Honeymoon '09 Part 2

Ok, Hawaii was perfect. After 10 days there, we flew home for 2 days for Arthur's med school graduation, then flew to Europe. You can only imagine how much our internal clocks were off, and jet-lag. . . whoooh!  There were absolutely NO PLANS, RESERVATIONS, or SCHEDULES for this trip. It was all Arthur style.

In Europe, there are no late night check-ins like there are here. You can't arrive at your hotel at 2 am an expect to get in without a key. So we rent our car (an automatic because it was $10 cheaper. . seriously?), and drove around Ireland looking for a place to rest. No luck! So guess what? I slept in the car for the first time ever. Let me rewind a bit. We arrived in June thinking it was warm. I had shorts and t-shirts packed. It was FREEZING! And, while were driving around, jet-lag, nervous, tired, and on the wrong side of the road, I got car sick for the first time in my life.

Ok, back to the trip. This was by no means a luxury European trip. This was an all out, backpacking, train riding, hostel staying, European vacation. We did rent a car in Ireland, but our adventures in Italy, Monaco, and France were all by train. Again, no reservations. We went day to day. We booked our hostel or bed and breakfast daily.

Our favorite story is about "Novella." We booked a room at "Hotel Novella" in Florence one night. There are no pictures on hostelworld.com. So we have the address, arrive on the train, and search for Hotel Novella for hours. Only later, did we find an English speaking gentleman who guided us to the home of a young Italian girl named "Novella" who spoke zero English. We stayed in her home with a single bathroom we shared with her children and parents. All night long we heard her parents yell for her, "Novella, Novella!"

My relief came from an amazing hotel owner who felt sorry for us. He had a free drink hour in the lobby of his hotel that afternoon. So we are sitting in the lobby when he comes up and is talking to us. He found out we were newlyweds and was confused that his newlywed suite was vacant. He asked us why we were not in that room. We told him we were staying in his basement dorm with about 5 other girls, and he was in shock. He felt so bad for us, he gave us the honeymoon suite right in the middle of the French Rivera! It was beautiful.

I love the centurion on his cell phone in this picture. 

 Fountain of Trevi

 Day 2 in Dublin. I was hoping it was going to be better than the first day of being car-sick and nervous.

 The Coliseum 

 I was probably wishing for some American food 

 Spaghetti and pizza were our two main meals

 The Vatican - It was absolutely beautiful.

 They kind of look alike. . . I think it's the hair! 

 The Sistine Chapel

 Vatican

 My first train ride 

 This is so typical of this trip. 

 Yummy Gelato! 

 Bridge in Florence

 Leaning Tower of Pisa

 Our absolute favorite town - Cinque Terre. We had a great time here, and made some awesome Canadian friends. We actually named our dog Terra in honor of this fun little vacation spot. 

Remember the sweet hotel owner who let us have the room for free? That was here in the French Rivera.  Can you tell my mood has completely changed in the picture? I was thrilled!  

 French Rivera 

 O Monaco! 

 Overlooking the amazing yacht club

 And we are back in Ireland

 Kissing the Blarney Stone

 Cliffs of Moher 

I am making it out to sound horrible, I think. Don't get me wrong, it was a fun trip (once I adjusted to Arthur's style of travel.) I learned a lot about my husband in that month. I learned a lot about myself. I learned to loosen up and enjoy the moment. Monaco was my personal favorite. It's such a beautiful town. I loved the yacht club, and I could've indulged in the local culture for weeks.