Firenze > Milano > Bâle > Strasbourg

Sunday morning we woke up, thinking we had overslept. So we rushed downstairs, and discovered another couple standing there, and they told us that there was no breakfast. They were confused because they knew they were supposed to do breakfast each morning, and wondered what was happening. I went back up to the room to finish getting ready, and my mom soon followed. Then my dad came up a few minutes later and told us that there had been a time change! We had gained an hour at midnight. So after getting ready, we went back downstairs and breakfast was ready.

The weather was gross. It was rainy, but thankfully not as cold as the day before. Luckily, we had our reservations at Uffizi, so we didn't have to spend the morning in the rain. So we found our way there again.
Mom had been struggling with our reservations because she wasn't sure if her original order had worked. She had a printout of an email they sent saying that it had processed, but she hadn't received any emails since. So once we got to Uffizi, we found a line for the information desk. We waited in it for about 20-25 minutes, and then once we got up to the desk, they told us we were in the wrong line. So we found the right line, and waited for another 15-20 minutes. We got up to the desk, and my mom handed them the printout. The woman barely glanced at it, and then handed over three tickets. So we found the reservation line and got into the museum. My mom kept saying, "I paid 30 extra euros to wait in line in order to not wait in line." But we only waited a maximum of 30 minutes...when we would have waited 2-3 hours if we didn't have the reservations...in the rain.
Once in Uffizi, we spent the next 3 hours wandering around it. It is the largest gallery in the world. And it's probably the most exhausting. Sorry, no pictures allowed though.
After we finished, we were starving, so we found lunch. We ate at a restaurant that was decorated a bit like something you might find at home (where my parents got into a discussion with the woman about Obama...enough said). They had one, flat screen tv and it was playing a soccer game. There were groups of people all eating lunch and watching the game. I found it more entertaining to watch the people watching the game, than watch the game. Every five or ten minutes you'd hear everyone go "OOooooh!" and smack their foreheads, or shake their heads. It was pretty funny.
After lunch we went back to the market because my dad wanted to get another scarf (one of the things he said he would NEVER wear when we first got here and he saw all the men wearing scarves). On the way, we found another paper store for me to hop into and buy a quill. Then we were sick of the rain, and decided to head back to the villa and relax again before dinner.

We were trudging up the hill in the mud and rain, and we had just reached the gate, where the gravel road ends and becomes flagstones for the courtyard. I was watching where I was walking, since it was muddy and getting dark. But somehow I missed the T-shaped metal gate-stopper sticking out of the ground. The entire toe of my Converse got wedged underneath it...and I went down. When you are falling because your foot got stuck, generally as you fall you are able to free your foot and simply stumble, rather than go all the way to the ground. The entire time I was falling, I was trying to free my foot. To no avail. I fell on my right side, in a very strange way. I twisted my upper body around, and was able to catch myself in a partial push-up position, but my lower body was twisted to the side, with my foot still stuck.
Anyways, I managed to toss my umbrella and turn it completely inside out, scrap up my palms (luckily only one of them bled), bang my knee (which later swelled and turned black and blue), smash my hip (which was very tender and bruised), and tenderize my shoulder. I must say, I felt pretty awesome after that little stunt.

Once back to the room, I got all cleaned up, and got my dirty, wet clothes off to dry before heading out to dinner. My mom completely changed into pajama's, and when my dad asked what time he should make our dinner reservation for, she just kinda looked at him. We didn't end up going out. Instead, we stayed in the room (and were joined at one point by my friend who snuck into our slightly open room and decided to make himself comfortable on my dad's lap), unloaded all the snacks we had packed for the train rides, and played cards. Happy 50th Mom! : )

Monday we woke up to my 7:20 alarm. We went downstairs, with slightly grumbly tummies, and were welcomed by one of the women that works there. She told us she was going to make us cappuccinos and brought out the pastries she was going to be putting out that morning for breakfast. Our stomachs thanked her. Our taxi arrived at 8:00 and trundled us off to the train station (for a steep price of 31 euros...yikes!).
On our train from Firenze to Milano, we ended up sitting next to a younger guy and his mom. Only to discover they were from Virginia! They told us all about their travels, and we told them about ours. When the guy told us that he was going to Paris, I asked what he was going to do there and he just shrugged, saying I have no idea. So I wrote down the major things, helping them to get the best of their time there.
The rest of our travel day went uneventfully.

Strasbourg > Bâle > Milano > Firenze

Four day weekend, two days of which were spent travelling.
Friday we took a train from Strasbourg to Bâle (Basil), from there to Milano (Milan), and then on to Firenze (Florence). With the most beautiful view through Switzerland.

We got into the train station just after 6:00 (18:00). We had some difficulty finding the bus we were supposed to take...and then even more trouble figuring out which stop we were supposed to get off at. After we got off the bus, if I had thought that was going to be the hardest part...I was wrong. We had to hike up a gravel path (uphill) to the villa my mom had booked a room in (keeping in mind we have our luggage with us). We finally got there...only to discover that there wasn't where we were supposed to be. Luckily, we were on the right property, just the wrong building. So we just had to go up a little higher. We finally got checked in and into our room at about...9:30 (21:30). Mom and dad went out for dinner (I was too exhausted and grumpy to hike back down that damn hill for food). So instead I stayed in, took a bath and went to bed.

Saturday we got up and had an awesome breakfast. Afterwards, mom and I were standing in the courtyard in front of the villa, gauging the weather, and I made a friend. He came wandering up and I bent down and was petting him; and when we started to make our way towards the door, he trotted ahead of us and waited till we opened the door to sneak inside. He followed us all the way upstairs to our room, but we closed the door before he came in. He had disappeared once we came out. Oh, by the way, we was a cat. Then we got our bus into Firenze. Once there, we saw a couple of massive Basilicas.

We just kinda wandered around the town, and discovered a huge, sprawling outside market. There was booth after booth of; leather purses, leather jackets, trinkets, scarves, hats, etc. We spent a good amount of time wandering around here. 

After a while we were starving, so we found a really neat restaurant for lunch. I got gnocchi in a delicious tomato sauce, and the best lemonade I've ever had. Once our bellies were satisfied we wandered around some more.

We ended up coming upon the museum that had Michelangelo's David. Now, normally for the museum's in Italy, the lines are just ridiculous. A person would generally spend 2-3 hours waiting in line to get inside the museum. So, instead, what you can do is make a reservation ahead of time online, then you just wait in a really quick line to pick up tickets from your reservation and then you go inside.
But, the line to get in to see David was miraculously short. So we were standing in it, trying to decide if we wanted to go in or not. My dad checked the price to get in, and it was 10 euro a person. So we decided not to go in.

After that, we discovered the Jewelry Bridge. I had heard a woman talking about it earlier in the day, but I didn't think anything of it. I didn't even think it was a landmark. But it's actually really cool. It's a bridge with buildings on both sides, and the shop windows are FILLED with jewelry. The weather that day was very cold and overcast, and so when you looked down the bridge, it practically glowed. I felt blind once we left the bridge from all the bright lights and glittering from window shopping.
We then stumbled upon a massive piazza with statues and a huge building we later discovered was the Uffizi Gallery, which was where my mom had made reservations for Sunday. Good thing too, because even late at night, in November, there was a super long line.
After this, we found our bus and rested at the villa for a bit. Then we wandered into the tiny town we were staying in just outside of Firenze, called Galluzzo. We ate at a pizzeria. Oh. My. Goodness. Best pizza, hands-down. I don't even know how to describe it, other than to quote my dad, "Magical pizza." SuUuper delicious!

We of course tried Gelato!

All over, during our wanderings I kept seeing these stores selling marbleized papers decorated by hand, handmade notebooks, stationary, quills, fountain pens, and wax seals. Of course I had to go in one. I ended up coming out with a wax seal. I had the choice of 1 initial, 2 initials or a symbol. I had to think about it for a bit. If I got 1 initial, then I would obviously get a Z. If I got 2 initials, then I would get a J and a T. If I got a symbol it would be a fleur de lys, but I already have one of those. Not to mention the symbol's were more expensive. In the end, I got a J and T. Perfect for stamping our invitations!

Q & A

Q: When did the French stop using the guillotine?

A: 1977!

Chez Achard

Went to Justine's house for dinner tonight!
We were supposed to be at their house at 7:00 (19:00) and my mom wanted to pick up peanut butter (for our sandwiches for the train tomorrow) on our way. So we left here about 6:15ish (18:15). Long and frustrating story short, we didn't get peanut butter and we arrived at the Achards at about exactly 7 o'clock.
Claire and Marion were there as well. It was so good to see them! We sat down to Chinese soup. It was quite good. I've never had it before and didn't know what to expect. I don't know how it is typically done, but we ate it serve-yourself style. They had a big bowl of the soup, which was mostly broth with some cut up peppers, some mushrooms, etc in it. Then they had little bowls of; bean sprouts, green onion, egg, ham, steak, chicken, shrimp, and such, plus a bowl of chinese noodles with seaweed. Basically you took some broth and put whatever of the other ingredients in that you wanted. It was delicious.
After the soup, we had cheese. Of course. They had 4 different kinds, two of which were goat. All delicious.
After cheese they brought out the chocolate fountain. YuuUuummm...
Justine's mom was in the kitchen, putting together the fountain and making the chocolate and we kept hearing lots of noise. Finally, Justine's dad comes out, to show us that her mom had broken the third bottom tier to the fountain. At first, I was sad cause I thought we wouldn't get to do the fountain. But then he just shrugged and said "oh well." Once everything was ready, they brought it all out.
They had; kiwi, apples, pineapple, banana, clementines, and marshmallows. My mom really went to town on the marshmallows (she also had the messiest plate by the end). After having our fill of delicious chocolate covered fruits, we all finished digesting and talked for a bit. It was a very enjoyable evening. Justine's parents gave us a book about Strasbourg (in english, thankfully, so I don't have to attempt to translate the whole thing), and her mom gave my mom a gift for my mom's birthday. It's a chocolate pumpkin, filled with fancy chocolates (picture coming soon). I also borrowed three movies from Justine; How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Chocolat, and Blue Crush. This will be good for mom and me over the next few weeks to relax and enjoy while eating her chocolate pumpkin.

Off to Italy tomorrow! We travel all day tomorrow, Saturday we wander, Sunday to a gallery, and Monday traveling home. Going to be a fun weekend!

A Tale of Me and My Big Fat Mouth

Well, I'm officially an idiot...

Last night, John and I were talking and he was telling me about a conversation he had with a buddy at work...

"So, what if Taylor says 'no'?" buddy from work asked

"Yeah, what if I say 'no'?" I said, jokingly...

"Well, then I will leave you at the airport and drive away." John

pause...

"What was that?" me

"I said 'then I will leave you at the airport and drive away'.." John

another pause...

"But how will you know at the airport if I say 'no'?" I ask... already knowing the answer

In short...John ruined his plan for how he was going to propose. But I feel like the idiot, because I helped ruin it. I should have kept my big mouth shut, and then he would have still been able to do it. I'm so mad...it would have been so cute! And now it's ruined... Stupid me.

Loire Valley Adventure Part 2

Sunday woke up and got breakfast. Then we met our taxi with our luggage and set out for Chenonceau. The ride there was pretty. Our taxi driver didn't say a peep the whole time because he didn't speak any english.
Once at Chenonceau, we got our tickets and left our luggage at the check. I got an audio guide, and then we wandered all through the castle. It was really cool. I didn't know anything about the castle, just that it was really popular. And now I know why. It is super cool.

It was really interesting to listen to the audio, and learn all about the things that happened. It also explained the hall over the river, and why it was built. After wandering through the castle, we got lunch in the cafeteria, in what used to be the Royal Stables. Then we wandered through the old farm, along with the vegetable garden where they grow vegetables and flowers used for arrangements in the castle today. We also wandered through the two gardens, one for Catherine de' Medicis, and one for Diane de Poitiers. These weren't quite as beautiful as they would have been had we gone in the summer. But it was still easy to imagine how gorgeous they probably are when they are all blossomed. It would also have been better had the backside of the castle not been covered up with renovation work.

Then we found the maze built for Catherine de' Medicis and had fun finding our way through it. After that we visited the gift shop, and then it was time to meet our taxi to go to the train station.
On our train from Amboise to Paris, there aren't assigned seats because it's an intercity train. Luckily, we got on one of the first stops, because a few stops after us, there were tons and tons of people waiting to get on. There weren't even enough seats, so people were standing at the doors and even down the aisles. They had to stand for a little over an hour. While my parents and I sat comfortably in our seats.

Loire Valley Adventure Part 1

Saturday morning, 5:15 wake up time, and off to Val de Loire. Our train from Strasbourg got into Paris Gare Est at 9:04, then we had to get to Gare Austerlitz for our 10:48 train. So we got metro tickets and rode to Austerlitz. Once there, we tried to find our train on the listings...but it wasn't there. My dad found an info desk to ask about it, only to discover that it was cancelled...awesome! Luckily, there was another train leaving an hour after our original scheduled one. So we hopped on that one. Huge misadventure averted.
We got into Amboise around 2:00ish (14:00) and walked from the train station to our hotel. Unfortunately...our hotel wasn't open until 3:00 (15:00). How this makes sense...I have no idea. But anyways, we were left with our suitcases. Luckily, they were small carry-on sized ones. So we found our way to Chàteau d'Amboise, figuring they would have a luggage check. The castle is conveniently located 5 minutes walking distance from our unopen hotel.
We got tickets and left our luggage at the front desk (including our coats), one misadventure averted...only to create another one. After you leave the ticket office, you walk back outside to get into the castle. Just as we had been entering the ticket office, it had started to rain. So now, we had to go quickly into the castle entrance to avoid getting cold and wet. Once inside, a nice surprise was waiting. There was a private (english) tour going on. So we followed after them and learned more than we would have about the castle.
Amboise doesn't have many rooms open, and the ones that are aren't as exciting, as say, Versailles, but it was still interesting. After going through the castle, people generally take time to walk around the gardens and grounds...seeing as it was raining and cold with us not having coats, we decided to make our tour of the grounds quick. Especially once I discovered that my umbrella enjoys turning inside out when the tiniest of breezes blows at it.

We went into the small chapel, where Leonardo Da Vinci is buried. Then we visited the gift shop, and finally deciding to head to our hotel. We collected our coats and luggage and checked into our hotel. We asked the guy at the front desk how to get to Chenonceau the next day, and he told us there was a bus, but he didn't know what one; so he suggested we go to the Office du Tourism. This we did, only to discover that there is no bus, or train (like I had thought) from Amboise to Chenonceau. Terrific! The woman at the tourism office told us the best way (unless you have bicycles and time) to get there is to take a taxi. Yay for our simple trip suddenly becoming very expensive!
After there, my mom wanted to find a wine tasting room. So we wandered down the road for a bit and found a good place. They tried Chinon 2004, 2005, 2006, Bourgeuil 2004, 2009, 1989, and Montlouis 2009. They bought a Chinon 2004 and Montlouis 2009. After this, we wandered through the little streets lined with cute shops. Then we found a good place for dinner.
We each got a Galette. Mine was with 4 cheeses, and delicious. The place we ate was teeny-tiny with probably only about 12 tables and one young kid serving all of them. It was really nice and cozy, and then at 8:00 (20:00) the owner (we think that's who he was) started playing the piano. He was a funny old guy. He would stop in between songs and drink some wine, or meander through the restaurant and talk to the customers. He came over and talked to us for a bit. My dad and him got to talking about jazz in America, and he said he'd play an Armstrong song that he could sing and play. He winked at my mom and said it was for her. After he finished playing, he came back over and shook my dad's hand and kissed my mom's hand. When he went back, she said all flustered, "He kissed me!" I just rolled my eyes...