We’ll always have Paris… Part I

These will be the last two posts about the trip we took to Europe. Our last stop was the amazing and beautiful Paris, and since I have more information I will divide it in two posts. Hope you like them.

I have visited Paris before, but it was the Paris we got to see with our parents, the Paris that just seems “nice,” “beautiful,” “big,” and “worth visiting.” However, this time was different, being in the most romantic and cosmopolitan city in the world with the love of my life, made me see a different Paris. A Paris full of colors, culture, romanticism, joy, art, fashion, extravaganza, and amazing architecture and views even at night. I think this is one  of the few cities in the world that its “midnights” are worth experimenting and specially worth living once in a while. I loved this city, this is what we did and what I recommend visiting if you only have four days.

DAY #1:

– We stayed at the W Hotel near the Opera, which I completely recommend since its location is perfect, we were walking distance from almost everything or just two or three stops away on the subway. After checking in we went to have breakfast to a restaurant called Angelina, a truly Parisian gem. Angelina was founded in 1903 by the confectioner Antoine Rumperlmayer, its elegance, sophistication, and glamour make it a unique place to have breakfast, and lunch among the locals and tourists. Its trademarks to enjoy are: African hot chocolate composed of three different African cocoa, and the Mont Blanc, a light meringue with whipped cream and chestnut paste.

Vienna in two days…

During our trip to Europe, we took four days to visit Vienna and Prague, two of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen in my life. This post will be about Vienna, even though we were only there for two days we got to see almost everything or at least the most important and emblematic things of the city. As we did with the other cities, we took the Tour Bus for sightseeing and just stop and walk through the gardens, which were astounding.

Day 1:

The fist day we arrived to the hotel, which was just in front of the opera, and 5 minutes away of all the shopping and Vienna City Center. The hotel name is Le Meridien, I fully recommend it, the rooms are spacious and extremely comfortable. After checking in we went to the Vienna State Opera, sadly we couldn’t see the traditional opera because they close for the months of July and August and have different performances. We walked through the City Center, where the tourist shops and high end stores are held, all the way to St Stephen’s Cathedral. We continued walking all the way to Belvedere Castle and the Botanical Gardens, which were amazing and beautiful, there was a path with Tree Roses that made me remember Alice in Wonderland.

Mediterranean Cruise Part II … Istanbul

 

Now we are in Istanbul, a very different and uncommon place for me, however, here is where I saw the best sunrise of my life. It truly was a paint from God, when the ship was arriving to shore we could see the Blue Mosque, the buildings, and the amazing colors surrounding the city, orange, purpule, and yellow mixing each other to create the perfect canvas. After we were allowed to get out of the ship, we took a tour with a company called Tura Turizm. We visited the Topkapi Palace, home of the Sultans for 3 centuries; St. Sophia Museum, the most important Byzantine monument in Istambul; the Blue Mosque, a breathtaking and beautiful place, however, to get inside we had to take our shoes and women had to cover themselves below the knees, the head and the shoulders, if you want a truly local experience it is the place to visit and get to know more about the culture and religion of Istambul. We also visited the Spice Market, where we obviously found and great variety of spices, including Indian Zafron; and the Turkish Delight, specialty Turkish candies, which are like gummies filled with pistachio, rose, orange, or lemon and coated in confectioners sugar, they were delicious, soft, and with a nice surprise of the flavor on the inside. The last place we visited was the Grand Bazaar, an enormous warehouse where you can basically find everything, from scarfs, necklaces, earrings, not so expensive 14k gold, and a lot of handbags, shoes, belts, but all were imitations from high end designers.

Explore what you don’t know

 

I’ve already written a post about this on one Feeling Friday and I think it was like a year ago exactly, but I feel so inspired about the the trip I made that I want to pick up the subject again. I think that my only advice I can give you is to find a way to explore the world, to see the majestic things that are out there, to wander, to feel lost in a new place, to travel. I know sometimes there isn’t time, money, company, or even the feeling to do it, but I believe there is always a way. Traveling is a way to explore a new dimension of possibilities around the world, to get to know yourself, to fall in love for the first time or for the second time with the one you already love, to learn from whatever experience will you encounter during the journey, to regain confidence in yourself, to meet amazing people, and to find joy in the ordinary. And I think it is also a way to love your life ag ain, when we are far away from home is when we most value the things we have; being unable to reach something or someone we normally do, makes us aware that the ordinary is far from being that, that our routine can and is a good thing.
Travel as far as you can and as free as you can.