I guess I can start with my two week vacation. Here we go.
Trek to Charles de Gaulle Airport
On Tuesday the 20th of December I headed to Bellac train station at an ungodly hour and trekked through the dark with my suit case. Destination: Paris- Charles de Gaulle airport. Jordan was flying in on this day and I remember how crazy my emotions were. I was excited. I was nervous. Still not sure why I was nervous, I mean we spoke at least 5 out of the 7 days of each week since I left. I was also tired but couldn’t sleep because of my excitement and nervousness. I remember standing in front of his gate waiting for him to come through those automatic doors and my heart pounding each time those doors opened. I decided at this point that I HATE waiting. The suspense was killing me. I could feel it eating away at me. Eventually he walked through the doors and it was like I didn’t know what to do. We were talking and it felt like our first date all over again (actually that was even less awkward). It felt like I didn’t know him at all, such a strange feeling. He said he barely even recognized me. I mean I was a tad bit skinnier than before, had longer hair, and wasn’t wearing any eye liner (nothing crazy). I kept feeling like I was talking to some guy who wasn’t my boyfriend. It was quite a weird experience. After a little bit, the reality set in and it became normal again. I was so happy he was finally here. Someone to talk to, to hold my hand, and to comfort me. I missed all of these things.
This is when our adventured starts…we had to take a bus to go from Charles de Gaulle airport to Paris Orly airport- about a 45 minute bus ride (AKA torture because I always get motion sickness and sitting in traffic STOP GO STOP GO never helps). We made it to the airport- found out our hotel was too close to take a taxi- found out their was a shuttle- found out the shuttle wasn’t for 4 hours- and after a lady called the hotel, we got directions to use the public transportation. To make a long story short, it took us getting lost 2 times, 3 phone calls to the hotel, and about 4 different buses to get to our hotel. The kicker---when we finally arrived to our HIDDEN hotel, we could see the airport from our window yet it took us about 3 hours to find the hotel. It was a stressful, long day (even longer for Jordan) but we were together and no matter how stressed out I was, I was happy we were together.
Rome
The next day we headed back to the airport to go to Rome. The journey to the hotel in Rome was a little easier but still quite complicated. After getting to the hotel in Rome using public transportation, this is where we decided enough is enough and that travelling with suitcases is annoying and we were now going to resort to taxis. Door to door service became more and more reasonable (even with my frugal-ness).
When we arrived in Rome (after not being able to find our hotel after getting off the subway), we found out that the hotel we were at was very nice. And the bed was HUGE! Technically it was 2 twin beds pushed together, but hey it was awesome nonetheless. We asked the concierge desk for a place to eat and they told us Uncle Frankie’s, right out of the hotel, right on the first street. The food was very good. So a little story, Jordan and I asked on three different occasions for a recommendation of where to eat and 3 times we received the same answer. “Uncle Frankies, right, right.” This became our joke whenever we talked about where we were going to eat. We ended up going to Uncle Frankie’s 3 times and it was very good each time. One thing we learned- you always have to ask for the check…we ended up waiting about 45 minutes after we were done eating for the check (the kicker was that we couldn’t even ask because our server never came in the room to check on us). Eventually we just went up to the register. It was odd.
Jordan and I visited the Vatican on the first full day we were in Rome and it was awesome. Our tour guide was ranked #1 in Rome so basically we were lucky that the guy who approached us in the street asking us to sign up for a tour was legit. It was definitely worth the 25 euro each for the tour. It was a 2 hour tour and we only 15% of the Vatican Museum! How crazy is that. It is huge!!!! 2 hours was the perfect amount of time to be there as well (not too long to get bored, not too short that I felt like I got jipped).
(Vatican from the Court yard)
( Only piece of modern art in the Vatican Museum.)
Unfortunately no pictures could be taken of DaVinci's famous paintings.
(The Basilica)
(Saint Peter's Square)
In Rome we also visited the Colosseum although we didn’t get to see the inside. We went on Christmas day and it was open when we got there but after we grabbed a quick sandwich it was closed. It was disappointing but oh well, what are you going to do? It is amazing to thing that it was built back in 80AD. CRAZY how they got every stone into place so very long ago without the help of cranes of whatever else they may use these days to lift heavy things. We also saw the Trevi Fountain which was HUGE and amazing. I normally do not appreciate architecture but Rome’s architecture was simply amazing.
(The Colosseum)
We also visited the Pantheon (a temple built in 126 AD by the Romans dedicated to the Roman Gods. In the 7th century until now, it is used as a Roman Catholic church). It was pretty neat as well. Apparently the dome room (with a whole in the center to allow sunlight to enter the building) is the largest unreinforced concrete dome.
(Dome roof of the Pantheon)
As for other sites we saw, there weren’t too many others, at least that I can remember the name of. We did see a couple gypsies which was interesting. We help onto our bags real tight. Thank goodness for Jordan because I am so oblivious to everything and he always spotted them!
Venice
After three nights in Rome we made it to Venice. There weren’t any major complications with the flight or getting to our hotel thank goodness. Our room wasn’t ready though when we got there so we found somewhere to eat and walked around until it was ready. The concierge guy told us our room was smaller but had a nice view of the canal. And when he said smaller…he meant TINY but we made do. We weren’t actually in the room that often anyways. Rome was more of a relaxed city compared to Rome. There were less touristy places to fit in and more of a leisurely exploring type of city. Venice was absolutely gorgeous. There were canals EVERYWHERE (making it very easy for me to get lost, luckily Jordan has an awesome sense of direction) and it was amazing. Definitely a place that I would recommend visiting.
In Venice we spend quite a bit of time window shopping. Apparently is Venice there is a huge masked ball so there are masks is every shop! Instead of going on a gondola ride, we decided to take pictures dressed up in gowns/suits and masks! It was fun (for me at least, I thought Jordan was going to kill me) although it was a HUGE tourist trap that we got sucked into. My thinking was at least we will have pictures while the boat ride would last 45 minutes and we’d only have a memory. Not sure if we made the right decision or not, both options cost around 80 euros (100 euro if we did the gondola at night). Oh well, we were on vacation...and being on vacation means spending money and not feeling (too) bad about it.
(One of the many Gondolas with a red velvet interior)
In Venice there weren’t too many sites to visit like there was in Rome. The main attraction was Piazza San Marco (Saint Marco’s Place). There was a big church that we checked out that was architecturally different from other churches I have seen. It was pretty cool. There was also a big clock that I liked that was in this square. I’d love to have it for my house someday (except it probably wouldn’t even fit inside a house).
Our last night in Venice we went back to one of our favorite restaurants (for the third time) and met an older couple from Germany…or maybe it was Austria, I don’t remember. Anyways, we bonded over listening to another table’s conversation where a Chinese girl was trying to speak French (VERY poorly) to some French people and people were trying to speak English to the Chinese girl’s husband…and basically it was just people trying to communicate using their second language. It was entertaining to say the least. Jordan and I enjoyed some wine on our last dinner in Venice and the waiter even hooked us up with some Venetian (sp.?) specialties. He gave me something called Limoncella and Jordan some type of moonshine that knocked his socks off. The kicker of the whole not, the waiter told us to remember what we ordered because he had to go walk his dog. What…who does that? Only in Venice (although I feel like that would happen in France too).
Paris
The next day we moved onto Paris tired and slightly hungover. For me, being hungover and then riding a bus equals DEFINITE bus motion sickness. I thought I was going to throw up on the bus, it was no fun. When we (in what feels like forever)got to the airport we ate some pizza and drank some water and felt much much better (once my nausea went away). By the time we made it to our hotel in Paris, we were tired and went out to dinner and went to bed. The following day we met up with Jordan’s friends who were studying abroad in Paris and we walked around, ate dinner, and saw some cool sites. It was New Years Eve and they were both tired because they just came back from travelling and didn’t sleep much. We decided to have a calm night in and went back to their place to hang out. One thing led to another (AKA an intoxicated girl convinced us to go out and not to be lame for New Years) and we ended up in front of the Eiffel Tower for New Years. I’m really glad we went even though there weren’t any fireworks or nothing special going on. The news always makes Paris fireworks look awesome but apparently they are banned now because it’s dangerous. Making it back to our hotel was interesting. Paris shutdown some of the metro stops to help control traffic so it felt like we walked forever to a metro but luckily we got on at the first stop so we got to sit down. Little by little the metro was FILLED to the point where not another human being could fit. I was SO SO glad we were sitting because otherwise I would have gotten sick. We got home, took a shower because we were gross and went to bed. The next day we met his friends and went to a place called Breakfast in America! FYI French people consider breakfast to be a croissant or toast and a coffee. For me, I can deal with that, but I really missed a hardy breakfast (and Jordan was dying for one after only a week)! I had an overpriced omelet, a pancake, and orange juice. It was delicious and totally worth it. We also saw some sites and made our way back to his friends place and cooked dinner. It was nice to be together and talk to people other than ourselves! The following day we walked around Paris, went to the Louvre, walked around the Gardens outside the Louvre and I don’t remember what else. I guess that’s what happens when you don’t write about your vacation until a month after the fact!
(Jordan and I at the Eiffel Tower at about 11:55)
The following day we made it back to Bellac and it was nice to relax and not feel the need to “go go go” all the time. While in Bellac, we went on walks, often cooked dinner together, and watched a lot of movies on my computer. I went back to work the following day and he came to a couple of classes with me. I think my students really enjoyed it (and I did too).
After our last week, I took a day off and we went to Paris so that we could catch his plane. Everything went as planned and we were there with plenty of time to spare. I sent him off on his way and I made the trek back to Bellac. It was hard to say goodbye after being with someone for a month but I know how lucky I am that he was even able to come at all, let alone stay for a month! So that was our vacation together, sorry it took so long to write! Hope you enjoyed!
