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In the vein of my new goal to be lazy and let everyone else do all the work, check out the excellent post Samantha put together on our trip, along with Anhl, to Vancouver this past Friday/Saturday! Anhl and I had it planned, Samantha thought it would be amusing to surprise me and come along, which it was. Both amusing and surprising.
Since I used Samantha's camera the whole time, I have included one of the few photos I took with my camera... For the full experience, go here. Scroll up for the best photo at the top (of moi, of course ;) and they enjoy the rest:
Jenn, Samantha & Anhl Go to Vancouver
The trip home was pretty flawless - I had an 8 a.m. flight to London, and my big flight back to Seattle didn't leave until 3, so I got myself organized and headed into London for lunch and a little walk about. I basically went to Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, etc. and bummed, ate a little soup, thought about getting some silly souvenirs but then thought better of it :) With the travel time, immigration, etc. I had about 2 hours to hang out before heading back. In my final act of kindness on the European continent, I passed on my Tube day-travel-card to a weary fellow who was struggling to purchase his own. He was delighted, and it made me feel better about the 6 pounds :)
These eternal flights are a bit much, but I'd still rather do it all at once then have to stop-over, all that going up and down adds so much time to the whole thing. Our flight time was 9:45 in length - long. Really, really long. I am, however, now hooked on Sudoku puzzles, which either kill the time or put me to sleep - both work just fine.
In the end, I have to say, I really dug the tour. I went into it a bit skeptical to say the least - it was a bit of a snap decision at a time I booked as I was in some level of duress - and I am a confident, capable travel planner and a good budget-traveler to boot. But what I liked was simply put, that I didn't have to work, to be in charge or to make things happen. A lot of the days were nicely filled up, there were some that were only 1/2 full, and then a couple of nearly completely free days. A nice mix really! And with 26 people, in the end, I think I really liked and appreciated them all. The group dynamic is a funny thing, but by the end, everyone had found "their people" within the group, and we were all having a pretty great time together!
Here's a funny little anecdote - last night, a woman on the tour who is likely in her 50s and from Georgia - said, "Well Jenn, you are just blossoming tonight! I had no idea how outgoing you are." I of course laughed out loud, but seriously - I was pretty mellow on the tour, just trying to quietly soak it all in, appreciate what I was seeing and enjoy the moment. I did get a little 'planner' fix on our free days by dragging poor Amy up big hills and on walking tours (which we both enjoyed, seriously), so I feel like in a lot of ways, we got the best of both worlds - a bit of 'do-it-yourself' travel, and a hearty dose of not having to think or make decisions, which was really nice.
Oh, and Amy and I - we are really, really good travel companions! We talked about the fact that it panned out to be pretty much what we both expected, despite the fact that many work folks had been worried for us both for different reason :) Honestly though, I don't think we had a single moment of tension or struggle - we had fun times together, and also had days where we separated, did our own thing and then had something to talk to each other about later. I'd take another trip with Amy in a heartbeat - super easy going, agreeable, and generally she's pretty easy to please!
So where to next...hm...I'll have to let the PTO re-accrue before that happens, likely not for a year or so, but after being in the south of France, so close to Italy, I got a hankering for some more time there. So, I think that's next on the agenda - not sure if I'd do a tour or not, but either way, Italy is just fantastic, and now I've been happily re-bitten by the travel bug.
Thanks for taking my journey with me :) I appreciate the readership, comments and emails - it's nice when you're far away to still feel connected.
p.s. A bunch of your have asked if I've lost weight on this trip - I'm not really sure, to be honest - we did a crapload of walking, standing, moving, etc. - however, I believe the wine and desserts may have cancelled out those efforts. I'll weigh-in this weekend and see where I'm at. I'm certain I did not gain, and my clothes do seem a little bigger, to be honest, but that could just be a result of them stretching out after being worn a few too many times :)
Photos: Karen & Shane/George & Candace - Shane & George were my two primary 'human garbage disposals' and benefited most from my lap-band :); Bonnie & Patty, drinking pals on that last night; our guides, Daniella & Patrick; Nice to London; a last few shots in London; the flight home - including sudoku, the modern-day torture device that tells you how many minutes are left if your flight; shots over Greenland and the Cascades; there's Seattle! And I'm home. :)
It is hot here. We are definitely in the south of France now - hot, sunny, blue skies. Wonderful to enjoy, difficult to pack for...since London and Paris were definitely chilly. However, I slapped on what is now a very familiar t-shirt, and Amy and I headed to Monaco after breakfast. (That's "mo-knock-oh" in French). We took the city bus successfully to the stop in the middle section - there are three segments to Monaco - the old area, which has the palace, cathedral, which is up on a huge hill. There's a lower middle section, and on the other side of it lies Monte Carlo with it's famous Casino. We started out with the little Rick Steves walking tour of the old town in our book after hiking our asses up a significant hill - with all the walking we've been doing, I thought it would be nice to get some exercise in...Amy, well, not so much, but hey, tomorrow we sit on a plane for 12 hours! Anyhow, I was Amy's tour guide, and though I have yet to see a tip, she seems pleased with my performance in this regard. We saw, as stated, the Palace (yep, the price really lives there), Grace Kelly's grave in the cathedral, and various other lovely views and gardens.
Since Monaco is its own "principality" (technically, a separate country, though less than 1 square mile, it more or less functions as part of France), they have their own stamps and post office. We were keen to pick out some fun stamps, Amy picked up postcards and we had a lovely cappucino and pain au chocolat (the best chocolate croissant I think I've ever had, actually - warm, crispy - yum!) - she wrote postcards and I went and walked around a little more (I blog my postcards, essentially, so no complaints that you didn't get a postcard from me :). After this, we walked down the middle part of town again and hopped a bus to the casino area. There we just took it in, since it wasn't yet open, gambled a little just to say I did in a side-casino, and they we grabbed lunch. Next up, we actually found a simple little salon and got pedicures - we both needed a rest, and honestly, after 18 days of walking, the feet needed a bit of attention. Our time in Monaco ended with Amy making her big purchase of the trip - a really gorgeous bag from Celine. I knew she was a bag-freak, but really thought she was joking at first - though as soon as it became obvious that she meant business, I switched gears into "good friend who helps others spend copious amounts of money!" (some of you may know this side of me). Anyhow, she was pleased with her big purchase, the bag is really cool, and with that, we headed back to the hotel.
Amy took a siesta, I headed out to just sit and listen to my iPod for a while...ran into my buddy Bob and sat at a coffee shop with him while he wrote postcards. I just stared at the water and the boats and people watched. It was nice downtime before our final dinner, which was at 7:15. We dressed up a little - quite honestly, those clothes were the cleanest of the lot at this point - but it's always fun to dress up! Dinner was at a seafood place, it was good but most of mine landed on George's plate, or Shane's. They both benefited from my lap-band this trip, let me tell you! And oh my, yet again, the wine flowed. George and I split a bottle...and then after dinner, we all went out and he and I, well, split another. Bottle. Yes, that means I drank a whole bottle of wine. Hey, it was the last night of my vacation! After that, me and two other women on the tour went to a bar with a batch of American Navy guys hanging out - they were thrilled to run into people who spoke English as they've been at sea for 5 months. They were good fun (of course, we three were a bit tipsy, so were we :) and it was a lovely ending to the trip!
I got back and packed up (yes, at 2 a.m.) and Amy, who I'd woken up, suggested I shower and get myself together since I had to get up in less than three hours anyhow. I was drunkish, so I just listened to her directions. And, honestly, it paid off - I got up pretty easily and caught my 5:30 a.m. shared taxi to the Nice airport!
Photos: Monaco's Palace, Cathedral, Harbor, Casino; Amy and "the bag"; a few shots of Villefranche (including the one up top) and, the best Pain au Chocolat ever!
I was very excited to go to Nice this morning! That's prounouned 'neice,' by the way. I went there on my first (whirlwind) trip of Europe back in 1997, but outside of the Chagall Museum, and the beach, I hardly remembered it. Patrick, our guide, took us on a short walking tour of the old town area and we landed at a prolific antique market near the beachfront. Amy and I shopped through the market for a bit and I must report, even with people who don't speak English, I drive a hard bargain! Amy and another couple on our tour, George & Candace, were both interested in buying an original vintage poster from the same vendor. I talked him down almost 200 Euros for each of them! In French! I was quite pleased with myself, and needless to say, they were all quite thrilled with me. It was good fun! I managed not to spend a boatload of money, but did pick up two very cool vintage french perfume cards which I'll likely frame (and I got those down from 10 to 7 euros :)
We had lunch - good Napoli-style pizza (thin crust) for Amy (and the leavings for Jenn to pick at :) and I had a tomato/mozzerella salad. The thing about Nice is that it is only a stone's throw from Italy - it looks Italian, feels Italian and the food has a huge Italian influence. It wasn't even a part of France until 1860 - that is not that long ago! It was refreshing, however, to be able to get pizza, pasta (not me though - lap-band just says 'no' to pasta, usually), gelato (amazing Italian ice cream - and since ice cream is Amy's favorite food, we fit it in).
The tour picked up after lunch and we had a local guide take us through the Chagall Museum and the Matisse Museum. The Chagall museum, along with the Rodin in Paris, are probably my two top museums that focus on a single artist - what a treat to get to see them both in one trip! The Chagall museum in Nice is focused on the Bible - the Old Testament, as he was Jewish - and he created all the works specifically for this museum back in the early 70s. It is fascinating, the canvases are enormous and just amazing to look at. He also has a room full of red paintings that he dedicated to his wife. They are all very sweet, beautiful pieces.
Now, I won't lie here - the two museums were a bit much after lunch and with the detail of our particular guide. She was very versed in art history and quite passionate...and we were all fading fast. However, it was good - from there, I broke off from the group and stayed back in Nice while the headed back to the hotel in Villefranche. Mostly I just walked around old town - now much more lively since it was evening - took photos, ate more mussels (moules! yum! two days in a row...). The pisser is that it was a bank holiday and the last bus back left about 5 minutes before I arrived to catch it - so my for my frugal 5 euro dinner, since the taxi was 35eeuros to get myself back 'home.' Alas, if that's the worst thing that happens when you're traveling (and it wasn't, btw, my London illness takes that prize), then you're doing ok! I ended the day with a nice bath, taking a night off from drinking with the folks on the tour (yes, I think we can all call ourselves drinking buddies at this point...there's been a lot of that!).
Tomorrow is the last day of the trip - I'm happy to be heading home, but I have to admit, it took me a bit to really get in the groove of traveling, and now that I'm in it, I don't want it to end! More tomorrow!Photos: Lots of shots in Nice - the beach, market, cafe life. Matisse (blue lady) and Chagall too!
