Paris, Pisa and Rome :) Bella la vita

On Wednesday we got in around 1 in the afternoon from Brussels. We dropped our bags off at the hotel and started touring. Paris has been our FAVORITE place so far. It was marvelous! It's definitely not overrated and it's just everything you ever dreamed for it to be. It's filled with beautiful buildings, beautiful greenery and the ambiance is superb. Definitely a place we want to come back to again.

Considering how close we were staying to the Eiffel tower you would think it was the first place we would visit, but believe it or not, we decided to leave it for later in the evening. We decided to head to the museums instead. We are a little bit of art and history dorks I suppose. :)

As many of you may know, I read everything Rick Steves had to say about each country we visited. Well I'm really glad I did and I would recommend anyone back packing Europe or even visiting one city in Europe to read his books. They are so informational and have some good discount tips or ways to help keep you with in budget. With that said, we did what Rick recommended and bought the museum pass which was €32 which is about $50 per person and we went everywhere! It was such a great deal ; had we not done that then we would have paid like €8-10 for each museum. We got our money's worth visiting 3 of the museums and for those of you that have been to Paris...well 3 museums is nothing. We took advantage of this pass and went to 8 different places all included in that pass. The other great thing about the pass was that it allowed you to skip lines; pretty much VIP access into all the museums. I don't know why people wouldn't buy that pass. On Wednesday we went to Napoleon's tomb, the Rodin museum and Arc de Triomphe and on Thursday we went to the Orsay museum, the Louvre, Sainte Chapelle, and Notre Dame Chapelle and bell tower. We also went to the Eiffel tower, but that was the only thing not included on our pass. I'll tell you about each place in the order that we went and in the end I'll tell you our favorite places, but I'm sure you'll figure it out before I'm done with this blog.

Napoleon's Tomb is crazy! This guy went all out for himself and when you see the pictures you'll see what I mean. The building on the outside speaks for itself. It's 2 times the size of the white house (basically two white houses stacked on top of each other, no joke.) There is a moat in front which I'm sure was used back in the day, the grass is green and the building looks like a palace. it's gorgeous, but very gaudy (so I just learned right this second that you spell gaudy g-a-u-d-y, only because my it kept coming up wrong when I spelled it gody and godi, so I ask Ant how you spell "gody" and he tells me g-a-u-d-y and asked how I was spelling it before and I tell him and he started laughing at me because all this time I thought the word "gody" had something to do with God and being holier than thou. yeah, basically I'm a fool :)) Anyway back to what I was saying about gaudy or lavish things; Napoleon was so full of himself. Thus building is Napoleons version of the Sistine chapel dedicated for himself to himself (did you know he crowned himself emperor?!) If I could compare him to anyone it would be "the situation" so full of himself for no reason. I also think he had the little man syndrome because he was very short and everything he built for himself was 100 times the typical size. Inside the building is a memorial for him with the tomb as his center piece. His tomb/coffin is ginormous, I would say it's the size of a small u-haul truck. You guys will see what I mean when I post pictures. It's outrageous and out of control, but very pretty with beautiful architecture. That's one thing about Paris, it's filled with beautiful architecture and the whole city is in unison. No one part looks modern or redone, it all lots just as you imagine it would. It's a gorgeous city, truly.

Next up, Rodin museum. Augustine Rodin, for those of you that may not know, was a sculptor in the late 18th century. He is known for sculpting The Thinker (in bronze) and The kiss (in marble). The whole museum displayed his work, some was outside in the most beautiful garden, that I wish I had gotten married in, and the rest was inside an old mansion. I really enjoyed the outside area because it had flowers and trees, a fountain with ducks and a spectacular view of the mansion. The sculptures are incredible, I can't wrap my mind on how a man could have made such beautiful work. Every line, every face, every hand, every wrinkle made with perfection. My favorite sculpture is The Kiss. It's just a gorgeous piece of a man wrapping his arms around his woman and kissing her passionately. It's romantic and beautiful. After the Rodin museum we walked all over Paris, just so you guys know, Anthony and I have been walking 6-15 miles a day, crazy!

Anyway, after all the walking we made our way to The Arc de Triomphe, for those that may not know, was built in the most important street in Paris , Champ de Élysées, for Napoleon, from Napoleon (are you getting how much of a narcissist this guy was) after one of his victories; basically a trophy to himself. The ADT is in the middle of the craziest traffic circles I have ever seen. To get to the middle you have to go through an underground tunnel, I believe they made it that way because there is no way you could make it alive if you crossed that traffic area. Anthony filmed it and there were almost 3 accidents in his short 2 minute clip. Once we got to the middle we were basically staring at a huge piece of art. Sculpted at the top of the arc are these flower blocks and the inside walls, as well as the outside are engraved with writing and beautiful designs. The huge trophy makes anyone feel like an ant, actually everything in Paris makes you feel tiny, I think this is what Napoleon was aiming for. The best part of the arc is being able to go to the top. It's incredible. The view you get of Paris is perfect and you get to see the beautiful street of champ de élysées and the louvre. Honestly, it was amazing & unreal. I remember standing there thinking, am I really here, in Paris on the Arc de Triomphe marveling at all this beauty with Anthony?! Holy Cow!! I didn't want to get down, wish I could be on the top of it again.

For dinner Wednesday night we ate at this hip place in Paris. Paris is really overpriced, therefore, we only ate out once. Anthony had a "super burger," he is such a typical American, and I had spaghetti bolognese. My dinner tasted delicious and Anthony's burger was a "super burger," alright. His burger had a beef patty, bacon and a chicken breast; it was Ant's and every males dream come true. Protein, Protein, Protein!! I tasted it and it was good and as for what Ant thought about it, well he didn't stop talking about it all night. He went on about having to make it at home and how much Purkey and the boys would enjoy this new creation lol. Oh boys!

After all the walking we had done all day and our heavy dinner we decided to walk some more :) and check out the Eiffel Tower. Earlier we had seen it from a distance and Ant had mentioned how small it looked and how he was expecting it to be huge, but once we got to it and were standing by it we realized how enormous it was; it's a bit scary even. As scary as it may be up close, it's actually beautiful. It's even more beautiful at night when it lights up and it's more beautiful at 10 pm when it twinkles for exactly 5 minutes. It's definitely breath taking and it allows you to appreciate it much more. I felt like a little kid on Christmas morning looking at the the twinkling tower, even Anthony was shocked by it's beauty. It was a great way to end our night.

On Thursday morning, we woke up determined to take on the rest of the city. We headed straight to see the Orsay museum which houses some of the most beautiful paintings of Manet, Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh, Matisse, Pissarro to name a few. Anthony's favorite is Monet, it's amazing to see him get excited over art and I love that we have that in common. The way we both examine the detail of the art work like the lines, the stroke, the depth, the meaning, the colors, everything.... it's incredible. God, thank you for giving me such a wonderful husband! :) Though we share a passion for art, Anthony appreciates art that features landscape and pastels. I, in the other hand, enjoy the rich colors that pointillism and impressionism offers (definitely not a fan of the romanticism or neoclassic.) Anyway, the orsay was amazing...I'm ready to move on.

The Louvre!! Let me start out by saying that the Louvre is more than just a glass triangle (because I thought it was the glass triangle and a little museum under ground). The Louvre is a huge U shaped building and the glass triangle is just a little piece on the center of this massive building. It's very overwhelming too. Anthony and I only covered a few sections of it because we were just so overwhelmed with the massiveness and the amount of things to see. We saw things from sculptures to ancient Greek and Egyptian artifacts and of course we saw the Mona Lisa :). The Mona is on a lonely wall all by herself and it has a glass covering so that the light from the flash does not affect the painting. To take a picture in front of the Mona Lisa was so difficult because everyone is elbowing to get a picture, it's ridiculous. The Louvre was great and seeing it all made me want to go see the Da Vinci Code. We also saw the section of the Lovre that has all of Napoleon's old furniture and his living quarters. It was very "godi." :)

Sainte Chapelle is this old cathedral in Paris which sounded interesting and was part of our museum pass, so why no check it out. At first Anthony didnt want to go in because it sounded "lame," but he was so glad we did in the end. When you first walk in to the church you can tell it's a piece of history, it was gorgeous with the detail and the arches and just the simple beauty. There was a lot of stained glass, which I love, around the church. Once you are done with the first floor you have to climb to the second floor on this tiny spiral stair case (Anthony was freaking out since he is scared of heights) and when you finally get to the second floor, what you see is majestic! All of the walls are stained glass and with the sun shinning through the glass, well it was amazing. Seriously, it left me speechless.

Notre Dame church, the same church that Victor Hugo, writer of The Humpback of Notre Dame used as his setting (I know so obvious) was really interesting. The church was huge and it had gargoyles which Anthony really enjoyed, but then we had to climb the bell tower. It was so high up and the stairs got smaller and smaller the higher you went, Anthony wasn't having it. Then we had to climb to see the bell of the cathedral and the stairs were wooden and Anthony kept thinking he was going to fall. It was crazy, but a little funny to me. Of course I was supportive and tried to help him the best I could, but I can't relate since I'm not afraid of heights. My poor babe :(.

By the time we got done doing all the museums on Thursday, it was 6 and we were hungry so we stopped to eat. I got a crêpe with nutella and banana and Anthony got a foot long hot dog wrapped in French bread. Both were really tasty.

Well the last thing we did on Thursday night was go to the Eiffel tower. It was really cold and windy, but we still wanted to experience the whole thing. The ET has 3 floors, the third one is the highest. We decided we wanted to go to the very top, remember Anthony is scared of heights? Well he still wanted to go all the way up, so we did. We got to the tower at around 830 and it took a while to finally get in the elevator. By the time we got to the second floor the sun was almost down, yes at around 930 pm. Anthony was terrified on the second floor and started to regret his decision of wanting to go to the third floor, but like a champ he did it. The elevator to the third floor takes forever and Anthony was freaking out the whole time, I'm talking sweating and almost passing out haha. I know, I'm being mean right now, but seriously? We finally made it to the third floor where there are two sections, a glass area or an upstairs area with a fence around it. Ant put his foot down and said no to the fenced area. I went up on my own and it was the most amazing view I have ever seen. It was absolutely gorgeous to see Paris lite up like that. Just the whole feeling of being that high in the air and seeing the city was grand. I only wish Ant would have gone up, but he was really scared at that point so I didn't push him. We both gazed at the beauty the city had to offer from the glass area on third floor, it was perfect....I wouldn't change it for the world. Being in places like that, experiencing the feelings we experienced right at that moment are the reasons why I feel that its so important to travel as a family, ours being only 2. Honestly, I feel like experiences like that make me love Anthony with so much more depth and my one priority is to not fail this marriage. I have failed at so many things and I just don't want to fail the vow we made to one another and to God. Besides feeling all mushy inside while visiting these beautiful cities, I also get sad. Sad because I think of Saidi and all those kids in Africa that will never know what anything outside their village looks like. They will probably never know what flying in a plane feels like or having sand in between their toes or how beautiful a city looks like when darkness falls and all the lights turn on, or eating different variation of foods that people so often waste. It saddens me and it also makes me feel selfish for experiencing these things knowing they can't. I am so grateful for the things we have, the life we live and the beautiful things we get to experience. So thankful!

Reading back I forgot to tell you out favorite place in Paris......it was the Arc de Triomphe! It had the perfect city view and the prettiest view. It was an amazing experience!!

I write to you from our shuttle to the Beauvais airport, we are leaving Paris and headed to Pisa and from Pisa we are taking a bus into Florence. We were going to stay in Pisa, but since there isn't much to do there we decided to stay in Florence and travel back and forth.

Hi :) it's Sunday morning and we are on a train to Pisa! We will be here for a few hours only because we have a train to take to Rome tonight. Rome is our last stop before we go visit Ant's family for the remaining time of our trip. We have thought of taking a train to Venice, but I'm no sure we will. We got into Florence Friday night, our plane got in right before the sun was setting. The view once we got off the plane was of the Italian mountains. It felt great to finally be in Italy. Anthony was over joyed and happy to be in his mother land. We had only ate an early lunch and we were starving by the time we go into the city. Ant didn't want to look for a place to eat so we decided to eat McDonald's. I know, McDonalds on our first night in Italy? Yeap, out of all places we did it in Italy. So about our experience in McDonald's....let's put it like this American food taste better outside of America. I don't know if it was the fact that we were starving or what, but it was delicious. The burgers actually looked the way they do in commercials; the cheese melted perfectly, the buns fluffy not squished, the meat made out of actual meat and not made up ingredients, basically it tasted the way a burger is meant to taste.

Enough about McDonald's and on to other things. Florence, compared to everywhere we have been has been the cheapest, especially for a place to sleep. We didn't stay at a hotel, we stayed with this sweet old lady named Marcella. Rick Steve's recommended her on his book and so we booked to stay with her. She has a huge house in Florence, in a quiet street and rents out four of the rooms in her house. When we arrived to her house she buzzed us in and greeted us at the door. She was the cutest, most sweetest little lady ever. Rick Steve's said that staying at Marcella's was like staying with a Florentine mama and he wasn't kidding. She grabbed my hand and walk us to our room and laughed and giggled and flirted with "Antonio." She loved Anthony, I mean who doesn't :). She would just gaze into his eyes and say, "Antonio no parla Italiano, e Americazzinado" which means, "Anthony doesn't speak Italian, he is Americanized." Staying at her place was also super cheap, she charged us the least and she gave us a little discount. She was adorable and Anthony really liked her too. Her house was really nice and her bathrooms had marble all around it. We got a great deal that came with great personality.

In the morning we went for a walk around the center of Florence. We had two things we wanted to do: see the duomo and go to the viewing spot of the city. We thought we wouldn't have too much to do, but as we started walking we discovered how wrong we were. All through out the city were vendors selling leather belts, purses, jackets, you name it. In the center, there is a mercato where they sell cheese, fresh cuts of meat to order, mussels, oysters, pasta, beans, dried goods...everything. Instead of going to the grocery you go to this place and you get your food there. How amazing is that? I wish there were more places like that in Florida.

Let me tell you about our lunch in Florence, we ate at this place called trattoria Mario by mercatto centrale. When we walked into the restaurant it was very small and had about 7 or 8 tables; some tables sat 4 and some sat 8. The smell of the place was incredible, it smelled like garlic and tomatoes and you could hear and smell the steaks searing on the grill. The mood of the place was also great, like none I have ever experienced. The most interesting thing was when got sat with 4 other people. I had never experienced this, but Anthony said he had when he was younger in Pennsylvania and it's normal for them to do this is small restaurants. It was nice, we met a mom and daughter from Chicago and they were very sweet. The whole experience and the food was like none other, I loved it. After our lunch we walked to the view spot of the city and it was incredible, wait til you see the pictures. I'm talking the most beautiful view I have ever seen, as pretty as the one in Paris, maybe a little better! We also had gelato and holy cannoli it was good. The place had organic gelato and my strawberry gelato had pieces of strawberry in it. Yummo! Later in the day we stopped for more. This time I had cheesecake gelato and nutella gelato together and it was delish. :)

Since Anthony and I brought limited supply of clothes, you will see in the pictures a lot of our clothes looks the same, we had to do laundry. At the laundry place we met this couple from Florida who had both graduated from UF and now live in Ft. Lauderdale. They were really nice and the more we talked at the laundry place the more we realized we had a lot in common. So we went to dinner together, I know it's a bit random, but honestly it was so much fun. It gave both Anthony and I some one to talk to besides ourselves haha. They were a really sweet couple and he just got a job at proctor & gamble and they are really excited to move in together. It was just like I always imagined being in Italy, meeting new people, having a glass of wine, eating good food and just enjoying the simple things in life. Ahhh....I love Italy, I just wanna stay!

Pisa was really fun, but we were only there for a fee hours. Basically we took pictures of the leaning tower, walked around, had lunch and left. The tower was really big and it's definitely leaning. You can go inside and walk around in the tower, but we didn't do it. I'm glad we stayed in Florence because there wasn't much to do in Pisa.

Buonacere! It's late night here in Rome or like the Italians say, Roma. We have been in Rome since last night and it's been great. We saw the Roman ruins, Palentine hill and the colosseum this morning. The experience was great and it's just crazy to think that people actually lived here 2k years ago. I'm impressed with how long many of these buildings have been standing. I have to admit that Rome is not all that we expected it to be. Rome is more about walking in history and not so much about museums therefore you have to walk the city and know about the roman empire to truly appreciate it. It's still a beautiful city just not as beautiful as Paris.

The one thing I have enjoyed in Rome are all the piazzas. There are many piazzas, as in all of Italy. Piazzas are basically little squares with lots of restaurants, beautiful buildings and Italian people. My favorite piazza was piazza novana, it was filled with a lot of people selling art and local food and art vendors, it was great. The piazza by the Spanish steps was also very nice, but also very crowded. The view you get is really great and it makes you appreciate the beauty of Italy. We sat on the Spanish steps for a little while and it was great to see the streets with all the Italian flags and the pretty buildings.

We went to the Vatican city and saw the Sistine Chapelle and it was breath taking. The Vatican city is it's own country, for those of you that didn't know. It's separated by a huge wall and they think highly of themselves. For a long time their relationship with Rome and Italy itself was not very good. They have their own police, post office, stamps, money etc. If I were to mail out a letter from the Vatican city, I would not be able to use an Italian stamp, it has to be a stamp from the Vatican or else they won't mail it. They are pretty serious about it. To get in the museum you have to be patient because the lines are outrageous. Lucky for us the like to get in only took about ten minutes, but I felt like I was a cow being herded. It was the same way at the Louvre, people go crazy over getting in and it becomes a competition and if you aren't careful you could easily get trampled. The whole time we were in line Anthony was making a cow sounded and everyone around us kept looking at us. It was pretty funny. The painting inside the museum were amazing, but the ones in the Sistine chapel were incredible! We weren't allowed to pictures, but Anthony and I, along with other people, snuck a fee good pictures haha. I gelt bad doing it, but it was worth it!!