Forman Family News: Ian - Europe 2014 (picture heavy)

Sept 9th & 10th - SLC - Paris - Switzerland

We left SLC at 5:00 on the 9th and landed in Paris on the 10th at around 11:00 am. We then boarded a train and headed straight to Bern, Switzerland for the night. A long train ride (6.5 hour or so). Luckily our train passes let us use the first class seats, which are great and come with a waiter so you don't have to walk the 200 feet to the restaurant car.
We made it through a few train changes and arrived in the Bern station. We pulled up the hotel on Google maps and had our first experience with how terrible it works in Europe. After wandering in circles we finally made it to our hotel. Google Maps really sucks in Europe.

Random photo from around Strasbourg

Weird chair in the hotel in Bern. It was highly uncomfortable

Strasbourg Station

View from the hotel in Bern

Sept 11th - Bern, Switzerland to Florence, Italy

Went to the temple first thing. Ran into a family from Idaho who were on our flight from SLC. The dad was Swiss and we talked in German for a long time before we both realised we spoke English. We then headed back to Bern and grabbed a train to Florence, Italy, which is a very dirty city.

View from the balcony of the hotel in Florence

Basilica of Santa Maria Novella


Basilica of Santa Maria Novella

Swiss Countryside

Italian Countryside (near Switzerland)

September 12th - Sienna, Italy

Headed to Sienna from Florence for a day trip. I ended up buying a flat cap from a shop that makes the hats in the back room.

September 13th - 15th - Florence to the Cinque Terre

We didn't have reservations for the Uffizi or the Accademia so we asked around and were told to queue up at least an hour early. That was WAY too early (20 minutes before would have sufficed) but we were one of the first into the building to see the David. It was worth the 8€. We then boarded a train to the Cinque Terre. We stayed in an awesome little home in Corniglia, right above the sea. It's the least touristy of all the towns so it was a great place to stay. We were right across the street from a bunch of little family owned vineyards and since it was harvest season we got to watch the families work on harvesting.

Corniglia Vineyards

Corniglia

Riomaggiore looking north at the 4 other cities

Our apartment in Corniglia

David

The sea at Riomaggiore or Monterosso

Corniglia

Riomaggiore (?)

Corniglia

Riomaggiore


Riomaggiore

September 15-17th, Cinque Terre to Venice

No reservations on the trains out of the Cinque Terre so we ended up standing in the front of a carriage for an hour or so. Finally made it to Venice and it's a fairly lovely, if not stinky, city.
We ended up wandering for a long time until we found our apt, another AirBnB, which ended up tainting my view of the city considerably. I definitely didn't love the city but I did get to meet up with my buddy Pete and his wife who were on their way from SLC back to Australia.

September 17-18th - Salzburg, Austria

Took a train to Salzburg, which was one of the best cities I've been to. After another debacle with Google Maps, we found our apts. I was on the 11th floor and had a fantastic view of the city.
The next morning we took the Sound of Music Hop On/Hop Off tour.

September 17th - 18th

Took the train to Hallstatt, where I've stayed before. We didn't have reservations so we just arrived and winged it. Walked into the place I stayed before and they had two rooms available, which worked out well. Walked around Hallstatt that night and met some new friends from Turkey and stayed up most of the night talking with them.

I bought another hat


They used to dig up bones after 10-15 years in the ground because space was so limited in Hallstatt.

September 19th-21st - Hallstatt, Austria to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany

Rothenburg is a super touristy city, but is still a lot of fun. It's one of the last, if not the very last, medieval walled city left in Germany. We stayed in the same place I stayed in last time, which is a little pension above a supermarket. Rothenburg also is the "Christmas City" has a lot of Christmas shops during the year and a huge Christmas Market each December.

September 21st - 23rd - Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany to Brugge, Belgium

Woke up super early and went to Brugge (or Bruges). Stayed at a hotel right next to the Belfry which has good and bad due to the bells going every 15 minutes.
Did some shopping for lace and chocolate. Saw the Basilica of the Holy Blood and the Church of Our Lady that contains a Michelangelo statue

This is a real lace map of the city of Brugge

No thanks, creepy sign.

September 23rd - 25th - Brugge, Belgium to Arromanches-les-Bains, France

Took a train to Dunkerque, picked up a car and drove to Arromanches-les-Bains which is on Gold Beach (where the UK soldiers landed). Stayed in a beautiful old château. Then woke up the next morning and went to Omaha Beach and the American Cemetery.

Omaha Beach

Our sexy beast of a rental car.

Omaha Beach

Gold Beach

September 25-26th, Arromanches-les-Bains to Mont Saint-Michel, France

We headed to Mont-Saint-Michel the morning of the 25th. We didn't have any reservations but found a fantastic farm house/hotel with an unobstructed view of Mont Saint-Michel. We then went out to the island, which was kinda boring but was beautiful.

View from the parking lot

View from my hotel window. Only €40 a night. Better than the hotels in the city and less than half the cost.

September 26th - 29th, Mont Saint-Michel to Paris, France

Drove to Caen and dropped off our car. Then took a train into Paris. 2 minutes into the metro ride in Paris I had the lovely experience of a gypsy girl trying to steal from my bag. Paris is the stinkiest, dirtiest city I've ever been too. If you go, stay around the tourist sites in the city and not in the Montmarte where we stayed. This is somewhere that Google Maps failed us and we had to call the AirBnB host to come find us.
Also don't pay to go to the L'Orangerie museum unless you REALLY want to see Monet's Water Lillies. The Orsay is worth the €8. I skipped the Louvre because I didn't care to see anything there and it's too big to cover in a couple hours.