I’ve been back since Tuesday night, and I’m exhausted. All I can say is that it feels really really good to be back on US soil, with its severe cigarette smoking restrictions, 24 hour grocery stores, dedicated customer service 24 hours (ala Bangalore of course), and rampant consumerism.

That being said, I enjoyed my vacation emensely.

Here’s a breakdown of the vacation:


Purpose: First off, this is *NOT* the vacation I would have taken if left to my own imagination. I love Europe—don’t get me wrong, but I wanted to go to Thailand this year. And I would never take a vacation with the number of places we saw (England, Germany, Austria, and France) in such a short period of time (2.5 weeks). But my mother has always wanted to see Europe and she has always talked about this stupid Sound of Music tour in Salzburg, so I decided that it’s just time to suck it up and take her.

Week 1:
England. I loved England, despite the fact that there is a pervasive culture of “Customer no-service” in that country and almost nothing is easy to obtain or get information on. We stayed with my sister in a charming (if not altogether beautiful) little town of Huntindon, and used that as our starting point. Along the way , we saw the Ely Cathedral, London (3 days) which had too many things in it to mention here, and Stonehenge. My favorite part of that entire vacation though was just seeing my nephews (my best friends) after 4 months of not seeing them.

Week 2:
Garmisch. In Garmisch, we saw mainly the Zugspitze and Munich. Unfortunately, we didn’t see Nuewschenstein (the Cinderella castle), or the Partnach gorge—I had developed a severe flu-like sickness from my youngest Nephew the week before and spent 3 nights in a row soaked in my own sweat from fever—I would get up the next morning and take my mom somewhere to try and “get over” the thing, but it ultimately slowed me down.

Salzburg. We drove into Salzburg from Garmisch. The drive was pleasant enough, and very pretty—but it lacked the “umph” I was expecting, so I was a bit disappointed in that. To be perfectly honest, when it comes to mountainscapes and natural farmland views, the western “Rocky Mountain” parts of the USA match anything that Europe has to offer. But I don’t want to digress into comparing scenic landscapes of one place to another. Salzburg was very charming, and way way expensive. I chose the Sheretan behind the Mirabell Gardens because my mom is a HUGE, and I mean, HUGE Sound of Music fan. We walked through the old town in the evening, saw the all the normal sites including the Mozart house (though we did not go inside), and had a nice little dinner at a Japanese restaurant . The next morning, we took the obligatory Sound of Music Tour. It was quite charming and actually very informative of both Salzburg and the actually movie/story itself. Unfortunately I was really sick that morning, so didn’t get “into it” as much as I should have. No matter—my mom loved the shit out of it.

After Salzburg, we took the train into Paris (this took 10 hours ) and by the time we got into Paris, we basically ate dinner, which my mom didn’t much care for. I had stopped eating two nights before to speed up the recovery process from this flu.
The next morning, 95% of my flu was gone, and my sister and her kids arrived. We saw the major Parisian sites over the next two days (Ave Champs Elese, Latin Quarter, Eiffel Tower, Louvre, Pomdiue(sp), Musee Dorse, and so forth..).
My assessment of Paris is this: It has some really beautiful things in it, but the overall city is drab and dirty. London was far more charming to me. Everything in Paris is largescale—the streets, the monuments, the museums. But they exist in a city that appears to be ailing a bit. She really needs a good colonoscopy or some shit. Also, what’s up with all the damned Asians in Paris? I felt totally at home much of the city, being Asian myself, but damn—Paris is a quazi-Asian city if I ever saw one. I kept looking for the “Parisian” vibe of the city, but all I can say is the vibe must be less stereoptypically “French” and more of the Neauveau “melting pot” vibe I felt in London. The only time in London, I actually felt like I was in the middle of something very “British” was when some rude ass white guy would ask me to get out of his way while he was rushing through the tube.

Overall, I can say I found Europe very charming. Each country we visited had something wonderful to bring to the experience, and the people we ran into did so as well.

But I am very very very very glad to be back here in the US. It seems each time I leave, I come back more glad to be American.



[Edited 6/14/07 16:44pm]

Great Eiffel Tower pic!

You have quite a bit of hair on your arms and I like some of your pictures a lot.

Gorgeous pics!!

And you look adorable too.


Glad you had such a good time, despite the flu. Yuck.

The Sound of Music tour sounds super fun. lol.

Imago said:

Hell no! You'd never get me up there. The rest is gorgeous, particularly the shots of Zugspitze.

He does look adorable Carrie, you're right. I like this one, in particular:



For this I'll forgive him the customer no-service comment. Personally I'd rather someone spit in my face than give me the 'have a nice day' bullshit, but that's just me. I'm glad you had a good time and I'm happy you're back and from now on you'll make my threads have more posts on them.

You're kind of like that dancing "Where the hell is Matt?" guy, only, you know, you don't dance and your pictures are shit.

CarrieMpls said:

'super fun. lol.'

did you swallow the internet again?

Fauxie said:

I tried, but it keeps getting stuck in my throat.

CarrieMpls said:

You deep-throated the internet?

RipHer2Shreds said:

The Zugspitze was amazing. Not just because it's a big ass mountain and whatnot, but that the view of the valley below is so gorgeous, not to mention the lake.

We ascended the cable car to the top and took the train down the mountain.
The last mile or half mile of the cable car, there is strictly the cable itself headed straight up the mountain. It feels like you're floating up this steep mountain on air--scary shit.

Fauxie said:

Damn gag reflex.

CarrieMpls said:

Thanks honey

Fauxie said:

I've decided not to drink alcohol when I'm around you in Thailand. I need some inhibitions and I respect the institution of marriage.

Imago said:

No problem, pookie.

Imago said:

As if I have no say in the matter! Wow, you sound really tough and forceful. You must've made those private compartments on European trains your bitch.

CarrieMpls said:

pookie? Couldn't you have picked something a little more... I don't know, ... bad ass?

Imago said:

Do you have a suggestion?

Imago said:

The pictures are great!

Just beautiful.

ahh europa . i can sympathize with your comment on "seeing so much in 2 weeks" etc ... i went in high school on a quick 10 day jaunt . and i said NEVER AGAIN ... then- i had the opportunity to live over there ... from aug-dec... and i did some trips at my leisure .... etc ...

I too was "under the weather" alot on my first euro trip ... probably jet lag in my case too ...

curious - what camera do u use? great pics!

Wonderful pictures! Brings back memories of my European vacation.

SnidelyWhiplash said:

I was about to ask the same question.

Those are GREAT!!!

SnidelyWhiplash said:

Thank you!




I used the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT2 (silver case) and the standard lense that comes with it. I still haven't figured out how to do the fancy schmansy stuff with it yet.

This is also my fave!

Great pix! I'm glad you and your momma got back safe. She's a cutie!

M

OH. MY. GAWD!

You look so EUROPEAN in them!!!!! Ecspecially in the second one.

How cute that you went with you Mom.

MIGUELGOMEZ said:

Come here lover

Imago said:

That's it. Were getting married in that church in one of your pix.

Okay, okay. I know Fauxie or Hamsterhuey have got dibs but I'll be the third husband. It'll be very BIG LOVE.


m

It's funny, I keep hearing people say that London folks are so unhospitable but I never get anything but the best service and nicest people when I go there... eventually I figured out that it was because I apparently sound like a Londoner when I speak, cos one woman asked me if I wanted a discount card at a grocery store and I said "nah, I'm only a tourist" and she said "no way! You sound like a right Londoner!" so that explains it. Ergo, Imago you need to practice your London accent.

Also I don't agree with your assessment of Paris, I love that city to death. I went in October though so I think I had a bit less (other) tourists to worry about, then it's much more of a Parisian air about it.