More adventures! An excerpt from our trip from Rome to Paris, via Monaco.
"We have arrived in the city of lights, and it's "tres magnifique!" We arrived late this afternoon via high speed train from Monaco - the train was a fun adventure in and of itself, weaving its way through the French countryside (from the arid Mediterranean coast to the green apple orchards of Northern France) at up to 160mph! It took about six hours to cross the whole country. The Eiffel Tower is only a few blocks from our hotel, so we took a brisk walk over in time to see it illuminated with a dazzling light show at 6pm - tres belle! Dinner is later here in Europe, so we'll head to a Rick Steves's recommended cafe for dinner around 8pm."
(Side note - that cafe became our favorite. Duck and Potatoes!! Enough said.)
"A quick recap of the last few days - Vernazza was a picturesque, rather remote fishing villiage on the sea, part of whats called the "Cinque Terre," or Five Lands. Five tiny villiages perch onto the rocks above the Medeterranean, and while bustling with tourists and hikers in the summer, was quiet and pretty much only locals and their families while we were there. I came down with a cold while en route to cinque terre, so I spent most of our time there lazily strolling or watching the sea."
Vernazza.
Monterosso, the next town over.
"While it was beautiful, I was excited to head for civilization (and proper Kleenex) when we left for Monaco yesterday morning. Monaco is a teeny tiny, extremely wealthy microcountry nestled within France on the Mediterranean. It is the cleanest, shiniest safest place I have ever been - there are security cameras about every foot, and it is said you could win a million dollars at the casino, walk down the street with it in the middle of the night, and have nothing to worry about. We only stayed one night in Monaco, but the hotel was fancy and beautiful and we ate a ton of amazing food there. We even ordered room service - soup and french fries - and had the tastiest breakfast of our trip at the hotel before we left this morning. Coffee here is amazing - even the tiniest train stations have espresso machines and make a better coffee than you can get anywhere at home."
"We will be in Paris for the remainer of our trip, and there is still so much to enjoy! La Lovre, shopping, Notre Dame, and I plan to visit the Eiffel Tower at least once a day!"
(I did manage to see the Eiffel Tower almost every day we were there. :))
Monte Carlo, Monaco.
The casino in Monte Carlo.
Monte Carlo harbor view from our hotel.
Eventually I'd like to do a few-more trip related posts, on eating gluten free in Europe and recommendations on where we stayed...if there's anything in particular you'd like to hear more about, leave a comment! :)
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