Full Moon In Paris

Full moon and the Eiffel Tower from Trocadero


Full moon and the Pyramid at the Louvre


Something from a Dan Brown novel? If you line up the moon with the top of the pyramid . . . a massive super secretive secret will be revealed . . . the moon lines up with the pyramid.

Paris, France - September 29- October 5 (Top 5)

Paris was AMAZING. There will be more posts to come. Nom food. Lots of mussels and steak. and Falafel. All kinds of good stuff. So these are my top 5 things that we have pictures of and aren't going to be featured in future posts (aka us playing in Paris in no particular order):
1:
Being silly along the Seine. It was great for Crepe and Cider picnics followed by Sorbet even though it was cold most days, as well as general beauty and seagull watching.

2.
Floating "petit bateaus" at Luxembourg Garden. We kicked those kids' asses.

3.
Self portraiting at the Louvre. Not only photography skills being displayed here, friends, but also smiling through the wintery cold.
4.
Fantastic (Extremely heavy and un-stealable) relaxation chairs in the Jardin des Tuileries. No straight backed chairs for these people. They know how to enjoy an afternoon in the park.
5.
Versailles Sheep. Kev had never met a sheep before. Blackface there was the leader. In about 4 minutes there was a large flock of sheep surrounding. If you walk up to a field of sheep and go "BAhhhhhhh" "Baaaaahhhhh" the sheep think you are going to pet/feed them and all come over to the edge. Then they become very bitter that there is no ham sandwich shared with them. Who knew sheep enjoyed ham sandwich? I guess as long as it's not a lamb sandwich what do they care. Also, why are there so many sheep at Versailles?

St. Peter's Basilica - Rome, Italy

Ali hijacked a post under my name, so I'm going to post one under hers since she is busy trying to finish a book before we leave San Sebastian tomorrow morning.

We went to the Vatican museum the second night we were in Rome, but because we had night tickets, we didn't get there early enough to see St. Peter's. We made a trip back one of the last days before we left Rome.

When we got to St. Peter's square, there was a line snaking around. As most people know, I don't like lines. They usually lead to me whining or randomly walking around and leaving whoever is with me to hold my spot until I find it convenient to return. That hadn't been a problem thus far in Italy since we really hadn't run into any lines because of when we were there. The one place that had a big line was St. Mark's in Venice. I had read in both of our guidebooks that if you checked a bag around the corner, you would get to bypass the line because the bag check was only valid for an hour and the line can reach up to four hours. So we emptied one of our small backpacks, filled it up with random objects, and diligently went to check our bag and picked up the ticket as proof. We walked to the front of the line at the main entrance of the church prepared to show my ticket and encountered...nobody at all. Nobody cared if I had checked a bag or not. We just walked right in. Meanwhile, there were hundreds of people waiting in a two hour line to enter. Basically, lines in Italy are for people that like lines.



So as we looked at the line to enter St. Peter's, we decided we could easily sneak in and not be noticed (like plenty of other people we witnessed were able to do). Nevertheless, I felt like we would be the one group that was called out on our line cutting and I figured that if there was one place we should actually wait it should be the holiest of holy sights. So we went for a walk and came back to encounter the same line. We decided to tough it up and wait. It was only about 15 minutes total which wasn't too bad. And the nice gentleman in front of us in line was a Catholic priest from Ireland living in Detroit who was waiting in line to get his tickets for the weekly papal audience. It seemed appropriate that we waited.

So after a wait and a metal detector, we went into St. Peter's. It was big...really big. Everything is larger than life. From the ground you can't even get the full perspective. According to our Rick Steve's audioguide, even the tiny angels adorning columns were bigger than the average person. We tried to soak it all in, but it's tough to do. There was also a service going on which let us get an idea of what goes on in an average day, even if it seemed to mostly be filled with tourists who had arranged for a service.



After walking through the basilica, we went around the corner to climb the cupola before it closed. We paid E2 less in order to climb the relatively small number of stairs at the beginning of the climb rather than taking the elevator (although I don't think anybody would have checked our ticket). As seems to be a running theme, the skies began to open up as we started our ascent.

As you can tell by the blog, we've climbed a whole lot of things during our trip, but I think we would both say this was one of the more difficult ascents. It was aided by a break partway up in which we were able to look over the inside of the basilica and enjoy a little breeze - the stairs were extremely hot and stuffy. It was very, very high, and it gave a little bit of perspective to the enormity of the sights that can be seen from below.



Climbing the rest of the way requires a bit of a tilt.


But the top was totally worth it. Incredible views of all of Rome and the square down below.


We were a little bit tired by the time we made it.


As you can tell, we were partially grateful for the rain, but it hindered the view and the ability to stay for very long. It was quite funny to watch the rain go from drizzle to pouring and watch St. Peter's Square empty (and the large line completely disappear) in roughly 5 seconds.



After we descended, we came across a Swiss Guard outpost. Because this one didn't seem to have any strategic importance, I'm pretty sure it was just there as a place for tourists to take pictures. Ali had to wait in line before we could snap this one.



They were pretty good sports. I'm not sure I would be after all the admissions requirements. (I'm pretty sure I only hit 2 of the 8 conceding the marriage thing and with the whole "good moral character" thing up in the air - don't tell the CA Bar about the moral character part).

The rain certainly makes certain parts of these trips interesting (and slightly less busy), but I think we both wish they weather would ease up on us for the rest of the trip. Alas, not so. But we got some good not rainy days that are coming in future posts and we will stop whining about the rain shortly.

Orvieto, Italy - September 15 & 16 (part two)

As we mentioned, we loved the little B&B that we found. Unfortunately, it was down the hill from the city and required a walk up a dirt path to the road that led to the parking lot with the elevator that led to the city. This wouldn't have been a problem if it wasn't for the impending storm that was threatening all day our second day there.

The road was already made muddy by some rain the night before forcing me to roll up my pants and look strangely like an old lady in the picture below.


Nevertheless, we had sightseeing to do and would not be put off by a little rain. We bought the Orvieto Pass and knocked out nearly everything to see in Orvieto in one day. First, we did the Orvieto Underground tour featuring the pigeons and the Well, both of which Ali discussed earlier.

Then we went to the city's extremely large and flashy Duomo (only the best for when the Pope comes to visit) which can apparently be seen from miles away. It also has a side chapel with an impressive end of days fresco said to be the inspiration for the Sistine Chapel (no pictures allowed).



We also went to two nearby museums: an Etruscan history museum where Ali enjoyed the little statue below and an archaeology museum of which we were probably the only visitors all day.



Next, in furtherance of our mission to climb every single thing in Europe, we stomped to the top of the city's bell tower. From up here, we could really see the storm coming on the horizon.





Unfortunately for Ali, despite being at the top of a bell tower, there was one thing we didn't see coming (it's a little long, but wait for the end).



It started drizzling as we left the bell tower and headed for our final sight, a private cave with a well inside. Out of the hundreds of caves under the city, you can only go into 2 of them, most of the others still connect to the kitchens of houses and are still in use as wine cellars, work rooms, and dove cotes. This one was cool to see as you could see how the well had been utilized throughout the centuries. The cave was open to the public because the house had been converted into a bar.

As we were finishing up, we could hear it start to pour outside. We decided to grab a drink in the adjoining bar and wait for the rain to die down. After a while, there was a slight break in the action we decided we would just go for it and hope for the best. Unfortunately, we got about 10 feet outside before the skies opened up and sideways rain engulfed us. No matter what I did with the tiny umbrella I couldn't find a way to keep us dry. We sprinted towards the elevator and found a brief respite from the rain, but the damage had been done.



Nothing to see here.

We did all of the above sights for only 18 euro each, including parking or a funicular ride that we had no need for. It was a great deal and very manageable within one day.

After we got back and rested, the rain stopped. We decided to head back up the hill for dinner. As we waited for a table, the rain began again and in the dark night we once again avoided injury walking down a wet muddy hill in the rain.

Genova, Italy (September 24)

After Rome we were making our way up to Paris with stops in Nice and Avignon. Unfortunately the only options for trains from Paris to Nice were long and expensive or long, expensive overnights. We decided to take a night stopover in Genoa to break up the train ride. Plus it gave us an excuse to get more of two of our favorite items that we had sampled extensively in Vernazza: Focaccia and Pesto.

Apparently Genoa has a not so stellar reputation as a tourist destination. It's port town that was at one point the trading center of the world, but it hasn't aged so gracefully. Nevertheless, our Frommers guidebook said it was actually a hidden gem. We actually found it enjoyable, but only for the night we were there. There was plenty to see. Big former palaces, some of which are now stores or museums and are open to the public; a winding maze of streets in the old town; and a large aquarium that is sprucing up the port area. However after one day of wandering I think we decided we had seen enough.

The picture above is from the rooftop deck of our hotel. It had a pretty good view, although port isn't as attractive as beach. We brought a bottle of wine up for the sunset. To commemorate our last night in Italy I made the same mistake I made about 10 other times: I accidentally bought a bottle of frizzante wine because I didn't look at it closely. It always comes as a slightly unpleasant surprise, especially since there's no way to get another bottle that late at night. Oh well. No frizzante wines to worry about in France and Spain for the most part.

Orvieto, Italy - September 15 & 16 (part one)

I'm posting under Kevin's name because I started this and just realized it was under Kevin's name. I am lazy.

Orvieto was our last stop before Rome. We had lots of options, and originally looked at extra nights in Siena or checking out Asissi . . . then we went to Florence. Church overload. Church Art Overload. And I think we ate too much. Walking out of the Uffizi I was a little dizzy. I might have been having an art attack. But seriously folks, one more Madonna and Child and I was going to pass out. Then we found Orvieto. Pre-Roman Etruscan Ruins? Check. Caves and wells to climb down? Check. Pigeon eating? Check Check.

We also found Casa Selita, quite possibly the cutest 70 Euro a night B&B in Europe. We had our own balcony, looking over the hills of Tuscany and the room was spacious and comfortable. Seylita picked us up at the train station herself, and even made her own fig jam from her own trees for breakfast. YUM.


Here's Kev trying to do the crossword puzzle from the International Herald Tribune on the balcony. That sucker was tough. Too many British joke clues.


This was the view.

We got to use the balcony our first night there, and took a lovely stroll up through the olive orchard, along the street, up the crazy 4 level escalator into town (there is also an elevator) and ate a pigeon, wild boar ragu, and fresh home-made pasta topped with olive oil and freshly shaved truffles. More on this later, at least the pigeon part. Truffles and wild boar in Tuscany speak for themselves.

Now for the well. Orvieto has a really long, intersting history. You can read about it here, if you like. It was the site of an Etruscan (pre-Roman Tribe) city, completely abandoned for hundreds of years, and then in times of danger in Rome, the home of the Pope. They have a gorgeous Cathedral, but the city is definitely most famous for it's man made caves. Peope have been digging into the mesa type structure of soft volcanic rock under the city for centuries. They made caves for mining rock, worked in them (because it was tax free), stored food, wine and hid out when it was dangerous. They dug super deep wells with pickaxes. Read the wikipedia. It's cool. That concludes my tour.

It's me at the bottom of the well, It's me at the bottom of the well!
400+ steps down to the bottom of the well. Very deep. Now try getting that song out of your head.

This is the view of the well that the Pope had dug so that the city would have water even it was under seige by the enemies. Seige was a big deal. This place is on the top of a rock hill in the bottom of a valley. It's a tough place to attack. When they were under seige, they were also almost totally sustainable. Because they ate pigeons.


Pigeons were really important and are delicious. They reproduce every 20 days, so the people dug caves, made dove cotes (or pigeon nests) inside them with tiny windows to the outside. The caves connected straight to the kitchen so mama could walk downstairs, strangle a pigeon or two, pop them in the pot and dinner was served. If the city was under seige, the pigeons could fly out the windows and eat, then would come back to nest at night (pigeons are not very smart and did not realize they were in for a dinner trap). Every hole in this picture was a nesting spot, and the middle is the stairs up to the kitchen (cemented over because of landslides -- they dug too many caves and ground has become unstable on parts of the hill-- lots of homes/businesses still have private caves, this is just one that is now "public" for tours since it was fixed up after a landslide).

Siena, Italy - September 14 - 15

We left Florence by bus headed for Siena. Just as we got to the Florence bus station, it started pouring. It rained most of the way to Siena, then stopped right as we got there. It was kind of an icky day. We got there right around lunchtime, and decided to eat a nice big meal at La Taverna de San Giuseppe up at the top of the hill. The food was great - definitely a creative mix of modern and traditional. Unfortunately, while we were eating, it started to rain again.

Everybody we know loved Siena. I thought it was nice, except for all the rain. Part of the fun is supposed to be the Campo in the middle of the city, the view from the tower, and walking around enjoying all the nice little architectural touches of the city. We tried doing all these things. Just one night anywhere is always a gamble, and I felt we sort of struck out this time around.

It was a pretty hairy afternoon, so there weren't too many people in the Campo, and the clock tower was closed for climbing due to the weather. We came back the next morning before we left and it was a little nicer, but it was still pretty wet and abandoned.


It stopped raining right around sunset for a few nice pictures while we were walking up the hill to the cathedral.


Where there is rain, there are also sometimes rainbows. They were difficult to snap, but we saw a few around town in between squalls. If you look between the two thin columns in the lower opening you can see it peeking through.


Oh the joys of Rainbows in the Rain. No. Not those rainbows. The ones I've been trudging around Europe in for the past month and a half.


The next morning was still overcast and the forecast was not looking great for our stay in Orvieto either. When we arrived in Siena, we noticed there were kids everywhere. Making out. Everywhere. At the train station on our way out, the hotel front desk told us to watch out for all the kids, because school would be getting out at noon. Either we disregarded this or didn't get it, but when it came, the train we planned to take was two small, grafitti covered cars into which piled about 200 middle school kids before we could even think about getting up. Realizing we were never going to get a seat and that we probably could not tolerate being trapped on a train with 200 13 year olds, we opted to wait for the next train about half an hour later, had lots of empty seats, was about 9 cars long and had no grafitti. Those four sad looking adults you see in the picture actually got on with the kids. They must have really be in a hurry to get somewhere. We found out later that it was the 2nd day of school in Italy, and all the kids were really excited. To make out with each other.

Florence, Italy September 11 - 14th

Florence was a 4 day festival of art, history, fun and food. We had been a little lacking in the internet department for a few days before we made got there, so finding a hotel got a little tricky. We definitely lucked out when we found a great little studio apartment in the neighborhood of Oltrarno.

Oltrarno was a real find for us - a quick hop over the river from all the major sights in the city, and our place was basically around the corner from Piazza Santo Spirito (Great for food and a nice place to hang out in the evening) and the Pitti Gallery (Former Medici Residence overlooking the Boboli Gardens and containing an art collection rival just slightly smaller than the Uffizi).

We consumed so much art during the days that it was only natural to balance it out with dinner in the evenings.

First up was Gusto Pizza near Santo Spirito (Thanks Sarah!) - the place was packed to the gills with students either waiting for or eating their delicious wood fired pizzas, people spilling out onto the sidwalk and even more people in the square enjoying them. We brought ourselves a bit of wine a pizza to share (we had eaten a big lunch) and headed out the square to hang out with everyone else.

Next up was Casalinga, a trattoria also near Santo Spirito. Every table in the small place was packed when we got there at about 9pm. There was a "line" waiting for tables as they opened up, but just as frequently, a pack of locals just walked in and sat at it. Once we got a table I realized why! Prices were low and the food was awesome. We thought we were saving our big meal for the next night, but ended up eating 3 courses and dessert!

Last of all was Il Latini - My friend Alexis had taken me here when I visited her in college over Thanksgiving one year and I remembered it being fun - my goodness was it fun again. I had been promising Kevin delicious food and steaks bigger than he had ever seen. They pulled through. We had the 9:30 seating and when we arrived at 9:20 there was a huge crowd outside the door. People were pulled at random from the crowd and sat down at tables together side by side. We ended up sitting next to a hysterical couple from Orlando and had a great night sharing wine, swapping tastes of food, being afraid of the size of our steaks, and generally enjoying getting a chance to speak english for a little while. I would put up a picture of the steaks, but unfortunately, the only picture we have is of me enjoying the very last bite of mine.

We did other things in Florence besided eat though. We also ate gelato.

Kevin preparing to devour mint and hazelnut from Grom Gelato. This was possibly the best hazelnut gelato I tasted in all of Italy.

We climbed up the dome of the Duomo in attempt to burn off some of the calories coming in.

Not sure that worked. Great view though.

Lots of steps and a bit claustrophobic. This was the first big thing we had climbed since going the roof of the cathedral in Milan. We had many more things to climb, as you will see in future posts.

We climbed (via bus) to Piazalle Michealangelo, too.

Overlooking the whole city from the Piazalle, you can see the dome of the cathedral and the bell tower, the tower in Piazza Signoria, and the Ponte Vecchio. This is also the place to find Fake David #2. (Fake David #1 is in the Piazza Signoria - he's the kid with the big hands covered in pigeon poop) Fake David #2 is made of bronze and is all green. He watches over the parking lot/souveneir stands/scenic overlook that is Piazzale Michealangelo.

The real David is in the Acadamia. He is currently surrounded by an exhibit of the nude photography of Robert Mapplethorpe. Uh-huh. Fake Davids 1, Real David 0.


You can tell here, the weather was starting to get a little threatening. We climbed down the hill through the park and by the time we were almost back home there was a bit of thunder, lightning, and rain.


This was the view from another bridge over the Arno that we walked across pretty frequently.

I've discovered a great way to get good pictures:
1) find somebody with a really nice camera who looks like they know what they are doing.
2) wait for them to leave.
3) go stand where they were and take a picture.
4) feel proud of your own picture taking abilities.

We're Big Roma Fans (Rome, Italy - September 20)

We knew at some point we had to go to a futbol match, but we hadn't really been anywhere long enough to figure it out. Once we got to Rome we looked and saw each of their two teams had a game while we were there. Because it made more sense to go on Sunday night instead of theWednesday night before we were leaving, we instantly became AS Roma fans. We went to the team store and bought two tickets for the cheap seats. We took the (slightly delayed) bus to the stadium with excited fans.

Ali was also very excited. She was so excited to film us entering the stadium, that she had a little trouble actually getting in.



If you notice, she grabbed and pulled the wrong bar. This led to confusion as we had to explain to the attendants what happened and have them help lead her through the VIP entrance. Interestingly, in order to attend a soccer game, you need to provide an ID for each ticket and your name is put on the ticket. So they were able to check her ID and match it with her ticket. I'd have to imagine this severely inhibits scalping sometimes however.

As huge Roma fans, we were thrilled when they jumped out to an early 1-0 lead thanks to a terrible call leading to a penalty kick:



Ali was also excited



We were in the Curva Nord. When we bought the tickets, I noticed that the Curva Sud on the opposite end was entirely sold out and reserved for "Roma Fans." So I was a bit surprised when the entire section was empty at kickoff. I expected more from European soccer fans.

Then after Roma scored their second goal about 20 minutes into the game, smoke bombs started going off in the empty section.



After a few minutes of explosions, all the funs rushed down to take their seats. In the picture below you can see the now full section, along with some shirtless fans.



Lamberto, the owner of our apartment, later told us that the "Roma Fans" were on strike and were protesting by missing the first twenty minutes of the game. We had run into a train strike, but fans on strike is a new one to me, but I like the idea of it, although I'm not sure how effective only missing twenty minutes is.

Midway through the first half, Roma scored again to take a 3-0 lead and lock up the victory with about 60 minutes left to play. Being Southern California sports fans, we decided to leave part way through the second half in order to beat the crowd to the buses.





All in all, it was a great experience. I think the extremely large stadium dulled the craziness because about half of the stadium was empty. Some things were comfortable for us (hot dogs, expensive beer, bad bathrooms). Other things were new to us (all the fans drinking coffee instead of beer). We also learned some new Italian words that were involved in chants I'm not sure I'm allowed to reprint here. They weren't big on the subtlety and were a bit more direct than chants at American football games. Although I do think I heard a safety school chant.

Dealing with Tourist Traps

As anybody that has travelled out here knows, tourist traps are all over the place. Some of them are easy to avoid (don't go to the restaurant on the main square that offers a "tourist menu" and provides pictures of all their menu items). But it's hard to avoid the beggars, panhandlers, and rose-sellers that approach everybody tourist looking and asking if they speak English. Ali has almost thrown a few punches when an ambitious "traveling vendor" thinks the best way to turn a "No, Grazie" into a sale is to shove his wares in her face and continue harassing her.

With that said, we've had a few more interesting and memorable experiences with these people.

Part I: Venice, September 1-4

Ali and I didn't exactly blend into Italy. We're much more conspicuous than the people walking around with Rick Steves and a fanny pack. But we still don't really look Italian and the constant Rainbow wearing is probably a dead give away. So we always get approached by people asking us if we speak English. Our usual response is to say "No" which of course they realize means we do because we understood their question. Either way, it's usually enough for them to get the idea that we aren't the best targets for them.

In Venice, we kept being approached by girls (probably late teens or early 20s) asking us if we spoke English. To me that's just a dead give away that something is amiss. This was early enough in the trip that I didn't just keep walking or ignore them. Many people know I have issues talking to anybody that talks to me. Ali loves it, especially when it's crazy people on public transportation. So in this case, I said yes, but kept walking. She tried to get me to stop by saying "Do you want to sign against drugs?" We kept walking, but that statement really confused me. What do you want me to sign exactly? What good would me signing something do? I'm not a registered voter in Italy? I don't think petitions have a whole lot of weight in Italy. So we kept walking, but the question intrigued/confused me.

So we saw these girls a number of times all over Venice as we were walking around and each time they were targeting tourists and asking if they spoke English. Finally, the 4th time we passed them my curiosity got the better of me and I asked what was going on. She said they were former drug addicts that were living in a halfway house in Venice (unlikely was my thought) and were asking people to sign to support them and then perhaps make a small donation. I told her good luck and walked away. I think Rule #1 is if somebody is only looking for English speakers, something is probably amiss. Apparently they did not think Italians would sign to support them? It was strange. Either way, "Do you want to sign against drugs?" is a question that will stick with me.

Part 2: Bologna, September 5

We were eating dinner our last night in Bologna when a rose vendor approached the table. You've seen these people everywhere. They offer any couple a rose. If the guy says no, they shove it towards the girl hoping she'll take it. If she says no, they place it in her face. Then Ali almost punches them. Sometimes they leave the rose on the table if you are eating and then come back later to ask for their payment. Apparently, some tactics work because there are always plenty of girls walking around with lone roses.

During our dinner at Trattoria Belfiore, three gentlemen selling roses approached us within two minutes of each other without knowing about the others. The last guy offered a rose to the table next to us which consisted of a couple and the girl's mother. They said "No, Grazie" and he approached us. We also replied "No, Grazie." At that time, he began raising his voice and saying something in Italian. The basic gist was that it was selfish of us not to buy roses and that it wasn't right that everybody was so polite when they said no instead agreeing to buy roses. Apparently realizing we didn't speak Italian and he wouldn't get very far with us, he went back to the table next to us and started berating them. Based on a few words and hand motions, the general points was: "Why is everybody so polite when they say no. You people sit here and say no, thank you. You're so polite about it. You sit here enjoying your meals. What about me? How are my children supposed to eat? How can you just sit here and be so polite saying no without worrying about how my children are supposed to eat?"

He didn't seem to have an ultimate point beyond how unfair things were, but that didn't stop him from yelling for about three minutes straight. Nobody from the restaurant seemed to mind and the family he was yelling at just sat there quietly. Finally, after a few minutes, and with no sign that he was going to slow down, Ali yelled out of nowhere "Basta! Arrividerci!" with a graceful brush of her hand. I think the guy was as surprised as I was and he mumbled a few more things and left. I was impressed.

Part III - Avignon, France

We had some time to kill in Avignon before catching our train. Ali wanted to go to the H&M and since the H&M was horribly designed and did not have any chairs, I went outside to sit in the shade. As I walked outside I was approached by a guy asking for something in French. As I usually do when French is spoken, I stared at him blankly. I could tell he was asking for something, so I began to walk away. Then he said in perfect English "I just need three cents for bus fare." The "I need X for bus fare" routine is common, but usually you ask for a little more than three cents. You gotta do a lot of volume to make anything three cents at a time. I told him I didn't think I had it, because I really didn't think I did. But I pulled out my change and found a couple of dimes. At that point he grabbed one of the dimes, and gave me seven cents change to get the three cents he originally needed. I expect that will be the only time I ever receive change from somebody asking for money on the street.