I have been counting down days until I come back to the States for a few months now. I absolutely LOVE Italy, but there are things I miss about home.
Things I love about the States:
My family, duh! Can't wait to come home to see them and spend time with them.
My friends I haven't seen in a year...that's WAY too long!
The RADIO!!! I'm a huge radio person and I can't wait to catch up on all the current songs and my beloved Country Music! I've started hearing songs on award shows that I've never heard before...that's sad.
Jersey Mike's ham and cheese sandwich with ONLY mayo.
Walking into a store or restaurant and speaking perfect English without feeling bad that A) I am totally butchering their language or B) I don't know how to ask for what I need.
Seeing American Griswald Family Christmas houses...Italians just don't do the decorations quite the same!!
Going to the Christmas Eve service at my church and ending the evening in candlelight singing Silent Night.
Having the cashier bag my purchases instead of handing me the bag.
CHEAP shopping!!! I'll be paying in dollars instead of Euro!!
And more than 10 channels replaying the same shows on Armed Forces Network!!
But for all the things I love the States for I have lists of reasons why I love Italy as well:
I leave my house every day and see the snow covered Alp mountains (assuming it's not too foggy)!!
A speed limit is a suggestion and I'm never concerned about tickets...
The wine is often cheaper than water!
Once you are seated at a table in a restaurant it is yours for the night. The server is not looking to turn the table to make more money...you take your time!
Cheese from the weekly market...never had anything like it...it's SO good!!
I can drive two to four hours and be in 5 different countries depending on your direction.
Skiing in the Alps...for 30 Euro (less than $50) a day!
Clearly I am blessed to be surrounded by so many great things.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Sunday, December 5, 2010
It's December Already!!!
Auguri!!
So I've been busy, trucking right along in day to day life. Nothing major and exciting, but busy none the less. I finally broke down and bought a planner. I had one when I first arrived here left over from back home (when it was necessary) but after a few months of nothing to write in it...I quickly gave it up. After being here a year I now need a planner again because my schedule is filling up! I guess that's a good thing. So pretty much my planner has filled up with things like car appointments, dinner dates, movies, lunches, work meetings, and To Do lists. Wow, thrilling, huh?
As some of you may know, we recently celebrated Thanksgiving over here...not sure if everyone is aware of the holiday as it seems the retail stores like to skip it and go straight into Christmas. And while I don't usually care much for Thanksgiving, it was actually a great day. It was a new experience this year celebrating the feast with five Americans and six Italians. It was a "grande Americana fiesta". I think everyone thoroughly enjoyed it and it was an excellent time to practice my Italian since very little English was spoken/understood by our guests. It's amazing the gratitude you can express and friendship you can develop despite a language barrier. On a side note...I looked at our Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in a whole new way. As we were watching it with our Italian friends at dinner (thank you time difference) it seemed quite odd to watch and LOVE big massive balloons of Ronald McDonald and the KoolAid man floating down 5th Avenue. Oh well, they seemed entertained as well :)
And I'm not sure why this uploaded sideways...but here is my first attempt at making a pie crust from a box...without a rolling pin. I mention that like a rolling pin would have actually helped...HA. I quickly shifted to a frozen crust that Kika bought for me (since there were only 4 left on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving) My pies turned out beautifully with the frozen crust...that's CLEARLY the way to go.
So amid my plain day to day life every now and then fun things pop up like going to Christmas Markets in Austria and going on the first ski trip of the season to the Alps! Yay! I have been taking a break from the travels since clearly I hit them pretty hard this fall...but Austria and Cortina were just day trips. The perks of living on a small continent!
Last Saturday Kika and I drove up to Villach, Austria to go to the Christmas Market...we then headed over to Klagenfurt to hit up that one as well. We weren't a huge fan of Villach, but LOVED Klagenfurt. This was a beautiful nativity set on display. I'm still looking to find a nice wood or ceramic nativity scene (a small table sized one) over here, but so far they have all been around 200-300 Euros...that's a little steep. So I'm still looking.
Just walkin' in a winter wonderland...no big deal :)
And this weekend we packed up the car and our gear and headed North to the Italian Alps to the ski town of Cortina d'Ampezzo. Taylor and I drove through the town last Christmas on our way to Innsbruck, Austria and we both thought it looked neat and wanted to go back. It was much better than I expected after reading online. It just opened for the season Thanksgiving weekend so it was looking like all the runs weren't open yet due to snow levels...but when we arrived it was awesome and almost 100% open. We were all very pleasantly surprised! And even better it's only an hour and a half away (without traffic!)
Please enjoy a bit of the scenery...
So as I mentioned above the countdown is for sure on until Taylor comes back home. We both are SO, SO ready!!! And my other countdown I have going is to my trip home for Christmas...less than 2 weeks...11 days to be exact!!
Hope you're having a Happy December full of shopping, crowds, candy, decorations, lights, music, and joyful celebrations of our Lord's birth among all the other good things that come during this wonderful month!!!
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Pics are Posted
Alright, on this beautifully, rainy, cold, grey, Halloween Sunday I have finally taken time to get caught up on blogging and more specifically blogging with pictures! It takes awhile to browse through all the pictures and pick the best ones to upload and then have the patience to wait for them to upload to Blogger. But still watching movies in pajamas at 2pm gave me the perfect opportunity to do so! Since I already did a blog about the French Riviera trip I decided the pictures would make a bit more sense if I added them in with the text instead of creating a new post with ONLY pics. So I included them here. The trip was gorgeous...enjoy the pics!!
Riviera Post With Pics Included!
Aaand...I'm now on hour 7 on the couch in pajamas and I've also included pics from Mama's visit and did the same as above...I incorporated them into the previous post. So enjoy!
Mama's Visit With Pics Included!
Riviera Post With Pics Included!
Aaand...I'm now on hour 7 on the couch in pajamas and I've also included pics from Mama's visit and did the same as above...I incorporated them into the previous post. So enjoy!
Mama's Visit With Pics Included!
Friday, October 29, 2010
Mama Comes to Town!!!
After France came what I have been MOST excited about for months and months...Mama's visit!!!!! And on a side note, Mama (pronounced Muh Muh) is my grandma, not my mom :) I've been told there was some confusion there. It never even crossed my mind because she's been Mama for 27 years, but I forget that sometimes people spell Momma that way too! So anyway.
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On Tuesday afternoon I was meeting Mama and three of her friends: Judi, Miriam, and Jane at the train station in Venice. I was going to ride the train with them back up to Pordenone and then drive everyone back to my house. So their train arrives and I'm waiting on their track looking for them to exit the train. Sure enough I see Mama and her friends trying to unload 8 (massive) bags and four carry-ons off the train with a good 2 foot step down. It was almost comical. I ran down to them and helped unload as the train worker was standing outside the door with his whistle ready to get the train going again! But they all made it.
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On the way home they told stories of their cruise which sounded absolutely wonderful. They had such a fun time and got to see SO many places!! Barcelona, Rome, Florence, the Amalfi Coast, Tunisia, Sicily, etc...they all were so funny and were in such great spirits! They were proud to announce they made it through the whole trip with only being scammed one time. Some guy told them he worked for the train station and then offered to load their (8!!!) bags on the train. They allowed him to help and he then asked for 5 euros a piece. But if you ask me, judging from my experience helping them load and unload their luggage on the train, I might consider the "scam" more of a blessing...I'm just saying!! :)
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When we arrived in San Quirino at my house, we had time to drop bags, do a quick tour and then literally run out the door to dinner. We had reservations with a local Italian lady who does dinner parties in her home. She does a home cooked meal and serves it in her dining room. It is such a unique and delicious experience. We went with my girlfriend Jennifer and her parents. We had a salad, bread, pumpkin risotto, rosemary chicken with peppers and eggplant, and a marscapone dessert. Despite being worn out I think everyone had a fun time!
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. On Wednesday we spent the day in Venice. We took the ferry to the island of Murano to watch glass blowing demonstrations and to do some glass shopping. We attempted to make it back to San Marco's Square in Venice, but my lack of knowledge of the ferry system took us on a 2 and a half hour detour on a boat. Ooops...sorry ladies at least the trip was free (that's what happens when no one is working to ask questions or buy tickets!)!! The sad thing is I still don't understand the way it works. Most public transportation is very similar and easy to understand...not this one.
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We finally made it back to the mainland with enough time to walk through the square. And in Mama's case, dodge the hundreds of pigeons. She HATES birds and I didn't even think about it, but the Square is FULL of pigeons. I look over at her and she has put her backpack over her head and is ducking while walking through the crowded Piazza! It was so funny!! We then wandered our way through the city back towards the train station. Wandering might be the wrong word...we were attempting to make a 5:00 train so we were rushing through the city, only to miss the train, but we caught the 6pm one.
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Thursday was spent in Venice as well, this time focusing on the city and the less touristy parts. We walked through the little neighborhoods and the more local area. Miriam and Jane were catching a 2pm train out of Venice to head back to Rome. We had another great day and on the way home, Mama, Judi, and I stopped in Treviso to pick up a menu for my uncle. He has a restaurant in Sarasota called Treviso, so he was interested in some menus from the local area. After scouring the town we were finally lucky with a restaurant owned by the "greatest man to walk the earth..." or at least you would think so after talking to him. After first denying us a menu, then later giving us a life story and complete tour of the restaurant including the kitchen he finally decided to give us a menu and he even thought he'd autograph it for us. Ha! Don't be jealous.
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On Friday morning Judi, Mama, and I head out BRIGHT and early to catch the 6am train to Milano to meet Judi's daughter. She was in town on business to buy silk for her company. We met up with Kimberly and her Italian liason and friend, RoseAngelo. They met us at the train station and showed us all around the city. It was so great to have them there to explain things and to know the local area. We went to the Duomo, to the Galleria, and to the Castello. We ate lunch at a fancy restaurant on the top of a shopping mall overlooking the Duomo. It was a beautiful, massive city. It is considered the business capitol of Italy (along with the fashion capitol, obviously). There are so many office buildings and banks and businesses which isn't nearly as common in many of the other big cities.
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After spending the day in Milan we took the train out to Como to check into our hotel and go to dinner on the lake. Como is a beautiful area surrounded by mountains located about 10 minutes south of the Swiss border. Kimberly and RoseAngelo took us to a cute little restaurant in Como for a 3 hour dinner with good food, good wine, and good company!
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Saturday we spent the day on a ferry touring the lake by water and keeping a close look out for George Clooney and his house. We took a picture of 3 different houses we were told were his. At dinner that night we showed RoseAngelo our pictures to see if it was his house and she said that none of them were his house! Wow, we were such dumb tourists! The homes/estates/villas were beautiful all the way through the lake. We stopped at one town to tour one of the villas. It was Balbianello (or something like that). But it was a gorgeous house built on the tip of a peninsula with views of the lake on three sides and out every window of the house! I found my future vacation home. I mean, along with Monaco and Nice, and Austria...looks like I have some serious saving/working to do!!!
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After spending the day on the ferry we headed back to Como to walk around the city. It was a much bigger city then I expected. The streets were beautiful as was the Duomo and there was a fun market (where I found the perfect rug for my bedroom!!!) We headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner and look who we ran into in our lobby!!!! George Clooney!!! :)
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We were so very blessed with our Milan trip to be with Kimberly and RoseAngelo, it made the experience so much better. And they both were so kind and so generous it was unbelievable. Sunday morning is when we left Judi and Kimberly. They took a flight back to the States and Mama and I took the train back to my home to spend the next week wandering my town and base, enjoying our rest, and showing Mama my day to day life in Italy!
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. Phew, what a trip!
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Happy Halloween!!!!!!
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On Tuesday afternoon I was meeting Mama and three of her friends: Judi, Miriam, and Jane at the train station in Venice. I was going to ride the train with them back up to Pordenone and then drive everyone back to my house. So their train arrives and I'm waiting on their track looking for them to exit the train. Sure enough I see Mama and her friends trying to unload 8 (massive) bags and four carry-ons off the train with a good 2 foot step down. It was almost comical. I ran down to them and helped unload as the train worker was standing outside the door with his whistle ready to get the train going again! But they all made it.
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On the way home they told stories of their cruise which sounded absolutely wonderful. They had such a fun time and got to see SO many places!! Barcelona, Rome, Florence, the Amalfi Coast, Tunisia, Sicily, etc...they all were so funny and were in such great spirits! They were proud to announce they made it through the whole trip with only being scammed one time. Some guy told them he worked for the train station and then offered to load their (8!!!) bags on the train. They allowed him to help and he then asked for 5 euros a piece. But if you ask me, judging from my experience helping them load and unload their luggage on the train, I might consider the "scam" more of a blessing...I'm just saying!! :)
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When we arrived in San Quirino at my house, we had time to drop bags, do a quick tour and then literally run out the door to dinner. We had reservations with a local Italian lady who does dinner parties in her home. She does a home cooked meal and serves it in her dining room. It is such a unique and delicious experience. We went with my girlfriend Jennifer and her parents. We had a salad, bread, pumpkin risotto, rosemary chicken with peppers and eggplant, and a marscapone dessert. Despite being worn out I think everyone had a fun time!
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| After dinner with Raffa and her husband "Cinderella" because he does the dishes!! Pictured: Judi, Jane, Mama, Me, Raffa, "Cinderella", and Miriam |
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We finally made it back to the mainland with enough time to walk through the square. And in Mama's case, dodge the hundreds of pigeons. She HATES birds and I didn't even think about it, but the Square is FULL of pigeons. I look over at her and she has put her backpack over her head and is ducking while walking through the crowded Piazza! It was so funny!! We then wandered our way through the city back towards the train station. Wandering might be the wrong word...we were attempting to make a 5:00 train so we were rushing through the city, only to miss the train, but we caught the 6pm one.
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| Mama with her pigeon helmet protecting her from the swooping birds!! |
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| Mama and Judi riding the ferry over to Murano...the one ferry ride I actually got right! |
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| Lunch on Murano Island. Taking their "wine picture". They were so funny, they hid their bottle of water for every picture...no need for water when you're in Italy!! |
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| Mama and I |
Thursday was spent in Venice as well, this time focusing on the city and the less touristy parts. We walked through the little neighborhoods and the more local area. Miriam and Jane were catching a 2pm train out of Venice to head back to Rome. We had another great day and on the way home, Mama, Judi, and I stopped in Treviso to pick up a menu for my uncle. He has a restaurant in Sarasota called Treviso, so he was interested in some menus from the local area. After scouring the town we were finally lucky with a restaurant owned by the "greatest man to walk the earth..." or at least you would think so after talking to him. After first denying us a menu, then later giving us a life story and complete tour of the restaurant including the kitchen he finally decided to give us a menu and he even thought he'd autograph it for us. Ha! Don't be jealous.
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| Judi, Jane, Mama, and Miriam on the bridge over the Grand Canal...world travelers! |
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| Love this one :) |
On Friday morning Judi, Mama, and I head out BRIGHT and early to catch the 6am train to Milano to meet Judi's daughter. She was in town on business to buy silk for her company. We met up with Kimberly and her Italian liason and friend, RoseAngelo. They met us at the train station and showed us all around the city. It was so great to have them there to explain things and to know the local area. We went to the Duomo, to the Galleria, and to the Castello. We ate lunch at a fancy restaurant on the top of a shopping mall overlooking the Duomo. It was a beautiful, massive city. It is considered the business capitol of Italy (along with the fashion capitol, obviously). There are so many office buildings and banks and businesses which isn't nearly as common in many of the other big cities.
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| The Galleria (I think that's what it was called!!) |
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| Inside, full of shops... |
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| Inside the open air Galleria. The first Prada store, with the original windows and door frames. |
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| The Duomo. |
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| At lunch overlooking the Duomo with our new friends! Pictured: RoseAngelo, Kimberly, Judi (Kim's mom), and Mama |
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| How appropriate, right? We walked by a fashion photo shoot going on in the streets! |
After spending the day in Milan we took the train out to Como to check into our hotel and go to dinner on the lake. Como is a beautiful area surrounded by mountains located about 10 minutes south of the Swiss border. Kimberly and RoseAngelo took us to a cute little restaurant in Como for a 3 hour dinner with good food, good wine, and good company!
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Saturday we spent the day on a ferry touring the lake by water and keeping a close look out for George Clooney and his house. We took a picture of 3 different houses we were told were his. At dinner that night we showed RoseAngelo our pictures to see if it was his house and she said that none of them were his house! Wow, we were such dumb tourists! The homes/estates/villas were beautiful all the way through the lake. We stopped at one town to tour one of the villas. It was Balbianello (or something like that). But it was a gorgeous house built on the tip of a peninsula with views of the lake on three sides and out every window of the house! I found my future vacation home. I mean, along with Monaco and Nice, and Austria...looks like I have some serious saving/working to do!!!
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| A few of the estates around the Lake. |
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| The Balbianello Villa we toured...gorgeous! |
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| From the grounds of Babianello. |
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| Mama and Judi waving to their subjects down below :) |
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| Another view from the villa... |
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| Gates to Babianello from the Lake. We took a water taxi there! |
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| At the Lenno stop on Lake Como. |
After spending the day on the ferry we headed back to Como to walk around the city. It was a much bigger city then I expected. The streets were beautiful as was the Duomo and there was a fun market (where I found the perfect rug for my bedroom!!!) We headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner and look who we ran into in our lobby!!!! George Clooney!!! :)
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| And here is sweet RoseAngelo who showed us around the city and her husband Carlos. |
We were so very blessed with our Milan trip to be with Kimberly and RoseAngelo, it made the experience so much better. And they both were so kind and so generous it was unbelievable. Sunday morning is when we left Judi and Kimberly. They took a flight back to the States and Mama and I took the train back to my home to spend the next week wandering my town and base, enjoying our rest, and showing Mama my day to day life in Italy!
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| Mama at Lake Barcis. Unfortunately the lake was not nearly as pretty as usual because of recent flooding. But it was still a gorgeous day! |
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| After our picnic of fresh cheese and crackers, home grown apples, and parma proscuitto! |
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| Mama at the spring in Gorgazzo. |
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Happy Halloween!!!!!!
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Crepes, Eclairs, Croissants...Oh My!!!
And here it is finally. Our quick, but gorgeous. trip to the French Riviera. Kika and I packed up, yet again, and headed to the great country of France. And contrary to EVERYTHING we had been told, all the people there were quite friendly and very helpful. I kept trying to practice my French (from high school and college) and the people just kept responding to me in English. Hey, at least I was trying.
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Anyway. To start off...I kinda screwed up with our seats. Okay, I big time screwed up with our seats. In our original plan, our friend Sharity was coming on the trip as well. So when I booked our seats on the bus I picked the back row so we could all three sit together. Sharity ended up not able to go and I didn't remember to change our bus seats. As we got to base I was hopeful that maybe Kika and I would be the only two in the back of the bus (seating 5) and we would get to stretch out for the overnight trip. As we walked down the aisle to our seats I was sad to see two other guys sitting in the back seat as well...there were 4 of us. And not only were there four of us back there...the seats had literally a third less room then the regular seats. Kika, 5 foot 1ish Kika, had her knees touching the seat in front of us. It was about to be a LONG overnight trip on the bus.
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Aside from sleeping (or rather attempting to sleep) like sardines on the way there we arrived in a little town called Eza. This was a gorgeous, quaint little village in the side of the mountain overlooking the Mediterranean. We took a (practically) one way, hair pin turning, road in our HUGE Greyhound bus down to a famous perfume factory, Fragonard's. We got a tour of the factory and of course the opportunity to shop as well. Did you know it takes 2 tons of rose petals to make 1 kilo (approx 2 pounds) of pure rose essential oil. Rose is the most expensive scent because of the large amount of petals required to produce the pure oil. Anyway, it was a very neat and quite informative little tour.
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After the tour we took a quick climb up the hill to see a few of the views from the little town.
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After our quick climb we loaded back on the bus and headed took a quick drive over to Cannes. We arrived in Cannes with about 5 hours to roam and explore the little town. We wandered for a little while finally making it to an Information center to ask where the famous red carpet was located for the Cannes film festival, only to find out it was on the other side of that same building. We excitedly walked to the other side only to be greatly disappointed with the red carpet and the building. It was so unattractive and the building looked like it was straight out of 1970 with quite ugly architecture. So we quickly moved on from that attraction.
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It just so happens that there was a Yacht regatta going on in Cannes that weekend. So along with all the local yachts that are parked in the harbor, there were the visitors for the regatta as well. We walked through and picked out a few yachts we could see ourselves in for the future. Don't worry Taylor and Greg, we took pictures so you'll know what we like!
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We found a little cafe to eat lunch...a totally French lunch. Crepe avec jambon et fromage...aaand french fries. Hmm...not sure how authentic the pommes de frites (or something like that) were...but whatever. And to top it all off there was some guy walking up and down the street playing music on an accordian!! I mean seriously, we thought we might be on a movie set!
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Our next stop was Nice, France. We got there around 5pm. After over 24 hours without a shower, that was the first thing on our list to do. We cleaned up for dinner. I had to put my same outfit back on because I was determined to pack light...so I brought zero options. You'd think on my 5th weekend trip in a row I could have it down...guess it's gonna take a few more to get it perfect ;)!!!
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We went to dinner in a popular little place recommended by our hotel. It was literally a whole street with tables down the middle and people out trying to sell you their restaurant. I sorta felt like I was in a Jamaican market...but it was a perfect place to find a restaurant. We had a delicious dinner...that lasted from 8pm until 1130 by the time we got all three courses. But I had BY FAR, the most delicious creme brulee I have ever had...yummmm. We were in heaven!!
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We had to meet on the bus at 9am the next morning to drive to Monaco. We were disappointed we didn't have much time in Nice, so when Kika and I woke up early the next morning, we decided to take a walk down to the beach and explore a bit more of the city before we had to meet at 9am. We fell in love with the city and it was just gorgeous. There was a Sunday morning market with produce that looked like it was fake it was so beautiful and perfect. We bought croissants and pastries for breakfast and browsed the town. As we headed back to the hotel we noticed we were getting close to our meeting time so we literally began running back to the hotel. We got back there right at 9am to find our guide at the front desk calling our room and asking us where we were. She said, "go, hurry, get your stuff!!" So we went to the elevator and she said, "NO, take the stairs!!" So we literally run to the stairs, a little confused about why we were in such a hurry because we were right on time. At our room we ran into another guy from our tour knocking on our door looking for us. So we ran in and grabbed our bags (which we had already packed in the morning) and ran downstairs. We got on the bus to find everyone sitting there waiting for us. Yep, we were those girls. As we were walking to our seats Kika said, "sorry everyone...". Silence...no one responded. Nice.
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I asked someone what time we were supposed to meet and we found out the bus was supposed to be departing at 9am...as we pulled away from the hotel with the guide giving us a lecture over the speakers about the importance of punctuality I checked my watch and it was 9:04...literally. COME ON people! But they were the ones who missed out...we had a gorgeous walk and are making plans to visit Nice again. Loved it!! Check out the pictures and tell me we weren't the smart ones!!
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Next we were off to Monaco...the country of the rich and famous. You have to have 1 million in the bank before you can even be considered to buy property. The area was gorgeous, as you can imagine. Yachts galore and beautiful homes and scenery. We watched the changing of the guard at the Monaco palace and then headed over to the famous Monte Carlo Casino. Bentleys, Ferrari, Range Rovers, Rolls Royce...you name it, they were driving by or parked in front of the casino. It was quite impressive. We paid 10 euros to go inside the casino and try our luck. I made it out up 20 euros...not too bad. There was even a Rolex clock...probably at least 2 feet wide, pure gold, mounted on the wall in the entrance...crazy money!!
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. After the day in Monaco we loaded back in the bus for our (long) drive home. Sadly our weekend of acting rich and famous was over. What a nice way to live...maybe one day...one day!
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And this picture is totally unrelated, but I saw this at a shop in Monaco (I think) and had to stop to snap the picture. It's for all my family who I know will appreciate it.
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Au revoir, mon ami!!!
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Anyway. To start off...I kinda screwed up with our seats. Okay, I big time screwed up with our seats. In our original plan, our friend Sharity was coming on the trip as well. So when I booked our seats on the bus I picked the back row so we could all three sit together. Sharity ended up not able to go and I didn't remember to change our bus seats. As we got to base I was hopeful that maybe Kika and I would be the only two in the back of the bus (seating 5) and we would get to stretch out for the overnight trip. As we walked down the aisle to our seats I was sad to see two other guys sitting in the back seat as well...there were 4 of us. And not only were there four of us back there...the seats had literally a third less room then the regular seats. Kika, 5 foot 1ish Kika, had her knees touching the seat in front of us. It was about to be a LONG overnight trip on the bus.
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Aside from sleeping (or rather attempting to sleep) like sardines on the way there we arrived in a little town called Eza. This was a gorgeous, quaint little village in the side of the mountain overlooking the Mediterranean. We took a (practically) one way, hair pin turning, road in our HUGE Greyhound bus down to a famous perfume factory, Fragonard's. We got a tour of the factory and of course the opportunity to shop as well. Did you know it takes 2 tons of rose petals to make 1 kilo (approx 2 pounds) of pure rose essential oil. Rose is the most expensive scent because of the large amount of petals required to produce the pure oil. Anyway, it was a very neat and quite informative little tour.
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| Fragonard's Perfume Factory |
After the tour we took a quick climb up the hill to see a few of the views from the little town.
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.After our quick climb we loaded back on the bus and headed took a quick drive over to Cannes. We arrived in Cannes with about 5 hours to roam and explore the little town. We wandered for a little while finally making it to an Information center to ask where the famous red carpet was located for the Cannes film festival, only to find out it was on the other side of that same building. We excitedly walked to the other side only to be greatly disappointed with the red carpet and the building. It was so unattractive and the building looked like it was straight out of 1970 with quite ugly architecture. So we quickly moved on from that attraction.
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| This was a mural painted on the side of one of the buildings. It included characters from many major movies...so cool! |
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| We were trying to have someone take a picture and capture the gorgeous scenery behind us...but clearly he missed the point. But the pic turned out cute anyway! |
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| So we found a piece of real estate we thought we might be able to afford on the Riviera with views of the water. It was for sale. We had big plans for it beginning with putting up some clean sheets/blankets...there was so much potential! |
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| Spent a little time sitting in the sand on the beach. |
It just so happens that there was a Yacht regatta going on in Cannes that weekend. So along with all the local yachts that are parked in the harbor, there were the visitors for the regatta as well. We walked through and picked out a few yachts we could see ourselves in for the future. Don't worry Taylor and Greg, we took pictures so you'll know what we like!
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| Don't I just have the best husband EVER...he had a yacht waiting for me in Cannes. He's so good with surprises! |
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| Standing in the harbor admiring our options... |
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| But being the reasonable, level headed wives that we are; Kika and I decided our best bet would be this beauty. It's kinda like buying the smallest house in a big house neighborhood...the value increases by association ;) |
We found a little cafe to eat lunch...a totally French lunch. Crepe avec jambon et fromage...aaand french fries. Hmm...not sure how authentic the pommes de frites (or something like that) were...but whatever. And to top it all off there was some guy walking up and down the street playing music on an accordian!! I mean seriously, we thought we might be on a movie set!
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| Stopping along the way to eat an eclaire at a cute looking bakery. I'm serious when I say we ate our way through France! |
Our next stop was Nice, France. We got there around 5pm. After over 24 hours without a shower, that was the first thing on our list to do. We cleaned up for dinner. I had to put my same outfit back on because I was determined to pack light...so I brought zero options. You'd think on my 5th weekend trip in a row I could have it down...guess it's gonna take a few more to get it perfect ;)!!!
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| The coast line in Nice lit up at night. |
We went to dinner in a popular little place recommended by our hotel. It was literally a whole street with tables down the middle and people out trying to sell you their restaurant. I sorta felt like I was in a Jamaican market...but it was a perfect place to find a restaurant. We had a delicious dinner...that lasted from 8pm until 1130 by the time we got all three courses. But I had BY FAR, the most delicious creme brulee I have ever had...yummmm. We were in heaven!!
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We had to meet on the bus at 9am the next morning to drive to Monaco. We were disappointed we didn't have much time in Nice, so when Kika and I woke up early the next morning, we decided to take a walk down to the beach and explore a bit more of the city before we had to meet at 9am. We fell in love with the city and it was just gorgeous. There was a Sunday morning market with produce that looked like it was fake it was so beautiful and perfect. We bought croissants and pastries for breakfast and browsed the town. As we headed back to the hotel we noticed we were getting close to our meeting time so we literally began running back to the hotel. We got back there right at 9am to find our guide at the front desk calling our room and asking us where we were. She said, "go, hurry, get your stuff!!" So we went to the elevator and she said, "NO, take the stairs!!" So we literally run to the stairs, a little confused about why we were in such a hurry because we were right on time. At our room we ran into another guy from our tour knocking on our door looking for us. So we ran in and grabbed our bags (which we had already packed in the morning) and ran downstairs. We got on the bus to find everyone sitting there waiting for us. Yep, we were those girls. As we were walking to our seats Kika said, "sorry everyone...". Silence...no one responded. Nice.
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I asked someone what time we were supposed to meet and we found out the bus was supposed to be departing at 9am...as we pulled away from the hotel with the guide giving us a lecture over the speakers about the importance of punctuality I checked my watch and it was 9:04...literally. COME ON people! But they were the ones who missed out...we had a gorgeous walk and are making plans to visit Nice again. Loved it!! Check out the pictures and tell me we weren't the smart ones!!
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| At the market with the gorgeous produce. Where we also found fresh croissants and pastries... |
Next we were off to Monaco...the country of the rich and famous. You have to have 1 million in the bank before you can even be considered to buy property. The area was gorgeous, as you can imagine. Yachts galore and beautiful homes and scenery. We watched the changing of the guard at the Monaco palace and then headed over to the famous Monte Carlo Casino. Bentleys, Ferrari, Range Rovers, Rolls Royce...you name it, they were driving by or parked in front of the casino. It was quite impressive. We paid 10 euros to go inside the casino and try our luck. I made it out up 20 euros...not too bad. There was even a Rolex clock...probably at least 2 feet wide, pure gold, mounted on the wall in the entrance...crazy money!!
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| No big deal, just a yacht parking lot in front of our home... |
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While doing a tour of Monaco the guide gave us an interesting tid bit of info. As you may know, Monaco is technically it's own country. It is the second smallest in the world behind Vatican City in Rome. The country was ruled by a family (who I can't remember the name) and in 1295 a man named Francois Grimaldi dressed as a monk and asked the guards for a place to stay the night amid his travels. As was common in that day the guards welcomed the "religious man" into the palace grounds to allow him to stay the night. As soon as they welcomed him in the gates Grimaldi drew a sword he had hidden under his robes and surprised the guards and quickly overtook them. He had an army waiting close by to storm the Palace and take over. From that day forward the Grimaldi family has ruled the country of Monaco. There have been many princes and princesses, but has never been, and will never be a King. This is because one of the ruling family declared himself Prince of Monaco, but since there is no royal blood in the family line, they will never be able to be a King or Queen. Okay, had enough of your history lesson? Here is a picture of the Crest of Monaco, which includes the monks armed with swords representing this bit of local history.
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Pictures from the area of Monte Carlo Casino...
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| Standing on the steps of the Casino looking out. We got to park our Bentley and our Ferrari out there for easy access. We get special service since we spend the big bucks at Monte Carlo. |
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| In front of the Casino. |
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And this picture is totally unrelated, but I saw this at a shop in Monaco (I think) and had to stop to snap the picture. It's for all my family who I know will appreciate it.
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| "Who don't know that?!?!?" |
Au revoir, mon ami!!!
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