Last year, Hubby and I took a 17 day trip to Europe. After an inauspicious beginning, our time at the Vatican, and then in Italy, in Sorrento with day trips to the Isle of Capri, the Amalfi Coast and several days in Florence and then on to Paris and Normandy was all very nice.

Hubby and I were talking last week, and we realized we had made this trip a year ago! Now, first and foremost, I always want to use Ann’s Entitled Life as my online diary. That (rude) awakening that our trip was last year ago has pushed me to share some of the remaining stories and experiences of our time in Europe.

We actually went to Europe for a family function in Normandy. Since Hubby’s mother was in impetus for this trip and she has family in Paris as well as the French countryside and French Rivera, we knew we would be spending some time in the city of Paris.

Now, I will state up front that I don’t care for Paris. At all. And I never have. I just do not see the allure. Hubby loves the place, especially Montmartre. So, he rented us an apartment for our time in Paris in Montmartre, a block from the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur.

The Sacré-Cœur Basilica was designed by Paul Abadie. Construction began in 1875 and was finished in 1914. It was consecrated after the end of World War I in 1919. You can read more about this lovely church at its wiki page.

While our apartment was at the backside steps, we never went in. There is a reason for that:

Many, many years ago I took a trip to Paris. What I remembered and liked best was the Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris (aka as Notre Dame), and the Musée du Louvre (aka the Louvre). I told Hubby those were the two sites I wanted to see this trip, and anything else was up to him.

Well, Hubby likes walking around, shopping the local stalls, investigating the restaurants, etc. He’s not a big sightseer, so he was happy to let me have my way.

Now the weather when we were in Paris was terrible. After the gorgeous Italian weather we experienced, the rainy-damp-42-60-degree (more or less) weather in Paris was not especially welcome. While we did have two or three at least semi-decent weather days, for the most part our time was not conducive to long walks. We, of course, made do, and went out anyway, just not to as many things as most others would probably have gone to.

The trip to Notre Dame was on a fairly nice, but rather cool day. We got there and there were mobs of people, the line was quite long, but it moved quickly.

When I was at Notre Dame in the late ’70s, there were no line ropes, the floors were stone, no rugs covered any of the floors. There were no chairs or pews. If you followed mass, you stood or knelt on the stones. There were certainly no displays of the building and renovations of Note Dame, there were no “squeeze a coin, get a pressed image of Notre Dame” machines, there was no gift shop…. in the church, open while mass was taking place!!

Notre Dame had changed, and not for the better.

After speaking with hubby’s family, it turns out the same had happened to Sacré-Cœur. It was “renovated” as a tourist destination. So, we skipped the inside.

We did, however, take the little white train through Montmartre, up the back way to Sacré-Cœur and walked around the outdoor art festival (that Hubby said is always there). It was very quaint, but I didn’t see how we could get anything home, so we didn’t buy.

We also took a boat tour on the River Seine boat tour. We got very lucky. That was our nicest day in Paris. The photos were lovely too! I must have taken a hundred pictures of the various statues, buildings, monuments and boat traffic on the River Seine.

Our of our 9 days in France, we had to take out three days to travel to Normandy. These listed tourist stops were basically all the sightseeing we did this trip in France.

I must say that I found the people of Paris very friendly. I had a secret weapon though! It definitely helped that Hubby speaks and reads French, and because of that, the French quickly spoke English with us whenever they knew English!

Now on to the photos!

This first group are of Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris (aka as Notre Dame).

While standing in line to get in, we could admire all the artwork build into the building. When you consider Notre Dame began construction in 1163, this is a true marvel. Notre Dame wasn’t completed until 1345.

Due to the sheer mass of people, it was impossible for me to get an unobstructed photograph (I could have with filters and slower stops, but I ain’t that good… or dedicated … to the art of photography).

Statues abound. Of course the low lighting and “no flash” policy don’t allow for super awesome photographs.

Everything was cordoned off including the baptismal font. I don’t recall that when I was there last.

Next up was out trip on the little white train:

We picked-up the train across from the Moulin Rouge.

This is the side street entrance.

We went up and down the streets of Montmartre, getting off at the summit of the butte Montmartre. Those are the views of the city from the butte.

This is my “through the fence” photo of the Eiffel Tower from the far right side of the butte.

This is the front of Sacré-Cœur. I actually took this photo the day we got to our apartment as it is only two blocks from where we stayed.

And this is the “back” side. I am not actually 100% sure which is actually considered the front, and which entrance is considered the back.

This is the outdoor art sale where we got off the train at the top of the hill.

Next up, the boat tour on the River Seine:

Some of the boats offer lunch and dinner cruises and in-port dining.

“Real” barge and boat traffic transverses the Seine.

There are a lot of staircases that lead down to a walkway. Clearly it is a gathering spot.

I am sure there is a fascinating story here.

Backside of Notre Dame.

Neither one of us wanted to go to the Eiffel Tower this trip. Been there, done that. And I am pretty sure there was a strike going on at that time anyway. Still, I am glad I was able to see it from the water. That was new to me.

So that is it for the touristy stops in Paris for us this last trip. I have no idea when or if we will get back. There are so many other places I want to go (once Max is no longer with us), and back to Paris isn’t high on my list (although I am sure it is high on Hubby’s list).

If you are traveling to Europe (or anywhere really) for two weeks (or less), you might be interested in this post: Packing for Europe Using Only a Carry On Bag.

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The Amalfi Coast is a stretch of coastline on the southern coast of the Sorrentine Peninsula in southern Italy. Known for hosting the rich and famous, Amalfi is beautiful, fairly isolated, and crowded!

As part of our time in Italy, Hubby wanted to see the Amalfi coast. He had considered our staying in Amalfi, but we opted to stay in Sorrento instead. To visit the Amalfi coast down near (and in) Amalfi, we took an all day bus tour. We chose a small excursion as the larger buses are not allowed on part of the road on the coastline, and must detour up and around.

As part of our tour we stopped in Amalfi, as well as Ravello. The parking prices in Amalfi were insane. There was one place to park for buses and the charges were crazy! In the vicinity of 150€ for 2 hours parking if I recall correctly. The food prices were also quite high compared to all the other places we ate in Italy.

The town of Amalfi itself was extremely crowded. We were there only for a short time and chose to take a boat tour of the shoreline rather than investigate the town itself. I think we made a wise choice. The shoreline was beautiful, the houses we saw were fabulous, the gardens a testament to “where there is a will, there is a way”, and the rock formations were simply stunning.

In the town of Ravello, we did a little shopping, saw the ruins and old cathedral, and walked a million more stairs. The story of Italy is stairs, stairs, and more stairs. I truly have no idea how the elderly or infirm manage to get around.

We loaded onto the bus from Ravello on time, but the rest of our group was a bit late. The bus driver was not allowed to linger, so up the road we went to the medieval town of Scala. I’ll tell you, from the little bit we saw, that would be where I’d like to spend a day exploring!

This is what you call “a postcard.”

This was a little fishing village. Notice how remote? It is not easily visible from above. My photos are from the above left taken from a little cliff where we stopped to see the view. You notice how tiny that village looks in the bottom photo? That just shows you how vast the rocks formations and water really is.

The road is rather narrow. We had one encounter where all the vehicles on the road had to stop and back up to allow the municipal bus (the red one which is the only large bus allowed on many parts of the road, and always has the right of way) room to get down the road!

The boats were out in full force! Fishing is a large part of the local economy. We ate a LOT of fish while in Italy.

There were quite a few ruins about. From watch towers to old churches, the Amalfi coast was settled thousands of years ago, and so have a rich history. This is reflected in the ruins.

Housing on the cliffs.

Tiered gardens growing lemons, olives, other citrus and more. Notice the covers to protect the trees?

While not as blue as the waters of Capri, the waters off the Amalfi coast were nevertheless quite beautiful!

This was (and for all I know still is) Sophie Loren’s Villa. There were other houses pointed out to us as “belonging” to the rich and famous (I recall Roger Moore, but can’t remember the others).

This is how you access the villa via water! You better be in pretty good shape, even with the elevator access.

And how is this for a simply stunning view!?

I took these photos in Ravello. Hubby and I basically wandered around, I took some photos of stairs, we took a few hillshide photos, and left. While cooler and quieter than Amalfi, it was also extremely “touristy” for such an old place.

While very pretty with simply breathtaking views, I don’t think the Amalfi coast quite lived up to Hubby’s idea of the place. It seemed to be very expensive, although I am certain the locals know the cheap places to eat and purchase goods. While we are glad we went, it is unlikely we will ever return.

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Hubby and I took a trip to Europe this past May. We visited parts of Italy and France. We landed in Rome, toured the Vatican, and the following day took a local commuter train down to Sorrento, Italy.

Hubby has always wanted to see the Amalfi Coast (photos to come). When traveling to Amalfi, we could have made Rome, Naples or Sorrento our home base or the town of Amalfi itself. We had originally booked in Naples (because we could use our Starwoods points for a free hotel), but the more Hubby researched, the more he decided that Naples wasn’t the “feel” we were after. And just passing through on the commuter train, I think Hubby made a good call.

He settled on staying in Sorrento, Italy. And wow was that an excellent choice! We used it as our base for Capri, Amalfi, and to enjoy the town of Sorrento. One other great destination would have been Pompeii.

That’s a photo of Mount Vesuvius, the infamous, active volcano located on the the Gulf of Naples. That photo was taken from the root-top restaurant of our hotel in Sorrento. Notice the population at the base of the volcano? Approximately 3 million people live in the active-volcano’s path!

Mt Vesuvius is a sight to behold… so large, it took me a few moments to realize what I was seeing. While we didn’t go to Pompeii, we were told it is amazing from a historical perspective. They do let you walk all over, and you can touch as well as observe.

That is the view to the left of the roof-top. Just beautiful.

And even though we spent the bulk of our time in Sorrento, and enjoyed the town tremendously, that was basically it for photos! Hey, sometimes you have to live the moment instead of record it.

Sorrento is a very safe town. There are eyes everywhere via street cams. There is also only one road in or out of Sorrento, so a thief would have trouble picking pockets undetected, and then getting out of town prior to that detection.

We walked everywhere in Sorrento. The town is fairly compact, well laid out, and has retail that is both high and medium-end. The food was outstanding! We had dinner at a different restaurant each evening (lunch was out in the village we were touring), and no where did we have a bad meal.

That one-road-in-and-out is a positive and negative. While keeping Sorrento fairly small, beautifully Italian and quite safe, it also makes it difficult to access. You could take a bus or a boat, and the ferry from Naples was mobbed (the ferry is HUGE) the day we went to the docks to catch a ferry to Capri. The other choice is the local commuter train. The train in took about 90 minutes, and was fairly crowded. We were glad for our one bag, once again. On the way out we had a bit of dumb luck and caught the express train. That was less than 50 minutes, started in Sorrento and ended one stop past Naples. Very easy.

Also, practically everyone spoke English. Our tour guide in Amalfi told us it was due to an American base during World Wat II, and many the soldiers staying behind to marry locals. Whether true or not, it made for a colorful story. And an English-speaking-friendly town!

Hubby decided we needed to get out early to take the ferry to Capri. The problem was we got out so early from our hotel that we couldn’t take the elevator down to the ferry and had to take a 20 minute walk that was steep enough for mountain goats!

The fog had not yet burned off the isle when we arrived.

The first thing we decided to do was take a boat ride around the island. Excellent decision! We didn’t want to do the Blue Grotto. We were told the wait was very long (and the photos below will prove that true). We also wanted to beat the boat-crowds, which we did.

Capri has two towns: Capri and Anacapri. The “first level” is Capri and it looks TERRIBLE. Imagine the worst bargain basement bazaar you have ever been to, and take it outdoors. Just an awful first impression of the island.

We took the tram up to the “second level”. This level was full of super high end shops. Think of any cruise port you have ever been to (because Capri is a big destination for those on Mediterranean cruises), and that was exactly what the second level of Capri looked like – on a steep incline.

To get to the “third level” we took the bus. That is Anacapri and it was delightful! Decidedly cooler and less crowded, we spent some time at lunch where a very nice restauranteur gave us his restaurant’s recipe for limoncello! I will make it for a Friday cocktail recipe as soon as lemons go on sale. He did tell us that all the limoncelloes in the area were individual recipes. So while the limoncello you may purchase in the liquor store is from Sorrento, Italy, the people in the area all make, and drink, their own limoncello creations.

If you ever have the opportunity to visit Capri, for the ride down, take the bus. It is the same price to go all the way down from Anacapri to Capri by the docks as it is to go from Anacapri to the tram. If you do it this way, you have to pay for another tram ticket. We walked up two stops from the town center (one from the restaurant), and got on the bus easily. Once the bus arrived at the town center there was not enough room for all waiting. The buses ran approximately every 10 minutes, so it could make for a long wait.

Now on to our boat tour….

The boat tour was fabulous. If I have one regret, it was not doing a smaller charter boat and taking 3-4 hours to round Capri. The island is that beautiful and interesting.

The Scugnizzo is a bronze statue of a young boy with a welcoming wave, greeting seafarers going to the island, and waving them good-bye.

While we didn’t go to THE Blue Grotto, that didn’t mean we didn’t see any grottos (they were all over), and it didn’t mean we didn’t see any blue waters. We did. It just meant we couldn’t take a row boat into the grotto itself and snap a photograph. The waters around Capri were absolutely gorgeous. Truly stunning!

So we approached these big ole rocks that are called Faraglioni – stacked rocks in Italian.
(This is actually a departing photo… I didn’t have an arrival picture of the three!)

Large photo of Mezzo
(again departing)

We passed through the opening in our tour boat!

Lots of interesting rock formations that included…

Grottos!

I nearly decapitated myself taking these photographs! I was so thrilled to get them! (I have probably 40 more. LOL)

We sat in the back of our tour boat because… why not? BEST DECISION OF THE DAY!! Whenever we approached a grotto or could get close enough to land, the boat would do a U-turn and we got a great view.

Well, on this grotto, the tour boat operator actually backed up! We could have stuck our hands out and touched the rocks, we were that close!

As we were coming around to dock, we noticed a lot of boats hanging around the side of a cliff. Turns out it was the entrance for the Blue Grotto.

You anchor and wait your turn to get into a small rowboat. Then, you wait your turn to be rowed into the Blue Grotto. You then take a photograph, and get rowed out. The boat tour guide (who also does Blue Grotto tours) told us 2-3 hours of waiting for a 2 minute glimpse. Yikes. When we heard that, we were glad we took a pass.

While Hubby and I enjoyed Sorrento very much, Capri was meh. It was beautiful, but crowded with tourists. There were a few sites, and the highlight was definitely a boat tour around the island. We are definitely glad we went to Capri… once… but we wouldn’t go back.

Next up, the Amalfi Coast!

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• For more of the Travel posts on Ann’s Entitled Life, click here.

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