very quickly served our food, I had cote du bouf et frittes (steak with fries) which had a very tasty sauce with it. As we were eating they changed up the lights and started playing American pop and old rock music, there were a lot of twentysomethings in there and it became evident this was a pretty hip and trendy place in the evenings, we didn’t really fit in very well in that scenr so we were glad to get out of there quickly before our uncoolness was noticed too much.
We took the metro back over to the Eiffel tower to watch the hourly evening light show (gorgeous, the tower is lit in blue with white sparkling lights all over) before heading back to the hotel. Random (if not slightly icky) tidbit, I got to see a bunch of French cockroaches and three little mice scurrying around an electrical cabinet in the station while sitting waiting for the train, lovely 😛 On the way back it seemed like all the escalators in the metro stations were broken so theres where we got our last few dozen stairs to complete the day.
Tomorrow, Versailles.

So we ended up sleeping in until 1000 this morning, guess all the walking tired us out more than we thought. After a quick breakfast at our hotel we decided to go to the Boboli gardens for the day since many of the smaller museums that we had looked at going to are closed on Wednesdays.
Made it to the gardens around noon and spent most of the day wandering around the massive grounds. The garden was the backyard of the Pitti palace, a former home of the powerful Medici family. It’s built into the hillside along the Arno river so there are many different terraced levels with statues and fountains and a nice view of the city across the river.
We decided to break for a late lunch around 1430 and found a little pizzaria nearby where we watched them make the pizzas fresh, from rolling out the dough to putting on the toppings (I had mushrooms, jeremy had proscuitto), to baking them in the wood-fire oven. They were excellent, and a bit messy since I asked them not to slice it (I was too hungry to wait for the cheese to cool so a lot of it kept sliding off the crust), but that’s the fun part right? 😉
We reentered the gardens and took our time wandering around the other two-thirds of the garden, frequently chilling on a bench in the shade (it was probably in the high 80s today, humidity was low but still hot in the sun). There were two full scale reconstructions of Pompeii gardens in two of the side terraces, which were cool to see since I had seen similar locations in real life when I visited there.
We headed back to the hotel to pick up our bags around 1800 and lugged things to the train station about a 25 minute walk away. Now its about 1930 and we’re waiting in the station for our overnight train to Paris that should leave around 2045.
(2030)
We’ve migrated to the station platform now, according to the board our train will be 25 minutes late but it’s cooler out here than in the station so we’re trading seats for cooler temperatures. While in the station an American guy struck up a conversation with us. He is from Fredericksburg (Va) and had just gotten out of the Army and was on a month backpacking tour of Europe before applying to PhD programs in political science for next semester. Was interesting hearing how excited he was about politics and everything going on in the world. He wants to teach at a small liberal arts college when he’s finished with his degree, I wish him the best if luck.
And the train waiting continues…

So for our second day in florence we did a lot more standing than we did the day before. We met up with lauren at the entrance to go up to the duomo done at 0815 and didn’t have to wait at all to go up (the benefit of being one of the first 25 in line). So we climbed the 460+ steps, there were a few stopping points along the way (thankfully, pretty sure I would’ve made it all the way up in one shot), walked around both balconies that go around the interior of the dome were treated to some very narrow, steep and windy staircases, and when we reachef the cupola we were rewarded with a gorgeous panoramic view of the city. After trekking back down we grabbed some breakfast (apricot pastry/cookie and cappuchino for me) and decided to face the line for getting in to the Uffizi gallery. After a two hour stint waiting in line we made it in around 1230 and explored the museum until around 1500. We got to see Bottocelli’s Birth of Venus and lots and lots of other amazing Rennaisance paintings including an unfinished painting by da Vinci which was cool to see one of the paintings “in progress” and get a better idea how one of those huge wall-sized paintings is created. Afterwards we grabbed a quick gelato (had apricot this time, yum!) and Lauren had to head out for her flight, so we said our goodbyes and Jeremy and I headed back to the hotel to rest our feet (didn’t really think about the fact that all the sidewalks and most of the roads we are walking on are stone, or marble floors when we’re inside) and rest before finding somewhere to have a nice dinner. So now we are off to get a recommendation from the girl at the front desk and get some tasty food.
(2320)
Back from dinner, we wandered around in a quest to fund a less touristy place to eat since the girl at the front desk was already gone for the evening. We ended up east of the duomo a few blocks at a little place called Trattoria Pallatino. I had stuffed fried zuchinni flowers (stuffed with some kind of mild white cheese and sardines, definitely different but tasty) and jeremy had linguini with pesto and we split a half liter of the house red (very mild and smooth).
Tomorrow we’re going to mostly play things by ear, not set an alarm and just wander to anywhere that seems interesting. Our train to Paris leaves around 2045 tomorrow night so we will have most of the day to wander.

So we’ve made it to Florence successfully. Boarded the train in zurich around 2130 and found our sleeping compartment right away. It was a tiny room, maybe five feet wide by six or seven feet long, just enough for a bed (and up to two pull-down/out beds from the wall) and space to stand next to the bed with a little sink closet in the corner by the window. We watched the “Tuscany” episode of No Reservations then went to bed. Jeremy’s iPhone notified him around 0130 that we had crossed the border into Italy and we both woke up and watched out the window for a bit. You could see the outlines of some pretty big mountains along the horizon which was cool, bet it is gorgeous in the daylight. We went back to sleep until 0600 then got up and pulled our stuff together, enjoyed a nice cappuchino (or rather I enjoyed two, since jeremy doesn’t drink coffee) and pastry, and waited (and waited) for the train to pull into the station. We were supposed to arrive at 0640, we ended up getting off around 0720.
We made our way out of the train station and after realizing we arrived in the other, non-central train station (google maps was very wrong) we spent a few minutes orienting ourselves and checking and rechecking where we were going along the way we finally found our hotel (johanna 1) after passing it twice (the gps I brought from home is very slow to get online here so we ended up wandering the old-fashioned way).
It’s about 0935 now and we’re off to meet up with my college friend Lauren at the Duomo.
(1900)
So we’ve managed to cover quite a bit if ground today, literally. Met up with lauren at the duomo and joined the line to go inside. It is actually an interesting paradox that the outside is so gorgeous and ornate but when you get inside it almost seems rather plain. We took a few shots inside then walked over the Ponte Vecchio to the other side of the river where, after a good bit of wandering we sat down to lunch at Cafe Ricchi. I had a radicchio risotto, it was tasty, definitely not a flavor I’ve had before, kind of bitter, but that was cut by the creamy nature of the risotto. We of course had a half liter of the house chianti and a carafe of bubbly water as well. Afterwards we tried to go to the Boboli fortress (next to the Boboli gardens but no admission fee) which promised a good view of the city (and hopefully was less crowded than the standard tour stop of the Plaza Leonardo). After quite a hike up to the fortress we determined all the gates were closed so, hoping we would just stay at the same elevation and not have to up down the huge hill and up again, we went over to the other overlook, no luck though we still had to go downhill then up at least 150 stairs, but the view was worth it and we figured since we’d reached the to we deserved a cup of gelato as reward, I had fior di latte, essentially vanilla, which was really good and hit the spot nicely. After taking some nice panoramic shots we decided to break for an afternoon nap and meet up at 1930 at the central train station to find dinner, off we go.
(2220)
Back from dinner. We met up with lauren at the station and made our way to a place lauren’s book recommended, but once we got there it looked a bit deserted so we backtracked to a place we’d noticed on the way there. Got there right in time (around 1945) and got a table outside in the little square right before people had to start waiting for tables. Ordered a half liter of the house red (this one was spicier and smoother than the one we had for lunch), I had a fettuchini pasta with porchini mushrooms, lauren had spagettini (spelling may not be right on that), a long s-shaped pasta with pesto and jeremy had veal ossobuco (very tasty). After dinner we went to one of the gelatarias recommended by laurens guidebook, lauren and jeremy each had a very tart lemon sorbet I had a really good pistachio gelato, which we enjoyed sitting on the steps of the illuminated duomo. There were 3 Americans sitting to one side of us, two were alternating playing a bongo drum and the other had what looked like fire-juggling sticks that he was adding lighting fluid to. We thought we were going to have a very interesting spectacle in front on the duomo but the local police came by and had them pack up and leave before they started anything.
Since the line was crazy long this morning we decided to meet early tomorrow to go up to the dome of the duomo. It opens at 0830, we are going to meet at 0815, so hopefully we won’t have to wait what looked like hours that people did today at 1000. Until tomorrow, ciao!

So I have arrived in Zurich as has my luggage so all is good. It’s raining and cool here right now not that that’s not going to stop us from wandering around a bit 🙂
(7ish hours later)
So jeremy and I have been wandering around town for the past few hours (it’s 1730 now) and thankfully the weather has cleared up and warmed up as well. We have been in three different churches (only one we were allowed to take pictures in, the Grossmunster) and been up to two hilltops and saw great panoramas of the city. At the first view I was approached by a couple from New Zealand while I had out my rented zoom lens wanting to know what lens I was using and how close I could get. We chatted for a few minutes then had them take our picture before they left, yay for making travel friends through photography. After that we had cheese fondue for lunch and while sitting there the same couple passed by again, so it was fun to see a “familiar” face.
Now we’re trying to kill some time before our train leaves tonight at 930.
(10 minutes later)
Apparently 95 percent of stores, including grocery stores, are closed on Sundays. We were really thirsty though and passed by a McDonalds that has a “McCafe”, an upscale coffeehouse attatched to a regular McDonalds. I had seen something about them on the travel channel and that they were actually pretty good for coffee and convinced jeremy that it wasn’t too horrible of a travel faux pas since they don’t have McCafes in the US. So I got a cappuchino (which is actually quite tasty) and two waters for a total of 12.70 Swiss francs. I got out my credit card to pay but the cashier said they did not take credit cards (there was a sign that they took credit cards on the door but I guess that’s for the regular restaurant), but they would take American dollars if we didn’t have francs (which we didn’t, and had tried to avoid acquiring since we would not be able to use them anywhere else on the trip), so we paid in American dollars at a Swiss McCafe for an Italian coffee drink, I love Europe 🙂
Also, the McCafe has free (for thirty minutes) internet access, yay! So I get to post this in near real time.
Next stop: overnight train to Florence, Italy.

So I have boarded the plane to Zurich, sitting in united’s newly updated business class section….it’s really cool 🙂 each seat has it’s own 15 inch tv, the sears lay flat, there is an individual remote to operate the tv, lights, etc (the tv runs linux btw, the plane power restarted while we were waiting at the gate and the tv boot up screen came up), and we get the choice of water, orange juice or chanpagne whenwe sit down, sweet!
We are about 20 minutes from takeoff…think I will read more of my Florence travel guide while I wait (and try to avoid getting hit by carryon bags from the passersby).

So I am currently sitting in the united airlines red carpet club, sipping a complementary beverage, waiting to fly to Zurich (then going to Florence and Paris). I love vacation 🙂 for a while it looked like tropical storm Hanna was going to complicate things but thankfully we have just gotten a lot of rain and a bit of wind.
So the goal for this trip, and this blog for the next week or so, is to keep track of all the different stuff we are going to see while on the trip, then when I get back I will actually know the names of everything I took pictures of 😉 so stay tuned, I will try to update every time I have Internet access.
I have another half hour to wait before they start boarding…think I will have another complementary beverage 🙂
Ciao!

So this blog has become one of those that only gets updated once or twice a month, I’m really sorry about that, it annoys me too. But life has, yet again, been very busy. August is the month of birthdays around here with 5 in 2 weeks, so there were many birthday festivities recently which made for quite a bit of fun, and full weekends. This holiday weekend is the big Rock and Roll Half-Marathon in Virginia Beach that Jim and I have been training for for the past four months. We have the hotel down there the whole holiday weekend (the race is on Sunday) so it’ll also be a mini beach vacation as well. I’m so excited to run it, not sure if I’ll end up running every mile but I’m definitely gonna finish it, no question on that! It’s pretty awesome to go from hating running and “only running when someone chases me” to actually enjoying running in the mornings. It’s true what they say, at some point you transition from “Ugh, this is work” to “Oh, this is nice” when you’re running and once you (finally) get past that barrier it’s really quite pleasant. Running is a good time to think about nothing I’ve found, if I try to think about something too intense (some task at work or something) I lose concentration on running and always end up tripping or something. So I’ll stick with chatting with Jim, listening to music or audio books. I’ll post pics from the race once I’m back from….my trip to Europe!

So Jeremy is going to a conference for work next week in Germany and we figured, don’t get to go to Europe very often, why not turn this into a vacation as well? So I’m meeting him out there next week and we’re going to go to Florence and Paris for a week, riding the overnight train between the two. I’ve travelled to Florence before, but have only been there during the day, and never stayed overnight, so I’m excited to (hopefully) get to see a less touristy side of Florence. I’ve never been to Paris, that’s sort of the last “big city” in western Europe that I haven’t been to so I’m really looking forward to it. If you have any suggestions of places to go, things to see, food to eat, whatever, leave me a comment and lemme know! I’m sure there will be many, many, many pictures from this trip up on Flickr when I get back. Until then, ciao and au revior!

Ok, so it’s been a bit too long between posts, sorry about that, I’ve been crazy busy lately

Went up to Pennsylvania for the Fourth of July weekend for lots of family visiting (both sides actually, which is a rarity). Went to a family picnic with my dad’s side of the family on the 4th then saw my mom’s side of the family at my cousin’s high school graduation party. In between the various family gatherings there was a visit and tour of the Lackawanna Coal Mine, which was actually really cool. Hard to believe people made (and still make) their living doing such dangerous work underground. There was a lot of old coal mining equipment around outside the mine at the visitors center so I got a lot of cool machinery shots while we were there too, all the pics from the weekend are up on Flickr.

I’ve also gone to see quite a few movies in the past few weeks, Hellboy 2, Incredible Hulk, WALL-E, and on Thursday a group of us went down to Hampton to the midnight showing (dumb New Town theatre wasn’t doing a showing) of The Dark Knight. Wow is that movie amazing. Very epic in it’s scope and pretty intense in a lot of parts. Another thing I really enjoyed about it was they managed to mix in quite a bit of humor, yes the Joker (played masterfully by Heath Ledger) had a lot of good one liners but other characters had some good quips too. They also integrated the CG stuff into the movie very well, it was hard to tell where they used CG stuff rather than live action, which is something I think quite a few movies have lost the past few years, the technology is definitely getting better every year, but knowing when and where and how much to use it is by far a better effect.

Another thing I encountered this week is the web series Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog. It’s created by Joss Whedon who did Buffy, Angel and Firefly and it’s fantastic, he describes it as a “supervillain musical” (think his musical episode of Buffy). It stars Neil Patrick Harris as Dr. Horrible and Nathan Fillion (the lead from Firefly) as his archnemesis Captain Hammer with Felicia Day as the love interest Penny (she also stars in the web series The Guild, which I went off a tangent on and watched all 10 episodes of, also very good. If you’re fan of WoW or know someone who is, you should definitely check it out). The three part series is free until Sunday and then it will be only available on iTunes, there are some fantastic one-liners in it and is very entertaining.

Ok, time for me to clean house, one of my friends from college is coming to visit this week and I need to get the cat hair tumbleweeds that manage to appear less than a day after vacuuming corraled up.