Isabel & Stephanie – Page 5 – Ultimate Europe Trip

Hop on board

2 Comments / Nice / Isabel & Stephanie / June 3, 2022

This morning, we went back to the same boulonnerie as yesterday for their classic breakfast which includes coffee, fresh squeezed orange juice, and a croissant. It is delicious, convenient, and cheap which makes it the perfect breakfast.

We noticed that it was supposed to rain for part of the morning, so we decided to start the day with a ride through Old Nice on a little train. It was very fun to see the town, but the audio was not very good and was hard to hear over the sound of the train bumping along the cobblestone, so we didn’t learn very much about the city. Even so, we enjoyed the views and the escape from the rain. One thing we did learn is that the sculpture of the man with a square head actually houses the offices of the municipal library.

Since it started raining harder, we stuck with the theme of the morning and hopped on one of the hop on hop off busses in hopes of seeing more. We rode the bus through Nice and over to Villefranche. It was nice to be able to see more of the city and to see Villefranche from the land, but we were constantly wishing we could be outside and enjoy a nice walk without getting soaked. When the bus returned to the stop we started on, we hopped back off and found a small lunch before climbing up the hill to the Marc Chagall Museum.

At this point, it had finally stopped raining which made the walk more enjoyable. The museum exhibit was focused on printing and the books he illustrated which included everything from the Bible to the Tempest to poetry. We also spent a lot of time admiring his glass which Stephanie had learned a lot about in her glass class. We both had fun spotting the animals and other designs he had hidden in the large glass panels of the creation story.

After the museum, we headed back down the hill to the train station and took a short ride to Monte Carlo, Monaco. The ride was gorgeous, on our right was the Mediterranean Sea and to our left was the mountain side and ginormous celebrity villas with stunning gardens. We also loved that it seems like almost all the flowers in the French Riviera are purple.

When we got off the train in Monaco, we were greeted by a red carpet leading down the hill toward the port. We followed it to an ice cream shop where we each got a cone of Oreo ice cream (what else?) before we set out to explore the city. We wandered past the fancy car stores, jewelry stores, casinos, and huge yachts. While it was clearly elaborate, it honestly felt underwhelming. We did enjoy our walk especially because it was no longer raining. The train back was less easy because it ended up being very crowded since it had become rush hour, but we made it on a train and made our way back to Nice.

We made it to our hotel and took a few minutes to reorient before heading out for a walk along the promenade to dinner. We loved our lunch from yesterday so much that we knew we had to go back. We ordered the smoked salmon again and then got a different style of mussels over pasta and finished with a pavlova. Everything was amazing…again. It was definitely the right choice to go back and we loved every bite. It was the perfect last evening in Nice and if anyone visits the French Riviera, we highly recommend that you go to Le Rocher – Chez Mina (even if it means traveling into Nice).

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Yes, Nice is nice!

5 Comments / Nice / Isabel & Stephanie / June 2, 2022

WE LOVE NICE! Yesterday, we took a 6 hour train through the French countryside from Paris to Nice. When we finally arrived, we stopped by the tourism office to pick up our French Riviera passes before walking down the promenade to our hotel. The hot sun beat down on us as we lugged our bags along the walkway between the beach and the buildings, but we knew that we were going to love being in Nice.

After checking into the hotel, we did some laundry before heading back to the beach. We wandered around looking at different restaurants before finding a good spot to sit by the water. We enjoyed our view for awhile before choosing a restaurant for dinner. We really wanted to eat on the beach, so we did. Isabel ordered salmon tartar and Stephanie ordered Pad Thai, both of which we really enjoyed. While we were eating, we spoke to a couple who were seated at the next table over and learned that the man owns the company that provides all the milk to the University of Delaware and his coworker’s son started the creamery! Sometimes it really is a small world. They were very nice and were very excited to hear about our trip and share some suggestions. After dinner, we walked along the beach some more and looked at the rocks before heading back to the hotel for the night.

This morning, our first destination (after breakfast) was a boat trip around the point to see Ville-Franche and some of the promenade from the water. We learned that Ville-France has some of the most expensive land in the world and houses a number of celebrities including Bono, Tina Turner, the king of Egypt, and more. The views were amazing and the fun facts about the owners of the homes was very interesting.

After the boat ride, we found a small local restaurant that boasted famous mussels, so of course we had to try. We ordered a smoked salmon appetizer and mussels that were cooked with lemon and parsley. The salmon was probably the best quality salmon either of us have ever had, it was so fresh and we loved every bite. Then, the mussels came and they were just as fresh and just as delicious. It made us wish we could stay in Nice and eat seafood forever.

After lunch, we headed to a snorkeling trip where we got our gear and hopped on a small dingy which took us over to a bay to swim and snorkel. Unfortunately, we had to leave our phones in a locker so there are no pictures of us in our wetsuits, but we had a great time and saw a lot of fish.

After snorkeling, we decided we wanted to go back to the hotel to rest for a minute and hang up the wet bathing suits, so we headed to the tram and made our way back. After dropping out stuff, we headed back out to find a wine store that was offering tastings with our passes. We tried some Prosecco which was amazing, and then bought a bottle of rosé to go with dinner. Dinner was the next task and we ended up settling for a pizza place near the water that let us do carry out so we could eat on the beach. It was a great end to a very fun (and tiring) day, and we were both just for our showers by the time we made it back to the hotel. There is so much to do and see here, we just hope we can squeeze a lot in tomorrow!

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À bientôt, PaRis

5 Comments / Paris / Isabel & Stephanie / May 31, 2022

Cities

Miles walked

Crêpes (each) and counting

Our last day in Paris started with a must see: Musée d’Orsay. We spent all morning wandering through rooms of paintings and sculptures, but definitely seemed to have more shared interest in the sculptures. Not only was the art amazing and impressive, the architecture and detailing of the building is beautiful. It was a great morning and totally different from most of what we’ve been doing.

After the museum, we decided that we really wanted to go on a boat, so we bought a 1 day pass for the BatoBus, a hop on hop off boat along the Seine. We took almost an entire loop before hopping off at the Invalides stop to go find our favorite crêpe stand (again). After lunch, we laid down on the green to take in the gorgeous weather and just enjoy some of our final moments in Paris. Of course, we also had to grab some sweet crêpes before we got too far away!

Then, we headed back to the boat to go see Notre Dame. While the repairs are going well, and the back looks like it is back to normal, the front and sides are still covered in scaffolding. Of course, as we knew, this means that it is not open to visitors so we settled for a nice spot that overlooked the Seine and Notre Dame.

When we were ready, we walked to the front of the small island to see the park and then back along the other side before taking a bridge over to the mainland. We kept walking along the water until we got to the Louvre where there was another boat stop. This boat took us to the Eiffel Tower where we found a restaurant along the water to get wine, a cheese board, and a salad to share. This ended up being the perfect dinner, but there was one more thing we were set on finding before we left Paris. It took us a little longer than we expected, but we found a cute restaurant that served crème brûlée and quickly got a table and some wine. It was delicious and was the perfect way to end the night before catching a metro back to the hostel. Tomorrow we will be off to Nice!!

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Keep looking up

2 Comments / Paris / Isabel & Stephanie / May 28, 2022

Yesterday was our last morning in London, so, after packing up all of our bags, we left the hostel and wandered around some of the nearby neighborhoods. I finally found fish and chips at a pub called Munchkins whose back room/bathrooms were painted in the theme of Wizard of Oz. The food was delicious and the servers were very kind. After eating, we made our way back to Kings Cross so that we could see platform 9 3/4. Our last stop before the train station was a market where we got a smoothie and a cannoli from local vendors. It was a fun day end to our first city before boarding our 3 hour train to Paris.

Our first day in Paris has been the perfect start to our time in France! We are currently writing from the top of the Eiffel Tower where we are awaiting sunset! When we arrived last night, we were a little worried that our hostel was much farther from city center than we had realized, but the morning helped us see it in a better light. The hostel provided our breakfast before we set out to the metro station. We rode into the city and got off a little before Arc de Triomphe, so that we could take in more of the city before we were surrounded by tourists.

We sat across the street from the Arc de Triomphe and watched the cars before crossing under the road and getting in line for tickets. Eventually, we made it to the front of all of the lines and climbed the spiral staircase up one side of the arch. Once we reached the top, we were greeted with a gorgeous view overlooking the city and the Eiffel Tower. Eventually, we decided it was time to head down, so we climbed down the spiral staircase in the other side of the arch. Again, we crossed back through the tunnel, but, this time, we went the opposite direction to see Champs-Élysées.

After wandering past (and through) shops that we aren’t close to being able to afford, we made our way toward the Seine and crossed a bridge to enjoy lunch in l’Esplanade des Invalides with some friends. To our luck, there was a crêpe stand right where we were meeting, so we enjoyed our first street crêpes of the trip! They were delicious (of course) and it was the perfect first lunch in Paris.

After finishing lunch, we made our way back across the Seine to le Jardin des Tuileries and the pyramids outside of the Louvre. The weather was still gorgeous, so we took a short break and sat by a fountain to enjoyed our view until we decided it was time to head over toward the Eiffel Tower.

After walking part of the way, we realized that the train was the fastest way to get there, so we headed into a train station in hopes that we would get to go up earlier. The walk from the train to the tower gave us some different, fun views of the tower that we hadn’t seen yet and we took our time taking in the scenery.

We got to the base of the tower and through the first round of security about half an hour before our time slot. And, of course, they told us we had to wait. That was no bother, we were the third group in line in our time slot which meant we would be on the first possible elevator. After what felt like forever (but in reality was closer to 30min), they let us in and we made it past the second security checkpoint and onto the elevator. The elevator went directly to the second level where we took in the view and found some snacks.

The next step was, obviously, the third floor so we got in yet another line. A little while later, we finally reached the top and, with it, a gorgeous view of the entire city!! It was definitely worth the wait and we are both in love with the view.

Then came the real wait. From the first time we talked about what we wanted to do in Paris, we agreed that we wanted to be at the top of the Eiffel Tower at sunset, and we were! Three and a half hours after we reached the top, we witnessed a gorgeous sunset over Paris from the top of the Eiffel Tower. Once it set, we rushed to the bottom (even took the stairs from the last floor) to watch it light up for the first time of the night. At that point we were starving, so we got crepes from the first vendor we saw and then rushed to catch a bus back to the hostel.

Bonsoir, Paris!!

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A steP into London’s past

4 Comments / London / Isabel & Stephanie / May 25, 2022

We started off today with coffee and pastries before heading down toward the river. Our goal was to enjoy as much as we could from the list of included attractions on the London pass. The first stop was Westminster Abbey where our tickets included an audioguide to learn more about the history of the church. I found it very ironic that they hold the coronations in the same building as so many grave sites.
Next we hopped on an uber boat which took us down the Thames to the tower of London. As luck would have it, we happened to arrive right as a tour was starting (and the guide was hilarious). He told us all about the castle’s history, the prisoners it housed, and his experience living there. When the tour ended we wander around some more, saw the ravens, saw the crown of jewels, and climbed the tower for a beautiful view of our next stop, Tower Bridge.
After climbing 206 steps, we reached the top of Tower Bridge and were eager to see the view! We were very excited that this view also came with a glass floor to see the bridge and water below. Shortly after we arrived, we were surprised to find out that we were about to experience the drawbridge opening for a ship. We learned that boats passing through the river do not have to pay to open the bridge, they are simply required to provide 24 hour notice for when they will arrive. We sat at the edge of the glass floor and watched the bridge open for the boat and close behind it.
At this point, it was already 3:30 and we hadn’t had lunch. We headed out and immediately noticed a restaurant that we had heard good things about. It was an Italian restaurant that serves handmade pasta. All I can say is that it was delicious and I wish it existed in the US.
Our next stop was to the London Bridge Experience which we had read was an interactive experience. That was an understatement. It was advertised as a history show with some scares, but it was actually a haunted house with a bit of history. It was definitely not for the faint of heart and they even had to warn people with epilepsy, severe asthma, and pregnancies against participating in the second part. It was definitely very well done and we had fun, but we probably would’ve had more fun if we were expecting the fact that it was a haunted house.
After the “show” we hopped back on an uber boat to take a rest and got off on a hunt for dinner. We ended up at an authentic Japanese restaurant where we sampled a variety of sushi rolls and appetizers from an all you can eat menu. It was delicious! With full bellies, we made our way back to the hostel to enjoy a hot shower before getting ready for bed

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Off to a great start!

5 Comments / London / Isabel & Stephanie / May 24, 2022

We made it to London!! After an hour long delay to our flight, we finally boarded and then departed on our journey. Upon arrival, following a sleepless flight, we dropped our bags at our hostel and set off to explore. First things first, we had to find coffee and ended up at a cute cafe around the corner from the hostel. We dodged rain storms but were also able to enjoy a walk through Green park, meet the lions in Trafalgar Square, explore the national gallery, and wander around Piccadilly Circus. We stopped for sandwiches at a deli before heading back to the hostel to check in and retrieve our bags. This evening, we will be going on the London Eye and exploring more of London before getting an early night sleep.

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