travel

Eurotrip 2023: Day 15 – And just like that, bye Paris and bye Europe!

bryologue Leave a Comment

All good things come to an end, and our trip to Europe finally drew to a close. It felt strange that those days just went by, and we were about to fly home.

We were not sure when exactly we’d be back, but Mon and I are certain we’d visit again some time next year. We just had sole unfinished business in Rome and Paris. But that would have to be planned thoroughly.

We also already missed the 3 kitties at that point (just watching them play, eat and sleep from the CCTV).

Last look at our AirBnB in Paris

Continue Reading →

Eurotrip 2023: Day 14 – Last night in Paris, Jardin du Palais Royal and Seine River Cruise

bryologue Leave a Comment

It was our last full day in Paris (and Europe!), and we have spent the entire morning packing our bags.

We brought one of those electric air compression devices, which helped a lot with the packing of our bags with the several souvenirs we bought since Rome.

On the other hand, we had our last surprise of the entire stay. We had some issues (again) with the AirBnB, that almost messed up with our last day. It took a while for us to move forward, and we eventually decided to move on and figure things out later.

We still had some exploring left to do in Paris.

At La Madeleine

Continue Reading →

Eurotrip 2023: Day 13 – Le musée du Louvre et l’Arc de triomphe

bryologue Leave a Comment

While we had been around Louvre twice already in our last few days in Paris, we had our tickets only towards the end of our stay. It was exciting to finally see in person some of the most famous artworks in the world.Papa, on the other hand, was more than happy to stay back at the AirBnB. We had to remind him not to cook at all, rather just use the microwave to warm the food we got him from Le Merci the night before.

He’d watch Netflix the whole time, anyway.

Our timed entry for the Louvre is at exactly 10:00 am, and we got there at around 9:51 am. We just hoped we’d have enough time to queue. The line, however, was long as soon as we got out of the walkway.

Sun shining at Mama at underneath the Louvre Pyramid

Continue Reading →

Eurotrip 2023: Day 12 – Versailles and Songs at Seine

bryologue Leave a Comment

Day 12 in Europe and our 4th full day in France. We have booked our tickets for Versailles was back in March, with Ikle advising it’d be best to arrive there as early as we can.

I still got the 10:00 am tickets. There’s no way we’d be there at 9:00 am considering the travel from Paris. In fact, for the Versailles day, even left at 8:20 am in Paris.

As most days we were with Ikle, I did not even bother opening the map and navigating. She’d be the boss on our travel to Versailles.

Waiting for the train to Versailles

Continue Reading →

Eurotrip 2023: Day 11 – Sacré-Cœur and the Jardin du Luxembourg

bryologue Leave a Comment

The sight of a ‘no rain’ forecast on my weather app was a welcome news!

The previous day had been very wet, but Paris still delivered. For our 11th day, we’d be visiting Sacré-Cœur at Montmartre.

Compared to Rome where I already lost count the number of churches we have visited, Sacré-Cœur was our first in Paris.

First glimpse of Sacré-Cœur after a long walk

Continue Reading →

Eurotrip 2023: Day 10 – Rainy Day Concorde, and Bir-Hakeim

bryologue Leave a Comment

On our second full day in Paris, the weather started acting up. I’ve checked the forecast of the day and it said 90% of rain.

I’ve looked out the window and saw that the sky was cloudy. It may not look like it from the photo below but it was surely going to rain that day.

I looked at the itinerary we planned and we had done some of those listed the day before. It really was a suggestion.

It didn’t look like it, but it felt like it was about to rain

Continue Reading →

Eurotrip 2023: Day 9 – La Tour Eiffel and a bit of shopping

bryologue Leave a Comment

The following morning, we woke up quite late. It was safe to say I no longer had any jet lag.

It was our first full day in Paris after a wonderful preview the night before. We were all looking forward to getting up close to the Eiffel Tower from the Place du Trocadéro.

I even used my Trocadéro just for that. LOL

    Our first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower up close; and tourists at Place du Trocadéro

Continue Reading →

Eurotrip 2023: Day 8 – Arrivederci Roma, Bonjour Paris!

bryologue Leave a Comment

Day 8, and it was our travel day from Rome to Paris!

We woke up at around 6:45 am, ate our breakfast, and packed the last few things we needed to pack before we zipped closed all of our bags.

I already pre-booked a 6-seater FreeNow car from our AirBnB to Fiumicino Airport, and it was due to arrive at exactly 10:00 am. We were not to check-out until 11:00 am, but we thought it would be better to have considerable lead time.

It was raining a bit, and I was hoping it would stop raining by the time we go down the AirBnB.

Unfortunately, it did not.

We’d miss this cork board

Continue Reading →

Eurotrip 2023: Day 7 – Trastevere, Castel Sant’Angelo and Walk

bryologue Leave a Comment

Day 7 and it was our last full day in Rome. By this day, we had nothing major planned, except to go around the Eternal City one last time.

But for the last full day, we did not leave until around lunch time as we expected to be out until late in the evening, We also had to pack our bags and not rush the following morning.

Our flight to Paris won’t be until mid-afternoon, but we’d be checking out early of the AirBnB for Fiumicino much earlier.

Thankfully, the weather forecast had no rain indicated whatsoever, making it easier for us to move around.

Walking the streets of Esquilino on our last full day in Rome

Continue Reading →

Eurotrip 2023: Day 6 – Day Trip in Firenze

bryologue Leave a Comment

While we spent most of our time in Rome, we decided to dedicate just one day trip for Florence.

Nothing against those spend one day trying to cover as many cities in a week in one country let alone across Europe, but I am personally not a fan of doing it. Heck we already spent 4 full days in Rome and still missed out on a lot of things.

Also, that would be impossible to do with my parents, and the many bags we’d have to carry around.

Thus, in our minds, Florence was the most feasible day trip from Rome given it won’t take us more than 2 hours to reach this Tuscan city.

Mama checking the sights outside the train

Halfway from Roma to Firenze

Continue Reading →