France and Italy

It is about 3:30am here in Chicago and I am unable to sleep any longer for the night. Of course it is 10:30am in Paris and in Rome where Dennis and I just spent the last week with our friends Jen and Nathan, so that might have a little something to do with it. Since we got home at 6pm last night we have received lot of phone calls from our friends and family asking how our trip was, so I figured it was probably time for a mega blog post with lots of pictures and details from our trip. And since I have 3 hours to kill before I need to get ready for work, I thought I might as well do that now.

Saturday, November 13, 2007

Saturday was the beginning of our trip. We packed everything in the morning. In the afternoon we headed out to Willow Springs, IL to pick up Jen and Nathan and the 4 of us headed to O'Hare. After a great airport dinner (spicy chineese food) we headed towards our gate. We flew directly from Chicago to Paris on an 8 hour United Airlines flight. It was an interesting flight. There were several movies to watch and we all had our own individual movie screens. I watched "License to Wed" while Dennis read a book and listened to music. They served us dinner on the plane and later breakfast. We tried to get some sleep but the seats were so incredibly small it was a rather difficult task to actually sleep. We had some interesting passengers on the plane as well. One guy, a few rows in front of us, got up to go to the bathroom and passed out in the aisle. There was a ton of commotion. The flight attendants put him in the seat directly in front of Dennis and they started calling for a Dr. With about 300 passengers, all we came up with were a woman who was a resident pediatrician and a man who was a clinical psychologist. It turned out that the man who passed out had taken some sort of sleeping pills along with 2 shots of whiskey and something else. His wife had done the same and she was also sick. After putting him on oxygen they were able to escort him back to his seat. Later, towards the end of the flight there was a guy sleeping in front of Nathan. He kept flinging his arm over his chair, covering Nathan's TV screen. We all started laughing uncontrollably when the guy blew his nose in his hand and started wiping his hand off on Nathan's screen. It was gross, but by then we were tired and found it to be quite hilarious.

Sunday, November 18, 2007

We arrived in Paris at about 10am local time at the Charles De Gaule airport. It was freezing! They said it was 0 degrees C there. Luckily all of our luggage made it. We grabbed that and headed out to convert some of our US $ into Euros. It kind of sucked. I gave them $600 US and got back $351 Euros. (The US Dollar literally became more worthless each day we were there.)

We took a bus (at 14 Euros each) to the Montparnasse district in France, just south of the center of Paris. Hopping off the bus we walked about 8 blocks with our luggage to our hotel. By the time we checked in, it was noon. Check in isn't normally until later but luckily they had a couple of rooms available. Jen and Nathan were on the 1st floor and we were on the 6th floor (the top floor at this hotel). Our hotel was called Le Royal Montparnasse Hotel or "Hotel Royal." (www.hotelleroyal.com ) Being on the 6th floor we had to take the elevator. The elevator was the smallest elevator I had ever seen. It said that you could fit 3 people in it, but that would be pushing it. Since we had luggage, Dennis and I went up 1 at a time.

Here is a picture of Dennis in the elevator.
When we got to our room, I literally couldn't help but laugh a bit. Our room was probably about 7 feet long by 7 feet wide. There was a small full size bed in it but your knee literally hit the foot of the bed when you walked in the door. It was nicely decorated though. All of the rooms were rather small, but ours was paritcularly small since we were on the top floor with a dormer window. We had the bed, a tiny closet, and a small bathroom. Here are a couple of pictures of that.


After a quick nap, we headed out for the afternoon to start seeing Paris. While we were there the Metro (subway) workers were on strike. The bad news with that was that there were a lot less trains running than there would normally be so they were packed and they didn't always go to the stops you needed them to. The good news was, the Metro was entirely free! With one exception, we pretty much were able to take the Metro everywhere we wanted to go and we didn't have to pay for it.

The first place we headed to was La Sainte Chapelle (Holy Chapel). It is in the Center of the city. It was built during the time of King Louis IX from 1242 - 1248 and was designed to house the relic's of Christ's Passion, especially the Crown of Thorns (which King Louis purchased from Constantinople for the outrageous sum of 135,000 Euros- in Contrast it cost only a sum of 40,000 Euros to build La Sainte Chapelle!) La Sainte Chapelle was pretty awesome. Being in a building that was built in 1242 was amazing in itself. We of course don't have anything that historical here in the US, so we were all in amazement to see this huge building still standing over 750 years later. The upper chapel was amazing with floor to ceiling stained glass scenes. In all there are 6,458 square feet of 13th century stained glass work (two-thirds of it original) with vibrant reds and blues. It you are ever in Paris, I would highly recommend stopping in La Saint Chapelle and taking a look around, especially in the upstairs chapel. Here are some pictures.

La Sainte Chapelle from the outside....(notice the circular window)
The first floor Chapel -

The second floor Chapel -
One of the second floor stained glass windows -
And that circular stained glass window from the inside -

We also walked past the Palace of Justice.....

The Seine River.....

And the Saint Michael Fountain....

Along the way we grabbed lunch on the street. We hade crepes and croque-monsieurs. Very delicious. The french version of fast food is sooooo much more tasty than ours. There are little creperies everywhere and you can just stop on the sidewalk and have someone make you a crepe right there on the spot. My favorite was the banana-nutella crepe. mmmmmm...

We headed towards the Cathedrale Notre-Dame de Paris (Or as you know it here, the Notre Dame Cathedral). We did not walk the 387 stairs to the top of the cathedral, but we did walk through it. A mass was going on which in itself was impressive. There were several priests performing the mass together in their long flowing robes it looked almost artistic. The Cathedral is very big with many small chapels along the walls surrounding the main alter.

The outside of Notre-Dame....

Mass taking place inside of the Cathedral...

One of the many chapels lining the edges of the Cathedral...

After leaving Notre Dame we decided we should probably make our way to the Eiffel Tower. It was a long walk, but well worth it. The Eiffel Tower was designed by Gustave Eiffel for the 1889 World Fair and at 300 meters, it was then the world's tallest building. I took probably 30 pictures of the Eiffel Tower (they were all making fun of me) but I thought it was so beautiful. I won't bore you with my 30 picture rendition, but here are a couple. We were there at night and it was getting VERY cold outside so this was our last activity for the day.



We finally made our way back to the hotel by about 8:30pm. The hotel manager suggested a local place for dinner called Chez Clement. It was just a couple of blocks away so we walked there and had a good meal. Dennis had an interesting fish platter (apparently when you order shrimp you get the ENTIRE shrimp - eyes and all) and I had a salmon dinner with pear flavored mashed potatos that were surprisingly good. After dinner we turned in for some much needed sleep!

Monday, November 19, 2007

We planned to meet for breakfast at 8am, but we all slept in - easy to do when your room doesn't have an alarm clock and when you have been up for over 36 hours straight. After a great beakfast at the hotel, we headed out to the Musee du Louvre. All I can say about the Louvre Museum is that it was probably the most awesome place I have ever been to. We got there at about 10am and left at about 4pm and we saw a LOT of artwork, but definitely not all of it. The collection of art on display is monsterous. The museum itself is a work of art. It is hard to describe just how big the place really is. The main entrance is through the glass pyramid which is in the center of the Louvre. The pyramid sits in a courtyard and is surrounded by enormous 3 story buildings that hold the entire collection of art. We saw Oriental antiquities, Egyptian antiquities, Greek, Roman and Etruscan Antiquities, Paintings, Sculptures, Prints, and Drawings. I probably took 200 pictures while at the Louvre. Here are a few to show just how big and awesome the place really was.

The glass Pyramid Entrance surrounded by the museum itself....


One of the enormous statues inside of the museum (Dennis is standing to the left so you can see the size of how big this artwork is). This piece represents the rulers of 4 different countries and use to be part of a fountain....

An original Renoir (La Lecture - painted in 1841)....

One of the many halls filled with artwork. Some of these paintings were at least 30 feet long and floor to ceiling. It is hard to imagine what it must have been like to paint something so big.

Here is one of the many many many impressive ceilings inside of the Louvre. I must have about 40 pictures of ceilings alone. They were absolutely majestic. It was hard to take it all in at once. We were literally surrounded by the most impressive artwork we had ever seen and all of it being hundreds of years old. It was literally breathtaking.
A fantastic view of the entrance pyramid, surrounded by the Louvrw and a skyline of Paris behind it....
The long hallway where the Crown Jewels are kept. Take a look at all of the artwork on the ceiling!
The Crown Jewels, Most notably you can see the actual Coronation Crown of Louis XV as well as some other very impressive diamonds and jewels.
Here we have Leonardo di Vinci's famous Mona Lisa. The Mona Lisa is moved around a lot but there is always a crowd surrounding her. She is kept behind protective glass so that the photographs don't harm the painting.
Here is a painting we were very impressed by - Antonio Campi painted this in 1569. Les Mysteres de la Passion du Christ (The Passion of Christ)....
The Louvre was an awesome place and definitely our favorite spot in Paris. We would go there again for sure. There is so much to see and so much history to take in. If you are going to Paris, you should plan to spend at least 6 hours at the Louvre. There is a LOT of walking but you won't be disappointed. We had lunch at a cafe inside of the museum. They checked our coats for us for free and we were allowed to take pictures everywhere.

After leaving the Louvre we headed towards the Arc de Ttiomphe. It was in the middle of a street with cars driving around it. We snapped a few photos before heading to a little street cafe where we stopped in for a bite to eat. Jen and I had some tasty crepes and ice cream while Dennis and Nathan enjoyed beer and Pomme de Fritz (aka French Fries)... Here is the Arc....
And all 4 of us....with the Arc....such tourists!

Since we had some time to kill, we walked around a little more exploring the area before dinner.
We stopped at La Maison du Chocolat (The House of Chocolate) and Jen and I bought some chocolate to take home with us. Very delicious. The streets of Paris are filled with Smart Cars and Motorscooters and they all drive like maniacs. I spotted many Smart Cars, but here is a picture of my favorite one.....see there are cars that are SMALLER than mine!
We enjoyed an excellent dinner at a place called Laduree. Jen and I had filets with purple violet mashed potatoes! They were actually bright purple and served with a crystalized flower petal in them! Surprisingly they were very sweet and tasty! Dennis and Nathan were more adventurous having lamb and some sort of cold salmon with salmon eggs.

Dinner wrapped up at about 10:00. We went back to our hotel and sat in the lobby enjoying some of our chocolates from La Maison du Chocolat and planning the following day.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Tuesday was an adventure. We all got a good work out today! We had an early breakfast and left our hotel by 8:15am so that we could take the Metro 13 stops all the way up to the Basilique du Sacre-Coeur. Sacre-Coeur overlooks the Montmarte district of Paris and is literally at the top of a hill. When we exited the Metro we walked up about 150 stairs to get to the street level. We were really underground! We then walked up several long steep hills and then up another 200 or so stairs to get to Sacre-Coer. After we caught our breath (mind you Jen is 5 months pregnant!) we had a chance to look around. The views from outside of the church were breathtaking! You could look out and see all of Paris. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but it was beautiful. There were lots of chapels on the outer walls of the church surrounding the alter and some very detailed artwork on the ceilings and in the domes of each chapel. We did buy a crucifix there - our one souveneir from France. (besides the chocolate).

A view from the top of Sacre-Coeur...
Sacre-Coeur....

Proof that we were there! .....
A faraway view of the Eiffel Tower...

The Salvador Dali Museum was just a few blocks away from Sacre-Coeur and since we had already walked up 400 steps we though we would swing by. Dali is one of Dennis's favorite artists so it was nice to see some of the less famous works of Dali and learn more about him.

Den in front of the Museum....
A sculpture in the museum - one of Dali's famous "melting clocks"

Drawings behind a set of sculptures....
And the lips couch...

As we left the museum, we headed back to the Metro station so that we could go to Musee D'Orsay for the afternoon. We walked through a square where there were artists everywhere painting, drawing, and trying to sell their work. Dennis's curly hair attracted a lot of artists to us who wanted to draw him. We didn't take them up on their offer but we did browse through a lot of the artwork. It was nice. Here are a couple pictures of that along with some of the many many stairs to get back to the Metro station.

We were really looking forward to going to the Musee d'Orsay which is more of an impressionist art museum filled with the works of Monet and Renoir. Unfortunately only the ground floor was open due to a General Strike that was going on. The admission was reduced, but we only got to see about one fourth of what was there.

Monet's "Coquelicots" painted in 1873...
Cabanel's "Naissance de Venus" from 1863....
We left Musee d'Orsay so that we could get to the Catacombs on time. Unfortunately when we got there, the Catacombes were closed beginning November 20th. We just missed them! To ease our pain, we stopped for a few more crepes on the street. We had dinner at a small local place called Creperie de Josselin. After dinner it was back to the hotel to pack, schedule a cab for the morning, and get some sleep. It looked like we were leaving just in time too because on our last night there even more people went on strike. We got to see a large protest parade that night.

Overall Paris was great. It was cold and rainy but still great. The people were incredibly friendly. I was able to remember some French from high school but most of the people there spoke English. The food was decent with really good bread, cheese, chocolates, crepes and sandwiches. The electrical outlets were not all that powerful. The only thing we brought that actually worked was the cell phone charger. My hairdryer, flat iron, and laptop were not able to work there. I think Paris is a nice place to visit but probably not somewhere I would want to live. If we were to go again, it would be in more of the summer months when the weather might be nicer. There is an excellent subway system that can get you anywhere you want to go. The cabs are expensive (about 70 Euros to get to the airport). Restaurants include tax and tip in the price of everything so you know what your total bill will be when you order. Portions are smaller than in the US, but they were perfect for us. We ate everything and didn't waste any food. Pop (soda) is EXPENSIVE costing about 4 Euros ($6.50 US) for just one glass and there are no free refills! Overall we had a great time in Paris. We loved the art, the architecture, and how easy it was to get from place to place.

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

This morning we woke up in Paris at 4am and took a cab to the airport. We had a 6:30am flight from Paris to Munich, Germany and then an 8:30am flight from Munich to Rome, Italy. Let me begin by saying, if you are flying from one European country to another, pack light! They weigh your luggage, but not one piece at a time - they weigh the total weight and they even weighed our carry on luggage. With a few too many pairs of shoes and the weight of my laptop (which I didn't use because of the electricity issue) and the weight of other unneccessary things like my hairdryer, flat iron, and some extra dress clothes - we were 8 kg overweight. We were charged 10 Euros per kg over weight coming to a total of 80 Euros!!!! (about $120 US). Needless to say, it was early in the morning and that caused me to be VERY crabby!

Regardless - we arrived in Italy at about 11am. We took a train from the airport in Fiamucino to the center of Rome. From there we took a cab to our hotel. Since we got to our hotel a few hours before check in we weren't able to get to our rooms. We stayed at the Gambrinus Hotel ( www.gambrinushotel.com ) They checked our bags for us and we headed off to find some lunch.

We went to a local restaurant on our way to the Metro station there. The Metro station in Rome is less efficient than the one in Paris. We had to do a lot more walking to get to the stops and then from the stops to where we were going, but overall it helped quite a bit. We bought a 3 day pass to use the Metro which came in very handy. When we stopped for lunch I was very excited. I LOVE Italian food. I had some excellent lasagna. Dennis had some sort of shrimp orzo pasta. We thought we would start the day off right and order a bottle of wine! There was definitely a language barrier there. We thought we were ordering a rose wine, but when they brought it to our table it was orange and very very sweet. We didn't like it at all but we had a glass or two anyway. At least my lasagna was outstanding!

We had a 2pm tour arranged through Roman Odyssey Tours to see Ancient Rome. We met our tour guide (Susan - originally from Michigan, but has been in Rome for 9 years) by the Arch of Constantine. She took us through the Colosseum, the Arch of Constatine, and the Roman Forum. It was amazing to see structures that were built BEFORE the times of Christ. There was some serious history all around us. We spent about 3 hours with Susan. She taught us all about the different structures - why they were built, what they were used for, how they looked back then, who built them, etc. It was very interesting...

Arch of Constantine....

The hill where Rome was founded - The wolf Romulus was originally found here - Now it is a closed off area where dogs are not allowed. They had just discovered something else new there the day before we got there.


The Colosseum - looking at the outside of it....

The inside of the Colosseum. You can see where the basement has been uncovered showing all of the hallways and small rooms in the basement. This is where they would have trap doors and as a surprise they would pop an animal up onto the stage to fight with either a Gladiator or another animal. Spectators would sit and watch these fights, always ending in death, all day for entertainment. The Colosseum only took 6 years to build! It even had a tarp to cover the roof when the weather was bad. The purpose of the Colosseum was to brighten up the spirits of the Romans through providing entertainment.

Here is a view from the other side of the Colosseum. You can see where a gravel stage covers part of the basement. Off to the left side just above the stage, the senators had front row seats. They were made of marble. You would think it would be painful to sit on marble for so long, but they actually had their own portable chairs, much like you see parents sitting in at little league games today! Remember this was in about the year 60 - pretty impressive!

The Ancient City of Rome... Look at the Cobblestone Road - This was built over 1500 years ago!
On the steps of this church, they gave both human and animal sacrafices. Saint Lawrence was slowly burned or roasted, to his death on these steps. Notice that there are not steps up to the green door. That is because everything below the door was buried underground and was not unsurfaced until much later. This church is still used today, only the entry is on the other side of the building facing the main street.
More of the ancient ruins - imagine Julius Caesar walking around here....
Here is the site where Julius Caesar was actually cremated....people walk around this alter to pay respects...
Many of these columns were made of solid pieces of marble. Popes and the Church took what they found and used it in other structures. Much of the rest of it was looted. There are many circular holes in the buildings that were once filled with bronze. Looters took the bronze, leaving the holes empty.
Imagine digging and finding all of this...

After our tour with Roman Odyssey, we headed back to the hotel. Having started our day at 4am, we were pretty tired and ready for a good night's sleep. We got back around 5:30. Our rooms at the Gambrinus Hotel were definitely more spacious than in France. We went to our rooms to relax and then had dinner at our hotel. I thoroughly enjoyed my saghetti while Den had some lasagna. Here is our room in Rome...
Thursday, November 22, 2007 (Happy Thanksgiving!)

This morning we had a Vatican Tour planned with Through Eternity tour groups. The tour was to begin at 9am and it was 5 subway stops away from our hotel stop. We had an early start. We met Thomas, our tour guide in front of the Vatican Museum. We were told that Thanksgiving weeekend is the busiest weekend for American tourists to be in Rome. It was surprising that the line to get into the Vatican Museum was only 30 minutes. The Vatican Museum is suppose to be the largest collection of art on the planet. Much of it is not on display though, so to us it didn't seem quite as large as the Louvre Museum, although in fact it is larger. Since we were on a tour, we had to keep pace and our tour guide was very helpful in showing us the things of most importance. We wore headsets so that we could hear Thomas talking. Thomas had an interesting perspective. He is a historian and use to teach history about the Middle Ages. He was from Florida but has been living in Rome for 9 years now. He was very knowledgable and helpful and he was very passionate about each piece of art he pointed out to us. We saw artwork, paintings, frescos, mosaics, tapestries, and stone pieces. We saw the works of da Vinci, Michaelangelo, and Raphael. The Raphael rooms were very impressive. Here are some pictures from the Vatican Museum.

Simon Peter with the Keys to the Kingdom.....
Some of the Angelic Angel frescos - My very favorite one to the left....

Raphael Painting...
The Garden of Eden - Check out the Turkey just over Thomas's shoulder - Happy Thanksgiving!
A fountain in the center of this room - made from a very very very rare and precious stone...

Amazing marble floors....

and even more amazing ceilings....
The hall of maps - a collection of maps inside the museum...

A painting on this wall was done almost entirely by Raphael...as a joke though, afterwards, Micaelangelo added a character on the stairs sitting at a desk. This character is a picture of Michaelangelo himself.

At the end of touring the Vatican Museum we got to see the Cistine Chapel where Michaelangelo painted the entire ceiling and all of the walls. It was an incredible sight to see. We sat for about 15 minutes just staring at everything. We were not permitted to take pictures inside of the the chapel so I don't have any to post. But if you are ever in Italy I would highly recommend making sure that you get to see it! It's amazing!

After we went through the Cistine Chapel we took a little break (Our entire tour was 6 hours today). After the break we went in to Saint Peter's Basilica. The Basilica was incredible. There were chapel's all around the edges with Alter's in the middle. We saw where the bodies of former Pope's were kept. There was incredible artwork inside of the Basilica. The basilica is 15 stories tall. The lettering around the top of the ceiling is 6 feet tall itself. The statues are 40 feet tall. The floors are all marble. In front of the Basilica is where the Pope performs mass on Easter. Inside the basilica there are other alters for masses as well. After we had completed our tour, we took a short break for some lunch and we went back to the Basilica for a 5pm mass. The mass was in Italian and Latin. It was really special to be able to attend mass there.

Here are some pictures from inside of the Basilica.

Here is the picture of the Vatican and Basilica from the outside...

Walking in to the Basilica...

Up to the left are the 6 foot tall letters and the 40 foot tall statues I was talking about...
An amazing dome inside of the basilica...
The main altar....
Looking back towards the entryway....
At the end of the day we went to a small restaurant where I enjoyed some great Rigatoni and Dennis had Lasagna. We split some red wine and called it a night. I definitely recommend a Vatican tour if you are ever in Rome, but make sure you bring comfortable shoes!

Friday, November 23, 2007

Today we went to the Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish Steps. After that we headed to the Castel Sant Angelo - It was a neat Castle with some art inside of it and an amazing view from the roof of the building. There was even a little restaurant/bar near the top where we stopped for lunch. We could see all of Rome from the top. It was a great day!

Trevi Fountain.....
Spanish Steps...
Dennis inside of the Castle in front of a large crossbow that was actually used back in the day...
View from the top of the Castle...

Dennis and I at the top of the Castle with the Vatican behind us in the distance...
By the end of our time in the Castle we were tired from sooooo much walking. We all went back to the hotel to rest for a while. Afterwards we did a little wine shopping and then enjoyed a really great dinner at a place called La Lampada. I had the best Minnestrone soup ever along with a scampi risoto. We had Pinot Grigio for dinner and we all enjoyed some tiramisu for dessert. I should also point out that today we had Gilato twice - and it was FANTASTIC!

Saturday, November 24, 2007

Today was our last official full day in Rome. We decided to take it easy a little. After 7 rigorous days of walking all over the place we took things a little slower. We headed back towards the Trevi Fountain area to do some shopping, enjoy some gelato and check out the Pantheon. It rained quite a bit today so we got a little bit wet. At the end of the day we split up foor a while. Dennis and I had a wonderful dinner at a place called Henry Cow Wine Bar.

The boys enjoy some Beer while the girls shop...

We all enjoy some gilato...
And when the rain comes, we take cover in the Pantheon...

Overall we loved Italy and we would definitely go back. The weather was perfect - In the high 50s and low 60s with no need for a coat. The people were friendly and the food and wine were fantastic. The subway system wasn't as great as it was in Paris, but we were able to get around. There is so much history in Rome it is unbelievable. The Vatican was amazing and we really enjoyed everything we got to learn about and see while we were there.

The entire trip is not one we will soon forget. Even the stops we made in Germany were fun. We booked our trip through gotoday.com If you are ever looking to book a trip, I would recommend them. They were very accomodating in letting us book our trip separately from Jen and Nathan, but they still made sure that we sat next to each other on the plane rides, etc. Thanks Jen and Nathan for inviting us to go on this trip. We had a wonerful wonderful time. If it weren't for Nathan's awesome navigation skills we might still be lost in Europe somewhere! Au Revoir! Ciao!