PREVIEW: Europe Vacation 2008

We’re back since last Saturday. Walter and I had a great time in France and Italy with my college friend/classmate, Sheila and her mom. We were tired from miles and miles of walking but we enjoyed every moment of our trip. When we were planning the trip, Sheila chose a country where I haven’t been to – Italy. But I told her, she shouldn’t miss Paris and I wanted to go back anyway so the itinerary became Italy and Paris. I love France. I love the romantic city Paris popularly called the city of lights. I will never get tired of going to Paris again and again. In fact, I dream of living in Paris even for just a few months. In Italy, we went to six major destination cities/towns including Florence, Siena, Pisa, Assisi, Rome and Vatican.

We accumulated almost 8GB of photos (average of 3-5 MB per photo) excluding those taken from Sheila’s personal camera. I am done downloading the photos to my computer but I haven’t really sorted them. I also have some video footage though I was not able to cover the entire trip. It’s difficult to read guide books/maps, enjoy the sights, be cautious with your belongings and take videos at the same time - not to mention the herds of tourists around and maybe some pick-pockets. To enjoy our trip, I decided to just concentrate in sightseeing though I felt a little bit of regret not being able to take more videos like I did in 2oo6 and my own photos. I relied on my husband to take the photos because he is the better photographer between us and he has a better camera (Nikon D300 with different lenses, wide and zoom) but I felt I should have taken my own photos for blogging purposes. You know how other blogger share every detail of their trip including a photo of the bus stop or the ticket booth? I am afraid my blog entries will lack those details but definitely I will post many beautiful photos taken by my husband and I will share as much information as I could. Right now, I’m still quite overwhelmed with the loads of photos and information I’d like to share with you so for now, let me first give a preview of the cities/places we visited.

Paris, France

Above is a night shot of Eiffel Tower, one of the famous sights in France. We were surprised that it has blue lighting now (it used to be gold) and it has the European Union's circle of gold stars. Walter and I went to the sights we haven't been to before. We also revisited some sights with Sheila and her mom.

Florence (Tuscany, Italy)

This is the Duomo (Santa Maria del Fiore) - Florence's Cathedral. Florence (Italian: Firenze, Old Italian: Fiorenza, Latin: Florentia), is the capital of Tuscany Region of Italy. It is the cultural capital of the world, home of renaissance and the birthplace of modern world. In Florence, we visited great museums, churches and monuments.

Siena (Tuscany, Italy)

Above is the Palazzo Pubblico located, in a square called Il Campo. Siena is a town in the Tuscany region. The color of the square and its buildings is a color known to Crayola users as "burnt siena."

Assisi (Umbria, Italy)

This is the St. Francis Basilica. Assisi is a town in Umbria Region of Italy. It is the birthplace of St. Francis and St. Clare (founder of Poor Clare).

Pisa (Tuscany, Italy)

Above is the Leaning Tower, one of the known sights in Italy and the Duomo (Cathedral). The leaning tower is actually the bell tower of the cathedral.

Rome (Lazio, Italy)

This is the Colosseo (real name: Flavian Amphitheater) ruins in Rome where gladiator contests are held. Aside from Colosseo, we also went to other interesting sites and museums.

Vatican City

Above is the St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City. I guess it is every Catholic's dream to visit Vatican. We also visited the Vatican museum and Sistine Chapel and attended the papal audience.

Which of the places above would you like to visit?

France and Italy 2008: Updates on Planning and Preparation Part 1

I thought I'd give you updates on planning and preparing our forthcoming trip to Paris, Florence and Rome. Over the last few days, I was busy booking airline tickets, making hotel reservation, completing requirements for visa application, creating detailed itinerary, researching about Florence and Rome, etc. While I'm not yet done with our pre-departure preparations (we haven't submitted our visa application yet!) - I already booked tickets for Accademia Gallery, Uffizi Gallery, Medici Chapels Museum and Bargello Museum in Florence! Apparently, you need to reserve tickets for Accademia and Uffizi ahead of time (at least one month before for Uffizi) to avoid wasting time in long lines. Plus, these four museums implement timed entry for visitors so reservation is really necessary.

I will submit our visa application to the French Embassy tomorrow. We just completed our visa requirements. My husband got his employment and salary letter only today, which is one of the requirements for visa application. I'm already worried because of the tight visa schedule. Given the 15 days processing time, we should be getting our visa on the 25th of September (that is a Thursday - end of the week here!). Our flight is on September 27th, Saturday; therefore, so we must have our visa on the 25th, otherwise, we won't be able to leave.

In the next days, I will be completing our detailed itinerary. Meanwhile, here's the overview of our itinerary.

Day 1 - Arrive Paris
Day 2 - Paris
Day 3 - Paris
Day 4 - Paris
Day 5 - Paris; depart for Florence - evening Train
Day 6 - Arrive Florence
Day 7 - Florence
Day 8 - Florence - side trip to Siena
Day 9 - Florence - side trip to Pisa
Day 10 - Florence - side trip to Assisi; evening train to Rome - sleep in Rome
Day 11 - Rome
Day 12 - Rome
Day 13 - Rome
Day 14 - Rome; evening flight - fly out

Do you have any travel tips for visiting Paris, Florence and Rome? How about tourist traps to avoid?

Off to Europe Again...

I created this blog because I wanted to write about our travels and adventures but I know, I've never really been able to. I keep promising but also keep breaking them. We're off to Europe again and I hope that this time, I can share this another memorable trip with you.

Me and my husband are going to France and Italy for two weeks. It's my second time in France but first time in Italy. I love Paris - it's very romantic. I don't think I'll ever get tired of visiting Paris. In 2006, we spent about 8 or 9 days in France out of our 17-day trip.

We will be travelling with my college friend and her mom. They are coming from the Philippines and will be flying Qatar Airways so we can meet at the airport and travel together to onward flight to Paris. We are yet to submit our Schengen visa application to the French Embassy but I'm so excited already. In the coming days, I hope to share with you our experience in visa application, booking flights and later the trip itself so check it out!

Have you been to Europe? Which European country would you like visit and why?

Schengen Visa Expanded

Great news for Europe travellers who are required to obtain Schengen visa to gain entry in Schengen States of Europe. As of 21 December 2007, additional nine new countries became part of the Schengen travel area including Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. This means tourists can extend their borderless travel to nine more countries with just a single visa.

Prior to the 2007 expansion, the existing fifteen Schengen states were Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France (Monaco is treated as part of France), Germany, Iceland, Italy, Greece, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and Spain. However, UK and Ireland still maintain boarder controls and are not part of the Schengen visa.

Happy Travelling and enjoy Europe!


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