France/Italy PTR

[razmataz99]

So we started off our vacation in Paris. All we did is tour, as you'd expect from a tourist. But we did get to go up the Eiffel Tower!

Allright, that's enough of Paris.

Now for Italy!

Santa Margherita. Basically all we did here was swim and hike.

Siena. Siena is in Tuscany, Our hotel had a very nice pool, and most of our best meals were here. It was very nice!

This is Riva del Garda on lake Garda. (Right across the lake from Gardaland!) We should have gone. Apparently I won free admission on my Fanta can! To bad I couldn't read it.

Venice. Probably my least favorite place on our trip. It was WAY to crowded. It is way too touristy! If you happen to be going to Italy anytime soon, I would probably go to venice but only for a day trip.

Just an overhead shot of venice.

Now for some story!

Me, (being afraid of heights) Ended up going up the Eiffel Tower. The first two flights of stairs weren't to bad, (height wise) but the elevator really got me. All I could think about was what would happen if it broke. But on the bright side, I'm over my fear of heights now. We went up a famous dome in Montparnasse, with a spiral staircase. The bad part is that I had a headache. I ended up throwing later that night and missing dinner.

Santa Margherita was beautiful. The water was a very nice blue which made me miserable on our hikes. At least they had a nice view. On the train to one of our hiking spots, the car we sat in wasn't air conditioned. So my dad and ventured off into the next car which was apparently first class even though the ticket guy didn't say anything.

Moving on to Siena. We basically did the same thing every day. Get up, have breakfast, go to another town, come back, swim and have dinner. But we did have some AMAZING meals! The only really interesting thing was meeting up with my friend from Ohio. (We planned it)

Riva del Garda (on Lake Garda). Lake Garda was very nice but a little cold. The most interesting thing that happened there was going canyoning. For those of you who do not know what it is, it is when you go down a canyon sliding down waterfalls and jumping off rocks. The water was FREEZING even in a wetsuit!

Finally, Venice. If you ever plan to go to Italy, I would recommend just going to Venice for a day trip. It is very touristy, and gondola's and water taxi's are very expensive, so we ended up taking the dirty bus boat. Meals are also rather expensive. But at least it's not hard to find a good meal!

So that's my vacation trip report, hope you liked it!

[jcgoble3]

What, no pictures from the top of the Eiffel Tower?

Seriously, that sounds like an awesome trip. I would LOVE to travel abroad, but I can't afford it.

Canyoning sounds like loads of fun!

Thanks for the report!

[flightoffear1996]

Does it cost anything to go up the Eiffel Tower?

[razmataz99]

jcgoble3: Thanks!

flightoffear1996: Yes, but I don't know how much.

[medford]

it cost something to go up the tower when I was there in 2000.

Did you go see Sacre Couer? Or the catacombs? Those were 2 of my favorite things in Paris.

I loved Venice, I loved just taking bridges, getting lost and wondering my way thru the city. I loved finding little holes in the wall where we could get a great bottle of house wine for like $2 (american the exchange rate at the time was great for Americans, not so much now from what I understand). I loved the absolute silence you experienced in the morning compared to most of the large cities we were in that were busy by 7:00 am. I liked taking the boat out to the church on the Island (don't think you can see it in that picture) that has the "other last supper painting by Da Vinci" (ie not the one every catholic's grandmother had hanging up in her house somewhere)

With all of that said, I agree, Venice is a 1 day trip, no more, no less.

[razmataz99]

^I agree that the back streets and in the mornings it is a lot nicer because there aren't many tourists in Venice. We were going to go to the catacombs, but we didn't have enough time. Part of what made me not like Venice was our hotel. I understand the very nice hotels in Venice are expensive, but during the day when we were tired there was nothing to do. The room had no TV, and in the courtyard there was a dartboard but there weren't any darts. I will agree though that Venice is very cool, with no cars but just boats. My favorite part of Venice was probably the Piazza San Marco even with all the tourists. The lights are just so beautiful at night. Sorry you had to read all that. Thanks for the comment!

[Avatar]

Sounds like a fun Adventure, honestly being a father i enjoyed hearing about you spending so much time with your dad.

[luff]

Nice TR. Glad you had a good time.

Venice is much better in the spring and fall than during the summer. I used to be able to walk all the back ways from the train station or the parking decks to St Marks, hitting all those cool little things along the way.

[TheCrypt]

You're so lucky! I've always wanted to travel to Europe. Maybe some day.

[IndyGuy4KI]

Awesome PTR! thanks for the post!