Eric’s Journal

We spent two nights in Venice in a tiny, and I mean tiny, hotel room. However, the room had the redeeming quality that it was on the Grand Canal with a view of the Accademia Bridge. Considering that there are only three bridges that cross the Grand Canal, this was a great location. With only one and a half days to spend in Venice, we didn’t spend much time in our hotel anyway.

Venice has a way of immediately winning you over. As soon as you step out of the train station, the Grand Canal greets you, and you are surrounded by palaces still showing signs of a glorious age. We took a vaporetto, which is a boat that functions as a public bus, the length of the Grand Canal to our hotel, passing by countless palaces, bobbing gondolas, and the Rialto Bridge.

During our first afternoon there, we climbed the campanile (bell tower) on San Marco (Saint Mark’s Square). This was a great way to get they lay of the land, so to speak. That night we hung out in a cafe/bar on the square that charged a steep cover, but provided live music and great wine.

The following morning, we returned to San Marco to visit the Doge’s Palace and the Basilica. Because of Venice’s position on the Adriatic Sea, it had a strong connection with trading centers in the Middle East, thus its art and architecture reflects the Byzantine Style. We were amazed by the opulence of the Doge’s (Venetian Duke) palace, which was on par with Versailles in terms of living in autocratic style. We were also impressed by the basilica, the only one we visited on this trip in the Byzantine orthodox style. The gold mosaics lining every inch of the dome were beautiful. We also visited the treasury, filled with treasures looted during the crusades, and saw some horse statues that date back to the era of Alexander the Great.

Despite being worn out from the heat and walking, we decided to squeeze in a trip to Murano Island late that afternoon. We took a half-hour long vaporetto ride that circled the island, and arrived a little too late to see a glass blowing demostration, but we did get to purchase some traditional Venetian glass.

We did not take a gondola ride during this visit, which we considered too expensive for the thrill of being run over by a vaporetto, but we did take a short traghetto ride, which is crossing the Grand Canal via a gondola in areas that lack a bridge. The traghetto cost .50 euros, vs. 90+ for a gondola ride.

The next morning, we caught an early train for Florence. By the time we get a chance to write about that, we may be back in Seattle. LeAnn just posted about our time in the Cinque Terre, so read below for a post about our trek up and down the terraced cliffs. We are now in Rome and we return home in two days.

Update: view photos of Venice.

Filed by Eric at 12:23 pm under Europe 2007
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We arrived on the Italian Riveria to a flood of heat. We were a littled worried that our train would skip over the town we were staying in, Riomaggiore. Fortunately it stopped.

I converted my backpack to a roller bag, thinking it would be easier to maneuver the streets. HA! We begun our climb up the town’s main street, a hill, but the hill never seemed to end, we began to sweat, badly. By the time we made it to the top, found our hotel and went to check in, we were dripping. It must have been quite a sight and I believe we left some small pools on the floor. I know that Eric had a little trouble signing the paper because the pen for some reason was extremely slippery. So then we had to walk up a steep flight of stairs to our room. But it was well worth it, we had a little balcony, air conditioning and a FAN! A little oasis…

Cinque Terre is made up of 5 small hillside towns, and they mean hillside! Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterrosso are only about 7 miles apart. Vernazza and Monterrosso are the most resorty and Monterosso actually ships in sand so they can create a beach for the tourists. This is an absolutely beautiful area, so we decided we should attempt the treacherous walk between all five towns.

The “walk”, more like a grueling hike at points, was amazing. The pink and orange buildings of the towns seem to be barely standing straight, and seem to come from nowhere. Much of the area has terraced farming and I saw my first olive tree, and my first lemon tree. The view of the sea is of course magnificent. In an attempt to make sure we kept cool, I think it was around 90 degrees that day, we had stopped at the hardware store to get a bottle with a sprayer to use as a mister, however, it was pretty leaky by town 3. I guess that is what 2 euros in the boonies will buy you. If only we had remembered to pack our mister.

So the hike between town 4 and 5, Vernazza and Monterosso, we read was suppose to be pretty tough. Rick Steves wasn’t kidding. Uneven rock stairs straight up, for what seemed like forever…narrow pathways, and if you peer down far, far below waves crash on the rocky coastline. I will admit at this point I was hurtin and really wanted to quit. It seemed like too late to turn back and by the time we got close to the last town it was all downhill. I’m just really glad we didn’t have to walk up that direction, it was much worse.

The next day we hiked (yes, again) to a small sort of sanctuary for the flora in the area. Of course the views were incredible and it was well worth the burn in the quads. There also happened to be a train strike that day, so we decided it was the perfect day to take the ferry to another town. Of course the sea was furious for the first time and just walking the gangplank to get on the boat was quite scary. It didn’t help that the boat people were in encouraging us to move really quickly. Of course I was a little worried that my previous seasickness would occur again, but it wasn’t too bad. The girl downstairs was much worse off. After many ups and downs we made it to the resort town of Monterosso. It was amazing viewing the towns from a different perspective. Eric captured some great pics and even took one of the cliff restaurant we ate in the day before. We could actually see the path we took the day before and it was nice to brag on the ship about how we had hiked ALL of the towns the day previously. Although I think people were more thinking that we were crazy rather than being impressed. We spent a little time in the town, had lunch, walked around and headed back.

That evening we took another walk down the Via Del Amore from Riomaggiore to Manarola and had a fabulous dinner in this little family run place. The tiramisu was the best we’ve EVER had and the owner actually brought us some dessert wine and little biscuits (real biscuits) to dip in it. We were thinking oh, that’s so nice, I bet it is just like a sweet white wine. No sirree Bob, this stuff was wicked, stick to your throat burn, but surprisingly good. I actually used most of the biscuits to get the stuff down. The walk back with the moon reflecting on the water, well, you don’t get to see that very often, truly spectacular.

Cinque Terre is definitely one relaxing and beautiful place that I know will stick with me forever.

Update: view photos of the Cinque Terre.

Filed by LeAnn at 12:11 pm under Europe 2007
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We haven’t had Internet access in a while, so here is a quick update on our treck across southern France to connect Barcelona and Italy.

It was harder than expected to catch a train out of Barcelona becuase the one we wanted was fully booked. As a result, we didn’t arrive in Carcasonne until late in the early evening, after the main attractions had closed. Carcassone is considred Europes most heavily fortified and well preserved medieval city. It has fairy tale views of castle walls. I was able to get some great pictures of medieval defense systems, but didn’t see much more than that because we had to leave early the next morning.

We spent two nights in Nice, which included climbing two hills for some amazing views and a visit to Monacco. We were able to explore Old Nice and ate a local specialty called socca.

From there, we travelled to the Cinque Terre in Italy, and LeAnn is writing about that right now. That’s all I have time to write for now, I’ll add some more detail later.

Update: view photos of Carcasonne and Nice.

Filed by Eric at 4:38 am under Europe 2007
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Barcelona has welcomed us with its warmth, fabulous food market, and great metro. The pace here seems slower, but it could just be the heat. I love the fact that this is a port town, right on the Mediterranean, so our first visit was to the pier to enjoy the cool breezes. One place we have visited daily is the Mercat Boqueria, which sells fresh EVERYTHING!! The fruit is refreshing and is usually part of our breakfast, except for today, Sunday when it is closed. We´ve probably eaten the most fruit and veggies in this town than any on our trip. Actually, another nice constant is Starbucks, I know it is commercial, but it is quick, you know what you are getting, and who can pass on a frap?

Antoine Gaudi was a innovative architect/artist that has made quite an impact on this town. Yesterday, we set out to visit the major Gaudi sites, beginning with Parc Guell. We stopped by the Boqueria for breakfast and got some fruit, bread and cheese, and gummy candy for our lunch in the park and at the grocery store we picked up some Pringles. We took our frisbee thinking we may have a chance to stand on the grass and throw a few….NO Grass! Just dirt. However, the Gaudi creations are amazing, Heather was right. Many of the bridges/pathways seems like they belong in the natural setting. Others are magnificent creations with colorful tiles, especially the dragon-lizard fountain near the entrance. We loved wandering the park, eating our picnic while being serenaded by wonderful street musicians. (although they played the theme from Aladdin twice). Then we headed off to Casa Mila, and Casa Battlo on the block of Discord. Casa Battlo was built to look like a dragon, the tiles at the top look like scales and the balconies look like the gaping mouths of dragons.

We finished off our Gaudi day by visiting the Sagrada Familia. Gaudi spent the last 40 years of his life designing this massive project. It is still unfinished and surrounded by many cranes, and may not be completed for many years. It is a cathedral building project on the scale of the great gothic cathedrals such as Notre Dame, and when it is completed will have a central tower considerably taller than other cathedrals. Gaudi took his inspiration for this project, as always, from nature. The main pillars of the nave are inspired by the trunks of redwood trees, and the arches follow the parabaloid shape of whale ribs. We tried to take the lift to the top of one of the towers, but it only went part way. Then we had to subject ourselves to more spiral staircases to get down. The impact of the sculpture, art, and towers is breath taking. I hope I get to see it completed some day!

This morning, Sunday, we visited the city´s more traditional central cathedral. They keep 13 white geese in the cloisters in honor of the city´s patron saint who was tortured at the age of 13 by the Romans (though we could only count 11). At noon, the locals gathered in front of the cathedral for the traditional Sardana dance. We almost thought it wasn´t going to happen, then all of sudden a band arrived and several people formed a circle and began dancing.

Tomorrow, we will visit the Joan Miro museum and other attractions at the top of Montjuic.

Beret count = 16 (yeah, even in Spain)
Strangest food consumed = not sure, but it had tentacles
Coolest spot = our hotel room with AC and the ceiling fan cranked

PS - we posted two today, so continue reading for our post about Paris.

Update: view photos of Barcelona.

Filed by LeAnn at 10:33 am under Europe 2007
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By car is definitely the most exciting way to enter Paris, especially when you see the Arc de Triomphe starting to loom before you… 12 or some crazy number of streets converge on that roundabout. Our GPS steered us out of the area, just in time. Phew! Eric did a great job navigating the streets, even though it seemed overwhelming and a little scary.

Paris also, was chilly and rainy, but we did stay fairly close to the Eiffel Tower, which helped brighten the spirits. It also wasn´t bad waking up and having a chocolate croissant for breakfast! We are finding it not as easy to blog if there isn´t Internet in the hotel we are staying at, I guess we´d rather be seeing the sights.

One tip, if you ever go to Paris, and plan on visiting a few museums, make sure you pick up a Paris museum Pass, well worth the money, especially since you get to shortcut quite a few lines. Tourists definitely abound in Paris and it seemed like every site was crazy busy.

The first day we arrived we visited Saint Chappelle, a church with magnificent stained glass, quite beautiful. We also managed a visit to Notre dame, amazing flying buttresses, and visited the Deportation Memorial, celebrating the lives of the French interned during WWII by the Nazis. It was extremely moving. We took a trip up the Eiffel Tower and managed to stay up there until the sun went down. What a great way to get a perspective on the city!

Now that I am thinking about it the rest of the Paris is a little blurry, it felt sort of like a whirlwind, a good whirlwind. The Musee d´Orsay had fabulous art and I loved the Rodin Museum and seeing the real “The Thinker”. I never realized how intense and time consuming creating sculptures is… it was fascinating as they had on display different stages and castings of some of his art. Sacre Coeur is a looming church on a hill overlooking the city. I thought is was a great idea to climb to the top. After losing count to the number of stairs and feeling the burn we made it into the open to a fabulous view and a rainbow!

The next day we took the train out to Versailles. Right now I am reading a biography about Marie Antoinette so I was anxious to verify the images in my head. It is quite massive although, so were the crowds, so much so, that it was a little distracting. I think the Hall of Mirrors was my favorite in the main palace. The grounds were beautiful and we made it out to the Grand and Petit Trianon, which were basically where the nobility went to get away from the crowds, but only a 30 min walk! It was fascinating seeing Marie Antoinette´s Hamlet and the area where she spent a considerable amount of time. Definitely a highlight! We made it back to town in time to visit the Pantheon, by then I was feeling quite weary. Here, one of Eric´s highlights was seeing Foucalt´s Pendulum. Boy the earth moves slowly!

Our last day in Paris, we left for visiting the Louvre, strolling the Champs Elysees and climbing the Arc de Triomphe. The Louvre as you can imagine was crazy busy and I think half the people there were crowded around La Jaconde (the Mona Lisa). Unlike when Eric visited back in 2001, it is now behind glass and surrounded by ropes, attempting to consolidate the crowd. We really couldn´t get a good look at it, but admired from afar. Some other highlights were some of Botticelli´s works, the real painting of the crowning of Napoleon´s wife Josephine that we saw at Versailles, Venus di Milo, other da Vinci works, the code of Hammurabi, and somehow we ended up seeing the Winged Victory about 5 times due to our walking strategy or lack there of. The shops lining the walk to the Arc de Triomphe are much like the ones you see lining 5th Avenue in New York or the Magnificent Mile in Chicago, basically, I can´t afford anything there. We had another “feel the burn” walk up a tiny spiral staircase to get to the top of the Arc de Triomphe. The view was a great way to remind us of all we had seen in Paris and how much more there is to see!

Beret Count= 14
Highest Price Paid for a Soda= 3 euros
Best Dinner= Le Bosquet
Best Dessert= Ulysses en Gaul - Banana and Nutella Crepe

Update: view photos of Paris.

Filed by LeAnn at 9:36 am under Europe 2007
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After spending several days in the Cotswalds, we headed south to catch a ferry out of Portsmouth. Along the way, we stopped to visit Stonehenge. Our guidebook led me to believe this was going to be a tourist trap, but it turned out to be a pleasant and educational experience. Well, as pleasant as it could be in the ever-present rain. Visitors are able to get an unobstructed and fairly close view, and the audio guide was very informative.

We stayed one night in Portsmouth across the street from the ferry terminal and we had booked the 7am crossing on a fast boat to arrive in France early that afternoon. However, it was extremely windy and our trip was cancelled, so we were put on a slower ferry that left later that morning.

The ferry trip was a bizarre experience. Being from Seattle, we considered ourselves experts on ferries, but this trip challenged all of our previous conceptions. The bottom deck had a car hold, but the seven decks above had more in common with a 1970’s cruise ship. The decor had a Holiday Inn lounge feel, and there were bars, arcades, theaters, and, as it turned out, a karaoke bar. We tried to sit in a quiet area, but a few hours into the trip, a DJ put on some music and announced that due to the weather, there would be no karaoke, but instead there would be a magic show. Then on cue, Mr. Magic emerged on stage and began juggling, performing tricks, and making balloon animals to the tune of Monty Python’s “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life”.

To make matters worse, LeAnn became rather sea sick, despite wearing her anti-nausea wrist bands. The sea was rough, with huge rollers and white caps. She wasn’t able to eat anything, and all we had had to eat was some sort of Danish.

Still, to me it was worth the trouble. The route our ship followed, from Portsmouth to the Ouistreham, was the same course followed by many ships during the June 6, 1944 invasion of Normandy (as another similarity, the channel was very rough on that date, causing a great deal of sea sickness among the troops).

We have now spent the last several days exploring Normandy. We rented a car and despite our fears of ending up with a tiny, compact Le Car, we got a Toyota Prius! This came equiped with on-board GPS, so we haven’t had to mess around with translating maps.

We’ve visited a half dozen D-Day sites, several museums, and the American Cemetary. I’ll write more about this later when I can publish some pictures. We also saw the Bayeux Tapestry, which is on display just a few blocks from our hotel. We were both amazed at sheer length of this nearly 1,000 year old historical record, and we were captivated by the story it tells. Today, we ascended the many steps of Le Mont St. Michel, and ate fluffy, foamy omelettes for lunch.

Tomorrow, we leave for Paris and will stop by Monet’s garden at Giverny along the way.

Update: view photos of Normandy.

Filed by Eric at 11:18 am under Europe 2007
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We are now in France, but the following is a excerpt I wrote on the train in England.

Where are those sheep? I was looking forward to viewing sheep close up.

When we arrived in Moreton-In-Marsh, it was raining, again. It happened to be Market Day, so I figured there would be flowers, meat, veggies, seafood…however, there were also socks, batteries, sweaters, old cds, and a Meat Machine. What’s a “Meat Machine”? We didn’t get close enough to find out! The market was much like a mall, but on a smaller level. Still… no sheep, just saw them from afar on the train.

We decided to visit Stow-In-the-Wold, sounds like someplace sheep would be, right? Well, it was a quaint town with shops and it was still pouring. Eric had a chance to try out the stocks in the town square, but he got a little wet. No sheep.

The next morning, the sun was sort of breaking through, so we went off on a hike or a walk to examine the English countryside. The puddles were virtually impassable, but we trudged on. I can’t remember the last time I was that muddy. Guess what? We didn’t see ANY sheep, but we sure got a good look at some cows! The couple in front of us meandered through the herd without a hitch, not us! When walked by a couple cows turned their backs and took care of business before we could turn away. Boy, it smelled bad and Eric couldn’t stop laughing through the entire field. I think that just encouraged the behavior. Due to this experience, that afternoon, I had to muster up some courage to eat cheese . The walk was enjoyable, we ruined a couple of white hotel towels, but it was fantastic to be outside.

Chippen Camden was a town to the North and it had a beautiful Catholic Church. The altar coverings were supposedly the only ones to survive the English Civil War. The bus ride was a little scary due to the narrow roads and how they drive on the other side of the road.

The Cotswolds were definitely quite a bit slower than London. Too bad we didn’t get to see the animal that creates the famous Cotswold wool, I guess we were in the wrong area. I can’t believe there weren’t ANY sheep. The hotel was fantastic and we had an amazing meal one night, all in all, it was a welcome reprieve from the hustle and bustle of city life.

Next up: D-Day and the beaches of Normandy, France.

Update: view photos of the Cotswolds.

Filed by LeAnn at 12:32 pm under Europe 2007
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