Euro Trip: Top Ten List ~ Vida Bonita

I have been meaning to make this blog post for about a week now. That's how long we have been back. But jet lag... not something I've really experienced before and it can really put a damper on things! Now I have FINALLY returned to a normal schedule and ready to hit the ground running!

So this is my post about our trip. However, I can think of few topics less boring for a blog post than every tiny detail of some one's vacation. Remember the old top ten lists that we all know and love? Well here's the Euro Trip edition.

Speaking of which, Matt hasn't ever watched EuroTrip which really made all of my references a lot less fun. Some people.

Top 10 EuroTrip Experiences 2010:

1) Finally crossing a huge item off the baby bucket list. I swear one day I'll actually explain what this is, but I think it's sort of self explanatory. I have ALWAYS wanted to go to Italy. It just seemed so charming and just a whole other world. Especially Venice. Streets of water? Count me in!

So we made the plans (oh, and this is the 3rd time we have tried to plan this trip), made our payments, and set off for a MUCH needed vacation and time together after a crazy semester.

Did you know that Delta Airlines gave out free beer and wine on international flights?? Me either!

Did you know that Delta gave you a not so delicious meal on international flights?? Me either! But I was sort of impressed with the multiple courses even if they did taste terrible.

2) The ATM

When we got to Genoa we thought we should probably get some Euros. Especially to pay the cab fare. We found this bright big yellow ATM. We put in our card. Nothing. Where do you type in your pin? Swipe again. Nothing. Around that time I was getting offended because people were staring at us. First American, huh? Get some culture, why don't ya?? Then we look at the top. "Pay Parking Here"

We're off to a great start. Then we humbly went over to the wall where the ATM was. Key pad and all.

3) The Genoa, Italy Aquarium.

We spent a night in Genoa before departing on our cruise out of Savona to make sure that even if there were flight delays we would be alright getting on our cruise. We walked around and checked out the city (as you can see below it was a little chilly outside!). The morning before our cruise we wanted to make the most of it so we walked down by the port. Matt had never been to an aquarium and we had seen on several sites that it was "Something to See" in Genoa, designed by some famous architect so we decided to go for it.

I have been to a few aquariums, but this one really was impressive. They had huge eels, manatees (YES MANATEES!!), sharks, seals, dolphins, and PENGUINS! Every time we saw a display I thought, well that's it, it can't get any better, and then it did!!

It was like the penguins knew we were there and were showing off and swimming. It really was the perfect morning. Well... mostly, we had a rough time finding a cab and the man kept trying to test my Italian. As it turns out, you can't go to Italy hoping to lean on your Spanish skills. It's like going to Mexico hoping to lean on your English skills. No dice.

4) Pompeii

We had a port in Naples. Not a nice city. There are much cooler things to see in Italy. However, if you go to Naples then it's a quick drive over to Pompeii which is a really cool experience. Archaeologists dug all of this stuff up when the entire city was covered in ash from the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. There's so much history and just imagining all of the work put into this is really incredible.

This is me in an extremely over sized shirt which made me self conscious all day. I wore it though because I thought it made me look like an archaeologist which was appropriate for Pompeii. No one came up to me asking questions about the site which was a little disappointing. It may have been the little radio I was wearing around my neck so I could hear the tour guide.

5) Malta

Before our trip, I honestly didn't know anything about Malta. Up until a few weeks before we left, I didn't even know we were going to Malta. It turned out to be one of my favorite places. We got to the port and everything in the city was.... up. I wasn't sure how we were going to get there. We stumbled upon this huge elevator. You could pay 1 Euro and it would take you...up. This didn't even show the whole elevator. It was pretty tall.

We found a restaurant on a rooftop so we could check out the views. It also had free wifi, so we finally got to call our parents. We split a bottle of wine and ate delicious cuisine. Also, in Malta their national languages are Maltese and English. It was really nice to speak English with some one.

Matt loves olives, and all things pickled. Europe was a good spot for him. He essentially ate a collection of appetizers for lunch.

Their national beer was "Cisk" and they were walk-in-the-street-with-a-beer-friendly, so Matt approved.

We walked around and checked things out and even did a little shopping. The city was really clean and nice. Really great architecture every where.

They also appeared to have affinity for cats. This was a cat feeding station. Strange. We also didn't see any Maltese dogs which was a little disappointing.

6) Mellasani Lake

Matt had watched some special on Greece and learned about Mellasani lake. It was a "must see" for Greece. We signed up originally for the English trip, but there weren't enough people so they cancelled it. We found a local tour company and fortunately the tour guide did not speak anything but English. Yay for us! We signed up and killed a little time in Argostoli before we left. We found some beer and an ice cream and sat near the dock and hung out.

To get down to Mellasani lake you have to go down through a tunnel. Like my Grecian head band? I know I know, I can't help myself...

Look at how blue that water is! It was so clear no matter the depth (up to 40 ft) you could see the bottom.

It was a really neat experience to ride around in an under ground lake.

When we got back, we stopped for a snack. My friend Anna's family is from Greece and she has been several times. She told me that I had to try the octopus. So I went for it, several times! They sure do love olive oil down there too.

7) Taking a dip in the Adriatic Sea.

This wasn't necessarily a good experience but I am glad we did it. When we went on a excursion in Corfu, Greece and we got to spend some time on the beach. It was soooo cold. But I had to swim in it, right? So I got all the way in. I even put my head in, thinking it would feel better like it does in a pool. False. It was soo cold. It was like all the heat left my body. After a couple of strokes I got out of there.

8) This Guy.

I called him the French Robin Williams. Pretty decent comparison. It may look like a towel he is laying on. However, it is a decoration for the bed from his room. A very thin decoration. That looks very unpleasant. It also doubled as a rain coat when it was sprinkling on the way back. For some reason that just really tickled me.

What do you mean a decoration? See, it just decorates the end of your bed. Adds a little color if you will.

But it turns out it has multiple purposes that we Americans are not privy to.

After this excursion the man was every where. EVERY WHERE. He even walked in on Matt in the bathroom.

9). Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik is in Croatia and the entire city is surrounded by a fortress. Someone who was a true business man came up with a great idea. Take an existing structure that was built oh say 500 years ago, and charge people $14/person (90 Kuna) to walk around it. Genius. And we did it. It was really beautiful though.

Perhaps not one of the greatest pictures of us....

This was one of the many views from the fortress.

After walking around the entire city (literally, there was no getting off the ride. Once you started, you kept going around the city). We had a nice lunch which at what was sort of a remodeled alley. We had Octopus (again) and tried the local beer. Matt had olives (again). And we had cheese (for the hundredth time).

We wished we had more time there. The city had all cobblestone streets and everything was so uniform. It was also pretty clean.

10. And the one we have all been waiting for. The reason why we took this trip: Venice.

After our boat made it's final stop in Trieste, Italy, we got off to get our luggage. It turns out that Matt and I weren't actually authorized to get off of the boat, we just walked through like we owned the place. We kept getting funny looks, but I guess the language barrier kept people from stopping us. We took a bus ride to Venice and we got to see some more rural areas of Italy. Many vineyards. It looked like a little slice of heaven. From our stop we took a cab to the hotel. About 12 km. Which is like 7 miles. 47 Euros. Currently the value of a Euro to the US Dollar is 1.33. So 47 X 1.33= $62.51. Shocking.

We quickly realized that Venice was going to be expensive. At least it was our last stop!

We took a bus to the actual city part (we stayed close to the air port to save money....).

30 km. 1.3 Euros. $1.73. Now we're talking. It was a nice bus too!

We really needed to eat, so what else? Pizza!

Oh... and beer. You know us.

I know the Italians invented it, but Matt and I think the Americans perfected it...

We stumbled upon this really cool place where you could bring in your own containers and buy wine by the liter. Eco friendly + wine + great prices. Why is this the first time I have seen such a thing!?!? You could also get a glass for one Euro. We were looking for a deal after that cab experience.

It started to rain so we found ourselves a nice little cafe and split a half carafe of wine while Matt apparently stole some internet. It was all actually quite charming.

On a side note, did you know that if you download the Skype app, you can add a denomination of money (I chose $5) and you can make international calls home for super crazy cheap as long as you have a wifi connection? Learned that several years ago and it has saved us a ton of money and hassle. Just sharing the wealth.

This was how the marked the restrooms in several restaurants. I guess some things are universal...

And what is a trip to Venice without a gondola ride?? It was stupidly expensive, but something you just gotta do.

It really was a nice ride. Every now and then I would sing bits and pieces of "That's Amore"

Matt ripped his pants getting out. Haha, whoops.

We wrapped up the evening with some shopping. We had a nice dinner along the canal. Then we took a bus back to the hotel. We slept a few hours and then off to the air port. We had a lay over in Amsterdam. Super cool airport. If you get the option of laying over in Paris or Amsterdam, TAKE AMSTERDAM!! Paris... yuck.

All in all, it was a really nice trip. I really enjoyed just being far away from the internet, home, and all distractions. Time to just spend with my husband. Time to discover new things. Last semester was rough and I reallly needed to detox. Now back to the grind! I have some fun summer posts coming soon!