Vacations, Holidays & Travels

[ali]

i haven't totally organised it yet (only decided on monday) but i'm going to a friend's wedding in italy at the end of june, so i think i'll be going to england (probably only be able to do a little bit in the south-east), then off to germany (berlin), check out switzerland (the eiger!!) and then italy (verona, florence, rome!). its a complete flying visit, but hopefully i should be able to pack a fair bit in 3 weeks!!!

i'm going home at easter (seriously can't wait to have some time off work) so will probably be eating large amounts of chocolate, and doing some hiking!

only 3 more days!  

til what?

[ali]

hey elizanne, how long are you planning on spending in each place you go to? anything particular you want to see?

 :)

[Elizanne33]

I am going to London first, and spending a week there. Then in France, I am spending a week in Paris, and 3 nights in Nice. We are going to be in Paris for my cousin's 23rd birthday and Bastille day! Italy is next with 1 night in Lucca, 5 nights in Rome, 2 nights in Sorrento, 3 nights in Florence, and 2 nights in Venice. Then for the last part of the trip I am going to Munich, Germany for 5 nights.

This is a family vacation, and everybody had places in mind that they wanted to see. I really wanted to go to Greece, and my brother wanted to go to Ireland, but unfortunately we had to cut them out to make room for places other family members wanted to go.

There is so much to see! I am kind of going with the flow, when it comes to my family, but there are a few places that I really want to see. In France I want to go to Giverny and see Monet's gardens. I also want to see Sainte Chapelle. It was my favorite chapel that I studied in an art history class years ago. The stained glass windows are amazing. I can't wait to see it in person.  I am also excited about going to Pompeii in Italy. I think for the most part though, we will be hitting all of the main tourist attractions on our trip.

Where are you going ali?

[ali]

sounds like you have a great holiday planned!! i'm going by myself, so if i can pretty much go wherever. maybe next time i'll have a travel-buddy, but this time's solo.

i've started putting together a rough list of places:
london - generally all the great buildings - st. pauls, tate modern, british museum, vic & bert museum, tower of london, the beehive.. if i get time i want to go to kent (where my dad was born & my g'parents lived) and the isle of wight (where about 400 years of my family lived)
berlin - the reichstag, the jewish museum, potsdamer platz...
zurich or basel - lots & lots of great swiss architecture...
plus if i get to the alps, particularly grindelwald, i want to see the eiger...
and finally:
italy - verona - to see my favourite building, the castelvecchio, which is a 13th century military fortress (built on roman ruins) that was converted to a beautiful art gallery in the '60s by my favourite architect
- florence - duomo of florence (brunilleschi's dome), the uffizi...
- pisa - leaning tower & other great 16th & 17th c buildings
- rome - the forum, the pantheon, sistene chapel... pretty much anything i can lay eyes on really!!
pompeii, vesuvius & naples would be great, but i have to see how far the travel-fund stretches. i'll probably end up doing some of the tourist attractions, but mostly its going to be my own select architecture tour of europe!  :)

[ali]

eek did i get a bit carried away?  :-[ well.. sorry! i'm still on a bit of a high just on the thought of travel, so who knows how i'll be when i actually get there!! a screaming mess probably!

i think the main thing i'm looking forward to seeing is the castelvecchio (sad to say, but i am an architect, so i'm allowed to be a building-nut!) and probably seeing the places my dad's always told me about. seeing where my family comes from is going to be pretty cool

[Elizanne33]

ali, you are going to have an amazing trip! I know what you mean about being high on the thought of travel; I feel the same way. I can't stop thinking or talking about my trip.  I have been reading travel books, and watching videos like crazy! I am so excited about my trip that I even get a little teary eyed when I look at pictures of some of the places I will be going. It's silly, I know, but I can't' help it. :)

[slojave]

As for favorite vacation spot, I would probably pick Goa, India.  It is beautiful anytime you go...great tropical weather, beaches, and food!  I lived in Asia and Europe for about 6 years for work so I have so many favorite places for different reasons.  But I'm back in the good old U.S. of A!  Other spots I love:

1.  Mauritius
2. Singapore
3. Ukraine
4. UK
5. France

[tdan]

- florence - duomo of florence (brunilleschi's dome), the uffizi...

I took my wife on a tour of Italy for our honeymoon (ten years ago).  Seeing the history right in front of my eyes made me question a lot about our existence.  

At the Uffizi, seeing the statue of David shook me to the core.  I'm no artist but that was one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen.  

pompeii, vesuvius & naples would be great, but i have to see how far the travel-fund stretches.

I made sure to get to Pompeii while we were there.  One of my favorite bands is Pink Floyd and I LOVE their concert movie "Live at Pompeii".  Wow, just wow.

[Tree]

holidays! yeah 2 weeks!!!!!!!!!!  8)

[fitzcarraldo]

Dragonboy! Where you at son?  How was your trip?

[dragonboy]

Hey TK!
Been back about a week now, real busy with work but I've still been reading all the posts & keeping up to date on all the news.
Spain was amazing, cheers for asking.
I was blown away by my parents new house. It's big, beautiful & right in the middle of nowhere.
The surrounding area is SO peaceful, nothing but olive & orange trees. The weather was perfect & we spent a lot of time in the pool.
The nearby village was lovely & the local coastal resort lots of fun. Great food, cheap beer (San Miguel) etc.
The only reason it wasn't perfect was because my wife couldn't make it due to work comitments.
Still, I met her in Paris for 5 days on the way home, which was fantastic. I love Paris & have been lots of times but this was the first with my wife.
I'll get some pictures up as soon as I can work out how to use my new digital camera.
Hope everyone here is doing OK!  :)

[wellfleet]

welcome back dragonboy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! you've been missed.  

i think your parents should adopt me (and my husband). i am very handy in the kitchen and my husband is very well suited for yardwork. ok, make it happen!  :D

some day, i plan to escape to something beautiful like northern italy and buy fresh basil at the market and say si, normale! some day...

you should post some photos...

[fitzcarraldo]

Great dragonboy! Spain and Paris. Ni-ice!!!  San Miguel's are tasty.  :)

[Mr. T.]

I've been to Paris for the weekend. Paris never ceases to amaze me.

One tip for those who are going to Paris someday soon: Palais de Tokyo. A wacky pop-art/modern art museum not far from the Eifel Tower.

Here's a virtual tour of the museum  ;)














And here's a link

http://www.palaisdetokyo.com/index.php?npage=notrehistoire/

[Mr. T.]

I hope these pictures aren't too big  :-/

[dragonboy]

"Elvis' Fingers Looked Like Sausages But What A Voice"

That's fucking Blasphemy that is!  ;)

I quite agree with you Mr. T - Paris is amazing.
I could go again next weekend & enjoy myself just as much as I did two weeks ago.
I LOVE the movie Amelie & this was my first time visiting the Sacre Coeur after seeing it. The cafe they filmed in is just round the corner from the Moulin Rouge.

[Mr. T.]

I LOVE the movie Amelie & this was my first time visiting the Sacre Coeur after seeing it. The cafe they filmed in is just round the corner from the Moulin Rouge.

Here's some evidence:

[dragonboy]

Did you go there? Have you seen Amelie? Hands down one of my fav movies of all time.
My wife said the fruit&veg stall was also real but I didn't believe her  :-[

[Mr. T.]

I do believe they actually filmed in all those places.

In the tourist service at Place du Tertre in Montmartre, you can get a little map with all the places around Montmartre where Amelie Poulain was shot. We did that tour and we had a great time.

[Mr. T.]

Here's a picture of the plan, for what it's worth