My Recent European Trip to Paris, Florence, Rome and Barcelona! TONS OF PICS

TheoGraphics · Dec 15, 2011

I decided to go ahead and post up all the photos from a recent European trip! I'll go through the photos in the order of how we traveled...get ready because there are a TON (seriously) of photos ahead.

We started out in Paris, then to Florence, Rome, Barcelona, and then back to Paris for a total of about two and a half weeks. It was pretty amazing, and a lot of fun to go off peak tourist times.

If you'd like to see more, you can check out my blog!

Here we go! First stop, Paris.

Our terrible in-flight meal

The view from our hotel in Paris

Our first Parisian cappuccino - pretty perfect!

The subway

The Place de la Concorde

Walking to the Louvre, which is up ahead.

Everything was always perfectly symmetric

The Eiffel Tower, with umbrellas doing their best impersonation

Little snacks at The Mariage tea room at the Louvre

One of the many wings of the Louvre

The Pont des Arts, with "love locks" from other couples in the past

More love notes carved into trees

The Pont des Arts, as viewed from the Pont Neuf

First view of Notre Dame

Eiffel Tower guarded by cannons near the Esplanade des Invalides

I accidentally dragged the shutter while the Eiffel Tower was sparkling at midnight, and I thought it came out pretty cool.

The Arc de Triomph - HUUUGE

The gf next to the arc

Cool patterns when I was walking away from the arc

Statue of George Washington

Looking at the Eiffel Tower from across the river

The gf up at the top of the Eiffel Tower looking over the Champ de Mars

The Champ de Mars

Looking at the city from the Eiffel Tower

The Eiffel Tower, from the Esplanade du Trocadero

The Eiffel Tower sparkling at midnight (watch in HD!)

TheoGraphics · Dec 15, 2011

Next up is Florence! It is a MUCH smaller city than Paris, with everything of great importance pretty much in walking distance. It was a nice way to wind down after the crazy pace of Paris.

The Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, commonly known as Il Duomo in the Piazza del Duomo. Under construction from 1296-1436!

The tower of Il Duomo

Cool light at Il Duomo

Via Faenza, where we stayed. There were a TON of hotels on this street.

The first bidet of our trip...if you've never tried one, I highly recommend it.

The Piazza Repubblica

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A replica of Michelangelo's David in the Piazza della Signoria

The statue of Neptune, also located in the Piazza de la Signoria with the tower of Il Bargello in the distance.

The Ponte Vecchio bridge, taken from the nearby Ponte alle Grazie bridge on the Arno River.

Gold trinkets on the Ponte Vecchio

Pretty much every day's breakfast in Europe...sugar and caffeine high followed by a hard crash, haha.

Il Duomo, as viewed from Via Ricasoli

Patters of Il Duomo

These things were like mosquitoes all over Europe - buzzing all over the place!

A quick video on the train from Florence to Rome (watch in HD!)

TheoGraphics · Dec 15, 2011

Next up was Rome, which we immediately noticed felt the most "old world" of all the cities that we'd visited so far. Everything was a bit rougher around the edges...probably because the city itself is thousands of years old!

Still, there were famous monuments and artifacts EVERYWHERE. It was pretty amazing to see the Coliseum packed in between city traffic on the way to lunch!

After finally getting used to the small size of Florence, it was then time to move on to Rome! It was a short hour and a half train ride into Roma Termini, right in the heart of the city. Rome's heart beats much faster than Florence's, and there always seemed to be a flurry of activity no matter what time you were out walking the streets. We settled in at the Mosaic Hostel which was only a few blocks from Termini, and began to plan our trip.

Rome itself is so much to take in. The city is so rich in history and artifacts that it is nearly impossible to try and see them all in a short period of time. If we'd had the entire two and a half weeks to Rome itself, it might have been possible. It is overwhelming at first to walk up to these monuments that are older than you can even imagine. It is hard to wrap your mind around it at first! The Pantheon and Coliseum, both nearly 2,000 years old apiece with their well-worn marble, smoothed from millions of footsteps over the years. The sheer size of them is amazing as well, a huge feat in engineering, given the tools that the ancient Romans had to work with. Pretty humbling stuff.

The beautiful and well-kept monuments were a stark contrast to the rest of the city, which was seemingly forgotten about. Trash was abundant on the streets, and graffiti was everywhere. I suppose when dealing with a city infrastructure that is going on 2,000 years old, such simple things as trash organization can be a big deal.

We ate dinner mostly in Trastevere, a neighborhood on the west side of Rome, known for its small labyrinth like streets and great restaurants tucked into small buildings in alleyways. The food in Trastevere did not disappoint, and every night was another great dinner, different from the previous yet all amazing in their own right. Could it have been the 6 euro bottle of table wine that influenced my opinion on the food? Possibly, but either way, it was all great.

It was hard to put my camera down in this city, where at every corner was a spectacular monument that I wanted to capture for later. Hopefully the photos convey what we were seeing in those few days in Rome!

At the end of our tour in Rome, we boarded a plane at Fuimicino Airport destined for Barcelona and a whole different experience.

The thin streets of Rome

The Spanish Steps, completed in 1725, with the Trinità dei Monti rising above.

The Trevi Fountain, completed after many delays in 1762

The Pantheon, still standing tall in the Piazza della Rotunda, nearly 2,000 years old.

A church that we ducked into when rained unexpectedly picked up. It had such a small and unassuming facade that we weren't expecting this when we walked inside!

The Coliseum

Rising levels of the Coliseum

Panoramic view of the inside of the Coliseum

Writing carved into stone after 2,000 years at the Coliseum

The Roman Forum

Roman ruins at the Forum, with the Santa Francesca Romana above

More of the Roman Ruins

A view of the Santissimi Giovanni e Paolo church from the Forum.

The Fountain of the Naiads on Piazza della Repubblica.

A rainy day in Vatican City, with the dome of St. Peter's rising in the distance.

The Chariot Room in the Vatican Museum; the statue dates back to the first century A.D.

The gilded ceiling in the Gallery of Maps at the Vatican Museum, on the way to the Sistine Chapel.

The spiraling exit at the Vatican Museum

The interior of St. Peter's...amazing detail for its size.

A vertical shot of St. Peter's to better show the size. See all the tiny people?

The "Easter Egg" at St. Peter's

Michelangelo's "Pieta", created when he was only 24 years old (wtf am I doing with my life :facepalm

St Peter's on a rainy night.

One of the many street artists in the Piazza Navona

The Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi at the center of the Piazza Navona

Ganges, one of the four river Gods depicted in the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi at the Piazza Navona.

All roads lead to...?

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A Roman subway train completely covered in graffiti!

Inside the Pantheon

Inside the Coliseum

At the Trevi Fountain

Inside St. Peter's

And inside St. Peter's with a choir singing, just after dark while it rains outside in the Piazza...just about as close to a religious experience as you could ever get!

Live entertainment at the Piazza Navona

TheoGraphics · Dec 15, 2011

From Rome, it was a quick hour and a half flight over to Barcelona, and a 45 minute bus ride into town. Barcelona was strikingly different after being in the craziness of Rome. The city was much more modern and refined, with smoothly paved streets with central biking lanes. Everyone as a whole looked much more fit and the city seemed to be well taken care of.

Public transportation was great once again, so we were able to get to everything relatively easily. Our first stop was La Sagrada Familia, which is pretty much indescribable. Rising out of the ground like a kid's mud castle at the beach, it takes on organic forms and almost looks like it is alive. Inside, the support pillars look like trees branching off into space to hold the ceiling up, and the stained glass bathes everything in warm orange, red and lime green light.

We ate lots of tapas, and even sampled a slight bit of Barcelona's famous nightlife. Going out with a group from the hostel one night, going to a club called Shoko, which was directly on the beach. After fist pumping for hours, we called it an early night...and got home around 4 in the morning.

The Parroquia de Sant Francesc de Sales on Passeig Sant Joan.

Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família, designed by Antoni Gaudí, which began construction in 1882 and is slated for completion in 2026.

The other side of Sagrada Familia

Sunlight pouring in

The ceiling of Sagrada Familia

Beautiful stained glass

Looking down the center

Shafts of light

Above the altar

Different towers

Very gothic looking spire

Spiral staircase down from the tower at Sagrada Familia

Layers

At Park Guell

The Mercat de Sant Josep de la Boqueria, or La Boqueria for short, off the bustling La Rambla. The first mention of the Boqueria market in Barcelona dates from 1217, when tables were installed near the old city gate to sell meat. The market, as it sits today, was completed in 1914.

Candies and nuts at La Boqueria

...and a few other things...

The gf buying a few chocolates

Awesome aguas frescas

The Torre Agbar, a 38 story building designed by Jean Nouvel and first opened in 2005. 4,500 LED's built into the building's surface allow for the amoebic color display at night.

The Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya. 2. Ashleigh posing at the Magic Fountain of Montjuïc, which wasn't so magical when we visited

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Inside Sagrada Familia

On the high speed train back to Paris

TheoGraphics · Dec 15, 2011

Back to Paris on our last leg of the trip!

Since the Louvre was closed on our first try of the trip, we decided to give it another go. The line wasn't bad at all, and we spend a few hours wandering through the huge halls of the Louvre, nearly every vertical surface adorned with priceless artwork.

We had duck confit our last night in Paris, which consisted of an extremely quarter of duck roasted in its own fat with garlic mashed potatoes. A very fitting, and French, way to end the trip. After that, it was nothing but an early RER train ride to Charles de Gaulle, where we made it just in time for our flight to be delayed! Luckily, it wasn't delayed for long, and we were soon back on our way to the states.

It's trips like these that make you realize how invaluable travel really is. The experience of living out of your price range, comfort zone and normal life is something that everyone should experience at least once (and preferably many times). Since stepping off the plane, I've had the urge to go right back over, and hopefully soon it will be possible!

The Winged Victory of Samothrace, dated back to the 2nd century B.C. at the Louvre.

And in contrast...a low rider from C&L Customs in the Louvre lobby!

Crazy detail like this was common on nearly every ceiling of the huge complex!

Aphrodite of Milos, or Venus de Milo, believed to have been carved by Alexandros of Antioch between 100 and 130 B.C.

The Cour Napoléon, featuring the Louvre Pyramid, designed by I.M. Pei and completed in 1989 with the Pavillon Denon behind.

A wide view of the Jardin des Tuileries with the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel to the left and the Pavillon de Flore to the right.

The Pavillon de Flore, left, and the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel in the Jardin des Tuileries with the Eiffel Tower behind.

La Grande Roue ferris wheel against a bright blue sky in the Jardin des Tuileries.

The Obelisk of Luxor in the Place de la Concorde, with the Eiffel tower rising in the background.

The Hôtel de Ville under a bright sky.

The Pont Notre Dame, spanning the Seine, with the Tribunal de Commerce to the left.

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Inside Notre Dame