Running

Having just returned from my daily mile run, I thought it would be interesting to write a quick post about some of the challenges I have experienced as a jogger in Europe.

First, I will say that the most agreeable location for running thus far has been Paris. The neighborhood we stayed in was sufficiently far from touristy locations so the streets were quiet and clear. What's more, Paris has nice wide sidewalks and a predictable layout that makes it easy for me to find my way back without consulting a map.

The most difficult location for running is a toss up between Cinque Terre and Florence. Cinque Terre was tough because of the terrain. In the villages themselves there was literally no flat place to run/walk. Every possible path was on a very steep incline. The nearby terraced vinyards, however, were a huge redeemer. For two of my three runs, I was able to climb up and out of the village and then run back and forth along the terraces.

For this reason, I think I will have to give Florence the title of most difficult place to run. For one thing, the sidewalks (if you can even call them that) are so narrow that people literally walk in the streets. When a car comes though, everyone moves such that the car has just enough space to pass. It's fascinating. As I run, I am constantly having to jump back and forth to get out of the way of cars, as well as dart around ambling tourists. Florence is also a maze of spiraling narrow, crowded streets which makes it very, very easy to get lost. After my first run, I got so lost that I spent more time trying to figure out where I was than I did running.

Other difficulties I've experienced have more to do with the nature of the trip. I'm tired from a day full of walking. I'm anxious because I'm in cities I don't know very well in foreign countries. It's also been difficult to find the time to run, given all the things we are trying to do/see. On a few occasions, I've literally taken off to run after meals while Alex watches our stuff. In Nice, we had lunch in a park overlooking the city. It was a great area to run, but I hadn't planned ahead so I had to run in jeans.

All in all, though, I've still been able to get in my daily run. We'll see if I can make it through the final leg of our trip in Rome.

Ciao!

Cinque Terre to Pisa To Florence

So our flat in Cinque Terre didn't have wifi...that was totally my bad.

Cinque Terre was stunningly beautiful, but I'm honestly glad that we have moved to the next stage of the trip. We spent all of Friday (New Years Day) hiking from Manarola (where we were staying) to the neighboring village, Corniglia. Then we hiked from Corniglia to Vernaza. 

The walk from Manarola to Corniglia was supposed to take about an hour and a half, but we ended up taking a different trail that went up and over the hills instead of around. The hike took us up up up and then down down down for about 3.5 hours. It was truly amazing. I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story. 

I said I'm glad to be on to the next phase of the trip because Cinque Terre was overrun by tourists. Even in the off season, boat loads of tour groups come through and, because it's the off season, only a fraction of the shops/restaurants were open. This meant that finding a place to eat was a chore. Also, Italian tourists are the WORST. Italians don't really have a personal space bubble, so collisions are quite common. For this reason, moving directly towards someone standing in your way doesn't give the same message that it does in America. I could literally be an inch away from someone and they would continue to stand as if I didn't exist. It's hard to explain in words, but I found that I was constantly frustrated. 

I can't imagine what Cinque Terre is like during the summer months. I loved the views, but I don't think I could bare to go back. It was just too many people in too small a place. 

We left Cinque Terre by train to La Spazia, then from La Spazia to Pisa. We spent a few hours in Piza then made our way to Florence. 

As an aside, we failed to properly document our travel from Manarola to La Spazia on our Eurorail pass and received a 50 euro fine. It was a telling end to a glorious, but stressful few days. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I do not like the Italian train system. I still don't.

Anyways, we ended up leaving Pisa 1.5 hours earlier than expect because, as it turns out, there isn't much to do there. After arriving in Firenze, we decided to buy a 72 hour museum pass before meeting our host and getting settled in our flat. We'll use this for the duration of our stay to get in all the museums/attractions without having to stand in line. Given the short duration of our stay here, we figured this was a good option. 

After meeting our host and getting settled, I decided to go for a quick run before it got dark. Hilariously enough, I got really lost and ended up having to walk a good 15 minutes to get back. 

Tomorrow we plan to visit a few museums and do a couple of Rick Steve's audio walking tours. 

Ciao!

Figure 1. This was the kind of view we had on our 3.5 hour hike from Manarola to Corniglia. Breathtaking, no?

Figure 2. Alex standing in the passageway outside the door to our flat. Cinque Terre was a labyrinth of little allies that spiraled up and down the rocky side of the mountains. It was a neat place to be. 

Food in Europe: A Story in Pictures

I haven't done a great job posting pictures to the blog. I've taken a ton, but it's been difficult editing/posting them on the fly. I have taken quick pictures of all (ok...most) of the food/drink we've consumed so far. I'll try to keep uploading those pictures here. Expect this post to change regularly.

Dulles - Pre-flight

Figure 1. Champagne flight before flight at Dulles

Figure 2. Pork Taco at Dulles

Figure 3. Wine Flight..pre-flight...Alex is already annoyed at my picture taking :)

Figure 4. Charcuterie Board

Figure 5. Adult caper. We'd never seen these before. They were delicious

 Iceland at the airport

Figure 6. My first cappuccino of the trip. It was yummy and much needed after a long flight. 

Figure 7. Smoked salmon omelet. 

Paris Day 1 - Snack/Lunch

Figure 8. Beef tartare at Bistro de Commerce

Figure 9. The server took the camera away as I was trying to document my dish. Cassoulet at Bistro de Commerce

Paris Day 2 - Coffee

Figure 10. My first capuccino in Paris. Apparently the French put chocolate powder on top. I didn't like that. 

Paris Day 2 - Lunch

Figure 11. Frog legs at whatever place that was. I wasn't a huge fan. 

Figure 12. Alex's Civet de Lievre with gnocchi and those were my french fries. Alex loved his meal, particularly the sauce.

Paris Day 2 - Dinner

Figure 13. Octopus with Andouille sausage appetizer at L'Oiseau sans Tete. Fantastic meal!

Figure 14. 'Paupiette de Veau' at L'Oiseau sans Tete

Figure 15. Coffee and 'Creme Catalane' at L'Oiseau sans Tete

Paris Day 3 - Lunch on Bateaux Parisiens

Figure 16. Baked egg with delicious mushroom sauce. I will be trying to make this at home 

Figure 17. Alex's fois gras and other yummy stuff

Figure 18. French Shepard's Pie

Figure 19. Some sort of chicken dish. Very good

Figure 20. Cheese and bread. I started eating before I remembered to take a picture

Figure 21. Heavenly chocolate

Figure 22. Alex's yummy fruit dessert

Figure 23. Red wine

 Paris Day 3 - The train to Nice

Figure 24. We made a meal of bread, cheese we had bought in France, and some sandwiches and wine we bought from the dining car. The sandwiches were fine, but the wine was particularly delicious for something one buys on a train. 

Nice Day 1 - As of January 1, this has been the best meal of the trip. It was so unbelievably good.

Figure 25. Spritzer cocktails. Quite delicious

Figure 26. Mayonnaise, cheese and toast that accompanied my fish soup. That Mayo was AMAZING. 

Figure 27. Fish soup. Not much to look at, but delicious.

Figure 28. Alex's stuffed vegetable appetizer. Those vegetables were stuff with the stuffing of the gods. It was heavenly. 

Figure 29. Stuffed vegetables again. 

Figure 30. Stewed beef on a bed of ravioli. I love ravioli, I get it all the time. This is, without any doubt, the best ravioli I've ever had. It may be the best ravioli I ever have. I'm not joking, it was so good I almost cried. It was so good that I almost destroyed Alex when he stole the last one!

Figure 31. Alex got a stewed meat also. I don't remember what the animal was. Mine was better! 

Figure 32. Blurry picture of the wine bottle from Cotes De Provence. Also quite good. 

Nice Day 1 and Day 2 - Breakfast. These pictures are from Day 2, but we had breakfast there both mornings we were in Nice. The waiter was nice and the food was good. European breakfast is always spotty and we wanted to be sure to have a good meal before the long train ride to Cinque Terre shortly thereafter.

Figure 33. This place had a great breakfast deal. Half a baguette, croissant, two eggs, 'bacon,' coffee and very freshly squeezed orange juice for 10 euro. On top of all that, the server was friendly and very funny. He talked to everyone he saw and was constantly smiling/joking. He was more outgoing than everyone we have met so far combined. It was quite enjoyable.  

Cinque Terre, Italy Day 1 - Antipasti

Figure 34. My mind can not conjure up what this is called for some reason. Will update later...Getting tired.

To be continued...

The Trains in Italy

In an effort to get on track with the blog, I've decided to skip over the rest of our France trip and talk about our arrival in Italy. I'll come back to France when I get a chance.

Our first experience with Italy was at the train station in Nice. Our plan was to catch a train to Vitimiglia* (right along the boarder). switch to another train to Genoa. In Genoa, we would catch a train to Monterosso Al Mare which is the first of the Cinque Terre (Five Villages) and then finally take the train that runs up and down the Cinque Terre and hop off at Manarola. An ambitious undertaking for two people who speak no Italian and know nothing about the Italian train system.

I haven't talked about our experience with the TGV in France yet, but I'll say here briefly that it was fantastic. The train was clean and comfortable and the ride was smooth and fast. We had a table, nice lighting, and power to plug in computers/phones/etc.

This was NOT our experience with the Italian trains. Just standing on the platform in Nice and watching the other trains go by, we knew the experience was going to be different. The trains looked older and were completely covered in graffiti. This was not something I was used to. I feel like, in the states, you don't see much graffiti on passenger trains (I'll have to look when I get home). To be clear, I'm not talking about a little graffiti here and there. When we got on our train, we had to switch cars so that we could find a window that wasn't completely blacked out by graffiti...

Alex got us first class tickets for all the trains because it wasn't that much more expensive and a little comfort is always nice when you are traveling in an unfamiliar environment. On the Italian trains, this bought us two seats in a six seat box. This wasn't terrible in and of itself, but the box was completely dark and really smelly. And of course the windows were spotted with graffiti.

Something else we didn't like about the trains, when Alex went to use the restroom he discovered that "flushing" meant everything was pushed out the bottom of the train and on to the tracks. Honestly, I didn't think anyone in the western world dealt with waste in this manner before. I was thoroughly repulsed...and didn't use the restroom until we finally made it to our flat in Manarola.

Anyways, I was a little nervous because we had less than ten minutes to switch trains at our first stop. When we got there and looked at the board, we were frantic because we couldn't find our train. We ran around looking for someone to ask,with no luck. After running back and forth like chickens with our heads cut off, I grabbed the ticket and realized that we should have been looking for the train number instead of the destination because our train continued on after we got off. Of course our train was on the furthest platform, so we literally sprinted to get there on time and made it with about a minute to spare. Seriously, the only reason we made it was because the train was delayed by about five minutes.

This trip has really been great for Alex and I because we are starting to discover our respective travel related strengths and weaknesses. I pay much closer attention to detail and I'm a little bit paranoid about getting lost/missing things, so I excel at travel logistics. Conversely, I'm incredibly shy/insecure around new people and Europe requires you be outgoing if you want to get anything. As an aside, if you wait at a table in a restaurant for a server, you could end up waiting FOREVER. Seriously, they will not come unless called. It's not a rudeness thing, but a cultural thing. For this reason, Alex is great when it comes to interactions with the locals. He'll shameless engage with someone and attempt to speak with them in their native language, even if he really doesn't know it. This was true in France and, so far, is true in Italy. He'll try and figure out how to say whatever he needs to say and then run up to someone and say it.

Anyways, after that terrifying train layover experience the rest of our journey was pleasantly uneventful. On one of the trains, the family sitting next to us had a cat. Clearly the little girl wanted to hold the cat, but the mother preferred that either she hold the cat herself or put the cat in the carrier. Comically enough, whenever she put the cat in the carrier the cat would howl and howl and howl. This amused me.

Once we made it to the Cinque Terre, we were shocked by how many people were on the platforms. It was clear that most of them were tourists, like ourselves. When we arrived at our final destination, the platform was reminiscent of some of the major DC platforms at rush hour. I can't imagine what this place must be like in the summer!

I'll say more about Manarola in another post, but I'll say here that our host greeted us in the church square and showed us to our new home for the next few days. Though her English wasn't that great, it was a delightful end to a somewhat stressful travel experience.

In the next couple of posts, I'll describe our flat here in Manarola and the Cinque Terre. I'll also talk about our New Years experience. It was definitely something I won't soon forget!

Ciao


*i'm butchering the spelling of these names. I'll come through later and make corrections when I have more time.

Our Second Day In Paris: Part One

Much to my delight, Alex got up early and went out in search of baguette to eat with our breakfast. While he was gone I showered and dressed while watching Frasier on my computer. Interestingly enough, France has Netflix and other streaming services but the selection is much more limited...and doesn't include Frasier. It took me a little time, but I was able to modify my DNS settings as a workaround. I don't plan to stream media much on this trip, but honestly I just wanted to see if I could do it. It's the American way. 

After a delicious breakfast (thank you Alex), we set out with the intention to do some geocaching. I love using geoacaches to explore new cities because it takes you places you may not otherwise go. 

Our first Geocache was near the St. Michael fountain. The description warned us that there would be a lot of muggles (people) around and that it might be impossible to locate discreetly during the day. Impossible was right. As we walked around attempting to look for it, several people asked us to take pictures for them. And let me tell you, in France when you take someone's picture they will critique it, provide feedback and expect you to keep trying until you get it right. Honestly, it was really annoying.  

Our second geocache was in a tiny street (the narrowest in Paris) called Chat qui Peche. We had read about this one online and wanted to check it out. Unfortunately it was also in a super touristy part of town, which it makes it insanely difficult to geocache. Because it was an ally, we had a little bit of privacy to root around for the hidden treasure, but eventually we were interrupted by a passing family and had to leave (the ally was too narrow to fit all of us). When we circled back around we found, much to our dismay, a dude standing there and peeing!! The ally didn't provide THAT much privacy. Our resolve was certainly shaken, but we circled back around for one more attempt. Unfortunately, the combination of people and the peeing guy had rattled us too much and we were unable to find it. According to Alex, some of the french comments on the post for this cache indicated that it might not have been accessible anyways. 

Our first day in Paris

Our first day in Paris began as soon as we arrived at the flat around 14:00. After dropping off our stuff and getting settled we went for a quick jog around the neighborhood. This certainly helped delay the jetlag. We got a little lost, but were able to get back on track without too much trouble. [As I write this, I am sitting on a train in Italy and I honestly have no idea what I would do without google maps and GPS.] 

After our run, we went for a walk in search of a snack/late lunch. In Paris, it's common to find these little squares or plazas in amongst the many tall, old buildings. For the holiday season, they were usually lit up with beautiful lights. It was in one of these plazas that we found a cute little restaurant. 

As would be the norm for the remainder of our time in France, Alex attempted to communicate with our server in French only. The server was delighted. Alex communicated that I didn't speak French, so the waiter was very kind to speak to me in a combination of both English and some French (usually French first followed by English). Comically enough, after Alex ordered a bottle of wine the waiter asked him, in French, if he wanted one glass or two. This seem to confuse Alex, but randomly I understood completely AND responded in french. This thrilled him even more...and shocked both me and Alex. Honestly, I think it was my desperation for something to drink. I was parched. 

This was my first time watching Alex interact with someone in french and I was thoroughly impressed. He gave himself a hard time, but anytime he asked a question or made a request people seemed to understand him. The interesting thing about people in France is that they will take the time to help you pronounce something and/or if you don't know a word, they will teach it to you. It can be kind of intimidating, but truthfully it's really great if you are trying to learn the language. I'll say more about my overall impression of France and French people in a later post.

By the time our 'lunch' concluded it was starting to get dark. Not being familiar with Parisian neighborhoods I was a little on edge walking around after dark. It seemed like you would be in the midst of the hustle and bustle only to turn a corner and find the street completely deserted. 

On our walk we saw many interesting monuments and a small festival in front of the City Hall (Hotel d'Ville). The festival had some sort of a wildlife preservation/nature theme as there were life size statues set up all over the square. There were also people selling what I think were roasted chestnuts, but they may have been something else. They had these wok like things with burners set up on the front of bikes where the chestnuts, or whatever they were, were roasting. 

We made our way further west and then south toward the Seine to see the Isle de Paris and the Notre Dame. Our timing was perfect because the bells had just started to ring. It was nice to be there on an evening in winter as it was not the least bit crowded. 

We continued a little further along  the Seine toward the Eifel Tower, but the day started to catch up with me. After sitting on a bench for a while, we decided to head back toward our flat to grab dinner. 

The restaurant we had intended to try was closed, so we tried another place nearby. The food was ok, but not great. I had a Fois Gras salad and Alex had Escargot. The Fois Gras was not fantastic. As with the previous restaurant, our waiter LOVED Alex. We could tell that he was flattered at our (mostly Alex) attempt to communicate in french. And, as before, he was very nice to correct mistakes and helped with new words. At one point, he very kindly suggested that we start to speak English. This deflated Alex a bit as he was already feeling self conscious about his French, but it wasn't long before they were back to speaking French again. 

After our meal, we got into a conversation about our names and where we were from. This was great for because it helped me learn basic french phrases. Looking back, I now feel a little guilty for not having put more effort into learning some french ahead of the trip. Alex was great though. He and I would practice conversations with each other and then I would go and communicate with servers, baristas or whomever. At any rate, our server's name was Ali and, though he considers himself to be Parisian, his parents immigrated from Croatia and Algeria (I'm not sure if these countries are correct...I thought he had said one of his parents were from Pakistan. At this point in the trip Alex and I hadn't been taking notes with enough detail).  

Before leaving, Ali surprised us with complementary Lemoncello to accompany this sinfully delicious chocolate dessert Alex had ordered. It was the most amazing Lemoncello I have ever tasted...but that isn't saying much as Lemoncello isn't really something I drink to often. 

After returning to the flat, Alex ran to a nearby grocery store to pick up some eggs, potatoes and onions for breakfast. Having had few good experience with European breakfast, we decided to take advantage of the kitchen to cook our own. 

Our Parisian Flat

Our previous post left off with us departing the Charles De Galle airport. Once we found the train, getting to our final destination was pretty straightforward, even with next to no experience with the Parisian metro system, the RATP. Our host, Hughes, had provided us with very detailed directions which was quite helpful.  Our flat was in the Southern section of the 10th Arrondismont (Paris is split up into boroughs called arrondismont) right off the Plaza De Republique on Rue Mesley. It was on the small side, but very charming. The first thing I noticed was a very distinct smell that we believe was the cheese they were keeping in the refrigerator. It wasn't a bad smell, but it was strong. Thankfully, after twenty minutes or so we stopped noticing it.

A picture is worth a thousand words as they say, so I'll rely on the pictures below to provide you with a sufficient description. The best (or perhaps worst) thing about it was the 92 steps we had to climb to reach it. Like most things I noticed in Paris, it was not the least bit handicapped accessible. Those steps provided for a much needed workout every time we headed back for the evening, or to rest during the day.

Another interesting feature of this flat, and the one that motivated us to select it, was the sleeping area. It was tucked away in an elevated, loft-like space accessible via a ladder. Once at the top, we had to crawl on our hands and knees to get to the bed as the ceiling was only about three feet above the floor at the tallest point. It was both neat and cozy, but I find it difficult to imagine living in such a small area for any more than a few days. Needless to say, our time spent on boats prepared us well for this experience.