Back to Paris!

After two days in Lyon we headed back to Paris where we stayed in an extremely small studio apartment located literally 5 minutes away from the Sacre Coeur (at the bottom of the never ending set of stairs).  The kitchen and shower in in the same corner of the room so a person could literally take a shower and cook at the same time.  We spent five days in Paris visiting the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, shopping and eating way too many macarons.  Although we were extremely lucky to have our own kitchenette, we definitely consumed way too much baguette for our own good.  Unfortunately it rained for most of the week; luckily we decided to visit the Eiffel Tower the night we arrived - the one night it didn't rain! One thing I definitely like about France (as well as London) is the super connected metro system - definitely puts Toronto's TTC to shame!

-M

Lyon

Lyon....well uhm, what can I say about Lyon?  Don't go on the weekend is my one and only suggestion.  As lively and exciting the city was on Saturday, Sunday was the complete opposite which I guess is common in France.  Nevertheless, we were a tiny bit bored in the city which was a shame as we were quite excited to add Lyon to our itinerary.   We arrived on Saturday at 6am and arrived at our Airbnb accommodation located right in the heart of the city between some shops on the main shopping strip.  We spent the day seeing the main sites from the high lookout point by the Basilique Notre-Dame de Fourvière to visiting the Parc de la Tête d'Or (unfortunately arriving after the free zoo closed).  Sunday was literally dead; most people we saw on the streets went to church, ate baguette and then spent some family time in a park - great for families, super boring for traveling.  Either way, Lyon seems like a gorgeous place to live, maybe not the best place to visit on a Sunday.  

The traboules in Lyon were really cool to see.  I had heard about the secret passages before, but I couldn't figure out how to get in (although they're public during certain times, they're still within residential areas).  Finally I shadowed a couple tour groups which got me into the main ones and then I ended up pushing on a lot of doors...mission accomplished! ;)

-M

Barcelona

After a few days in Rome we headed out to Barcelona via Ryanair bright and early.  The flight was the cheapest optional, and I soon found out why.  The flight attendants spent the entire flight trying to sell us various things from food to maps (thank goodness I fell asleep; the crying baby close to me also deterred the sales people).  The Airbnb place we stayed was literally right in the center of the city which made it very convenient for walking.  We fell in love with Barcelona the minute we got there; the whole vibe was more laid back and extremely chill.  We had no language barrier (which I was nervous about) as practically everyone spoke English, and things were a tiny bit cheaper than the other parts of Europe we visited.  The shopping was great, we visited the Picasso museum as well as some of the famous Gaudi building and went to the food markets everyday.  Barcelona is definitely on my list of places to visiting again!

In love with Tapas!!!

We tried to visit all of Gaudi's buildings while we were there; some were under construction but the ones which weren't were amazing.  

The beach was gorgeous and the people making sand art were hilarious!

-M

Goodbye Topdeck, Hello Rome

We arrived in Rome in the evening with the tour and our amazing tour guide lead an awesome walking tour of the city which hit most of the main sites and monuments.  In the evening we checked into the campsite/resort where we stayed in bungalow tents which had two bunk beds and the showers were amazing! The next morning we took a tour of Vatican City which marked the end of our 10 days on the tour. While a large portions of the group stayed for the second half covering Germany, another group of people joined the tour at the halfway point as well.  My friend and I made our way to the Airbnb place we booked which was great (although we missed being bused everywhere) and we spent the next three days going back to a number of the sites we wanted to check out again and we of course ate lots of pizza pasta and gelato.

Spanish Steps

Vatican City  was pretty neat - they happen to be filming X Factor Italy that day (hence the chairs)

-M

Topdeck Southern Nomad: Florence

Florence is gorgeous! The art  and history surroundings city is insane and you can see it in every street corner. We drove from Nice to Florence stopping by the leaning tower of Pisa where we got some funny photos I probably shouldn't post on the internet in case I seek employment in the near future ;)  We lucked out and were upgraded at the campsite resort and got to stay in little cabins/sheds which had two beds and a shower/toilet inside.  Our first day in the Florence involved a walking tour where we saw most of the big monuments before going to explore the city on our own.   A group of us stopped for some lunch; ricotta cheese goodness and pizza!  My friend and I then visited one of the basilicas which housed the tombs of Da Vinci and Michelangelo.  Then we headed to the Duomo, a Dome attached to a church which has a narrow staircase going to the top with views of the city.  It was quite the climb and the view was fantastic!  In the evening my friend and I watched the sunset from the bridge in Florence and joined the rest of the Topdeck group at a Karaoke Bar!

-M

Topdeck Southern Nomad: Nice + Monaco

Nice is nice, really really nice.   It was perfect weather when we arrived in Nice and we quickly set up camp and grabbed a bite to eat.  The site was outside of the city but it was still close to the water front which was absolutely gorgeous.  We headed into town the next day for about 5 hours and raced around trying to see everything.  Nice was great for shopping, and people watching on the board walk was amazing as well.  We also had the time to check out the markets and climb to the top of an old castle which had amazing scenic views.  In the end, I feel like I definitely needed at least another day to fully absorb Nice but it was amazing nevertheless!

In the evening after everyone got dressed up we headed out to Monaco stopping along the way for a picnic dinner.  We went straight to the casino where some people headed to the Monte Carlo casino (which had a 10 euro cover) while the rest of us went to the Sun Casino downstairs.  I managed to win two cents in slots before we headed back to the campsite to packed for our trip to Florence the next day.

-M

Topdeck Southern Nomad: Switzerland

So the photos aren't showing up the way I would normally format them which is driving me nuts!  The perfectionist side of me is going crazy, but you'll have to bear with me until I can edit this all when I reach a computer.  Switzerland is gorgeous, hands down beautiful! We packed up camp in Paris and drove 10 hours to Lauterbrunnen stopping along the way for a picnic lunch.  The campsite was absolutely amazing, surrounded by the mountains and waterfalls.  We were told it would be really cold, so practically everyone upgraded to the dorm rooms, and I can't say I regret it at all. The facilities are very nice compared to a hostel and all in all its very comfortable (although it isn't as cold as they said.....but I still don't regret it).  My friend and I chose not to do the optional activities for the day (train ride up to the highest point in Europe or skydiving) so instead we decided to head to the waterfalls.  Long story short we couldn't find them and ended up hiking for four hours on a pretty cool trail.  We later went back with some other people and we made it to the falls twenty minutes before closing.  We all ran up to see the falls which were absolutely gorgeous and had an amazing twenty minutes before our trek back.  The others who went on the optional trip said their experience was amazing as well...so overall it was an awesome day.
 

-M