Ah Paris.....it's beautiful anytime!

Paris - doesn't really matter if you've been there or not, it congers up images in your mind regardless.  The City of Lights, Paris in the Spring Time, The City of Love - whatever your image is it probably has a bit of a dream effect to it.  Personally, I could stare of the picture of the Eiffel Tower for hours, dreaming of a different time. 

When I stop to think about all of these places that Nicole & Darren have visited I am constantly reminded of how "young" we are in the US.  As a person who loves history, art & architecture, I am constantly awed at the thought of how OLD everything in Europe is.  How they were able to create such magnificent things in a time before computers, before industry, before big machines and automation.  It boggles my mind.

They arrived in Paris fairly early on Tuesday and were going to spend the day hitting the "must see" spots.  Hopefully they didn't run into any problems due to the travel warnings.  They have a lot to cram into a short visit to Paris.  I am hoping for another report on the exact sites and (hopefully) another food experience!!

Wednesday was going to be spent touring The Louvre.  Although Italy has always been my dream destination, I have to say this is probably the single thing I'm most envious of.  Wednesday is the only whole day they get in Paris and I'm sure that a great majority will be spent inside this amazing structure.   I would have no problem spending huge amounts of time staring at one piece of art. Good thing it's open late on Wednesdays! The Louvre houses 35,000 pieces of art.  The building its self was originally a royal fortress, then a palace and eventually a museum. It has been around since 1180 (1180!).
It has only been a museum though since 1793.....I'm not sure if they really have it all down yet - it being so new and all. (The link to the website is pretty cool - a bit time consuming but check it out some rainy day!)

Prague-on-it, it's beautiful here!

Prague is yet another amazingly beautiful city.  Full of history and culture. The picture at left is the Tyn church in Old Prague Square.

In this city, on the first night there, Nicole had her favorite meal.  Now this I was not prepared for!!  Not that they wouldn't have wonderful food but I thought my heart belonged in Italy for the culinary experience.  I may have to rethink!

They had a skewed beef tenderloin with onions, dried plums wrapped in bacon, all covered in a blue cheese style dressing along with potatoes with onions & mushrooms folded in.  I have to say - my mouth is watering just thinking about the taste combination!! Yum!

In doing some research on Prague I discovered this picture. It is called the Dancing House, or Fred & Ginger.  It was built on land where buildings were destroyed during the bombing of Prague in 1945.  I love the craziness of this place. It really does look like a pair of dancers.

How fun would it be to live in one of those odd shaped places over looking the river??!! (Might be a little hard to decorate but...What the heck! Sunday was spent doing a lot of walking and they did a bus tour during the day. Sunday night the took another boat tour for a "cool" view of the city. (It was 57 degrees there yesterday)

Today (Monday) will be spent visiting Prague Castle. From the looks of the place I'd say it could take more than a day!   It is the largest coherent castle complex in the world. I have no idea how to convert from Metric so I can't tell you how big - but it's HUGE!! :)  There is a virtual tour site that is pretty informative and has some cool pictures!

Today is the last day in Prague.  A very early 4:00am wake up call for a 6:00am flight to Paris! Still pretty hard to feel sorry for them, even with the early flight..... :)

Venice - Sweet Venice

Friday was spent in Venice. (check out the beautiful slide show on the Venice link) It is the favorite city on the trip so far.  Simply amazing, was the verdict. 

Venice is world-famous for it's canals.  It is build on a archipeligo of a 117 islands formed by 177 canals in a shallow lagoon. The islands on which the city is built is connected by 409 bridges!  Venice is Europes largest car free area, unique in Europe in remaining a sizable functioning city in the 21st century entirely without motorcars or trucks.

There are so many interesting facts about this amazing city.  I don't think one day is probably enough to spend here.  That is one good thing, I will now know which cities will require more time when I go!! For now though, it's good-bye to Italy, tomorrow (Saturday) they travel on.

Port of Fasion

Driving in Italy, according to Nicole, is crazy!  You have to "just figure out what lane you want to be in and then just GO!"  Good thing Darren is an aggressive driver and that the Panda is a sturdy car! :)  The roadway system is called the Autostrada.  Speed limit is a mear 81mph. On the drive from Pisa to Genova they mostly drove through tunnels in the mountains.  Nicole said the spent more time "inside" than "out".  Their GPS didn't work so they were on their own.  The cars get in the left lane and the trucks have to stay in the right. Once you get in your lane you just "drive as fast as you can".  I guess you can make pretty good time!!

Thursday was spent on the northern city of Genova (Genoa).  It as a big port city on the Ligurian Sea which feds into the Mediterranean.  The travelers did a 40 minute boat cruise of the harbor. Nicole said it was just beautiful! 

The also toured a old pirate ship which was also pretty neat.  Apparently the city was burned back in 934 by Arab pirates & has had a long history of other incidents.  Cool! 

From the afternoon in Genova they traveled to Milan for the night. They didn't get to spend much time there but drove through the main shopping district on their way to the hotel.  It's probably best that there wasn't much time to shop - I've seen Nicole in the stores lately....whew!

Pizza, Pasta & More

Tuesday was spent touring Rome and seeing some historic sites such as the Colosseum. Wondering around the ancient city had to be awe inspiring! I can't wait to see all the photo's and hear about the city. 

Wednesday the travelers rented a car (I believe it was called the Panda...I'm not kidding) and drove to Montipulciano for the afternoon.  Nicole said it was absolutly beautiful.  (I'm hoping she remembers that is where my favorite Italian wine comes from......) For those of you Twilite fans, this is where the New Moon movie was filmed. I can almost picture sitting at some rustic cafe having some wonderful form of pasta and peasent bread drinking a glass of wine looking out at an amazing view.....sigh.

From Montipulciano they traveled North to Pisa.  The home, by all accounts, of some of the best pizza in Italy.  I requested that someone have a slice of Pizza Margarita for me but I have a feeling I might be the only one who would like that.... :(  This is also, of course, home of the famous leaning tower.  This really never ceases to amaze me.  How has it stayed like this for so many years?

Rigatoni & Moonlight

Just had a message from Nicole that they made it to Rome a few hours ago and got settled into their rooms.
She said she had just eaten some Rigatoni and they were about to go for a walk.  It is about 9pm in Italy so I imagine it looks beautiful this time of night!

Perhaps they'll stop by Trevi Fountain and make a wish! (I know I would!!)

.....and On We Go

Today the travelers spent the first half of the day enjoying the rest of Amsterdam.  So much to see and not enough time!! Cloudy and 68 but at least not raining!!  Plane leaves at 1:40 for a 2:20 minute flight to the next leg of the trip.  Good-bye Amsterdam! It's been lovely!  (I couldn't not have a picture of tulips!)

After a fairly short flight they will land in Rome, Italy at 4:00pm.  I say it's just in time for a nice glass of vino!
Of all the places they are going this is the stop I am most envious of!  I am not sure what could be wrong with a country that loves hours long celebrations of wine and food!! YUM!!  I expect a full culinary report from this stop of the journey!  Rome looks to be a little rainy today but 79, so I will hope that the rain ended when they got there.

Hollands Opus

Today looks to be sunny and 70 beautiful degrees for their only full day in Amsterdam. I am sure they have been busy enjoying the sites all day today! 

I was doing some reading this morning and am now putting Amsterdam on my must see list.  I girl I worked with a while back, who was very well traveled, said that Amsterdam was her favorite place & I think I am starting to see why. 

Amsterdam is rich in culture and history.  From Van Gogh & Rembrant to the Red Light District it appears there is something for everyone!  The beautiful canal & all it's bridges look amazing.  (For someone who isn't fond of water or bridges that is a bit of a shock) They have at least 4 HUGE libraries and tons of reading rooms all over the city. The libraries look old and architecturally beautiful.  There are so many museums I could be happy for days and days.  Not to mention the fabulous open air markets!  (now THAT is my kind of shopping!) Did you know that they sell 20 million flowers a day at the Flower Auction?  I didn't even know they HAD flower auctions!  And getting back to the Red Light District.....they actually give tours of it and you really can get anything you want, you just might have to let them know in advance......

At any rate, Amsterdam is making my list.  It no longer just resembles tulip & windmills.  Although I'm really okay with just both of those things.

Tour Beautiful Amsterdam

Safe Arrival

Nicole called about 12:30 pm CDT and said that their flights were all good and they arrived safely.
She said it was raining and they were all soaked but having fun.  They were out having dinner to celebrate Glenda's birthday.  She said they were all tired as no one really has slept much.  They were all hoping for a sunny day tomorrow.

On the Road with Nicole & Darren

Since not all of us were lucky enough to go on this incredable 19 day vacation, I thought it would be fun to do a little daily (hopefully) blog to keep track of where they are at.  Maybe do a little site seeing of our own!! :) Maybe one of them will have time to send a note or some pictures along the way.

Nicole and Darren, along with Darren's mom Glenda and her friend Gayle, started their trip yesterday.  They departed Minneapolis and flew straight through to Iceland.  They had a brief layover there and then landed at their first destination today, Oct 2nd, in Amsterdam.  Today is also Glenda's birthday so I am sure they will have something fabulous planned for the day. The tempeture is 63 with drizzles.  They are 7 hours ahead of us so I believe they should have landed and hopefully checked into their hotel by now.

As I understand it, they didn't have specific plans for Amsterdam. They were going to just check it out when they got there.  In doing a little research I found there is much more to the area than tulips and windmills!!  The Van Gogh museum is just a few miles from their hotel as well as the Anne Frank museum.  Although I read the book years ago, I did not remember that the house that Anne's family hid in was in Amsterdam.
Check out this link! There is a really cool interactive 3D link that lets you tour the hiding place. It was a great history refreasher.  For those of you in book club, it was interesting after reading Sarah's Key as well.
Anne Frank Historic Museam in Amsterdam

Stay tuned for more travel stories! I'll post travel progress and points of interest that they've seen as I hear from them!! Hope you enjoy