One of lifes good things is having sisters so in 2002 with children grown and life settled Judi, Helen and I took off for a 3 week tour of Europe. First time for them. Fun for me to share that excitement of fresh discovery.
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| Judi got to share her row with a nice man on the way to London. Good start to this trip. |
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| As usual landed very early in the morning so we were trying to stay awake and toured the Tower of London. Helen claims she remembers very little of this day. |
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| This is Prince Charles's pet peeve. The new contemporary buildings in London he doesn't feel due justice to this old classic city. One man's opinion although he will be king I don't think he has power to knock them all down and rebuild. |
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| The London Eye |
Judi and I spent the afternoon at the Eye and it was the best view of London you can get. Since this was 2002 one thing that is noticeable is the lack of people. The tourists had not come back as yet after 9/11 so this whole trip we almost had Europe to ourselves. No lines, no crowds and it was October the best time to travel.
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| Helen took a nap but Judi and I toughed it our until evening and then Judi crashed and this is all we saw of her for 12 hours. |
The next day we were out and about and as we walked around big ben we noticed police everywhere doing security checks. Looking down the sewers, taking all plates off bases of light poles. The reason we discovered was that the queen was going to be in Westminister for a service that afternoon honoring the WW 2 veterans. Until that moment it never really crossed my mind that everytime she goes anywhere this is now part of the routine.
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| Helen communes with a bird in Green Park. |
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| It is good to be queen. |
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| The changing of the guard. |
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| The WW2 vets leave the service. We didn't see the queen as she whisked out a separate entrance however this parade was like watching a BBC comedy come to life. They also did a flyby of jets and one of old WW2 flying fortresses. |
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| What is London without lunch in the Pub? |
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| Posing for the mandatory phone booth shot. |
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| Afternoon tea and it is so yummy. |
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| That evening we were off to the Shakespeare theater to see the Taming of the Shrew. This night we had one of the unforeseen events that do occur. When we left after the show there wasn't a cab to be found. Within minutes the whole area was deserted and we finally hailed one after about 20 minutes while walking across the Thames bridge. It is a large entertainment venue and it never occured to any of us there wouldn't be a taxi Q. It was very dark and very deserted and we were really glad to see that empty cab. |
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| This is the area in the theater where people stand throuch the entire show. We sat on the wooden benches up above. |
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| After theater and safe back at the hotel |
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| We are off to Stow on the Wold in the Cotswolds by train. There are certain places that grab a person more than others and both Judi and Helen were breathless over the Cotswolds and a bit disappointed in London. They didn't expect it to have so much of big city vibe. |
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| Our Little Inn was full of Miss Marple type people and decor, very chintzy. |
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| The Main street of Stow and the Gigot Bar became our hangout. So much so that the guests in the hotel questioned us when we missed dinner in the evening because that just isn't done. We were hanging out in the bar with the locals. |
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| There is always someone to chat with and find out all about the local lore. |
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| Warwick Castle has been partnered with the wax works so it is now a bit of a contrived attraction. Disney like but still very interesting. |
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| A bit spooky also. The wax figures are so life like that there are almost too realistic. |
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| That is Judi and her wax man. This was down in the servants quarters and a different time frame than the upstairs scenes. |
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| The park and the garden around the castle are everything anEnglish garden should be. |
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| A Druid circle. |
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| Modern Druids who had two plates with fruit and grain in front of them and were happily chanting away. |
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| Goodbye to the Cotswolds and we were off to Paris. It was raining our last night in Stow and the hotel guests all gathered in the living room in front of the fireplace. We had a most interesting chat. Helen and I were the only Americans as Judi was resting. We chatted about the war. WW2 that is. Then if you ever want to set a conversation on fire, at this time, ask them if they are going to join the EU. It was truly funny. We went back to London and stayed one more night to go to the theater to see Mama Mia in the theater district and it was goodbye for now to the UK. Then early in the morning we were on the Chunnel to Paris. Helen was a bit concerned about going under the English channel but we sat with the President of Revlon who commutes regularly back and forth and he was a charming conversationlist so the trip passed quickly. Every once in awhile there is person who is witty and fun to talk to so it is easy to see how they can be a success just on charm. Now we will test what all the English had told the girls. You will love Paris but hate the French. |
AHHH PARIS
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| Judi found this great looking guy coming out of the subway so we grabbed him. Brave man to spend weekend with his two aunts and mom. |
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| The Monets at the D'Orsay |
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| There is one wonderful view after another. Paris is an incredible city. |
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| This is my favorite place in Paris. That is any one of the thousands of sidewalk cafes. Coffee or wine depending on the time of day and the city passes in front in all it's many forms. |
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| Riding the red tour bus. |
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| Les Invalides |
Inside is Napleon's tomb and it is worthy of an emperor. The gold on the dome is burnished to shine in the sun as are the gold touches on so many Paris monuments.
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| We loved the Batobus and this is my favorite bridge in Paris. |
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| Brad prepares to give his aunts a lecture on the making of Champagne on our way to Champagne. He gave a better lecture than most tour guides. We also had courtesy of his planning one of the finest lunches I have ever eaten. I had chicken gizzard salad and it was so good . On the list of favorite foods. |
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| The precious grapes that make the only beverage in the world that can be called champagne. |
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| Quaint and charming become overused words when in the countryside of most of Europe. |
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| Tasting |
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| Our favorite, the jewel box of Paris, Sainte Chapelle |
Brad is the gastronome in the family so he was in charge of the restaurant picks. Needless to say he did not disappoint. Somehow his aunts ended up getting kissing lessons from the waiters.
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| The Louvre |
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| This is as close as we could get to the Mona Lisa. |
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| Packing to leave for Venice in the morning and Brad headed back to Holland. It was really a treat to have him with us for the French portion of the trip because he really knows and loves Paris and France. We also went to mass at Notre Dame,walked the streets and enjoyed the street life. Watched the boats on the Siene and the lovers also. Paris lives up to all the hyperbole that is thrown it's way. |
On to Air France and whisk we are in Venice. Another world again. At this point Judi and Helen are whining that they don't want to leave France because they LOVE it but I heard that about England.
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| Taxi to our hotel, note how euro Judi has gotten. The jaunty scarf. |
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| The views are iconic and don't need comment. |
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| Dirty flying birds however all tourists love them. |
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| Yes they are drunk as lords and dancing on the way home from Roberto's where we ate and drank a bit too much. Picture is blurry because I don't think I was much better. |
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| The Doges palace |
One of my favorite spots, The terrace at the Danielli right on the Grand Canal.
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| MMMM Yummy pasta with squid ink sauce. |
Night on the town. Paula's friend the gondolier took us bar hoping and then we met Paula for dinner.
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| The water was so low we couldn't get off at many of the bars so he took off and brought our goodies back to us. We also got to go under some bridges that are normally not on the route. |
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| Robbie |
Arrivederci a Venezia
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| Un treno a Firenze |
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| Quickly aquired the quick stop for a caffe in un bar habit. |
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| The wonderful food market in Florence. |
The Duomo
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| The Golden Doors. Anyone who has ever been notices the lovely lack of people. There were no crowds. It was divine. |
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| The Ponte Vecchio |
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| This bar has memories because about one year ago on 9/11/2001 we walked in here and this very same little bartender said to me"oh madame what are you doing here? You must come the US is under attack." He then led us to the employees lounge where we were to see the only TV pictures we would see of the twin tower attacks. We sat in stunned silence. We were staying in a villa outside of Florence that had no TV so we had the unique experience of being away from the US when this happened and we did not see the nonstop coverage. We did not come home for another 3 weeks and by then the world had changed. Certainly the world of air travel. Only later would the fact that the bar tender recognised me cause a bit of wry amusement. There are few bars in Dallas I frequent but this bar in Florence I go to often. Jon and I and David and Brad and Jen sat in this booth and tried to digest what had happened. |
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| He has been here at least since 1986 when I first came to Florence. |
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| A favorite restaurant that has many happy memories. |
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| The hotel terrace where we often had wine and cheese and fruit along with wonderful salumi and bread. |
Florence and David(fake version).
Florence became the new favorite place however that was true everywhere we went. Florence is not usually so pleasant because it is so very crowded but this trip was really a gift. I made reserves for the Uffizi only to find line was 20 persons long when we got there. Very unusual. There was time for shopping, visiting the Bobli gardens and even a beauty shop for a haircut.
We picked up a rental car in Florence and drove to Todi in Umbria. Judi had picked it out after much research and it was a real delight. One of the many many charming hilltop towns that Italy is blessed with. It is centrally located so was close to Tuscany and on our way to Rome.
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| Lunch spot in Todi |
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| Views from our table. |
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| Wonderful senic views everywhere. |
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Figuring out all that money stuff.
We took a day trip to Orvieto and that became a real favorite. Have I said that before? |
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| Great shops |
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| View from our room and almost quaint and charming except for the crane. Progress is progress. |
Our Mercedes. Lots of adventures zipping around in that pre GPS. From Todi we headed to Rome and dropped off the car and spend the last days of this wonderful adventure. We stayed at the Hotel Scalinata at the top of the Spanish steps. It is small and quaint and well located. Rome is city with so much to see that sometimes it is hard to take time to just enjoy the city. One visit of 3 or 4 days is not enough to begin to scratch the surface.
The glorious ending in Roma.
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| The Spanish steps |
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| La terazza at our hotel with views of St Peters. Breakfast was here and also wine and cheese we would buy in the market around the corner and bring in the evening to watch the sun set. |
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| Roberto is showing Judi that when you stand on this spot all the columns line up and instead of rows of three there is only one. |
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| St Peters |
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| The swiss guard with uniforms designed by Michelangelo. |
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| St Peters |
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| This is outside the Piazza Navona and shows that it was once a circus and this entrance was discovered when they excavated for another building. This happens everytime they try to dig in Rome and so they have no subways to speak of. They can build the tracks far underground but everytime they try to access it to the surface they run into ancient Rome. There are untold treasures buried under the modern city. |
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| Piazza Navona |
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| City of fountains and some still use water from Roman aquaducts |
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| I love the Pantheon. |
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| The Colosso |
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| The seats with the white marble where were the senators sat. |
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Here you find the famous cats of Rome.
Off to a farewell lunch at a wonderful restaurant on the Via Appia where the serve food from the one old Roman cookbook that still survives. |
The owners son studied at University of Florida so he is good to americans.
Bulging suitcases but even more we have fantastic memories. That is what is really gained on an adventure like this. We have only visited three countries and we have stayed each place long enough to get a real feel for the city. We have gone to the country also and explored different aspects of what is offered in each. This is only scratching the surface but it is more about doing it together than anything else. The fun of traveling with those closest to you.
