One Country at a Time

Reflections on Paris

wrightp28 — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 23:07:00 GMT

On my arrival and first evening in Paris

Was suppose to get into Lyon Station at 9:30am, but the train was delayed 3 hours, which cut into my exploring a bit. Regardless, this city is amazing. After dropping of my bags at the hostel, nestled in a sidestreet right below Montmarte, I caught the subway to the Louvre. Walking around the plaza with the great glass period and enormous line of prospective museum goers, I was awed by the gradeur of design. Leaving behind the queue encircling the pyramid, I ambled into the Tuilleries Gardens and was pleased to find chairs strewn throughout allowing the population sit and soak in the beautiful atmosphere created by the fountains and landscaped greenspace. I found myself in the far corner of the gardens, waiting in a much shorter line for the Musee de l'Orangerie, which beautifully displays Monet's "Waterlilles" and a lot of other beautiful pieces from cezanne, picasso, Renoir, and more. I discovered Soutine today and his skewed view of the world, which was so fresh to me, as I'm sure I've never seen his wonderful work before. Then walked the Champs Élysées up to the Arc de Triomphe. It's much larger than I realized and I climbed to the top for a glittering night view of the Paris skyline. The Eiffel tower towers above the rest of the night sky and dominates the eye. It drew my weary body to get a closer view and I was not disappointed, as the moment that I was standing in its immediate glow, it's sparkling lights came to life and dazzled my eyes and all of the city whether near or far. I can't believe I've never been here before and I am amazed that each city I visit seems to one-up the last.

Oct. 31st, 2012, 11:49am (Garden of Versailles)

This is a true gem of the world. The Gardens, which I have only begun to walk through are breathtaking. My heart is soaring being outside and closer to nature and I can't stop smiling. Even though the fountains aren't running and many sculptures are covered, the expanse of these grand gardens is overwhelming. This is at the top of my list for places to return, particularly during the Spring/Summer when the flowers, which clearly decorate a long part of this space, are in bloom. This is the greatest landscape design I have experienced and surely must be near the top in the world... 4:02: I've walked all over and even took a bit of a nap at the north field and eventually found my legs had carried me to Marie Antionette's Estate, specifically the Queen's Hamlet. All the buildings have been preserved and transport one's mind back to that time very easily. There's a wonderful farm, full with animals and a quaint olf farmhouse that appears to be in residence, and I'm sitting below the second floor balcony of Maison de la Reine. The whole space so perfectly captures the feel of the time and what must have been an escape from the gradoise palace and a return to a slower pace of life for the queen and family. This is a place that people just need to experience, as it's hard to put into words the variety of emotions that this space illicits.

Ruins, Volcanoes, and Beachs. OH MY!

wrightp28 — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 05:36:00 GMT

Alright first off, sorry for the limited posts (that being my only post before I left), but I did warn that I might not be great at this whole blogging thing. Anyway, I can't believe that it's only been two weeks, it feels like so much more. After getting to Pompei I met another American, Jason, who suggested we rent a car and drive to Sicily. So off we went the next afternoon, after exploring the ruins of Pompei in the morning. How spectacular they were, particularly Villa di Misteri (thanks to my mom and dad for emphasizing it). Anyway we drove all the way to Catania, taking the midnight ferry over to the island. What a feeling of adventure. We arrived in Catania at 3:30am, not exactly the plan when we set out but we found a hostel. Along the way down the Autostrada 3, we stopped in a small town called Polla and wandered about. It clearly didn't see many tourists, but we found an amazing cafe/pastry shop, where the owner gave us extra pastries to try for free. It was great to see a small Italian town that is relatively untouched by the forces of tourism. The next day we continued on to Noto, exploring the upland plane from Avola and discovering the Cavagrande di Carribile. It's like a mini Grand Canyon, with a river flowing deep down at the bottom. Unfortunately, you couldn't hike down while we were there, but boy did I want to. Eventually made it to Noto, which is a beautiful little town full of baroque buildings carved from the local limestone. We spent the afternoon and evening wandering all over the area, finding plenty of spectacular buildings to appreciate. The next morning we woke up early with our eyes set on Mt Etna. After a bit of a drive, we made it to Rifugio Sapienza, which is the highest you can drive up the volcano. We took the cable car and 4WD bus to a set of craters sitting around 3000m up the slope, with the Central Craters looming large over us. Unfortunately it wasn't possible to hike to the top here to see the active vents, just another place I will have to return some day to do some hiking. However the view and landscape were still spectacular, as we were above a low cloud cover and looked similar to the view from an airplane. We hiked around the craters and got some great pics of this barren landscape. The drive back up the coast that evening was great. I swam at the beach in Scilla, as the sun set over ancient fortifications sitting high on an outcropping of rock, standing sentinal over the little port town. We found a great little spot for dinner in Cosenza, which was just a man and two women cooking small dishes and serving it all as it was ready. After we finished this 2-3 hour dinner, we returned to where we parked the car and discovered that IT WAS GONE! My mind immediately jumped to the conclusions that it was stolen, but some folks on a balcony explained in Italian that it had just been towed. A bummer, but a huge relief considering the alternative. The next day continued up the southwest coast stopping in Praia a Mare for a swim and bit of relaxation on a beautiful sunny day. Praia a Mare has an expansive stone beach, that comes to a point on one end, as it approach a large rock island sitting just off shore and the water was a beautiful crystalling blue that I could see through to the bottom for many meters. We made it up to Amalfi as the sun was setting and briefly explored, but did not get to stay too long. Amalfi remains a heavy tourist destination deep into October, as it was packed. It must be an absolute mad house in the summer. Had some trouble with where we were suppose to stay and had to find a B&B on short notice but it all worked out. Return the car to Napoli the next day, having completed the coastal drive along the Amalfi Coast and caught the train on to Rome. I've had two very full days in Rome with Alessandro, but I'll save those adventures for another post.

Finally Set to Go

wrightp28 — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 21:54:00 GMT

After nearly 2 years of planning and some intervening expeditions and adventures, I am finally beginning my dream of traveling about the world. Many friends and family mentioned that I should write a blog, not something that I'm particularly prone to do without encouragement, so here goes my first attempt. You will have to bear with any typos or grammatical errors, but feel free to correct my English and grammer mistakes in the comments section. At least in this way my English skills might improve, while I'm butchering some other language.

Here's a abbreviated and rough itinerary of my travels through Christmas time, so you can get a sense of my ambitious plans. (Note: This is all subject to changes, which is sort of the point. It will be a grand adventure, whereever I end up).

Fly to Athens, Greece bright and early tomorrow morning.

See my folks for a few days before taking a ferry to Bari, Italy.

Explore S. Italy (Naples, Pompeii, Amalfi Coast) before heading onto Rome.

Days in Rome, as I explore this hub of western civilization and all its history.

Onto N. Italy, not totally sure where, Milan seems most likely so far.

Work my way through France (possibly hitting Barcelona), enroute to UK.

Spend most of November in the UK visiting family and friends across the country.

Onto Belgium and the Netherlands for a quick visit before continuing on to Germany.

Work my way North to South and eventually into Austria.

Find my way back to Athens in time for Christmas with the folks.

As you can see this is presented in pretty broad strokes, but it will hopefully give you a good idea of my immediate plans. Post Christmas is a bit more blurry, but I hope to make it to SE Asia, Australia, and New Zealand, before return to the US (Hawaii en route to the continental US). If you have any suggestions or contacts along this route, please let me know via email wrightp28@gmail.com.

I hope to keep you all informed of my whereabouts and experiences throughout this journey, and maybe even provide some entertaining reading.

Off to bed, as I will be rising at 2:30am tonight(tomorrow) to catch my SuperShuttle to Dulles and begin my 23 hours of flying and layovers as I finally get underway. Thanks for all the wellwishes I've received leading up to this and thanks in advance to all those friends who have agreed to host me along the way.

-Peter