Brianne Blogs?

The third day of our trip, we took a train to Brussels, Belgium. We showed up at our hotel and there was a fantastic street fair where we bought some gifts. We then walked about 50 yards right of our hotel and ended up in a first century market square. Just like that, out of nowhere was this:

Zak and I had no idea what Brussels would be like and were happy to find that it was stunning.

And don’t worry, we ate belgian waffles-twice!

After the mass of humanity that is the Louvre, we headed over to the island on which sits the beautiful Notre Dame cathedral. We spent three hours on that and the neighboring island just wandering around and enjoying coffee, gelato and the peaceful park outside the cathedral.

Then we went to dinner that my boss paid for at her recommended restaurant called Nos Ancestros du Gaulles. It was this wonderfully old place with all you can drink wine and a five course meal. We were there for 2.5 hours and the food was so good and we had such a great time. It was also great that we had this pre-arranged meal because we kept forgetting to eat in Paris. We never ate breakfast and on day one we shared some cheese and a salad for lunch and forgot to eat dinner. You get busy in Paris.

We love Paris. However, Paris is one of those cities, like New York, that you can’t really experience the first visit. You have to to do the touristy things that are in the city but don’t really get to live the city the way it actually is. It was so beautiful and I can’t wait for a return visit.

Well folks, I’m back and aside from overly tired, pretty solid. Zak and I had the best trip ever. We took so many pictures that it’s going to take more than one blog to tell you all about it.

So, I’m going to start with our two days in Paris and work from there.

We both had been up for over 24 hours when we boarded the plan to France and planned to sleep on the plane. Alas, neither of us managed to get more than 2 hours of sleep. We tried, but were unsuccessful. We arrived bright and early in Paris and started the day running.

We got off a bus from the airport at the Paris Opera

We headed to our hostel and ate a baguette on the street while walking toward an area called Montmartre. It’s where the Moulin Rouge and the Sacred Heart church are located. The Moulin Rouge wasn’t too cool to look at, but the church was beautiful and packed with people.

The best part of day 1 in Paris was our stop at the Rodin Museum to see the gardens and The Thinker.

The garden was beautiful and peaceful and we loved it and were sad to leave. It’s a place you could go and stay all day, reading and looking at the statues.

We then saw the Arc de Triumph and ate some cheese before meeting Zak’s friend, Jill under the Eiffel Tower for wine and chatting.

Then we headed to an Irish pub for some more drinking before a lovely evening stroll back to our hotel through the area where Napoleon is buried and the congress meets.

The next day we took a lovely stroll along the Sienne River with its lovely bruidges and then to the Louvre.

Let’s take a moment to talk about the Louvre. It houses the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo and the statue Nike and about 14 million people were there when we were there.

There were so many crowds around each of the featured pieces that it was more of an art zoo than an art museum.

There is more Paris stuff to tell you about and show you but I am so tired that I am going to stop blogging now and finish tomorrow.

Today we wake up in Lucerne for the last time and drive to Zurich, hit the sights for a few minutes, grab breakfast and then head to the airport to fly home (thank the flight gods for our direct flight!)

The only problem with our trip is that we have a 7 hour flight and a 9 hour flight. While not a problem for most people, it is a problem for Brianne who does not pee on public transportation. That’s right. For the multiple flights I have taken, I have never peed on a plane. Due to this issue of mine, I have to do planning for travel that others don’t have to do. For example, on a long flight, I do not drink the first beverage offering and only take the second one if it’s within 1.5 hours of the end of the flight and if I do not already have to go to the bathroom.

For this trip, I stopped drinking early in the day (it’s important to put dehydration to work for you) and also didn’t sleep for 30 hours before the flight so that not only would I not have to pee, but even if I did, I’d be sleeping. The way home today may prove more of a challenge. On top of the fact that it’s a 9 hour flight, I think I’ll be awake for most of it and I won’t have the time for a total dehydration because the flight is earlier in the day. But, never fear, when a challenge is laid down, Brianne does not fail-yes, even when it is a self-challenge as in this case. The interesting thing will be to see how many times Zak goes to the bathroom on our 16 hours of flight during the trip. During a three hour movie, Zak pees at least twice so by that average, it’ll be 10 trips to the plane bathroom. I’ll keep a count and let you know. Even though I’m sure it’s information no one will want, you will nonetheless be getting it. Fingers crossed that I won’t have to do the unthinkable and use the airplane bathroom-I shudder to think!

We should be home this afternoon. Try to remember that I don’t call when I arrive somewhere safely. I only call if I don’t get home. So, if you don’t hear from me, I’m home and probably sleeping.

Once back in New York, I have the rest of today off to blog and catch up on General Hospital and do laundry and school work (my final project of a 5 page paper and power point with notes is due this week and I only have the four days I’m working to do it in-should be awesome fun!) and then I work the next 4 days. The morning of the 5th day, when I get off of work, Maren, Jeff and I set off on our road trip to Oklahoma for Kyle’s graduation. So, I’m a busy girl in May. If you are wanting to talk to me, it may have to be late at night at work or on the roadtrip. But, I think the non-stop month of May will be totally worth it. On top of the awesome Europe trip, we are going to sleep in a wigwam on our OK roadtrip. I mean, what’s cooler than that? Only sleeping in an igloo that you built yourself. You can do this in Switzerland in the winter, but have to have four people. Any takers on a winter visit to the Swiss Alps to sleep in an igloo? Think on it and get back to me. I promise a return to live blogging tomorrow. Until then, Adieu, readers.

Days 8, 9 and 10 are interchangeable, so I’m not sure what our actual plans are, but we will be staying in Lucerne that whole time and here is the best of Lucerne:

1. our hostel where we will be staying tha overlooks a lake. not bad for $40 a night, right?

2. Chapel bridge-built in 1333

3. the dying lyon-mark twin called this “the saddest and most poignant piece of rock in the world”

4. spreuerbrucke-a covered bridge with “death panels’. I don’t know what that means, but it sure looks pretty.

Alas, so will end our last full day of our trip. Tomorrow, we head home. (small tear)

We are spending the nights of the 8th, 9th and 10th in Lucerne and driving around to see the Swiss sights. Including the Swiss capital, Bern.

Sights in Bern:

1. the city from above

2. the bear pits

3. einstein museum-he came up with relativity here

4. The ogre fountain

5. The clocktower

We might also see Basel during days 8, 9 or 10.

Sights in Basel, Switzerland:

1. city

2. The rhine falls-to the north of basel

3. swimming in the rhine. cold? yes. but do you really turn down the chance? i’ll let you know.

Today we head out of our two day Verona stop to Zermatt, Switzerland to see the Matterhorn then on to our final hub of Lucerne, Switzerland.

The Matterhorn:

The drive from Verona to Lucerne is through the Swiss Alps. How cool is that? We should have one hell of a scenery day.

We will also be driving through the lovely northern Italy and through some nice wine country. Alas, if we have to stop for a wine tasting, I guess we’ll just have to take one for the team and do it.

Venice. Ah, the lovely island of Venice. It’ll be nice to get to an island after spending 6 whole days on the mainland. We New Yorkers don’t like to have that much land around us. I mean, what if there is a fire and there is no ocean or bay or river to jump into? What are you supposed to do? Today we will be seeing:

1. Grand Canal-the gondolas that ride you alongside this famous sinking city

2. Piazza San Marco-venices most famous sight (all the guidebooks said this was Venice’s most famous sight, but I don’t recall ever having seen it before. Hmm?)

3. Basilica di San Marco-burial spot of St. Mark, whose remains were smuggled in a barrel of pork. Awesome, no?

4. Sala del Maggior Consiglio-one of the worlds largest oil paintings

5. Palazzo Ducale

6. Bridge of Sighs-links the palazzo ducale with its dungeons. Cassanova was imprisoned here for a brief time.

I also fear that we may not want to leave Venice. Oh dear, this trip may make us miserable when we get home. I mean, America has no buildings from the 1st century. We’re so behind!

Today we drive from Munich, through Austria to Italy. We will be spending today and tomorrow in Verona, Italy and driving to Venice Italy which is only an hour away. We are not staying in Venice which is Italys most expensive city. On our way to Verona we will see:

1. Innsbruck, Austria-not a long visit, just  lunch for us in this beautiful city

2. Liechtenstine-this teeny country is the largest exporter of dentures!

Then we end up in “fair Verona” where we will “lay our scene”. (Shakespeare set Romeo and Juliet in Verona)

1. Piazza Bra-1st century roman ampitheatre

2. Casa di Giulietta (Juliet’s house)

If you’re keeping track, this is, by far, our most ambitious day as it takes us to 4 countries all in one day. Handily, it’s only a 4 hour drive from Munich to Verona. These short distances between countries is pretty awesome, if I do say so.

Get ready, it’s a big one. We start the day with a train ride from Amsterdam to Duesseldorf, Germany where we pick up our rental car and then drive down the Western border of Germany and end the day in Munich. There is a route you can take down this side of Germany where you drive through some of the best Bavarian towns/villages and we are taking that route which will include stops in:

1. Wurzburg-home of the worlds largest ceiling frescoe painting

2. Bamberg

3. Nuremberg

4. Regensburg

5. Fussen-home of famous castles

And then we end up in Munich:

All in all, I think it’ll be a great day on the road. That’s right, our trip is now a European Road Trip. I hope it goes okay without triscuits and beef jerky! The only downfall to our roadtrip is that we now have to stop drinking quite so much as we are in charge of our own transportation. What a bummer!