STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

halleybird wrote:

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It looks like everybody got knocked up while I was gone Congrats to rar210, FashionPrincess and luckyclover!!! Did I miss anything else good?

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Thanks!

Glad you had a good trip and that everything finally worked out!  We missed ya and I can't wait to see your pics.

esquiress wrote:

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  please tell us more about your trip, like what city did you like the most?  where exactly did you go?  what did you do each day? sorry for the q's, i'm headed there myself this fall and i'm so super-curious! 

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I have to say that I liked London the most. I liked Paris a lot, too, and I didn't really expect to. Here was my itinerary. It was a whirlwind -- I think a France/England trip and then a separate Italy trip would have been much easier.

Day 1: London: Buckingham Palace, Westminster, then Windsor Castle
Day 2: Stonehenge and Bath, then back to London to see Phantom of the Opera
Day 3: Canterbury, then drive to Dover, ferry to Calais, drive to Paris
Day 4: Paris bus tour of major sights, then Versailles Palace
Day 5: Walking tour of Sacre Coeur and Montmartre, then the Louvre. Seine river cruise
Day 6: Pere Lechaise Cemetary, the Opera House, Galleries Lafayette. Night train to Zurich
Day 7: Arrive in Zurich, drive to Lucerne. Walking tour of Lucerne, lake cruise to Mt. Pilatus, then cable car up Mt. Pilatus
Day 8: Drive to Florence
Day 9: Florence walking tour
Day 10: Drive to Rome, stop in Assisi
Day 11: Vatican museum, St Peter's Basilica, walking tour of Rome
Day 12: Catacombs, the Coliseum, the Roman Forum
Day 13: Drive to Naples
Day 14: tour of Pompeii, then the beach
Day 15: Ferry and island tour of Capri
Day 16: fly home

You're back!!!

Your trip sounds so awesome. I think it's essential to spend your first trip to a new place seeing all the "sights" and then spending your next trip there enjoying the small things you found you liked on your first trip. (Like the bakery in Montmartre, for instance.)

I, too, was wondering how your wardrobe held up on the trip, so Laken you're not alone. 

Tell me more about France. I always imagined like in Sabrina - pink light, far-away music in the streets, cafes at sunset. Is it really like that? Or is it dirtier, stinkier, etc.?

blubirde wrote:

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You're back!!! Your trip sounds so awesome. I think it's essential to spend your first trip to a new place seeing all the "sights" and then spending your next trip there enjoying the small things you found you liked on your first trip. (Like the bakery in Montmartre, for instance.) I, too, was wondering how your wardrobe held up on the trip, so Laken you're not alone.  Tell me more about France. I always imagined like in Sabrina - pink light, far-away music in the streets, cafes at sunset. Is it really like that? Or is it dirtier, stinkier, etc.?

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My Pumas were wonderful -- they're really comfortable and look cute. I didn't wear them a ton, though, because they have a strange leathery smell and I was sort of embarrassed to take them off in front of my roommate! So I wore all my shoes about equally. My Target ballet flats were really comfortable but I pretty much destroyed them on this trip, so I tossed them yesterday. My clothes were good, too -- I wished I'd brought more shorts, capris and tank tops, but I made do.

Paris isn't really as romantic as it looks in the movies. There's a LOT of cigarette smoke and exhaust fumes, so it aggravated my allergies. But the streets are really lovely and most of the neighborhoods I saw were charming and historically well-preserved. I didn't find the people to be rude, like everyone says. As long as I made an effort to say "Bonjour/sil vous plait/merci/perdon" initially, they were very nice and spoke English.