Some final thoughts on my Europe trip -- a couple of friends asked me questions, which I have been thinking about.

• What would I have done differently?
  
  1. I would have shortened my stay in both Paris and Florence and added another location (maybe Amsterdam?). That’s because after 9 nights in Paris, for example, it felt less like a visit and more like I was going to be there for a while – it just felt like it was time to leave at night 7 or so.
     
  2. Next time, I will not have to visit the standard “tourist” destinations and would only visit my favorite places.
     
  3. Next time, I’d like to get out of the cities for a while – maybe the South of France. And, I’d like to hit up Rome and Pompei or Herculaneum next time – only because my Latin in middle school gave me such an interest in Roman things.
     
  4. Somehow, I would like to have gotten out of the sight-seeing mode and more into the mode of living in the place, say in Paris. To do that, I’d have to be there much longer – maybe six months to a year – that sounds like it conflicts with #1, but not really. I guess what I’m saying is – either it is a week visit –OR— I’d like to stay an extended time.
     
  5. Before I left, I would more carefully check the transaction fees on my credit cards -- one of my banks hit me up harder on foreign currency conversion fees than the other.
  
  
• What were my favorite sites?
  
  1. I really was drawn to the river (the Arno) in Florence. Every chance I got, I crossed or walked near the river.
     
  2. The stained glass in the rose windows at Notre Dame in Paris was just beautiful. The picture just doesn't do justice to the color. I also really liked the Chagall windows at Fraumünster in Zürich -- I think because I like Chagall, and because the glass was not like other stained glass designs.
     
  3. Any of the Michelangelo sculptures are high on the list for me – like I said, they had life in them – I expected to see them walk off the platforms at any minute.
     
  4. Giverny was nice – later in the season when it was more in bloom would have been better – and I wish they would let you walk up and down all the paths – many of the paths were blocked.
     
  5. The musicians in the Paris subway and the artwork that decorates Paris. I have come to appreciate just having artwork decorating public spaces -- something we get too little of in the US.
     
  6. The colors of the buildings in Florence were wonderful to my eye.
     
  
  
• What was I less than impressed with?
  
  1. What is the attraction to the Mona Lisa -- La Joconde?
     
  2. I do not like crowds -- even in April, some sites had enough people that I got tired of being jostled.
     
  3. Ahem, I think it's time to institute a bench cleaning program in Florence -- I didn't appreciate the layer of dark soot on the stone benches -- the type of soot that you don't notice until after you've got it on your backside.

Our train from Baden to Geneva (via Bern) was uneventful. One thing I have to say is how impressed I am with the Swiss train service. Those trains are pretty much on time 90% - 95% of the time! When the schedule says that the train leaves at 6 minutes after the hour, they mean it -- the train is LEAVING at that point, doors closed. If you want to get on, you should be there a minute prior.

When we transferred in Bern, we only had 6 minutes to make the other train on a different platform. No problem. Our train arrived when it said it would, and we got to the other platform with a minute to spare!

At the Geneva airport, things were not as smooth. My tickets and boarding pass were fine (I was relieved, but hoping not to show it!). But my travel companion had some ticketing problems which cost him extra money. Whereas I had already paid for my ticket on the phone, he chose not to give his credit card number out at the train station in Florence where we made our travel changes. This meant that he had not actually paid for the ticket (therefore, he did not actually have a ticket). When we got to the agent, she would not handle the transaction the same way as over the phone -- she sold him an additional ticket, which cost an additional 300 CHF. Like I said, I was just relieved that mine was ok!

Speaking of the Geneva airport...when did Pink Floyd become acceptable airport music? We don't need no education...

Charles de Gaulle

We made it to our flight at CDG fine -- but that is one confused airport -- lots of walking only to get to a bus which drove us around and around forever -- for a minute, I thought he was going to try to drive us back to the States, we were on the bus so long.

Dulles

We made it back to Dulles and then drove home (relatively) uneventfully. So, we're home again! A very, very long day.

It is almost surreal to think that I woke up in Baden, Switzerland this morning, traveled by 2 trains and 2 planes (and that bus thing at the airport), and now I'm home in Richmond, VA.

Today, we took the train into Zürich. It was a pleasant day.

Zürich

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First, we took a boat cruise on Lake Zürich -- we were there as tourists, but it is also a commuter boat, which stops at various docks around the lake depositing and taking on riders.

Afterwards, we walked around and went to the Grossmünster church -- where we climbed narrow, often twisting, sometimes very steep-as-a-ladder stairs to the top of the steeple. It was a long climb, but the views were well worth the 2 CHF that it cost.

View of Zürich from Grossmünster church steeple

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Then, we went to the Fraumünster church where several of the stained glass windows were created by Chagall.

We had lunch, walked a bit more and came back to Baden, where we had ice cream.

All in all, it was a very pleasant day. My friends here have a very homey place -- something I suspect has more to do with their kind spirits than with the furnishings. Having a couple days of down time was a really good way to end the trip to Europe. It also gave us some rest before the long trip back tomorrow!

Baden

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We arrived in Baden, Switzerland with no problems. We are staying with friends -- American expats. They have a nice flat -- open, nice view and a wraparound terrace great for sitting on and with large planters for a terrace garden.

Baden is a nice town with a German feel to it. There's a castle on the hill and a clock tower in the center of town. It seems to have a large enough population to support a fair number of shops. Of course, the shops close on Sunday, so I'm not sure what we will be doing tomorrow.

I had not realized that Swiss German was so different from "High" German. Our hosts tell us that the pronunciation is different. I also heard the locals saying Merci for Thank You (using the French word), Bitte for Please (using the German word), and "Sorry" when they bumped into someone (using the English word)...So, it's a language mix, which I guess makes sense since Switzerland has 4 official languages.

Tonight for dinner, our hosts introduced us to "raclette." It's a strong smelling Swiss cheese that you melt on a raclette grill and then pour over potatoes, onions and pickles. It's sort of a "reverse" fondue -- where you bring the cheese to the food instead of dipping the food in the cheese. It was very good, and it is a dish that requires guest participation -- which is always fun.

We did the raclette on the terrace because our hosts say the smell of the cheese will linger inside through the next day.

Of course, there are different customs and laws everywhere. One difference here is that we are told that recycling is mandatory! Evidently, the garbage guys do random checks through your garbage bags to make sure you are not putting something in the garbage that belongs in recycling. If you do, you get fined! For example -- I ate an orange and put the peels in the trash can -- evidently, that sort of stuff belongs in the biological recycling bin. The idea of having so much recycled is a good one -- but I don't think I'm down with it being mandatory.

One thing I noticed is that the country and town seemed very clean! I didn't really see much in the way of litter.

The sleeper train wasn't too bad - but it was a little cramped. We decided to save money and have a 4 person compartment, instead of just the 2 of us. We got both bottom bunks and an American woman took the bunk above me. The other top bunk was unused.

Most of the rest of the car is occupied by German-speaking high schoolers! They are sleeping SIX (!) to the compartment. They seem polite, and have quieted down quickly. During the night, I went to the bathroom a couple of times, and sometimes I would see a student's head lying in the hallway -- just a head -- the rest of the student's body would still be in the compartment -- I guess it got really stuffy (or worse) in there, so they needed some air!

The views from the train were really nice to wake up to -- snow caps and green valleys -- views of the Alps.

View from the train

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I woke up with some bite marks on my hand. They might have been mosquito bites from the room in Florence, but I didn't notice them until this morning. So, I'm afraid they are bed bug or flea or lice bites from that dratted blanket on the train.

We have checked out of the hotel. We have about 10 hours to kill before we leave on the train to Zürich.

We left our bags at the hotel, but one thing I learned on this trip is that I packed way too heavy. I liked having clothes to wear, so next time I will still bring more than some people, but there have definitely been clothes that I didn't need during this trip.

In the morning, I visited a Leonardo da Vinci museum. It was ok -- they took his drawings and turned them into person-high models, so that you could see how his machines would work.

Afterwards, I found this nice piazza that I had not been to before -- the Piazza della SS Annunziata. One of the buildings on the piazza was an orphanage for children.

Innocents Orphanage

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The orphanage first started taking in children back in 1419. There is a little museum on the second floor and one of the exhibits really touched me -- it was an exhibit of medallions or trinkets that the parents had placed in the baby's clothing, with the hope that when the child was grown, that the parents and child could be re-united. So, these were parents that just could not take care of another child and had to give the child up (not because they wanted to).

Trinkets left in baby clothing

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After lunch, I had my final gelato beside the river. Teenagers are teenagers no matter the language, laughing! As I was standing there, I was surrounded by a flock of teenagers -- just like in the States -- laughing, joking, safely in the flock.

I'm pretty exhausted today. We decided to change our plans and come back one day earlier, so we spent time making changes with the airlines, hotels, etc., which can be really tiring. One thing that I have noticed in both Paris and Florence is that towards the end, I suffered "language fatigue," and relapsed into English.

I decided to have my last meal in Florence at the place where we first ate that first night. So, I'm having vegetarian paëlla again. And with some wine to wash it down, of course. I'm wondering how the train will be tonight -- I've never been on a sleeper -- we decided to go a little cheaper and get a 4 bed unit (we could have gone as high as 6 beds in the cubicle), so we will be in there with people we don't know. Today is the first day that I felt like I was ready to be back home in my very own bed.

We leave Florence tomorrow.

It is a nice, if somewhat touristy, city. I will miss the church bells ringing morning and evening. The river is beautiful at sunset.

Although beautiful, Florence did not steal my heart the way Paris did. But I have come to enjoy the Italian language. French will always be #1 for me (after English, of course), but the sing-song of Italian makes it a close second.

I saw a few same-sex couples arm in arm, but not as many as in Paris.

One thing I have learned from both Paris and Florence is that we Americans don't eat well -- as a matter of fact, most of what we eat is crap! My plan for when I get back is to put more thought into my meals.

Here are some miscellaneous pics --

Church at night

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And here are some miscellaneous video clips. This is an Accordion player and the Piazza di San Giovanni:


And here was a race that was going on one day. This is taken in the Piazza della Signoria:

On my last full day in Florence, I made sure to visit the Galleria dell'Accademia to see Michelangelo's David. I did not think I would be impressed -- I've seen the pictures, and I know what the statue looks like.

I was wrong. I was very impressed. The scale of the sculpture -- 13 feet, 6 inches -- is impressive. The proportions are all correct. You can see the vein running down David's bicep! And all this is carved in marble!

David looks alive in a way that most sculptures do not.

Michelangelo's David (scanned pic -- no pics allowed at the Galleria)

I can only say that I came back several times to visit with David before I actually left the Galleria. There were also some unfinished works by Michelangelo -- a unfinished pietà, for example. It also had a fair number of paintings in the style of icons.

For lunch I went back to my "truffle joint" -- the one that I liked and where I had truffles for the first time. Unfortunately, I had my second helping of meat this trip -- I thought I remembered which dishes were vegetarian from my first trip...but I was wrong and got a meat sauce on my pasta! Laughing...next time I'll ask again!

When I planned my trip to Europe, I knew that I would have to be flexible, and my intent was to "flow like water," meaning to be very flexible while still accomplishing my goals. I think eating salmon and now hamburger (!) is definitely an example of flexibility! One thing -- the hamburger did repeat on my later -- it's not something I miss at all from my meat-eating days.

Did I mention the first time I went to this place how attractive the owner of the joint is? I think that might be part of the reason that I went back -- eye candy is good for the digestion, lol!

As I was walking after lunch, I noticed a pasticceria -- pastry -- shop and stopped in. My Italian is improving ever so slightly, and when I saw a pastry I wanted, I said in very simple Italian:

È méla? (Is apple?)
No, albicocca. (No, apricot.)

I understood her response because I had been eating Apricot yoghurt for breakfast at the hotel each morning.

Boboli Garden

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First stop today was the Boboli Garden -- large formal gardens that are the gardens for the Palazzo Pitti. I didn't want to go in the Pitti Palace because it was supposed to be like Versailles -- and I figured it wasn't something I was interested in. The gardens were nice -- lots of fountains and statues.

Then, onto the Mercato Centrale for a gift of limoncello for the friends that we will be staying with in Switzerland in a few days. The woman at the Mercato gave me a taste of the limoncello before I bought it -- and I'm started to tell the difference in the brands that I've had.

I had a little extra time this afternoon, so I visited some churches -- no pictures allowed inside them.

At dinner tonight, I decided to order the full Italian courses -- there was a vegetarian fixed price meal. Some of the courses were better than others, but not too bad overall.

We went to the Uffizi today. It was different from the Louvre in Paris. The Louvre is just plain huge, but the Uffizi is much more manageable. It is full of Italian Renaissance and Mannerist works. They are nice to look at, but as I think I've said before -- I am a fan of the Northern school and Flemish paintings, so I didn't spend as much time in the Ufizzi as I did at the Louvre (also because the Louvre was bigger).

Afterwards, I went back to the Mercato Centrale for fruit and water. I got lost going because I was coming from a different direction, so I walked more than I had to. One of the things I also took to buying while I was in Florence was limoncello -- an alcoholic lemony drink. I would buy small bottles of the stuff for my travel companion and I to have in the room after dinner.

While I was buying fruit, I stopped at the stand of an old Italian woman. I could only understand bits and pieces of what she was saying. I wanted oranges (arancie), but she had some past-prime bananas that she wanted to move. So, with me understanding only bits of what she was saying and with her hand gestures, I realized that she wanted to sell me the bananas and an orange with a bad spot at the same (lower) price per kilo as the oranges I had picked out. She basically said the the orange with the bad spot was a better orange and that the spot would peel off.

She had a grandmotherly (nonna) air, and as she was moving fruit onto the scale for me, she kept looking back at me to make sure that I was ok with it. I was actually rather enjoying myself by letting her do her thing. I, of course, was not sure that the orange was a good idea, nor did the bananas look very good. But since I was enjoying myself, and since all of this was under 2€, I went along.

I think that her eyes were going because she examined the 2€ coin I gave her very carefully, and then all of the change she gave in return, she held up and carefully made sure of the denomination.

It was a fun game to play for both of us I think. I think this is probably the best sort of game -- some people think that the game is to get the best of someone else -- but I think it is better when both people get something out of the transaction -- she moved some fruit that was going bad, and I got what turned out to be a very good tasting orange and bananas out of the deal.

At the end of this transaction, we were both happy - I bowed my head a bit and said grazie, and she touched my elbow and laughed.

I went back to the hotel for my mid-afternoon siesta, but I felt cooped up. Even though I had done a lot of walking that day, I wanted to be back outside. So, I went back out with the intention of climbing to the top of the Piazzale Michelangelo -- the tallest hill in Florence with a large square that good views of the city.

While wandering in Florence, I was always struck by some of the beautiful reds, oranges and yellows that color the buildings.

Colorful buildings

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The climb to the Piazzale Michelangelo was pretty intense, especially since I was already tired. But I enjoyed being up there. Further up yet, there is a church, which I also went into.

River seen from Piazzale Micheangelo

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Duomo seen from Piazzale Micheangelo

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I was so hot and tired afterwards! I sweat so much that I left a salt ring on my shirt.

For dinner, we found a place on the Piazza Piattellina that I liked very much that had several vegetarian options. I had a dish that had truffles on it -- the first time I have had truffles I think. The wait staff was very nice, and the prices were very reasonable.

One thing I found interesting the whole time we were in Florence is that Italian dinner courses are different from ours. They have antipasto (appetizers), primo (first course), insalata (salad) , secondo (second course), etc. If you don't want all those, and if you order, say a primo and a contórno (a side dish), then the Italian waiters will often ask you in what order you want the dishes brought out to you.

And if your order fewer courses than your dinner companion, I found that some places brought out some bruschetta so that you would have something to eat on.

Of course, we finished by going to the gelateria for gelato.

We took a trip to Fiesole today. Fiesole is a town in the hills overlooking Florence. It was a very pleasant, cute town. You get there by bus -- the bus ticket (d'andata e retorno) was 2.25€ each.

It was interesting buying a bus ticket and riding the bus. It's always an experience to ride public transportation in a different place. Just figuring out how to signal to the driver that you want to get off (a press-button in this case)...and realizing that you are supposed to validate your ticket in a machine on the bus when you get on (or face a fine if you don't)...all of that is a learning experience.

Street scene in Fiesole

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Once there, we walked around and took some pictures of Florence and the surrounding countryside. Here's a video clip (someone was using a weedwacker while I was taking the clip, lol) --

After we walked around, we paid 13€, which got us into a couple of museums, the Roman and Etruscan ruins, and gave us transportation and entrance to a old villa that had been donated to the state.

There was a cathedral in the middle of town, dedicated to the Roman god Romulus, lol -- the Cattedrale di San Romolo.

Roman Amphitheater

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It seemed odd to pay to see Roman and Etruscan ruins, but combined with the villa and museum entries, the price wasn't too bad. The villa was very peaceful -- looked like it had not been kept up over the last few years, but there was still a lot of beauty in the formal gardens.

Villa Peyron Al Bosco Di Fontelucente

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Fiesole was a very pleasant town and nice change of pace from museum hopping.

So, I start my date today at the laundromat. This one functioned more like an American laundromat, where you feed coins into the individual machines, except that you have to feed tokens. You buy the tokens at a separate token machine.

There were several English-speaking folks there -- 2 from Australia and 2 from San Diego. We chatted about our travels.

While I was there, this woman beggar came in (Florence had sooo many beggars...) -- long string of Italian said in a very plaintiff, pitiful voice, hand out-stretched. She worked me so hard. The conversation was something like --

Woman -- Please, just 10 cents, for the little children (something like, dieci centi per i bambini.)
Me -- No, Signóra.
Woman -- Oh, please, just 10 cents, please, please.
Me -- No!

This went on for like 3 minutes, with her following me around the laundromat -- soap dispenser, token dispenser, wash machines, all the while with her pleading. I didn't know the Italian for "Scram!" although that was in my phrase book, if I had had it with me!

Then, she went onto the other folks. But she didn't work them as hard. On the way back out, she hit me up again! I think she singled me out because I was better dressed than the other folks -- all my casual stuff was in the wash! I was wearing khakis and a nice shirt.

It was a bit uncomfortable, but I had no intention of being worked like that. Besides, I needed all my change for tokens!

I think this will be the last time I have to use a laundromat -- as I count the days, I think I'll have enough shirts, underwear, etc. to last me the rest of the trip.

I got my Donatello fix today at the Museo Nationale del Bargello. I like Donatello's work -- and I like his bronze David, with his jaunty pose.

Donatello's David - scanned image

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They didn't allow photographs, which sort of annoyed me since the statues were often sitting around courtyards or near windows with natural light. So, my using a camera with no flash would not have hurt them. I couldn't even sneak a picture because there were so many guards watching.

I found a sculpture I like by an artist I had never heard of -- Vincenzo Danti --

L'Onore Vince l'Inganno -- Honor Conquers Deceit

This is not my picture -- visit the link to see the site where I got the picture.

I liked the statue very much -- and went back to visit it a couple of times before I left the museum. I think I liked it better in person than in the pictures.

The Bargello has a nice open air feeling to it because of the center courtyard, which is where I'm sitting writing this.

I met up with my travel companion for lunch, and then we visited the Cézanne exhibit at the Strozzi. For me, it was just Ok -- I like Cézanne, but not overly so. So, I think 10€ was pricey for me, but I think that my companion got his money's worth from it.

At some point during the stay, I I strolled by the Mercato Nuovo. There's a pig there whose snout you're supposed to rub and feed with a coin. This is to ensure that you return to Florence. So, I rubbed his snout, dug out a coin (the smallest in my pocket, lol) and fed him.

Pig

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For dinner we ate a place that my companion remembered from last time -- unfortunately, they immediately handed us English menus and spoke in English to us the whole time -- so it sort of prevented me from struggling through some Italian.

Sunset

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The river was beautiful tonight. As I was looking at the river, I started to wonder what it would have been like to live in Medieval Florence -- with no electric street lights -- how hard would it have been to find your way along the dark, narrow streets?

I had my first Italian gelato today -- it was very good! It tasted creamy and fresh and full of berries!

The Duomo peeks out nearly everywhere you walk

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This morning, we went to a part open-air, part enclosed market called the Mercato Centrale (the central market). They pretty much had everything -- typical tourist stuff plus meat, fruit, wine, knock-off clothes, etc. I noticed that the chickens and rabbits in the market still have their heads!

Chickens with heads at the Mercato Centrale

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I found a store near the Mercato Centrale that had a lot of traditionally-made masks -- Agostino Dessi. I don't have a link to the store itself, but there's a book out about them -- The Masks of Prof. Agostino Dessi

I spent most of the day just wandering around Florence, looking at the architecture and getting my bearings. The streets are narrow and twisty. Just because you "think" you're heading in the right direction doesn't make it so. Once you get on a street, the buildings prevent you from really seeing the sun, and since the streets wind or fan out, you can't tell if you're going in the right direction until you get to the next intersection or piazza.

The sidewalks are very narrow -- 1 person wide. When a bus comes down some of the streets, it will slow down when it gets to a pedestrian on the sidewalk, to make sure that the bus mirrors don't hit the pedestrian!

Florence definitely feels more relaxed than Paris. Even though it is a big city, the narrow streets and Medieval and Renaissance architecture give it a much different feel. The Florentines themselves seem more patient, laid-back and maybe a bit happier than the Parisians.

Like the Parisians, the Florentines dress way better than Americans -- especially for dinner. So, tonight, I'm wearing khakis to dinner -- even though I will still look like a visitor, at least I will look better than if I were in Levis.

Church bells have been ringing this evening -- 5:30, 6, 6:30...

For dinner, we ate at a place where my travel companion had eaten years ago when he visited. Afterwards, we walked along the river -- the sky was beautiful over the bridges -- orange and purple, reflecting on the water. Bats came from underneath the bridges and were darting around having their breakfast.

Sunset

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After that, I admit that I had my second gelato of the day. I think the reason they are so good is that so many real ingredients are used -- when you get pistachio gelato, it has lots of real pistachios in it -- the green color is naturally from the nuts, not that fake bright green you see in some of our ice creams!