EUROPE HIGHLIGHTS

If you want the stories and highlights (the stuff that can't be told through pictures,) read below. If you want the pictures, you can go to this link and get the 200+ set. Just feel grateful we edited down the original 951 pictures we took to this more manageable set. picasaweb.google.com/alisaerin/EuropePics

SAN FRANCISCO?

• After sprinting a mile through the airport, we missed our connection on the way out of the states and against our wishes spent the day in downtown San Fran

LONDON

• Hotels went from Fantastic to Abysmal, in that order, as we hopped one stop to the next. Each one a notch lower than the next.
• Drizzled on us our first night in London and it felt so appropriate that I couldn’t be sad. Had an amazing rainbow just behind the Tower Bridge following the rain.
• Naps, advil and diet cokes got us through the days
• Front row tickets to see Les Miserables. They were practically spitting on us and I loved it. Almost cried about 47 times.
• Bought some Antique Dickens Book from Covent Garden Market. They looked really cool, so we bought them and now they sit on our shelf.

PARIS

• After ordering our train tickets in French, I embarrass myself by saying “Gracias.”
• Home sweet home – had a strange “coming home/homesickness” feeling the whole time we were there.
• Crepes, baguette, more crepes, french fries, more baguette
• Packed all our stuff for the 2 week vacation in one REI backpacking backpack and a smaller, school backpack. Had to do laundry in the sink twice during the trip, ring everything out and hang it all over the hotels.
• Walked about 12 miles in the am one day to get around Versailles and out to Marie Antoinette’s Hamlet which was the first of many irritably hot days
• Ran into a high school friend in the Louvre. He hasn’t been back to Paris since he graduated either. So completely random.
• Witnessed a 45-minute full on make out session in the Tuilleries Garden. May have gone on longer but the gag reflex wouldn’t let us take anymore. Also we had a train to catch.
  
• Took the night train out of Paris with 4 strangers in our room. B & I had the top of the 6 bunks and slept in a pool of our own sweat. It was lovely.
• Train Connection MIRACLE – night train got in late and we had a connecting train. Jumped out while the train was still moving, sprinted with ALL of our gear from the last car of the train and jumped ON to the next train as it was pulling away from the station. It was amazing.

CINQUE TERRE

• Gorgeous views and a fun hike
• I bought the world’s largest map of Italy so I could follow along as we rode the trains. I think Brian was a bit embarrassed.

VENICE

• Some sweetheart gives us his waterbus passes for free (about $24/ticket), in our excitement, we get on the wrong waterbus and take an hour detour past cruise ships and warehouse looking buildings to get to the main square.
  
• Heat wave starts and the number of stories I tell from here on out that involve me being a sweaty mess goes up to 100%
• Ran from A/C store to A/C store and ended up buying some sweet Venetian Masks. This picture is beyond embarrassing, but the mask is pretty sweet.
• Stopped by an internet café to learn that Kris Allen is our American Idol.
• Took the train to Florence and we were in the only car on the train with no A/C. Enter sweating Ali along with lots of sweaty, smelly Europeans. Brian had a crazy cat lady come sit next to him and let her cat walk around on our table. I couldn’t stop laughing. We are not cat people.

FLORENCE

• Arrived in Florence late, after the long travel day with no A/C and crazy cat lady to realize we’ve misbooked our hotel and there’s “no room in the inn.”
• Brian unleashes one of the best quotes of the trip, “Seeing the world is hard work.” Amen. Then again when you have views like this - it's hard to complain.
• Desperate for Mexican, (Brian, not me) we found a burrito type kebab place and ate there for 3 of our 4 meals in Florence.
• Rented Honda Scooters and cruised into Tuscany to see the vineyards. One of the best things we did the whole 2 weeks. Scorched our arms and gave us awkward tan lines for the rest of the trip. So worth it.
• Got totally lost on the scooters trying to get back, ended up on the freeway with no clue what we were doing. Brian rode up to my side to scream, “GO FASTER!!!” as cars were whizzing past us.
• Didn’t die. So count it as a success.
• Got royally screwed over by some Gelato place and spent over $20 on a few scoops of the worst tasting Gelato in all of Italy

ROME

• Most ghetto hotel in the whole world. Our room was a storage closet turned hotel room, no windows and reeked of smoke. Couldn’t lift my arms in the shower without hitting the doors and the water would vary without being touched between scalding my skin off and ice water. The room did have A/C though.
• Brian cranked the A/C down to below freezing and we tried to sleep with a sheet. Somehow in his sleepiness, he couldn’t figure out how to warm it up or turn it off and assumed it was broken as my teeth chattered away. After not being able to sleep all night and requesting he try again with the remote, he loving said, “Do you want to sleep in your coat?” Dear Husbands of the world, no one WANTS to sleep in their coat. The answer to that question will always be no.
• So sick of extreme temperatures and not wanting to sweat in my jeans another day, I wore Brian’s camo shorts and looked like a boy but was so worth it.
• Lara Fisher (one of my BFFs) and her sister Shannon went to Rome on vacation 6 years ago. Shannon met Leo, a Vatican City researcher and Rome tour guide, and she basically never looked back. Thank goodness they were willing to meet up with us!!! They know absolutely everything there is to know about Rome and stayed with us an entire day showing us around. Talk about GOOD PEOPLE - we love these guys.
• Watched the Manchester vs Barcelona game and had drunken Barcelona fans singing all the team songs the entire next day.
• Ran into someone from work. In Rome. 3 times in one day.
• Took 951 pictures and carried the tripod almost everywhere we went. Brian did an awesome job and got some fantastic shots.