European Vacation (pics) (1 Viewer)

[links_slayer]

Jenn and I headed to Rome, Florence, and Paris to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary (about a month early but scheduling just worked out better this way). We had a blast. The only hiccup we encountered along the way was a dent in the wing on our outgoing flight from Madison - which resulted in us missing our connection in Detroit. But we made it eventually and only lost about 6 hours. We did a lot of the typical touristy type stuff but managed to find a nice balance between doing/seeing a lot and relaxing. This is the first vacation of my adult life where I felt like I didn't need a vacation from my vacation when I came back.

The highlight of the trip was meeting up with her aunt and uncle (who split time between Paris and Saudi Arabia, he was born in France and spent the first 20ish years of his life there) in Paris. They weren't originally scheduled to be in Paris while we were there but an unscheduled appointment came up that required them to be there. They asked if we wanted to meet for dinner one night. Of course! They asked, "how does le jules verne sounde? the place on the 2nd level of the eiffel tower..." Ummm, what?!! Wow. Hands down one of the best meals I've ever had. It probably didn't hurt that the view was spectacular, particularly as the sun went down. Six courses, plus champagne before dinner and after dessert, and espresso to cap it off. What a night, what a day (it started with a private cruise on the Seine, complete with champagne and croissants waiting for us). Between the 4th and 5th courses it somehow came up that Jenn had never had snails before. So her aunt pulled out her phone and made reservations for the four of us at one of their favorite restaurants in the city for the following night.

What a trip. Definitely one for the memory bank. On Monday of this week I sent Jenn an email asking if it was too soon to go back to Paris. She instantly replied, "NOPE!"

Anyway, enough rambling. Here are some pics.

Our hotel was a 20 second walk to the Trevi Fountain

We took a pizza and gelato making class in Florence. What a hoot!!!

Our view for dinner

 

[gopherblue]

Oh man. Nice. Two of my favorite places in the world. And a close third. Nicely done!

 

[Phantom]

Wow, what a great trip mate - glad you had a good time. fantastic photos as well.

Great, now I want to go back to France even more now.

 

[lnlver]

Cool trip, Josh! Glad to see you made it safe and sound back home. How was the cheese and sausage in Europe? As good as Wisconsin's?

 

[johnnycnote]

Glad you had a great time Links!

 

[Big Jilm]

did you see her??

seriously dude, looks like you had a blast. I can't wait to make this trip with my wife.

 

[slisk250]

Sweet trip links!

I'm taking wifey to Paris again in November for a long weekend. We have an awesome uber driver lined up....AKA @Don Clay

I still need to visit The Louvre, however, the number 1 thing on my list is eating dinner with one of the best French chippers we know, Nico. Then it's French wine, foie gras, and Confit de canard if I'm lucky. I do not think any chipping can take place as my wife would become hostile but there is a plan to have Nico's girlfriend get her drunk and then we can maybe talk chips or play heads up at the restaurant!!!

I think our hotel just off the Champs-Élysées is not far from Nico's neighborhood.

 

[Don Clay]

Superb trip @links_slayer (y) :thumbsup:

Florence is one of the most beautifull cities in the world imo.

Thanks for sharing those.

@slisk250
The plan sounds good this way.
Your hotel is 10 minutes driving from home.

Also Place de l Étoile and Avenue des Champs Élysées are 5 minutes from hotel with metro.

Oh and,
I wouldnt be surprised that we have an unexpected HU game at home atfer Miss Slisks250 is gone to bed .

 

[links_slayer]

Cool trip, Josh! Glad to see you made it safe and sound back home. How was the cheese and sausage in Europe? As good as Wisconsin's?

The cheese was fantastic but it's tough to beat a nice Wisconsin cheddar!!! Sausage was good too - different than here so it's hard to compare.

Also, I forgot to mention that we booked this entire thing through Costco Travel (I posted about this a while ago). I would definitely recommend this to anyone that may be considering it. We priced it out separately at the time of booking and we saved almost $1,500 on our flights, trains, and hotels. The private transfers (as opposed to taxis) to and from airports and hotels were great. They were also incredibly helpful in getting our USA -> EU flight delay situation sorted out.

 

[pltrgyst]

That's a great trip! Did you drive or fly within Europe? And what was the snails restaurant?

We're headed over in two weeks, for most of October. Flying to London (two days there), Eurostar to Paris to pick up the car, and spend two weeks driving a loop around France (Mont. St. Michelle/St. Malo/Rennes, Cognac, Bordeaux, Bayonne, Bilbao for the Guggenheim, Rocamadour/Cahors/Albi, Andorra, Perpignan, Arles/Aix/Avignon, Lyon, Beaune, Dijon -- might even make Barcelona), and then a week in Paris for my 70th birthday (an apartment near Rue Monge and Mouffetard; we're left bank people , then London again for two more days and the flight home.

It's been four years since we last went to Europe, so we're revisiting as many of our our favorite towns as we can. No advance reservations for the driving weeks, so we're free to wander wherever and whenever we like.

 

[pokerplayingpisces]

Good pictures, it looks like you and the wife had a great time! Congrats, in your 10 years of marriage!

 

[moose]

Macaroons!

 

[links_slayer]

@pltrgyst - no driving for us!! we primarily walked everywhere we wanted to go, with the occasional taxi or metro. Allard was the restaurant with the snails. I had the rabbit w/ mustard sauce for my main course. Jenn had the ox cheeks and both dishes were superb.

 

[links_slayer]

Macaroons!

meh. overrated imo. pain au chocolat is where it's at.

 

[SixSpeedFury]

Europe!! I so want to go back there again. 10 days wasn't enough.

 

[MillyS]

pics look amazing! Absolutely loved Rome, had gelato there everyday!

 

[slisk250]

links, I do have a question. Where in the hell are all the linkstrong chip pics? WTF?

 

[courage]

Good for you, Josh! Looks like you two had a blast. Thanks for sharing the awesome pics and stories.

 

[CdnBeerLover]

We were in Rome for a day, and then cruised Italy, France, Spain, Greece, and Montenegro in August to celebrate our 20th anniversary. Rome was the highlight of the trip, and we have to go back again at some point. Congrats on the anniversary, and thanks for sharing!

 

[AdamAAAA]

Looks like you had a fantastic time. I'm about a 2h train ride from Paris. I took my partner there last Christmas to see the markets etc. Did you go to Moulin Rouge? That is an experience.

I'm not sure I'd go back, I felt like once I'd seen it I had seen enough. Although if you have a personal tour guide I guess it makes it better.

Europe!! I so want to go back there again. 10 days wasn't enough.

I love comments like this. There are more countries in Europe than states in America haha.

 

[thorwilliam]

Nice photos! Went to Rome for the first time last month, loved it!

 

[pltrgyst]

@pltrgyst - no driving for us!! we primarily walked everywhere we wanted to go, with the occasional taxi or metro. Allard was the restaurant with the snails. I had the rabbit w/ mustard sauce for my main course. Jenn had the ox cheeks and both dishes were superb.

I meant between Florence, Rome, and Paris. I know you sometimes walk on the golf course, but I doubt you hiked those legs!

Allard was the restaurant with the snails. I had the rabbit w/ mustard sauce for my main course. Jenn had the ox cheeks and both dishes were superb.

[B]THESE PEOPLE EAT BUNNIES![/B]

 

[links_slayer]

I meant between Florence, Rome, and Paris. I know you sometimes walk on the golf course, but I doubt you hiked those legs!

lol - oops. we took the train from rome to florence and then flew from florence to paris.

 

[links_slayer]

pics look amazing! Absolutely loved Rome, had gelato there everyday!

So did we - my max was 4 times in a day. Never even hesitated.

 

[links_slayer]

links, I do have a question. Where in the hell are all the linkstrong chip pics? WTF?

Tell tommy to get the ban hammer out - i didn't take any. I had it in one of my pockets the entire time but it never dawned on me to grab it for pics.

 

[Richard Cranium]

Awesome trip and pics! I booked a second honeymoon cruise this spring for my wife and I starting in Venice and hitting some spots in Italy, Croatia, Greece and ending up in Barcelona. I think I should have done the trip the way you did instead, staying in each place for longer than a day and getting around on our own. We'll see how it turns out. One of the stops is Rome, well, not really since you have to travel from the port to get to Rome and its a pretty far distance.