My Europe Trip! PIP OVERLOAD

[agnes]

I'm finally getting around to writing this!

Day 1: We left Sunday evening for Paris CDG direct from LAX (just shy of an 11 hour flight) and arrived Monday afternoon. What a flight! I watched 3 movies and slept maybe 3 hours.

We stopped at the Tourist Information booth and picked up 2 Paris Museum Passes, metro tickets, and tickets for the RER to get to the city.

My first ever time on public transportation:

Had no idea what we were doing. I bet the very helpful French peeps were thinking "stupeed Ahmereecans"

Once we got to our metro stop (Montparnasse-Bienvanue) we were soooo lost. I am directionally challenged, a large correspondence stop, with unfamiliar and weird diagonal streets, it took us prolly half an hour to get to our hotel which is really only like 10 minutes walking distance. lol

The Hotel Aviatic Saint Germain (not really Saint Germain, more Montparnasse) was charming and "cozy" at 161 sq ft. The front desk was super helpful and really nice.

The room:

Srsly though, I think this was the most comfortable hotel I've stayed at. And it was in the perfect location for us.

The view:

I hung out the window a little to take the picture. H was all, "DON'T DO THAT YOU'RE GOING TO DIE"

That night, We walked around Montparnasse Tower and had dinner. Nothing special.

Day 2: We walked maybe over 9 miles? Starting off, we wondered from the hotel to Napoleon's Tomb.


The door was open and we just followed the other people walking in...we were all promptly kicked out because it wasn't open yet. Whoops.

Then we wondered our way over to the Eiffel Tower. Here's my obligatory Eiffel picture:



And an Eiffel Selfie while walking up to the Trocadero




Then off to the Arc de Triomphe



H waited for me at the bottom while I walked up these stairs.


I love this guy



Then we strolled down Champs Elysees and made our way to the Palais Royal.




Then we walked through the Louvre (Louvre was closed that day) to the Siene, across the Pont des Arts





Walked along the river for a while and a grabbed something to eat to kill time while we waited for the boat to do a cruise.

(Notre Dame Cathedral)



(Alexader Bridge)
We took metro back to the hotel. 

Day 3: We took the metro to the Louvre. I got to see the Venus De Milo, the Mona Lisa, and the Sphinx all in one place. And the ceilings! That place is amazing.






We went to most of 3 wings. Until there were too many open/high stairs and open holes in the ground for H to handle. He got so upset with me for laughing at him going down some stairs that he told me "You won't be laughing when I throw a spider on you in your sleep!" But later on he rescued me from a spider in my hair. So he wasn't upset for too long after that. 

We walked over to the Notre Dame in the pouring rain, so I don't have any outside pictures.



Then we walked down to the Crypte Archeolgique underneath Notre Dame



Then wandered our way back to the hotel stopping at the Musee de Cluny


(My new bathtub)

and the Pantheon


They're watching you!

and through the Jardin du Luxembourg




Day4: Last minute trip to Versailles Palace. Getting RER tickets to get there was a cluster. When at Gare de Montparnasse, we followed signs to the ticket counter. The ticket counter told us to go downstairs. Downstairs told us to go downstairs again. Downstairs downstairs told us to go back upstairs. So we just go on the metro and hoped we wouldn't get fined for not having the right ticket.

We made it!


We got up to the first floor (or is that second?) and were herded like cattle to open stairs. Not fun for either of us. Crowd for me, heights for him. So we went to the garden and rented a golf cart for an hour and drove around. Now that was fun.

My favorite room in the Grand Trianon


On our way back we did get the right metro tickets. The correspondence we stopped at didn't go the right direction so we decided to go walk around Saint Germaine de pres and the Latin Quarter. After lunch and some relaxing back at the hotel we took the metro to Basilique de Sacre-Coeur not realizing the correspondence Barbes from the 4 to the 2 was glass elevators and glass stairs. So we walked from there in what may have been a large protest gathering. No idea what was going on because they had no signs. Just a huge crowd of people and lots of shouting in French. Adventure!

Took the side stairs up to Sacre-Coeur. Half way down



Half way up





Then walked walked around Montmarte and the Red Light District. Obligatory Moulin Rouge picture!



Day 5: We did laundry, walked through Montparnasse cemetery, and waited in line for 2.5 hours for the Catacombs. Worth it.



H went to go get some food while I kept our spot in line. He brought me back what I like to call Chicken Surprise. "I thought I recognized the word for chicken." It was chicken. And it was delicious.



In the Catacombs






Day 6: We left Paris for Stuttgart. Our Stuttgart hotel was right by the main train station in the downtown area. Great location, but it felt like we were staying in a shopping center. Motel-One Suttgart-Hauptbahnhof was pretty cool looking and the room was a little bigger than in Paris.


We walked up Konigstrasse (tons of people), around the Schlossplatz, did some light shopping. I needed some bandaids since I got a blister on my baby left baby toe and heel. I wanted to buy kid bandaids because they were small...and I like the characters. The Pharmacist lady was all, "No, you don't want those." shaking her head. I gave in and took the grown-up bandaids that didn't fit my baby toe LOL



Have you noticed a common theme, yet? Renovations. Lots of renovations.

Day 7: Mercedes-Benz Museum (Colby freaked out over the speed elevators. They were pretty gnarly), walked around more near the Markthalle and Konigstrasse, then took the metro to the beautiful Feuersee, then walked some of the Schlossgarten (basically just a giant green beltway with random water features that are mostly stagnant).






Did you know that almost everything, except some restaurants and museums, is closed on Sundays? Nope, neither did I. LOL

Day 8: I think I was just in a go-go-go mood with all the sights in Paris and Stuttgart was so much more laid back, I was actually a little disappointed with this leg of the trip until this day. We walked alllll the way through the Schlossgarten (I think 3 miles long?) to the Wilhelma Zoo and Botanical garden and back. It was pretty awesome.








Mr. Mustache Monkey


Justin Biber (Get it? Biber is beaver in German)



The Photobombing Giraffe


Day 9: Didn't do very much. Just killed time until our night train. The dude behind was rather gassy. We were the most tired after the train ride.

Day 10: Walked Wenceslas Square and here was our sweet digs for the rest of the week. ICON Hotel and Lounge thankfully let us check in early.



hallway to our room



Day 11: Astronomical Clock, Trdelnik (their version of a churro), Charles Bridge, Prague Castle, St Vitus' Cathedral, St George's Basilica, and some other beautiful stuff I don't remember the names.





I have no idea how many I ate of these...but I a bunch of them.













I will say that when the front desk at the hotel was going over the map telling us the Prague Castle was far and uphill with lots of stairs, we didn't realize we had gotten to the Castle when we did. That's all? The walk was nothing compared to what we did in Paris and Stuttgart. Everything was so close in Prague!

Day 12: Astronomical Tower and day trip to Kutna Hora.

Clock - The elevator was gnarly and the views were awesome.

H waited for me in Old Town Square.






Kutna Hora - an old silver mining town with the Church of Bones and St Barbara Cathedral.









Best birthday EVAR...until our your bus was pull over by Policie. Scared the crap out of me.

Day 12.5: Birthday dinner, "lemonade", salty food, Old Jewish synagogue?, pixelated naked lady, Powder Tower, fire dancer!


I don't know what was really in it.





I missed out on actually seeing the cemetery and synagogue because it was closed by the time we got to it. Should have planned that part better.

Pretty building next to the Old-New Synagogue.






Day 13: Just wondered through Prague before SPEEDWAY SPEEDWAY SPEEDWAY. My name is now Helleu.


Happiest I've ever seen him.



The stands were packed. The guy riding for USA got 2nd place. Everyone seemed to be rooting for everyone. It was quite an event.

We left on Day 14 at 4:30am. Too early for the metro so our hotel arranged transportation. It was a weird feeling to sit in a car after 2 weeks of pretty much walking everywhere. Can I just say I had no idea how much LAX would suck to be a layover. We had to go through customs (super quick) and then wait in line FOR-EVER to give them the slip stamped by customs and exit.

The trip was pretty spectacular and well WORTH EVERY PENNY. Although, I think I could have cut a couple days from Stuttgart and really 2 weeks away was a LONG time to be away from home and my Princess Larrie. First couple of days she was my talking shadow.

[underwaterrhymes]

Wow! These are great! It looks like you had an awesome time.

[janegold]

Looks like a fantastic trip! You guys made the most of your time! That Church of Bones looks so cool/creepy.

[agnes]

Oh @misoangry, polka, annyong, @kirkette, elle guess who I ran into while in Prague...

Our buddy Bruce Willis. I told him we'd have to buy him dinner sometime as a thank you!

[agnes]

Jun 10, 2014 10:39:21 GMT -5 janegold said:

Looks like a fantastic trip! You guys made the most of your time! That Church of Bones looks so cool/creepy.

It was one of the best things about my trip.  It was amazing.  

[liverandonions]

Great pictures! I loved Prague. Now I need to go to Paris!

[dana2006]

Looks like an awesome trip. You're really adorable!

[Bad Dingo]

What a great trip!!

[pantsparty]

What a cool trip! It looks like you guys really made the most out of being in each city. Did your H have fun too? I know he was initially not as enthused

[agnes]

Jun 10, 2014 11:11:05 GMT -5 pantsparty said:

What a cool trip! It looks like you guys really made the most out of being in each city. Did your H have fun too? I know he was initially not as enthused

yes, I'm pretty sure he had fun.  Or at least he acted like it!  

As you can see in the last picture, he was beaming when we got to Speedway.  He actually thanked me for letting him go.  Going to a Speedway Grand Prix was like a childhood dream come true for him. 

He did have to face his fear of heights often.  Hopefully he'll have the courage to do it again for a trip to the UK and maybe make the deal sweeter by going to the Cardiff Speedway GP which is like the Mecca of GP's. 

[pantsparty]

Jun 10, 2014 11:24:32 GMT -5 agnes said:

Jun 10, 2014 11:11:05 GMT -5 pantsparty said:

What a cool trip! It looks like you guys really made the most out of being in each city. Did your H have fun too? I know he was initially not as enthused

yes, I'm pretty sure he had fun.  Or at least he acted like it!  

As you can see in the last picture, he was beaming when we got to Speedway.  He actually thanked me for letting him go.  Going to a Speedway Grand Prix was like a childhood dream come true for him. 

He did have to face his fear of heights often.  Hopefully he'll have the courage to do it again for a trip to the UK and maybe make the deal sweeter by going to the Cardiff Speedway GP which is like the Mecca of GP's. 

That's great! I don't think there are as many tall buildings in the UK. LOL. 

[agnes]

Jun 10, 2014 11:26:37 GMT -5 jamie.1022 said:

Awesome pictures!  I just heard this morning that part of that bridge collapsed on Sunday.  


link

Can't show H this!  LOL  He was already afraid of it because it had wooden slats.  He had to talk himself into it. "Okay, it's safe.  People are walking on it.  I can walk on it too.  I'll walk in the middle."




And he powered through it to the other side.  You can see him walking briskly in the middle. 

[missyny]

These pictures are awesome! What a wonderful trip!!

[agnes]

Jun 10, 2014 11:26:50 GMT -5 pantsparty said:

Jun 10, 2014 11:24:32 GMT -5 agnes said:

yes, I'm pretty sure he had fun.  Or at least he acted like it!  

As you can see in the last picture, he was beaming when we got to Speedway.  He actually thanked me for letting him go.  Going to a Speedway Grand Prix was like a childhood dream come true for him. 

He did have to face his fear of heights often.  Hopefully he'll have the courage to do it again for a trip to the UK and maybe make the deal sweeter by going to the Cardiff Speedway GP which is like the Mecca of GP's. 

That's great! I don't think there are as many tall buildings in the UK. LOL. 

It's not necessarily the tall buildings.  It's more of the glass enclosures like on the tarmac from the plane to the building at the airport, the spiral staircases that look endless, the open slat stairs, glass enclosed elevators...

[pantsparty]

Jun 10, 2014 11:34:48 GMT -5 agnes said:

Jun 10, 2014 11:26:50 GMT -5 pantsparty said:

That's great! I don't think there are as many tall buildings in the UK. LOL. 

It's not necessarily the tall buildings.  It's more of the glass enclosures like on the tarmac from the plane to the building at the airport, the spiral staircases that look endless, the open slat stairs, glass enclosed elevators...

Oh yeah, that stinks. Hopefully he feels a little braver now! 

[8675309]

Wow, this is a trip of a lifetime! I've always wanted to do something like this. My favorite is the photo bombing giraffe pic. I don't know if you mentioned it but how long were gone? That's a HUGE undertaking!

[agnes]

Jun 10, 2014 11:40:48 GMT -5 8675309 said:

Wow, this is a trip of a lifetime! I've always wanted to do something like this. My favorite is the photo bombing giraffe pic. I don't know if you mentioned it but how long were gone? That's a HUGE undertaking!

We left on Sunday, May 18th and came back on Sunday, June 1st.  I wanted to do everything I could because I don't know when the next time I can travel like this will be.  I have NEVER taken 2 weeks off of work before.  I had to make it worth it!  I made a little goal to take a big trip by the time I turned 30.  I turned 30 on my trip. 

We started slowly saving a couple years ago but didn't start aggressively saving until about a year ago.  Here is my budget post on MM: pandce.proboards.com/thread/332798/europe-cost

[LLL]

Looks like a great time! I want to do the catacombs tour next time I'm in Rome or Paris

[glassofsyrah]

This is a fabulous trip report. I love all of your pics!!

[KKD]

What a great trip, and a fantastic way to spend your 30th! I've not been to Prague (and only drove past Stuttgart when we were in Germany), but Paris is my favorite! I love seeing all your pics.

[amberlyrose]

What a great trip! I need to post my recap soon, but I'm lazy. We left within a day of each other DH really wants to do Germany and northern England next time we're in Europe.

[agnes]

I would love to see your recap amberlyrose! I loved your pictures on FB.

[miss.colorado]

Awesome!! Thanks for sharing! Looks like a fantastic trip