Monday, October 31, 2011
Roma
Our last few days in Madrid were great and included a long bike ride throughout the city and a tour of the royal palace. The bike tour was a lot of fun and and took us to some really great views, side streets, and markets. The best market was San Miguel market. We stopped there after being delayed by sheep wrangling and it was such an amazing place. We relaxed at parque del buen retiro with the tour group and we met some fun people from Ireland, Australia, and Singapore. Now I know I need to order a "baby guiness" next time I'm at an Irish pub.
After the bike tour we went to the Palacio Real. This place was breathtaking. Each room was more ornate than the last. My (Adam) favorite part was the armory which was full of weaponry and armor. The spanish are no wimps that's for sure.
Our flight to Rome was at 7am today so we went to bed early and caught a cab to the airport around 4:30. It was only about 20 minutes and 15€ , not bad! You can totally do Madrid on a budget.
Now on to Rome. Rome is simply amazing...
I have loved every second of it so far. Our hotel has free wifi and breakfast as well as large bed and bathrooms. We even have a futon in the "guest" room. We dropped off our gear and found some great pizza before heading towards the Colosseo. I just couldn't believe I was standing where people watched gladiators fight hundreds of years ago. Turns out the movies aren't that exaggerated. They would build great scenes down on the sand for hunts and fighting. There really are trap doors and lifts for tigers and other exotic beasts. My favorite story was that they build a huge whale in the arena to represent a whale that had washed up on the Italian coast that year. However, in the colosseum, 40 bears came out from the whale's mouth for the gladiators to fight!
We took a bus tour to round out the evening and caught a glimpse of all the sights we need to check out tomorrow. After that we grabbed some amazing hand made pasta for dinner and headed back.
We are both a little sick, Shelby more than I. Hopefully a good nights rest will be the cure.
Caio for now!
After the bike tour we went to the Palacio Real. This place was breathtaking. Each room was more ornate than the last. My (Adam) favorite part was the armory which was full of weaponry and armor. The spanish are no wimps that's for sure.
Our flight to Rome was at 7am today so we went to bed early and caught a cab to the airport around 4:30. It was only about 20 minutes and 15€ , not bad! You can totally do Madrid on a budget.
Now on to Rome. Rome is simply amazing...
I have loved every second of it so far. Our hotel has free wifi and breakfast as well as large bed and bathrooms. We even have a futon in the "guest" room. We dropped off our gear and found some great pizza before heading towards the Colosseo. I just couldn't believe I was standing where people watched gladiators fight hundreds of years ago. Turns out the movies aren't that exaggerated. They would build great scenes down on the sand for hunts and fighting. There really are trap doors and lifts for tigers and other exotic beasts. My favorite story was that they build a huge whale in the arena to represent a whale that had washed up on the Italian coast that year. However, in the colosseum, 40 bears came out from the whale's mouth for the gladiators to fight!
We took a bus tour to round out the evening and caught a glimpse of all the sights we need to check out tomorrow. After that we grabbed some amazing hand made pasta for dinner and headed back.
We are both a little sick, Shelby more than I. Hopefully a good nights rest will be the cure.
Caio for now!
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Hola Madrid
We arrived midday yesterday in Madrid. Our hotel room is much bigger than Paris and easily accessible from the metro. The metro here is very easy to navigate. We took three lines to get to the hotel which was across the street from el Carmen stop. Our first meal was very interesting. We wandered into the first place we saw and it was a bit fancier than we expected. There were no English menus and no one spoke English. My 4 yrs of high school Spanish with señora Voorhis did not help.
Shelby:
Currently we are at a Spanish restaurant called VIPS (interesting name for a Spanish restaurant) eating some lunch and using their free wifi which has been a pretty rare find on this trip. Unfortunately I have managed to come down with a cold that we are attempting to concur with some medicine we picked up from the Spanish pharmacy. I would probably dedicate it to the consist late nights and early mornings in Paris. Whoops!
Today we are going to do the Madrid hop on and off bus tour. We have found its a great way to see all of the sights and learn the neighborhoods. It's a perfect day for this as its sunny and 70 here. So far we have definitely lucked out with incredible weather from this trip. So far my first opinion of Madrid after being in Paris has been slightly underwhelming. We are both very glad to be here for the experience but after seeing Paris and all of its beauty Madrid doesn't seem to compare in that category yet. Maybe we will change ours mind though after the tour today! We are also looking forward to a Bike Tour we have set up for tomorrow that will show us more of the off the beaten path sights here as well.
Ok that's all for now! Adios!
Shelby and Adam
Shelby:
Currently we are at a Spanish restaurant called VIPS (interesting name for a Spanish restaurant) eating some lunch and using their free wifi which has been a pretty rare find on this trip. Unfortunately I have managed to come down with a cold that we are attempting to concur with some medicine we picked up from the Spanish pharmacy. I would probably dedicate it to the consist late nights and early mornings in Paris. Whoops!
Today we are going to do the Madrid hop on and off bus tour. We have found its a great way to see all of the sights and learn the neighborhoods. It's a perfect day for this as its sunny and 70 here. So far we have definitely lucked out with incredible weather from this trip. So far my first opinion of Madrid after being in Paris has been slightly underwhelming. We are both very glad to be here for the experience but after seeing Paris and all of its beauty Madrid doesn't seem to compare in that category yet. Maybe we will change ours mind though after the tour today! We are also looking forward to a Bike Tour we have set up for tomorrow that will show us more of the off the beaten path sights here as well.
Ok that's all for now! Adios!
Shelby and Adam
Friday, October 28, 2011
Off to Madrid
Orly airport is so fast I love it. We found a 11€ bus near our hotel straight to the airport. Much easier than the metro. We had a great last night in Paris at the "Beer academy". Lots of great beer, mussels, and frites. So good! Met Yvonne, solo traveller, during our bike trip and she joined us for dinner.
Paris is done and it was amazing! Off to the next adventure!
Paris is done and it was amazing! Off to the next adventure!
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Paris Day 2 and 3: Biking, Pastries, and Mona Lisa
Salut! We are wrapping up day 3 here in Paris. We have certainly managed to fill our time to the brim here and have enjoyed it so much. Yesterday we started off the day at one of the neighborhood cafe's to sample some French Quiche....tres bon! :) One thing that has been very interesting here is that no matter how chilly it might be outside every single cafe and restaurant has outside seating...and it's usually packed! After breakfast we headed over to the Louvre. As we stood in line outside we looked around the courtyard asking ourselves if this HUGE structure truly was all the Louvre and sure enough it was. We spent many hours there yesterday and had the pleasure of seeing incredible art such as the Mona Lisa and Venus de'milo. We later learned that if you spent 30 seconds at each piece of art you would be there for 6 days!
After the Louvre we walked down the Avenue des Champs Elysees. At the end of this street is the Arc de Triomphe. This street is lined with many shops and restaurants that we walked through. Both Adam and I decided we may not have packed enough warm clothing so I took off on a sweater hunt and was able to find that here! One thing that is nice is that you can't buy more than you can fit in your backpack so it's also good on the budget. haha We also managed to run into a huge rugby celebration event. We weren't sure if it was that France had just won or if they were just showing a game but either way it was really cool to see the extreme passion the French have for the sport and their country.
Finally after we grabbed some dinner last night we went for our first crepe dessert since we have been here. As my mom would say it was definitely a little slice of heaven. Adam had banana and nutella and I had banana and cinnamon sugar. We also met a really nice couple from Colorado that we spent some time chatting with.
Today we started off by walking over to the Notre Dame (of course grabbing pastries on our way) for a Bike Tour we had scheduled. Adam and I both are foodies and love sampling the delicious local cuisine however I'm pretty sure my only saving grace for hopefully not gaining 25 pounds on this trip is the fact that we are walking a TON. :) The Bike tour was so much fun. We were with about 15 other Americans all varying in age and our tour guide took us all around the city but more of the off the beaten path type places. It was definitely one of our favorite things we did here and an incredible way to see the city! People are definitely fearless here, whether riding or driving. We rode our bikes down plenty of very small very packed roads in between cafes but it didn't seem to bother anyone at all.
Tonight we are headed out to a French Restaurant that our guide recommended for great mussels, frites, and beer. I'm sure some french bread too. :) We are meeting our new friend Evan tonight for dinner; she was on the bike trip as well. She is canadian and lives in New York City.
Alright I believe that's all for now. Tomorrow morning we will head to the airport to catch our Flight to Madrid so time to switch over to Spanish!
Au Revoir!
Shelby and Adam
After the Louvre we walked down the Avenue des Champs Elysees. At the end of this street is the Arc de Triomphe. This street is lined with many shops and restaurants that we walked through. Both Adam and I decided we may not have packed enough warm clothing so I took off on a sweater hunt and was able to find that here! One thing that is nice is that you can't buy more than you can fit in your backpack so it's also good on the budget. haha We also managed to run into a huge rugby celebration event. We weren't sure if it was that France had just won or if they were just showing a game but either way it was really cool to see the extreme passion the French have for the sport and their country.
Finally after we grabbed some dinner last night we went for our first crepe dessert since we have been here. As my mom would say it was definitely a little slice of heaven. Adam had banana and nutella and I had banana and cinnamon sugar. We also met a really nice couple from Colorado that we spent some time chatting with.
Today we started off by walking over to the Notre Dame (of course grabbing pastries on our way) for a Bike Tour we had scheduled. Adam and I both are foodies and love sampling the delicious local cuisine however I'm pretty sure my only saving grace for hopefully not gaining 25 pounds on this trip is the fact that we are walking a TON. :) The Bike tour was so much fun. We were with about 15 other Americans all varying in age and our tour guide took us all around the city but more of the off the beaten path type places. It was definitely one of our favorite things we did here and an incredible way to see the city! People are definitely fearless here, whether riding or driving. We rode our bikes down plenty of very small very packed roads in between cafes but it didn't seem to bother anyone at all.
Tonight we are headed out to a French Restaurant that our guide recommended for great mussels, frites, and beer. I'm sure some french bread too. :) We are meeting our new friend Evan tonight for dinner; she was on the bike trip as well. She is canadian and lives in New York City.
Alright I believe that's all for now. Tomorrow morning we will head to the airport to catch our Flight to Madrid so time to switch over to Spanish!
Au Revoir!
Shelby and Adam
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Day 1: French Bread
Adam:
We made it! Today was our first day in Paris and it was amazing. We started by attempting to take the Metro from CDG to downtown Paris. We got about half way before realizing it was morning rush hour and our big backpacks were making it hard to make the train transfers. We navigated through the metro station maze and finally found the way out "sortie". We caught a quick glimpse of the eiffel tower while searching for a taxi station. Our hotel room wouldn't be ready for a few hours so we took to the streets. After a quick French breakfast of cafe creme and toast, we headed to the tower. It's huge and so amazing! We hung around there for a while before catching a ride on a hop on/off bus trip around the city.
Our bus took us all over this beautiful city. We hopped off at Notre Dame which was breathtaking.
Shelby:
Salut! Ok continuing on with what Adam was saying about Notre Dame. Seeing the real thing actually made me tear up a bit as it was just incredibly beautiful. I decided that if Indy falls through for a wedding location this would be a great backup. One of the most amazing facts we learned is that Notre Dame was built just shy of 850 years ago. I kept asking myself how they did it so long ago. All of the other Irish fans would have been very proud. Haha :)
Tonight Adam and I went to one of the neighborhood Brasseries for some local cuisine. We had Croque Monsieurs, frites, wine, cafe au creme (best coffee ever), and of course an apple pie tart to top it off. Needless to say the food has proven to be nothing short of delicious! If you think French bread is just another boring bread you need to come here to sample the real deal. At breakfast they serve it with butter and jam...something so simple had never been so good.
After dinner we decided to see the city at night from the top of the Eiffel Tower. Once we finally got to the top I realized just how high up it is. I believe it's somewhere around 900 to 1000 ft tall and the view doesn't get much better than there.
I guess I should probably wrap it up now. We are completely exhausted with the time change. We will check back again in a few days. Tomorrow we plan to visit the Louvre as well as some sites where Napoleon spent his time here.
Bon Soiree! (good night)
Adam and Shelby
We made it! Today was our first day in Paris and it was amazing. We started by attempting to take the Metro from CDG to downtown Paris. We got about half way before realizing it was morning rush hour and our big backpacks were making it hard to make the train transfers. We navigated through the metro station maze and finally found the way out "sortie". We caught a quick glimpse of the eiffel tower while searching for a taxi station. Our hotel room wouldn't be ready for a few hours so we took to the streets. After a quick French breakfast of cafe creme and toast, we headed to the tower. It's huge and so amazing! We hung around there for a while before catching a ride on a hop on/off bus trip around the city.
Our bus took us all over this beautiful city. We hopped off at Notre Dame which was breathtaking.
Shelby:
Salut! Ok continuing on with what Adam was saying about Notre Dame. Seeing the real thing actually made me tear up a bit as it was just incredibly beautiful. I decided that if Indy falls through for a wedding location this would be a great backup. One of the most amazing facts we learned is that Notre Dame was built just shy of 850 years ago. I kept asking myself how they did it so long ago. All of the other Irish fans would have been very proud. Haha :)
Tonight Adam and I went to one of the neighborhood Brasseries for some local cuisine. We had Croque Monsieurs, frites, wine, cafe au creme (best coffee ever), and of course an apple pie tart to top it off. Needless to say the food has proven to be nothing short of delicious! If you think French bread is just another boring bread you need to come here to sample the real deal. At breakfast they serve it with butter and jam...something so simple had never been so good.
After dinner we decided to see the city at night from the top of the Eiffel Tower. Once we finally got to the top I realized just how high up it is. I believe it's somewhere around 900 to 1000 ft tall and the view doesn't get much better than there.
I guess I should probably wrap it up now. We are completely exhausted with the time change. We will check back again in a few days. Tomorrow we plan to visit the Louvre as well as some sites where Napoleon spent his time here.
Bon Soiree! (good night)
Adam and Shelby
Monday, October 24, 2011
Au Revoir
After many hours of packing, unpacking, and repacking we finally made it to the airport! Adam didnt seem to have as much trouble as I did packing... in fact he may have welcomed getting to wear the same outfit over again. :) As for me on the other hand, I had a hard time packing for a month and many different climates and trying to fit everything I "needed" on my back. It turned out I had to subtract about half of the items and call it a day.
We are currently sitting on our flight to Paris and I'm already telling Adam the very small amount of french that I remember from my trip 10 years ago. What I do remember vividly is incredible food and such a beautiful city! I am so excited to explore this romantic city with Adam.
Alright I better get going before they close the door on me. Au Revoir!
Shelby
Saturday, October 22, 2011
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