Paris

To kick off our day, we went to Champs-Elysees location of LaDuree in search of macaroons (they were invented there) but sat down for an entire breakfast. Shauna found her ultimate dessert pictured below consisting of rose flavored macaroons with fresh raspberries and lychee flavored cream inside. If this dessert didn't already exist, Shauna would've invented it.

Random street scene below.

The view from right outside our hotel in La Defense shows the Arc de Triomphe in the background. Although we're a bit out of the way, a metro station is outside our door so distance isn't much of an issue.
Below, Shauna poses in front of the Grande Arche which is the symbol of the La Defense neighborhood.

To round out the evening, we went for a wine tasting which was hosted by a very relaxed, fun and informative sommelier in his loft apartment. Prior to this evening, our knowledge and respect for French wine was almost zero but we came away with some useful insights and a greater appreciation of how great French wine is. Certainly, we couldn't think of a better and more fun way to learn of regional wines than from this tasting and would recommend it to everyone.

He looks serious in the below photo but was actually very funny and entertaining throughout helping us learn.

Below are some photos from Aix en Provence that we didn't get a chance to put up. The main area to stroll is the Cours Mirabeau and it's lined with numerous cafes and bistros to sit around at.

Much of the rest of central Aix is narrow streets filled with great shops, restaurants and cafes. We could've spent much more time there but our rush up to Paris only left us two nights in Aix which was not enough. There isn't much to see there but it's a great place to simply chill out.

Aix en Provence up to Paris

We're having difficulties loading up photos but for the past couple days, we haven't had a whole lot to show. It seems that one of the favorite pastimes of Americans is to rip the French for their tendency to sit in cafes and not do anything gainful but that attitude has rubbed off on us because we've spent the past few days doing as the locals do.

This morning we took the TGV ("train a grande vitesse" in French which translates into 'train at high speed') from Aix en Provence up to Paris where we'll spend about a week. The train hauls ass so we made it to Paris in about three hours after which we checked into a serviced apartment similar to the ones we stayed in at Beijing and Manila. It does shatter a bit of the Parisian dream to be staying it the business district of La Defense on the northwestern side but it's worth it for the 4x gain in lodging space. Anyone who's been to Europe knows how small a standard hotel room is so with our four bags, it's nice to have full size one bedroom apartment.

For dinner we opted for French colonial and the easiest type of that cuisine to find is North African. On our last trip to Paris a couple years back, we enjoyed Algerian cuisine but this attempt wasn't as delicious. The staple of North African food is couscous so its just a matter of what is paired on top of the couscous.

Over the next few days, we're lining up some wonderful activities but today was simply a slow travel day.

Nice and Aix en Provence

Sorry we meant to post this last night but fell asleep after a bottle of local wine.

Since we spent the evening in Monte Carlo, we only had the morning to explore Nice before catching a train to Aix en Provence. Nice was worthy of more days but we're in a bit of a rush to get to Paris so we primarily walked around the old part of Nice as it's the best part.

Across from our hotel was a cathedral called Notre Dame which looked almost identical to the one in Paris.

Nice is set on the Mediterranean and while the water looked very inviting, the beach seemed a bit rocky but was supplemented by sand which the city brings in to line the shore.



The rest of Nice was ok but nothing special compared to the rest of France.

Aix en Provence is a great idyllic city about 30 kilometers north of Marseilles. We originally planned to spend time in Marseilles but after changing trains there, it seemed like an ugly industrial city so we decided against that. In Aix, we settled in the amazing Hotel Cezanne which is one of the greatest hotels we've ever stayed at. Besides great location, creative facilities, and pleasant service, it offers features such as free wifi internet and an honor bar in the lobby where we can help ourselves to drinks then tell inform the front desk of our consumption later. The hotel is named after Paul Cezanne since the artist lived in Aix previously.

Once settled, our priority was to wash clothes for the first time in over a week. We have enough clothes to last approx 10 days each but it's better to be preemptive so we don't run out of fresh clothing. Shauna insisted on taking the below photo en route to they laundromat.

We'll take many more photos of Aix but generally it's a pleasant, tree lined city that has enough action to make it interesting but not too much to make it seem busy.

We've spent our time in Aix doing as the locals do which is pretty much drinking, eating and relaxing. Shauna has a lot of reasons to smile such as the great weather, wonderful meal of mussels and goat cheese salad, and of course her new blush pink leather bag that she bought in Milan.

Monte Carlo, Monaco

Around lunchtime we took the train from Milan to Nice along the beautiful Cote d'Azur of the Mediterranean Coast. Because we only have one night in Nice, we decided to take the 15 minute ride to Monte Carlo to spend the evening. Monaco is the second smallest country in the world but is built densely along steep slopes.

The train station was near the top of the city so we had to descend over a series of steps to reach the harbor.


The amount and size of ships that are docked is just unreal and there probably isn't another place on Earth which could compare.



In port was The World cruise ship which is a floating residence that goes around the world. Prices range from 1.5 million to 5 million with annual fees of 100k to 250k USD.


We saw some of the most amazing yachts in the harbor including this one with a helicopter on the back.


The one pictured below had a chase boat which would be nice in its own right but looks tiny compared to its big brother.

It was nice to be able to walk around the harbor with no problems and to be able to get close to the megayachts.



To finish up the evening, we visited the Monte Carlo Casino which costs 10 euros to enter. Neither of us gamble so we just took a look around inside and considering it's one of the most famous casinos in the world, was worth the price to look around although the area we had access to was small.

Back to Milan

Not much to report as we had a lazy day in Milan after flying up from Naples in the morning. Our way of saying 'arrivederchi' to Italy was a elaborate dinner at a highly regarded restaurant. To start we had zucchini flowers stuffed with ricotta cheese before we moved onto parmesan risotto with truffle shavings.

After some fresh pasta, our next dish was a stuffed sea bass au gratin and it was the first time that we've seen the fish become a sort of bowl that was filled with shrimp, vegetables and the sea bass after the bones were completely removed. If either of us were chefs, we'd definetly rip off the idea.

Delish!

And what would Milan be without a photoshoot of a beautiful model? Shauna is covered head to toe in items that she bought along our travels, but still has more to model in the future.

Capri/Naples

The main purpose of our trip to the region was to visit the island of Capri which is just 45 minutes off the coast from Naples via hydrofoil. Shauna visited Capri previously and found it to be romantic so she wanted to incorporate it as part of the honeymoon. Ryan's impression is that it's a big rock overridden with cruise ship and package tourists so it resembles more of a Hollywood set.



The Blue Grotto is probably the most famous site on Capri so it was the first thing we visited as soon as we landed in the harbor. To get there we had to transfer to a motorboat and once near the entrance, to a small rowboat.

As you can see below, the entrance is very small and requires all the boat passengers to lay down in order to squeeze under. The boat has to slide under when the tide dips so as to not smash us up against the rock.

Once inside, the sunlight reflects upon the white sand bottom and through the very clear, blue water for a dramatic effect.

There isn't much sunlight which gets through so the blue effect really shows up, better in person of course than in the photos we took.

Back on the outside, the below photo clearly shows how steep the cliffs are of Capri.

To get up to Capri Town from the harbor, we took a funicular for the brief ride.



The scenery is truly spectacular and Shauna was right about it being romantic.


Back in Naples in the below photos....we really consider Naples to be a third world city.


Our neighborhood where we can comfortably walk around without really any problems at all time because plenty of others are also out.


The island of Capri is in the background of Shauna, you'll probably have to click on the photo for it to enlarge to really see it.

If we had more time, we would've liked to have visited Pompeii which was destroyed by Mount Vesuvius that is pictured below. It's always good to leave something to come back for and see so we'll have to return when we have more time.

For a late lunch, we ate at what is regarded by multiple sources as the best pizza in Naples. We HAD to visit because Ryan though that it would be a life changing experience but it proved to be nothing special. Initially it looked great, the staff didn't speak English, mostly locals and only two types of pizza served: margherita and marinara, which turned out to be just red sauce on top of the thin crust dough. The key to pizza is generally the sauce and in this instance it was tasty and fresh but again, it wasn't the best we've ever had.