Europe!

Many of you know that I spent the vacation following my trip in Kenya traveling in France and Italy with my friend Harmony. Aside from the night train, it was a great trip. Here are a few highlights!

Paris!
We spent two nights in Paris, and took the city by storm! Our first night we took a river cruise on the Seine. While the architecture was impressive, even more impressive was our tour guide. In her early 20s, she pointed out all the sights and gave a brief overview...in French. And then in perfect English. And THEN in Spanish. She switched between the three languages without ever missing a beat while the boat cruised up and down the river for over an hour! At the end of the cruise we got a great view of the Effiel tower.
Over the next two days we walked Champ-de-Elysees and toured the Arc d'Triomphe, went to the top of the Eiffel Tower, visited the Louvre and the Musee d'Orsay, and Notre Dame and Sainte Chapelle cathedrals.

But don't worry, we still managed to squeeze in macarons, crepes, and lots of excellent French food. Our take on French food is that it's familiar, just better.


Venice!

Well, you've already heard about the "night train incident" here. After arriving in Venice, exhausted and smelling of train, we had little time for sightseeing. We did enjoy a walk through the narrow streets and exploring this city of canals.
We also had our first Italian gelatto.


We also took a "tour" of the city by vaporetto - the local public transportation. Our guidebook outlined the important buildings and gave us a little overview of the history of the city. Also, it's just fantastic that the buses are BOATS. While we were less than excited to head back to the train station the next morning, we were excited about our next stop: Florence!