Paris - the city of lights

 

Paris truly is a magical place! It's called the "City of Lights" for a reason! Everything seems to sparkle.
My friend, Laura, and I took a quick trip over the May Day weekend to visit Paris. It all started with a common love of music and dance, and a spontaneous query in January about seeing a ballet in the Opera House in Paris. Of course I said yes! So we planned away and the trip was quickly upon us!
We planned for a nice, sunny, spring day - high in the sixties - wearing flowery dresses and skirts, and light sweaters. That is what the weather had predicted.
We were not prepared for rain - lots of rain - and very chilly weather (like one day the high was 44 degrees...wow). So we did a lot of layering. We just thought we were done with scarves and hats.

Day One - Sightseeing in Paris

Notre Dame

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saint Chapelle and its gorgeous stained glass windows

 

 

 

The Paris Icon - the Eiffel Tower

 

 

 

Arc de Triomphe

 

Opera Garnier - yes, it is the "Phantom of the Opera" opera house! And yes, we might have been signing it under our breath when we got inside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day Two - Palace of Versailles

Early morning train ride - worth it since we got there when the gates opened and had the place to ourselves

 

 

 

 

Hall of Mirrors did not disappoint! It was stunning!

 

 

 

Grand Trianon

This was where we picnicked because it was mostly out of the rain

  

 

 

Clearly I love wisteria!

We spent a good portion of the day under our umbrellas

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day Three - Rainy (and very cold) sightseeing in Paris

The Lourve

 

 

 

We stumbled upon the apartments of Napoleon III - lavish is not a good enough word

 

 

We did our duty and lined up with the mobs to see the Mona Lisa

  

Notre Dame

I'm wearing every article of clothing I brought (minus the flowery breezy dresses) - and I was still freezing! But the boat tour was fabulous!

Worth freezing my fingers off

  

We treated ourselves to the best crepes and hot chocolates ever after that chilly ordeal - also worth it!

 

This trip was one for the books! It was magical and the memories will be treasure forever! Thanks, dear friend, for a humdinger of a weekend trip! 

Thanks for loving music, dance, magic, adventure, and food as much as I do!

Napoli and Pompeii - ITALY

Sometimes you travel places and your heart is saying, "Ah yes...I could live here...let's move here!"

Not so for me and Italy.

Shocking, I know. It was a delightful, beautiful, and memorable place - but not once did I have the urge to pack up and move there. I was delighted to be surrounded by friendly people, smiling faces, and a language that I semi-understood. Italy is so full of history and it was incredible to stand in places that have had history happen on them for over 2,000 years! Maybe it was just the exhaustion from traveling, maybe it was the expense, maybe it was the doubt of never being able to trust people who might take advantage of a tourist, or maybe it was the dirtiness - but I was thankful to be "just passing through".

Now that that's out of the way, let me tell you all about this wonderful trip!

We arrived in Napoli (why did it get changed to Naples? I don't know...so I'm going to call it what every one there calls it) on a very stormy Saturday night. We hauled our little suitcases through very unfamiliar metros and cobblestone road, and begin our trek to our little Airbnb.

Easter Sunday started with us getting rained on (a lot) and making our way to a "Hop On/Hop Off" bus headed to Pompeii. In Italy, a lot of historical locations are free the first Sunday of each month! Woohoo!! We were able to get in free and that was nice since we got poured on the majority of the time there.
It was an incredible experience to walk the roads of this ancient city! You could even still see the grooves in the stones from chariot wheels! INCREDIBLE!
Thankfully, the rain caused a lot of people to seek shelter while us braver tourists plodded up hill and down hill in the on-again/off-again rain. It was worth it! I'm amazed how a terrible catastrophe was able to preserve history for us to see today.

The layers of walls in this photo do not do it justice...

We had to take at least one picture together when the rain paused a moment.

We only saw about a quarter of what they have discovered of Pompeii. We had no idea it was so big. It was also interesting to discover that this was a very middle class city - no extreme wealth or pompous living. Just regular people with regular houses.

Outer wall

Chariot wheel grooves

Chariot wheel grooves! These large stones were all over the roads and were used as stepping stones to cross. Water (and sewage) ran through the streets, so everyone used these to cross.

Panorama of one of the amphitheaters in Pompeii.

Inside a bath

Ancient paint still on the walls of this bath. Red was the color of Pompeii, which you can see throughout the city and also in the museum, where a lot of things have been salvaged and are on display.

Remnants of one of the many temples

My faithful adventuring friend, Ashleigh! She put up with many stops for photos and lots of rain! And still smiled!

One of the main piazzas...in the rain

A temple (to Jupiter, I think). Sadly, these temples reminded me of the lostness of these people. Their destruction from Vesuvius (it would be directly behind this temple except for the clouds) slammed them into eternity - where they faced the wrath of a Holy God. Every good thing they had done in life paled in light of Yaweh, a God they had probably mocked.

 Since it was Easter Sunday, I was reminded that the disciples would have gone tearing down these type of roads upon the announcement of Jesus' resurrection! Can you imagine the excitement!? With everything else going on as normal around them. PRAISE GOD - HE IS RISEN INDEED!!!

This house was mostly still intact! Amazing!

Once we arrived back in Napoli, at the base of the Castel Nuovo (New Castle), the day proceeded to be beautifully sunny with dazzling blue skies!

This turned out to be one of my favorite pictures of the whole trip! Incredible detail in the archway entrance to the castle!

The gorgeous Royal Palace of Napoli, which is next to the "old" New Castle

Old history meets newer history

 We also were able to enter the National Archeological Museum for free. It was also right around the corner from our little Airbnb. There were numerous displays, including things from Pompeii. My favorite was the room with the gorgeous ceiling!

 Day one was a full one - 20,000 steps to start our trip!