Vatican City....

While neither Tim nor I are Catholic we still wanted to visit the iconic Vatican City. And more than anything else I wanted to see the Sistine Chapel painted by Michelangelo. With this in mind we got up, took the train to Vatican City and, and although we were expecting the long lines, we plodded a ridiculous distance to find the end of the line. Thankfully, the Vatican had just opened for the day so the line was moving and while we waited just over an hour, which didn't seem too bad considering everything, the line was always in the shade. :) Finally, we made it to the front of the line and purchased our tickets!

Then we were inside and vectoring our way towards the Sistine Chapel.

To get there you have to pass through a myriad of halls that comprise the Vatican Museums and house countless tapestries, painted maps and unbelievable stone carved ceilings.

Unfortunately, everyone and their brother had decided to be part of a tour and it took quite a bit of time, in uncomfortably close quarters with the throngs of people, to navigate the halls and reach the Sistine Chapel. Along the way I heard one of my favorite quotes of all time, from husband to wife, he said, "Don't worry about taking photos, just enjoy this!". So apropos. I think it's easy to get caught up trying to capture a moment in a photo when in reality you should just be enjoying this something new that you are experiencing. :)

Finally, we were ushered around corners, down stairs and through arches and emerged into the Sistine Chapel! With several museum employees urging us to keep quiet as the Chapel, albeit now a tourist attraction, is still considered a holy place and should be respected as such. Not surprisingly no photos were allowed. We stayed inside for almost an hour trying to process in the incredible detail contained in the figures, colors and patterns that graced the ceiling. I know that the paintings have been cleaned and restored over the years but I was most struck by the brightness of the colors. I expected them to be shades of light or dark but they were incredible jewel tones! We later learned that it took Michelangelo 10 years to paint the ceiling and later on it took 15 years to clean it. Ugh. Talk about a never ending task!

After massaging our necks from craning to try and "see" as much as possible we exited the chapel and wandered through some of the other halls of the Vatican Museums. Like several of the museums that we visited on this trip you could spend days, even weeks, looking at everything of not surprisingly the Vatican is no exception. I was impressed by the endless marble carvings. So beautiful and perfect - I can't imagine working in such an unyielding medium but these artists make it look easy.

Lunching on pizza and wine we fortified ourselves for the rest of the day. Then we were off to a part of the Vatican that I would've never thought of but am glad we found it: the Papal Garage. This was an entire hall dedicated to the various vehicles that the Pope has utilized over the years. Starting with old school carriages complete with elaborate dress for each horse that pulled it. They even had the open air car that Pope John Paul II was riding in when Mehmet Ali Ağca made an attempt on his life (in second photo, far left vehicle). As we know the Pope survived the attack and even went on to visit his transgressor in prison in order to offer his forgiveness. He was a "bigger" person than most. I doubt I could do the same if put in that position.

We finished up the day by visiting St. Peter's Basilica before we decided to walk back to our hotel.

Book love.....

The Devil Wears Prada and Three Cups of Tea. Two very different books - I can't believe I hadn't already rest the former as I'm a big fan of the movie but I have to say the book is just as good. :) My feelings on the latter were mixed; this story about building schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan is truly remarkable however the man credited for these projects, Greg Mortenson, was truly irresponsible when it came to managing money, returning phone calls or emails and being accountable to anyone. He also left is his and two very small children for months at a time to "work" on these poorly planned projects. Um, yeah. He is said to have achieved great things but at what cost?

                                        

Revived with pizza....

Admittedly, the first couple days of our stay in Trastevere consisted of us sleeping late, getting up to search (this was never challenging) for DELICIOUS pizza and wander around marveling at the Colosseum, The Arch of Constantine, and a plethora of other monuments, cathedrals and ruins that were literally around every corner. We also spent some time in our own neighborhood taking in the little shops, cafes, restaurants and the never ending gelato vendors. :)

Since we only had one day left before we moved to the accommodation that had been booked for Tim's conference we planned a day trip to Vatican City.

Coming home....

After the quick flight we took the train to the first of our two Roman accommodations located in a fun and upbeat neighborhood called Trastevere.

We arrived a few days before Tim's conference started so we had some time to ourselves and therefore had to arrange our own accommodation. I noticed immediately when we were walking from the train station to our hotel that the lush plants, trees and flowers reminded me of my time in Mexico. And so it may be no surprise when I say that after all of our other traveling arriving in Rome was like coming home! This feeling was quickly reinforced as we interacted with people along the way, tried the food and spent time walking around. I actually stopped feeling uncomfortable and this was like taking a much needed breather after being on edge for quite a while. I don't want to give the wrong impression that we didn't enjoy our time in the other locales, because we most definitely did, but there was just something different and so wonderful about Rome. :)

Last stop: Italy......

With a great sigh of relief we departed for Paris Orly airport where we safely deposited our rental car with Europcar and were directed to the wrong terminal for check in. :) We wandered around for a bit, checked a kiosk that showed the layout of the airport and realized that we needed Orly Sur not Oest. Luckily there was a continually running tram between the two terminals and we were that much closer to bordering our EasyJet flight to Rome. But wait, where do you check in? We scoured the place until we saw a tiny sign that read EasyJet indicating that we needed to go down one level. So hefting our bags we headed down the stairs where we proceeded to walk, I kid you not, the length of the airport back to where they have their check in desks. Sigh. As we were diligent to read and follow the check in instructions we took the time to check in online only to wait over an hour just to drop off our bags. Ok, people. This plan looks great on paper but in reality it doesn't work. Finally we made it to the front of the line where it took us two seconds to hand over our bags and headed into the terminal to wait just a few minutes to board our flight.

During the 1.5 hour flight we noticed something interesting on the menu: it looked suspiciously like new math. Tim and I tried to figure it out but made little progress. Any thoughts? Apparently, on planet EasyJet you can add food stuffs together and get a sum equal to a candy bar or bottle of water. :)

Meanwhile in Wellington

Champagne time....

To be perfectly honest Paris felt a bit anticlimactic with us not having much time there, the Louvre being closed and the Eiffel Tower too busy to fully explore. However, we were glad to have seen some of it and will someday return and spend more time. :)

We returned to the car, still at the hotel, and set out for our next destination: Reims. Now when I told people that we were taking a couple days out specifically to visit Reims, France, they were incredulous, "Why Reims?". Initially this caught me off guard because, as lovers of sparkling wine, why wouldn't we want to visit the Champagne region in France?! Apparently, not everyone is as crazy for the bubbly as we are. :)

The drive to Reims was, thankfully, uneventful. But I must say that it was very beautiful as we made our way across the French countryside and soon found ourselves in 'wine country'. I don't know what it is but I love seeing grapes on the vine and this time was no exception. We also noticed several villages comprised of small brick buildings that dotted the rolling hills that were covered with neat rows of grapevines.

Arriving in Reims we initially thought disaster had struck: our hotel appeared to be a building that had obviously been out of commission for some time. After rechecking the GPS directions we were still driving around trying to figure out what was happening. Apparently, Google Maps was a bit off on this one and thankfully we found our hotel to be non-dilapidated and in operation! Soon after we checked in and set off to explore the town and get something to eat. Since we were in the holy land of Champagne we had to start off with a couple glasses of the bubbly stuff that had been made right down the road. :) After wandering around town and grabbing dinner we headed back to the hotel and crashed hard.

The following day we hunted down a vineyard where we could take a last minute tour : Dom Caudron. Outside of town about twenty minutes we drove right to the place and spent a few minutes in their front corridor taking in the old school winery equipment that was formerly used to make the ever famous Champagne. Outside they even had some of the equipment fitted as flower planters. :)

Soon after we were ushered into a smallish, modern movie theater where we watched a video describing the Dom Caudron process of making wine. The description took us through the growth and harvest of the grapes; I find it amazing that even in the modern age the grapes clusters are hand cut over just ten days when they are prime for the picking. We also learned that after the grapes have been pressed and the wine is poured into the bottles, depending on what you're after, the bottles sit for different amounts of time, in the dark, only briefly disturbed during this process to be turned 180 degrees. I know this may not be news to anyone else but I find it fascinating! :)

Next we were taken through one of the buildings where the grapes are crushed in huge machines. I couldn't imagine stepping back in time and using the much smaller, manual predecessors that we saw in the museum section of the winery. And yet people have been making wine via a relatively similar process for centuries. This is incredible to me. :)

We also got to see inside one of the processing areas that housed mammoth storage tanks (500 hectoliter = 50,000 liters), stacks of oak barrels for aging specific wines and row upon row of crates housing the precious bubbly until it's ready to be distributed.

Lastly, we had the opportunity to taste four different types of champagne that had been grown and processed there. We started with an unexpectedly delicious liqueor, Ratafia Rose. Light and sweet I was definitely a fan. Next we moved on to Cuvee Vieilles Vignes that had been harvested from what are considered "old vines" more than fifty years old. As you might expect they produce less fruit than younger vines and their fruit tends to be a bit sweeter. Third, we tried Cuvee Millesimee that comprises a half and half mixtures of Chardonnay and Meunier grapes aged in oak barrels. While I suffer no delusions that I know anything about wine each of these gems we tried most definitely had a distinctive taste. With this one you could taste the 'oakiness' from the barrels which gave the champagne a pleasant and interesting depth. Since I don't know the appropriate words to describe wine flavor I'm using anything I can think of to describe our experience! :) In the end our fourth pick was one that the woman running the place recommended: Cuvee Cornalyne. One hundred percent Meunier grapes aged in oak barrels and it was delicious! I would never expect to enjoy this wine if you had described it to me but alas, I love unexpected delightful surprises. :)

Driving back to town we decided to stop at a chocolatier we had glimpsed on a flier. Upon arriving we soon realized that we had a small problem: the woman didn't speak English and let's face it our French is laughable at best. Thankfully, she was very nice and somehow we managed to piece together the chocolates that we wanted to try. She even gave us samples to nibble while we perused the industrial chocolate making equipment (e.g. mixers, molds) that could be seen from the front of the shop. We left with several bags of scrumptious goodies that included milk chocolates with creamy chocolate ganache - I'm a simple girl, admittedly. :) In addition we had some dark chocolate beauties in the shape of wine corks, of course, that were filled with, wait for it, cognac. Just in case you wanted to take a shot and get your chocolate fix at the same time. And we weren't able to escape the placed without a few thin slices of chocolate in the shape of Pringles potato chips that were infused with orange zest. Needless to say these treats didn't last long.

So how I cam sum up our time in France? It was crazy (driving to La Rochelle), rushed (Paris) and unfortunately, we encountered many people who confirmed the "French are snooty" stereotype. But in the end Reims was a lovely, relaxed window of time spent in France and we are so glad that we decided to include it in our itinerary. Cheers to that!