Our European Vacay

With everything going on since we have been back, I haven't really had the chance to sit down and blog about our trip! So here goes. I had originally planned on splitting this post up into three ; one for each country. But I have changed my mind:)

Paris

As I said here, this was the place I was most excited to go. That being said, we both decided that was probably our last visit to this city. 

Don't get me wrong, we had a great time. It was just so busy. We crammed our days full of seeing everything we wanted to see and doing everything we wanted to do. and most of you know, I dont love history. Luckily Philip does, but that aspect lost its appeal to me pretty quickly ;) 

We hit the hot spots: Eiffel Tower (several times), Arc de Triomphe, Hotel Invalides (Napolean's tomb), Rodin Museum, the Louvre, Musee d'Orsay, Notre Dame, St Chapelle, The Deportation museum & Conciergerie prison.

. Philip was in charge of booking our hotels and transportation, and he did an awesome job. He managed to incorporate breakfast at our hotel for each place we stayed- which was so nice to be able to just go downstairs and have breakfast before we started our day.  I mean, look at the view from our room in Paris

We got to watch the Eiffel Tower light up like a sparkling Christmas Tree every night on the hour, for 5 minutes. This was my favorite part of Paris. I loved it. We also got to have a picnic in the grass in front of the tower (which I had mentioned I wanted to do)

Even though we were in Paris for four nights, our stay seemed so short compared to how much there was to do. We went to bed each night exhausted but happy we fit so much in to each day. My favorite was the Eiffel Tower. We did take a day to go all the way up the very top, which was almost too high and too crowded for me. A close second was the Arc de Triomphe, at night. The view was spectacular and our timing was perfect because the tower was sparkling while we were up there! 

The weather was mostly cloudy with rain seemingly at least once every day we were there. But we were prepared and the rain didn't really bother us. Overall, I liked Paris ok. I was glad we went and I got to see all of the sights. Sort of like a 'right of passage' that has to be done in one's lifetime. We had an amazing time there and we will cherish that city for those memories. But I wouldnt be that sad if we didn't make it back to there to visit.

Zermatt Switzerland

We hiked our luggage to the train station and were off for a day of travel that encompassed 4 different trains to get us to our next destination. Let me tell you how difficult it is lugging around 5 pieces of luggage through train stations. but we did it! thanks to Philip's muscles and planning:) 

Our plans in Zermatt were to go hiking up to the base of the large mountain there, the Matterhorn. 

our plans were quickly changed when we got there and it was snowing! I love snow! 

Philip was so disappointed that the snow kept me from seeing the Matterhorn. But as his mom and Grandma say ' that just means we have to go back'. which I would be totally ok with :) 

Here, we got to just relax and enjoy the city. We spent our days walking around in the snow, shopping, eating some yummy food and just enjoying being a part of this friendly place. There was only one museum to go to, a climbing museum, which I was grateful for after Paris :)

We both thoroughly enjoyed Zermatt and would love to go back when we could attempt skiing, or in a season when the weather was a little warmer. 

Venice, Italy

Philip definitely planned this trip right, and saved the best for last:) 

I was most nervous about this city because of all. the.water. water to me = being sick. but I wasn't motion sick once! 

When we arrived at the Venice airport we took a water taxi to our hotel. How crazy! 

pulling up to our hotel

One of the greatest things about Venice was that our hotel room was pretty much right in the middle of everything. So it was so easy to run up to our room to drop off bags, pee, or change clothes. No paying to use some nasty bathroom!! 

his and her robes?! yes please!

 Venice was such a cool city. No cars just boats. no sidewalks, just bridges. 

While here we did go to St Marks Basilica, the Campanile, Doge's Palace, Rialto Bridge and St. Mary of the Friars Church.

Other than that, we spent our days walking the city, relaxing and enjoying the beautiful weather. 

We fell in love with a restaurant called Osteria Olivanera. It is owned by a fabulous husband/wife team. We had read about it online and so we walked by and made reservations one day. When we went that night to eat, she remembered my name and was a lovely hostess. Their food was the best we had had and the atmosphere was so welcoming. We made reservations for our last night as well, where they hugged us when walked back in:) they sent us home with a bottle of their homemade olive oil and a bottle of their homemade Balsamic vinaigrette. 

The original  Harry's Bar is in Venice. This is where the bellini was created. So we had stop in and have one there! 

Our last day there, everyone kept telling us 'the flood is coming tonight!'. Philip explained to me what they meant. Several times a winter, Venice experiences aqua alta- a combination of high tide and winds. The streets, especially St Mark's Square, begin flooding with water. It doesnt come out from the canals, it seeps up from the ground. and over the course of several hours, the streets are flooded! The city is ready and had elevated side walks they lay out for people to walk on. Lucky for me I had my rain boots, and lucky for Philip our hotel lent him a pair! so we got to play in the water and get some awesome pictures :)

Philips photography skills are getting impressive!

 This was by far the coolest part of our trip. It was so amazing to happen to be there when this happened and get to be in the middle of it. We both loved it:) 

This was the favorite stop of our trip. We both just loved it and would love to go back one day. 

We had such a good trip. a once in a lifetime trip where we got to spend 2 full weeks together (more than our honeymoon!), see things we have never seen before, do to things we have never done before, and make memories that we will cherish the rest of our lives.