If you want to see approx. 500ish photos from Europe, you can friend request me on Facebook (just let me know you’re a blog reader in a message). I will be doing a recap of each week we were there over the next three days!

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Week One, April 25 to May 2 2010

Our journey started in Amsterdam, Netherlands. After a 8-hour flight we arrived there at 11:00 AM local time and were quite exhausted. We didn’t want to waste our first day though so despite the exhaustion we went exploring.

We visited a sex museum.

Where we posed by a giant penis:

The funny story that goes with the photo of Eric like this on Facebook is that the chair in the middle was not a normal chair. You see, when we got here I told Eric to sit in that center chair so I could take a photo of him. Well, when you lean back in that chair it sets off a contraption that begins poking you in the bum!! I cannot explain to you how hilarious it was watching Eric jump three feet in the air with his eyes as wide as toonies when that happened!

Our first night in Amsterdam we wandered through the Red Light District.

What I couldn’t take pictures of and share with you were windows after windows that had young women posing in bikini’s and underwear selling sex in them. It was both fascinating and sad to see.

Our second day in Amsterdam we took a bike tour. The tour was a really fun time, I would absolutely recommend doing a bike tour to anyone who visits Amsterdam – there are more bikes than cars there! Originally I just wanted to rent bikes and ride around on our own but I’m SO glad we paid the extra money for a tour. The drivers there are a bit crazy and I felt much safer crossing big intersections and such with a tour guide.

We also were able to visit Vondelpark, which we probably wouldn’t have made it to if we hadn’t done the tour.

After 1.5 days in Amsterdam we flew to Paris for three very busy days of sightseeing.

In 2.5 days in Paris we managed to fit in…

The Eiffel Tower:

The Louvre:

The Arc de Triomphe:

Notre Dame Cathedral:

The Saint Chapelle:

Luxembourg Gardens:

And everything in between! In Paris we walked almost EVERYWHERE (I have no idea why as they have such an excellent Metro system which we didn’t discover until our second time there). In 2.5 days we walked at least 20 km! Needless to say, by the time we headed to Venice on Friday night we were exhausted!

We were really excited to get to Italy and Venice did not disappoint. We arrived late on Friday night and were staying on the mainland, so we didn’t actually explore the island until the Saturday. We spent a full day there and absolutely loved it!

We spent our day wandering through the millions of side streets and getting lost:

We popped into the shops and bought souvenirs:

We breathed in the intense and musky smell of real Italian leather. And I treated myself to a gorgeous new leather bag.

After spending all morning wandering in and out of side streets and shops we took a traditional Gondola ride down the beautiful Venice canals. It was a gorgeous day in Venice and the perfect way to end our time there. The Gondola ride was pricey – but worth it!

We both agree that we wish we could have spent more time in Venice. We only got to explore one side of the town in the time we were there and we both kind of fell in love with it. It was a great introduction to Italy!

But we had to go catch our train to Florence, where we’d be spending the rest of the weekend!

Unfortunately, there’s not much to share about Florence. After a week of sightseeing we were exhausted and it poured rain the entire time we were in Florence so we didn’t do much. We did wait in line for an hour at the Accademia to see the David statue and we also went to the leather market and did a bit more shopping. Other then that we didn’t do much and the rain kind of put a damper on our time there!

I managed to bargain this gorgeous turquoise necklace done from 10 euros to 8 though!

And that concludes Week One of our trip!

My overall opinion on the places we visited:

Amsterdam was great! A little dirty, but overall a very fun and laidback city. The people were also incredibly friendly!

Our first impression of Paris wasn’t that great. The people were a little rude and it was overwhelming. However, we did warm up to Paris a lot our second time back (read more about that in Week Three recap) I think that Paris is one of those cities you have to know to love. Everyone I’ve talked to who LOVES it is someone who’s spent a significant amount of time there.

We LOVED Venice. Seriously, our day spent in Venice was one of our favourite days of the whole trip! It was just so relaxed and fun and the people were really laidback and nice. We would go back in a heartbeat! It was a bit expensive though!

We didn’t really get to experience Florence enough to have an overall opinion on it. However, after visiting Rome, Florence kind of felt like a mini-Rome to me. That’s just my thoughts though!

Hope you enjoyed the recap of week one of our trip, if you have any questions ask them in the comments and I will answer there or in the next post

Hello from Athens! Tonight is our last night here – we are back to Paris tomorrow afternoon.

I can’t believe we only have THREE sleeps left in our trip – it feels like not too long ago I was counting down until we left!

I have so much to share – too much for one blog post. So, since we last left off here is bullet-point style:

• We left Rome shortly after my last post to head to the Amalfi coast. There we hiked Mt. Vesuvius and took a day trip to Capri where we soaked up the sunshine.
• We returned to Rome last Monday and spent the day touring the Colleseum, Palatine and Roman Forum. All of which were VERY interesting and enjoyable. We finished up our last night in Italy with a couple of bottles of wine while reminiscing over our trip so far by looking through the pictures and videos (oh yes, there are videos, 270ish to be exact. Just you wait!)
• We arrived in Athens two days ago. Yesterday we toured the Acropolis and did a lot of shopping and souvenir-buying. Today we went on a 1-day cruise to three Greek Islands. It was fun but not quite worth the money it cost! We enjoyed Athens more then we thought we would – and, no, no problems r.e. the riots.
• Tomorrow we are back to Paris and have plans to visit the Palace of Versailles on Saturday. Sunday morning we are flying back to Canada!

While we are incredibly sad that this amazing trip is over, we are also excited to get home. Changing where you sleep every couple of nights is exhausting and the last few days in Athens – where the temperature has been around 30 C (in the 90s F) – have drained us!

I tried really hard to share some photos with you tonight – really, I did! But if I thought a computer in French was hard to navigate I am WAY over my head using a computer in Greek. Re-sizing the photos and adding them to the blog post just weren’t happening. You’ll have to wait till next week to see a whole wack load of photos!

The photo I really wanted to share was one of us that was taken tonight. We are sitting on the balcony of the cruise ship on the way back to Athens sharing a bottle of white wine, laughing and chatting. The sun is setting behind us and we are SO happy and relaxed (and a little sunburned – me, not Eric!) Obviously our trip hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows there have been hard parts but Eric and I have decided we make excellent travel buddies – except maybe when we are lost and arguing over the map! But overall it has been the best trip ever we are already discussing the next one!

See you next week – from CANADA!

Hello from Italy! Sorry I’ve been a bad blogger! I have SO MUCH to tell you guys but no time so this will have to be quick.

1. We’ve been in Italy a week and for the most part we love it. We started in Venice last Friday, which we both LOVED and wish we could have spent more time in. Wandering the streets and taking a (very pricey!) Gondola ride were the highlights.

2. We then went on to Florence – not as great as Venice. At this point we’d been travelling a week, were fairly exhausted, and weren’t really in the mood for anymore museums/sights after Paris. It also poured rain the entire 1.5 days we were there. We did go to the Accademia and see the David sculpture (remarkable) but that was it.

3. Cinque Terre – the part of the trip I was most looking forward to was fun, breathtakingly beautiful and a disappointment at the same time. Disappointment because it POURED RAIN the entire two days we were there and we were unable to do the hike between the five villages because the trail was closed. I was SO upset about that. It was fun though because Cinque Terre – rain or shine – is seriously the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen! Luckily, the very last night we were there it cleared up enough for us to hike the very last leg of the trail – I have some beautiful pictures I can’t wait to share!

4. We are currently in Rome and getting ready to leave after only one night. Last night our hotel was broken into when we were out for dinner and our backpacks were torn apart. We came home to our stuff ALL OVER the room. They stole Erics credit card and drivers license, the only valuable things in the room – thank god we had our passports, money and cameras with us.

This morning was spent visiting the Canadian Embassy and attempting to file a police report. We then were able to make a quick trip to Vatican City -which was amazing. LOVED the Sistine Chapel – and in a couple of hours we are off to Naples and the Amalfi Coast. We are back in Rome on Monday for one night before flying to Athens and we may do more sightseeing then but to be honest we just have a bad taste in our mouths about Rome.

OK, must jet! Miss you lovelies lots. I am having a fabulous time but I am also exhausted from the stress of the last few days and travelling for two weeks straight! Hopefully a couple of days at the beach will cure it XO

PS: Thanks for all the sweet comments on the Vlog