Euro Trip: Thoughts, Insights, and What to See

Two weeks and I'm finally done editing over 700 photos...Photoshop can sometimes be a dangerous thing.  You can literally spend all day changing contrast, lighting, cropping stuff out, burning, dodging, highlighting, or mid tones.   It is so hard to know when you are finished with one picture and should move on. Thankfully, I'm not quite that crazy, and I have gotten out and seen the world over the last two weeks.  Our trip consisted of stops in Rome, Vatican, San Gimignano, Florence, Cinque Terra, Pisa, Nice, Monaco, Aux en Provence, Avignon, Barcelona, Zaragoza, and Madrid.  Everyone keeps asking me what I liked best.  That is such a tough question...there is so much that factors into that determination like food, scenery, history, activities done, cultural experiences, relaxation, and so much more.  Each place had different things that I liked.  Let's start with Rome: crazy hustle bustle town, but wow so much history to be seen. It absolutely blew me away.  The Vatican: quite a site- very ornate, beautiful paintings, statues and of course very neat to see Michelangelo's painting in the Sistine Chapel.  San Gimignano: cool architecture, we found a wine shop that was also a little eatery and had some great Tuscany fare, and lots of towers to climb to see breathtaking views of Italy. Florence: home of the Accademia which is an art museum that houses the statue of David (very intense), Jewish synagogue in a Sephardic style, Ponte Vecchio, beautiful churches including The Duomo, and good night life.  Cinque Terra: 5 towns accessible by ferry or train; Very beautiful area to shop, get gelato by the water, or just take a hike. Pisa: basically is the leaning tower, pretty churches, cool city walls and that's about it.  Nice (Cote d'Azur): most relaxing part of the trip with beaches galore; also there are good look out spots, areas to run, parks, and a nice town to take a stroll. Monaco: a place to feel like a million bucks.  It is very beautiful, scenic, and you'll likely see a Lamborghini or Ferrari.  The casino was cool to check out.  We lost some money but had fun trying to gain some.  We got lucky and saw the track being set up for the Grand Prix. The buildings are lit beautifully at night so if you have a tripod, I'd say bring it. Aux en Provence was a little stop over, nice town.  Avignon: nice parks and little shops including a cheese one so we got some groceries and had a picnic Mediterranean style (goat cheese, figs, grapes, bread, veggies, and chocolate).  Of course I couldn't leave France without eating a crepe.  Barcelona: so so cool, tapas were amazing as well as the sangria.  We watched a Flamenco show over dinner.  Loved Las Ramblas, the main drag and all the little side streets and massive food markets.  The food market was a rich cultural experience and very tasty (try the fresh juices for 1.5 euros for sure).  The Picasso museum was worth the thirty minute wait in line (lots of his early works not usually seen). Also saw Sagrada Familia, Olympic stadium (occupied in prep for X games so we couldn't go in), and walked near the port.  Madrid: unfortunately weather was cold and rainy. We only got to see the Prince's Palace, Valley of the Fallen (church below a mountain), and walked in a park.  That pretty much sums all we saw in two weeks.  Amazing time, beautiful, tiring, definitely worth it!!!  Next post will be pictures..stay tuned.