Craig has often says he wants to return to Italy but to get a house for a week. Travelling to Tuscany however as easy as I had imagined. You must choose to fly in to Rome or Milan and even then it's a 3 hour drive (granted a gorgeous drive I'm sure) I've been thinking about how if I fly into Rome I wouldn't be able to just pass though because HELLO It's ROME!
I love the article from the NY times 36 hours in Rome, which gives me ideas of what to do in our short layover should we crash in Rome the night before our plane leaves.
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Friday, October 8, 2010
New site found- WITH CONTEST! via context travel
How many times can I say I love Context Travel? Through my facebook account I noticed a contest going on at CiaoBambino! Want a 2011 Tuscan Vacation? Ok who was the knucklehead who said no? HOW CAN YOU NOT? Oh Italia I miss you so!!!
Craig and I were watching Quantum of Solace just last night and I moaned about wanting to go back to Italy. I tell you this passport is burning a hole in my pocket! Well go...sign up!
or maybe don't that way I have more of a chance to win ;)
Craig and I were watching Quantum of Solace just last night and I moaned about wanting to go back to Italy. I tell you this passport is burning a hole in my pocket! Well go...sign up!
or maybe don't that way I have more of a chance to win ;)
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
I get knocked down (but I get up again)...
In July my husband's boss told him to change his flight so he would leave the office earlier and hit Vegas in time for dinner. We had originally been booked to arrive around 8pm and wouldn't have made the dinner with the company. I obliged by and contacted Southwest Vacations who changed our times and refunded us $30. Dancing and fun ensued.
EXCEPT that I didn't pay attention to the fact that the person had ALSO changed the return time so that we didn't get in at 4pm as original instead we get in at 12:20 AM the next day. Ugh. While the thought of more time to play and have fun in Vegas initially sounds awesome, the thought of storing or toting our luggage around for an extra 8 hours did not.
Enter the front desk at Monte Carlo. I called to find out what check out time officially was and how I would be able to check out late. Turns out for an extra $50 we can stay in the room until 6 pm. This gives us time to have fun, have lunch TAKE A NAP and then head to the airport. I'm diggin this. The lady made a note in our filed reservations that we would pay cash when we got there so here is hoping it all turns out ok, because right now Craig is a bit miffed. And I will be big time miffed if I have to cart around a cranky 37 year old!
Updates on if it all works out to be posted as soon as we return.
EXCEPT that I didn't pay attention to the fact that the person had ALSO changed the return time so that we didn't get in at 4pm as original instead we get in at 12:20 AM the next day. Ugh. While the thought of more time to play and have fun in Vegas initially sounds awesome, the thought of storing or toting our luggage around for an extra 8 hours did not.
Enter the front desk at Monte Carlo. I called to find out what check out time officially was and how I would be able to check out late. Turns out for an extra $50 we can stay in the room until 6 pm. This gives us time to have fun, have lunch TAKE A NAP and then head to the airport. I'm diggin this. The lady made a note in our filed reservations that we would pay cash when we got there so here is hoping it all turns out ok, because right now Craig is a bit miffed. And I will be big time miffed if I have to cart around a cranky 37 year old!
Updates on if it all works out to be posted as soon as we return.
Friday, September 3, 2010
A Berlin Sunset
One Evening I looked out our hotel window in Berlin to this incredible technicolor view. These are all original colors no touch ups at all.
HAPPY LABOR DAY WEEKEND!!
HAPPY LABOR DAY WEEKEND!!
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Park Inn Hotel Prague
It's a chain. While many people love chains because it means stability, I am not a big fan of the sterility and sameness of them. However, I was unsure about the quality of hotels in Prague so I went with a chain called Park Inn. This was a few blocks off the beaten path of tourists which mean an extra stop or two on trams, but also meant seeing the university students each day going to class, and school children playing in the park with their moms and puppies. As the purpose of this trip was to show my son how America is the same and yet different from other cultures, I felt this type of location was necessary.
I had posted about the 1800 hotels disaster (of which I am now part of their Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings) and how I called the hotel to get reservations with no hitch.
Hmmm. Should have expected more problems. Because when we showed up on August 10, we were told the reservations were for OCTOBER 8! Didn't I say this would happen???? STUPID STUPID MONTH/DAY, DAY/MONTH problems.
Luckily the gracious people at Park Inn noted that I had already had the correct reservations, so not only did they accept the reservations, they also let us have the room at the pre-paid amount from the original 1800 hotel transaction. AND they didn't make us pre-pay. We were able to apply all our leftover Koruna to the balance.
To save energy most hotels in Europe require a key card (or really any card...Stuart left his student ID in there so we dind't have to have a key card in there all the time)
Typical half open European shower:
The view outside our hotel window...the roof top garden of the building next door. This was a beautiful escape to the urban sprawl.
I had posted about the 1800 hotels disaster (of which I am now part of their Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings) and how I called the hotel to get reservations with no hitch.
Hmmm. Should have expected more problems. Because when we showed up on August 10, we were told the reservations were for OCTOBER 8! Didn't I say this would happen???? STUPID STUPID MONTH/DAY, DAY/MONTH problems.
Luckily the gracious people at Park Inn noted that I had already had the correct reservations, so not only did they accept the reservations, they also let us have the room at the pre-paid amount from the original 1800 hotel transaction. AND they didn't make us pre-pay. We were able to apply all our leftover Koruna to the balance.
To save energy most hotels in Europe require a key card (or really any card...Stuart left his student ID in there so we dind't have to have a key card in there all the time)
Typical half open European shower:
The view outside our hotel window...the roof top garden of the building next door. This was a beautiful escape to the urban sprawl.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Prague, Czech Republic : Charles Bridge
The Charles Bridge is one of the things all the tour books got correct. Not a single recommended restaurant that we wanted to go to existed anymore so we spent most of the time stumbling upon restaurants for food. All of which were fantastic and cheap. If you want to go to Prague, worry not about food or food costs. You should however worry about crowds.
Prague is a vacation center for the world. At any point in time you will hear dozens of languages as you walk down the streets. In fact it felt like travelling to New York City in the 1800s. It was a melting pot of people.
One of the biggest tourist attractions in the city is the Charles Bridge.
It is absolutely beautiful and not to be missed. Standing on the bridge is like living history. The bridge is protected by three towers. This one was in Old Town, where we entered the bridge.
The bridge was first constructed in the 1300s by Kind Charles IV and finished in the early 15th century and was the only crossing of the Vlatva river until 1841 making it incredibly important for trade. This is a very large bridge but is for pedestrians only. And pedestrians use it! The bridge is usually packed with people bbut if you get there before 9 in the morning it looks like this:
Awesome right? There were probably only 20 people on the whole bridge. Were it not for getting there so early we wouldn't be able to get pictures like this:
This is definitely a must see location of Prague. And seeing it in the morning like it was all ours made it so much better.
Prague is a vacation center for the world. At any point in time you will hear dozens of languages as you walk down the streets. In fact it felt like travelling to New York City in the 1800s. It was a melting pot of people.
One of the biggest tourist attractions in the city is the Charles Bridge.
It is absolutely beautiful and not to be missed. Standing on the bridge is like living history. The bridge is protected by three towers. This one was in Old Town, where we entered the bridge.
The bridge was first constructed in the 1300s by Kind Charles IV and finished in the early 15th century and was the only crossing of the Vlatva river until 1841 making it incredibly important for trade. This is a very large bridge but is for pedestrians only. And pedestrians use it! The bridge is usually packed with people bbut if you get there before 9 in the morning it looks like this:
Awesome right? There were probably only 20 people on the whole bridge. Were it not for getting there so early we wouldn't be able to get pictures like this:
This is definitely a must see location of Prague. And seeing it in the morning like it was all ours made it so much better.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Would you believe me if I said...
that I travelled to Europe for 10 days with only a carry on? And that I made my teenage son do the same? Well we did! The last thing I wanted to worry about was missing luggage. Especially since we were flying in and out of different airports I didn't want any luggage confusion so I limited all packing. I strongly recommend TIDE packets (which you can get anywhere in the travel size section) for underwear and emergencies but otherwise I'm all big on the layering.
This means that I can wear a sweater 3-4 times without worrying about it being nasty smelling because it never really touches me. I have enough t-shirts for underneath for each day, and I pack one pair of pants for every 3 days. This is why I prefer jeans. Jeans look great the second and third day as long as no catastrophic spill occurs. Many people like the packing by bundling and I'm all for that. I have a couple of the little rectangles that make packing easy, but the BEST thing I learned is to use up EVERY bit of space available. So underwear and socks go INSIDE shoes. That is a wasted space that many people leave empty. Every little nook and cranny of my suitcase is filled so that everything I need fits in one travel sized bag.
Now this can cause problems. I didn't think about the fact that the candy dish I bought for my mother in law was Czech crystal and therefore LEAD so it caused a bit of a stir in Paris. (Not in Berlin mind you where we first got on the plane, but in Paris). What was only slightly humiliating was the fact that I had stuffed dirty socks and underwear around the glass for safety and space. So the little man in Paris was not terribly thrilled about unwrapping my sons dirty underwear to check the glass, but heh, there you have it.
I tell people pull out everything you think you have to take. And divide it in two. In fact I took a pair of shoes I wore once and should ahve left at home. But I wore a dress to the orchestra in Prague and really didn't have any other shoes that would work. So to me it was worth it :)
Tomorrow...PRAGUE PICTURES!
This means that I can wear a sweater 3-4 times without worrying about it being nasty smelling because it never really touches me. I have enough t-shirts for underneath for each day, and I pack one pair of pants for every 3 days. This is why I prefer jeans. Jeans look great the second and third day as long as no catastrophic spill occurs. Many people like the packing by bundling and I'm all for that. I have a couple of the little rectangles that make packing easy, but the BEST thing I learned is to use up EVERY bit of space available. So underwear and socks go INSIDE shoes. That is a wasted space that many people leave empty. Every little nook and cranny of my suitcase is filled so that everything I need fits in one travel sized bag.
Now this can cause problems. I didn't think about the fact that the candy dish I bought for my mother in law was Czech crystal and therefore LEAD so it caused a bit of a stir in Paris. (Not in Berlin mind you where we first got on the plane, but in Paris). What was only slightly humiliating was the fact that I had stuffed dirty socks and underwear around the glass for safety and space. So the little man in Paris was not terribly thrilled about unwrapping my sons dirty underwear to check the glass, but heh, there you have it.
I tell people pull out everything you think you have to take. And divide it in two. In fact I took a pair of shoes I wore once and should ahve left at home. But I wore a dress to the orchestra in Prague and really didn't have any other shoes that would work. So to me it was worth it :)
Tomorrow...PRAGUE PICTURES!
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