A lot of catch up! Paris, Rome, Florence...

September 9, 2007

We have been in Europe five days now and due to our budget restraints (staying in Hostels instead of WiFi filled Hotel rooms) and being busy seeing cities that require one weeks worth of touring in two days the blog has not been blogging.

So, as Stephen and I (my 18 year old son) are traveling on a Euro star high speed train from Rome to Firenze, Italy (Florence = English) going 180 mph I have decided to do some writing while I have a down moment.

PARIS

Paris was tremendous fun and truly enjoyable for all of the reasons that appeal to me. Refined culture, great food, lots of restaurants and a city with charm only thousands of years could produce.

On our last day there we went to the “Louve” which is Paris famous Museum and ended the day at Notre Dame church and had fun watching the people as well as the sites.



Our Louve experience was way to short but we made sure and hit the hot spots. The Mona Lisa… I love that picture. We stared at it for 20 minutes. They have it set in a new display and you can actually get quite close to it. But there is so much more in the Louve that we really didn’t do it justice. I will show a couple shots of some of the great pieces.

In the afternoon we went to the Notre Dame and enjoyed just sitting in the park and viewing the beautiful scenery. On our way back to the Hostel we split up and went out on the town ourselves for a couple hours. Having an 18 year old son makes it nice that we can go our own separate ways to explore on our own. I must have walked ten miles that afternoon. I decided to walk home instead of taking the Metro. On my way home I found a street that was the France I was looking for. A whole block of outdoor markets and restaurants. Cheese shops, bakery shops, espresso shops, shops of all kinds. Plus at least 50 restaurants within one square block. So… I bought cheese, I bought bread, bought something that tasted good but I’m not sure what it was. I was a tourist with money in my pocket looking at paradise for the first time. If I could bring that street back home with me, I would be there everyday.

Returning back to our Hostel I had forgot to book us for another night and sure enough, our bed was sold. Yep… It’s 6:00pm at night and I have no place to stay. Fortunately, our host at the Hostel started calling some of the other Hostels and we were able to stay at a place that was way out of town on the wrong side of the tracks. The good news was that all we needed was a good bed, a clean shower and a safe place to sleep because we had to get up early (4:30am) to take our flight to Rome, Italy.

Oh... I forgot to tell you about the pigeon man... I think they know this guy.

ROME:

We arrived in Rome at 9:30am on Saturday the 8th. Finding our lodging was easy and for the first time on the trip we had our own shower and bathroom. I finally had a place to think by myself!

Finding out that we only had a one night stay available to us we decided that we would divide and conquer Rome in less then 36 hours. Our first stop was “Vatican City”.

The start of the first organized Christian Church within one geographical era... It was quite remarkable and very moving for me. Realizing that the church in all of its strengths and weaknesses was still going strong with the same message of Jesus Christ. Now I know the Catholic Church has got some weird customs and fuzzy theology, but their stance on the doctrine of Jesus Christ is sound. Their just a little weird on the mother of Jesus.

Picture

We took a beautiful picture of the altar at Saint Peter’s Basilica with the sun streaking through. It was like the Lord of Heaven giving us a great photo opportunity.

As we got back to our Hostel one of the workers told us that of all the nights to be in Rome tonight is the best night of the year. It is the night of “La Notte Bianca” (Click for Link). Which means the “White Night”. Basically, it means that one time a year the Romans go out to celebrate for no special reason other than they deserve it and their Italian. The roads are closed from 9pm till 6am throughout the whole city. There are bands playing music in every plaza, magicians doing tricks on every corner. All of the shops are open as well as the restaurants. Everyone comes out including all of the children. It is a party for everyone; because everyone is still up late at night and all of the lights are on they call the event the “White Night”. I guess that makes sense.

All I can tell you is that it was the craziest night of our life. I’m not exaggerating here… Literally thousands of people were in every street, plaza and courtyard. And, they were ready to party. They party a little differently in Italy. As we started the evening out at about 9:00pm everyone was doing cheers and shouting out slogans. I can’t understand what they were saying but looking at there faces it was probably something like “Italy is number one, Yea, were gonna have some fun” Stuff like that. Then as the night continued everyone started joining in groups along street corners and joining arms singing songs about Italy. They didn’t care what it sounded like. I went to bed at 4am and I think out of the 300,000 people I was the first one to bed. Next Post... Florence Italy. Ciao