Our European Adventure

I can't believe its almost been a month since we left for Europe. It has taken me that long to come down from the high I was on the whole time we were over there. It was wonderful, fantastic, magical and any other over the top adjective you can think of. When we got back, Chad asked me how I liked it and all I could say was "I want to go back." I can never have too much wonderful, fantastic or magical in my life.

We took off from Houston and enjoyed a lovely 9 hour flight to London. It wasn't too bad but having to walk past all of the comfortable, loungy people in first class was a little blow to the ego. Please, walk among the nice comfy BEDS on the way to your seat you can barely fit in. Enjoy the flight. But really, it wasn't bad. They give you movies and I had a book. And I was going to EUROPE!!!!

We landed in London and I immediately wanted their accent. I could listen to the airport monitor lady drone on all day about the loading zones and not leaving bags unattended. It's intoxicating to hear. Our hotel was gorgeous and to give you a little taste of how gorgeous and high-end it was, I shall tell you a story. All you Harry Potter fans should listen up! Non-Harry Potter fans are not going to give a hoot, but just listen anyways. We got our bags unpacked and headed downstairs. When we walked into the lounge, there was Neville Longbottom sitting in a chair, just having a chat with two or three people. Not really Neville Longbottom, but the guy who plays him in the movies. He was in our hotel!!!! How ironic that I am in London and I actually see someone from the Harry Potter cast?!? By the way, he has grown into quite the looker. We had very little time in London so I couldn't just stare at Neville Longbottom all day. The royal jewels were awaiting us!

I won't go into too much detail about the whole trip. I know it gets boring when someone blabs on and on about their vacation trip. I'll just share a few pictures and let them speak for themselves. As I said, we only had a few days in London and we squeezed in quite a lot. It was rainy and cold but I loved every minute of it. This is actually the place I want to go back to the most. I loved it there and we had no time to enjoy anything but the tourist attractions. Next time, its small pubs and hanging with the locals to talk over pints!

Our hotel

Tower of London (where the Crown Jewels are. GORGEOUS!)

On London Bridge

In front of Buckingham Palace

Gates at Buckingham Palace

Famous red telephone booths

Parliament and Big Ben

Westminster Abby (no sign of Kate and William or Baby George)

As soon as we got there we had to leave. Or so it seemed. We hopped on a train that went 170 mph and zipped us to Paris in about an hour and a half. Paris. Oh Paris. You did not disappoint me in the least!!! I love New York. I have an obsession with Paris. It happened almost immediately. The city is just enthralling. There are gorgeous buildings everywhere. Not one had a face about it that was ordinary. You would think all of them are landmarks or important in some way. But Paris has so many of these beautiful structures lining every street that people just live in them, work in them or shop in them. No big deal. Even the people are intriguing. They could be telling you how stupid you were and you would just stand there and listen to every word of it. The lowest of dirtiest Frenchman sounds so intelligent in that language. I could do without all of the smoking and body odor but all fairy tales have a villain, right? If you want to hear all about that, just ask me. I'll spare the rest of you the horror.

This is one of the buildings in Paris that is just there. We had no idea what it was and people were just passing it by without even a glance. No big deal, just a beautiful mansion gilded in gold on the street corner. 

First of all, the Eiffel Tower is like 50 times bigger than you think it is. We went up it and I only made it to the second tier. I could not go any further. Chad went all the way to the top. But it really was beautiful being up there, over looking all of Paris while white knuckling the railing. The Arch de Triumph was a little easier for me to handle. The four rows of fences between me and the ledge had a little something to do with it. We stayed right on the Champs Elysees. This was probably my favorite part. Our hotel was fabulous but our room, oh our room!!!!! We somehow or another fooled that receptionist into thinking we were some hot shot, important couple in town for a leisurely stay. Because for reasons unknown, he upgraded us to a master suite. We acted like that happened to us all the time. Oh sure, if you must. (Holy curse word in French!!!!) Our room had stairs in it! We had a double door window that opened up right over the Champs Elysees. The most famous street in all of Paris and we are looking down at it from our hotel room. Take THAT, first class flyers!!!!!! We spent so much time in front of that window just watching the Parisian world unfold under us. I smile just thinking about it.

The famous landmark itself

Not quite at the top, but good enough for me

Part of our hotel room- just PART of it! The whole thing wouldn't fit in my camera lens. Crazy!!

Our beloved window

On the Champs Elysees, in front of the Arch de Triumph

Part of the view on top of the Arch

The Arch de Triumph

We went to the Louvre, we toured the city on top of a bus, we went to Notre Dame. We even took a train to go to the Palace of Versailles. This was Louis XIV's palace that he had with Marie Antoinette. They didn't think dousing it in gold was enough so they had over 800 acres of gardens laid out behind the palace. Talk about over kill! But it is a gorgeous over kill. You had to rent bikes or a golf cart to see all of them. It was our favorite tourist attraction in Paris.

Notre Dame

The gardens of Notre Dame

The Louvre

The famous lady herself

Inside the Louvre

Inside the pyramid at the Louvre

Napoleon's tomb

We had six wonderful days in Paris. We loved the wine and the food. Our favorite activity was just walking around the city. We found the student district which was located near a place called Isle San Louis. I just fell in love with it. All the shops and cafes and art. It was exactly the part of Paris I wanted to spend days in. There was a bridge were lovers would put a lock and throw the key in the water to symbolize their unbreakable love. Of course we had to do this so we overpaid some trinket vendor for a lock that probably cost a dollar and locked our love right there on the bridge. Cheesy I know, but we had fun doing it.

The not-so-subtle gold gate to the Palace of Versailles

One little tiny smidgen of the garden at Versailles

One of the thousands of fountains in the gardens

My hubby obliging me in my cheesy little request

Among the rest of the unbreakable loves in the world

My favorite part of Paris

There is a saying, "We will always have Paris." And it is true, we will always have those six days to remember. It was hard to leave but Rome was awaiting us. Such is the life of a traveling vacationer! We got on a plane and headed to Italy. Talk about some old, ancient and historical places. Rome has got them! They also have people everywhere and it was dirtier than I expected. Also filled with smokers and bad odor but whatever, I was used to it by then. Ok not really. Rome is very, very old and filled with a lot of people that are in a hurry to get, well I have no idea where, but they want to get there and get there quickly. On foot, in a car, on a bike, they are moving and moving fast. But they are really very, very nice. We were trying to get change for the metro and Chad was going to buy some water. The guy didn't have any change for us so he just gave us the water. In these places it is hard to find someone not trying to make a buck so that guy giving us water was a huge deal. Anyone you asked for help was glad to give it to you. Again, we stayed on a very nice street and our hotel was wonderful. The elevator couldn't fit three people in it but the hotel was great. Of course if you are in Rome you are going to the Vatican. Because of all the people we encountered at the Spanish steps and the Trevi Fountain, I just knew the Vatican was going to be insane with crowds. But we were so surprised to find it wasn't bad at all. We got right in and besides a little traffic jam going into the Sistine Chapel, it was relatively crowd free. The Sistine Chapel is just as beautiful and awe-inspiring as you expect it to be but it really is one of those sights and moments that pictures cannot capture. You must see it for yourself. And the Vatican is filled with so many Roman artifacts and history, you don't even know which way to look. St Peter's Basilica was simply moving. To be as old as it is, to hold the remains of the actual St Peter himself, to be witness to his crucifixion, the whole experience of the Basilica was just fantastic.

Trevi Fountain

Legend has it if you throw a coin in the Trevi Fountain, you will return one day.

Inside the Vatican walls

One of the thousands of Roman statues inside the Vatican

The famous Sistine Chapel ceiling which you are absolutely NOT supposed to take a picture of but I did it anyways. Thankfully I did not get caught, the guards there are not very forgiving. They turned away so many girls for wearing tank tops and skirts. They take the sanctity of the Vatican very seriously.

The obelisk stands where St Peter was crucified. 

Holy water

Inside St Peters Basilica

The famous statue carved by Michelangelo

St Peters Basilica

When in Rome, you do as the Romans do. We drank Italian beer, ate our weight in gelato and walked every cobbled street we could find in Rome. The Colosseum was beyond amazing. I can't believe so much of it is still standing. We toured the Ancient Roman Ruins and I am still in shock how sophisticated and modern the Romans were back in that time.

The Pantheon

A column on the Pantheon

One of many, many fountains scattered throughout the streets of Rome

An art festival

Inside the Colosseum

Ancient Roman Ruins

Just another large and beautiful statue and fountain we discovered on some corner in Rome.

Seriously, I ate more gelato than I care to admit

Italian beer- delicious! Lots of exercise was awaiting us when we got home!

We toured the Borghese Museum which was actually my favorite in Rome. It was a somewhat private tour so there was absolutely no crowd to worry about. And it was filled with statues by Bernini, my absolute favorite. We were not allowed to take cameras inside the museum so you will just have to trust me when I saw it was phenomenal! The gardens leading to and out of the museum were just beautiful. It was a perfect little Roman day for us.

Gardens outside of the Borghese museum

On our last night in Rome we found our favorite little restaurant. It was mentioned to us by a friend and out of all the places we ate on our entire trip, it was our favorite. It was a very fitting setting for our last night in Europe. We were sad to leave it all behind but there was a certain blue-eyed, blonde-headed little boy that we were missing something fierce and we were so anxious to get back to him. While we were traipsing around Europe, Gavin was being spoiled by both sets of grandparents. I honestly don't know who had the better vacation, him or us. Our trip was amazing and I can't find the words to describe to you just how amazing but it truly was. I hope one day we will get to go back but for now, the memories will do!