Our Metro train driver told us a joke today.
There’s a cop stopped by the highway looking for traffic law violators. He spots a car with a driver who has neither hands on the steering wheel. He’s knitting. The cop turns on his sirens and chases after him and when he comes upon him he tells the guy, “Pull over!” The guy yells back, “No, they’re socks!”
This weekend was hot!! We headed out to Ocean City, but never quite had time to take a dip in the Atlantic though I heard this year, the water is already warm. With the cookin’ temperatures (over 100 during the peak hot hours of the day), we set out so we wouldn’t arrive until later in the day. It was 4 or 5PM by the time we reached the boardwalk. After a quick stroll and stopping for pizza at Tony’s, we dropped off our things and then met up with cousins for a wonderful dinner at Sunset Grill.
Grilled rockfish with crab imperial. This crab imperial was amazing. I’d never thought much of crab imperial before. It was always too mayonnaisey and salty but that was because I’d only ever had it at buffets. This one was so different and so good I didn’t even recognize it at first.
Soft-shell crab sandwich. It came with 2 meaty crabs! So good.
And the dessert!
Chocolate peanut butter cake. It tasted like a Reese’s peanut butter cup.
I am coming back to this place!
After, we went to Seacrets, a bar/dance club/restaurant. It is giganto with various themed dance halls. Watch out, their Pain in de Ass drink is strong. The cousins outpartied us and had the juice to move onto Fager’s Island while we had to call it a night at 12:30. I think I’d like to go back to Seacrets, but for dinner, so I can float on one of those little tubes, plus it’d be less crowded.
The next day, we had brunch at another very delicious restaurant, Dirty Harry’s. It’s actually in Delaware, close to the border of Maryland. Their crabcake sandwich is outstanding and I loved the seafood omelet. Packed full of crabmeat, scallops, and shrimp with the right amount of Old Bay. It was so good, I am coming back to this place too!
Brunch made us sleepy so instead of making it out to the beach we ended up falling asleep on the couch then heading back.
What a relaxing weekend even if we never quite made it to the beach.
I overpacked. It wasn’t too bad though. Just 2 dresses I never got to wear and a little sweater that went with one of the dresses. Turns out we never really dined anywhere too fancy and the few times it was dressier, it was too chilly for a summery dress (Paris). For a 12 day trip, that wasn’t too bad and they were just-in-case we found a fancy place we wanted to try anyway.
What I packed in reality:
5 pants (2 jeans, 1 casual non-denim pants, 1 yoga pants, 1 black cutoff pants (the last 2 are sleepwear and I wore the yoga pants during the travel back)
6 t-shirts/sleeveless tops
2 night shirts
2 button down shirts
2 long sleeve shirts
1 skirt
2 dresses (unworn)
1 light sweater to match a dress (unworn)
1 fleece jacket
1 light jacket
Benadryl (came in handy with allergies and bug bites)
Contacts and all the gear that comes with it
Jewelry (earrings and necklaces)
Sunglasses
Hat
2 Umbrellas
moneybelt
sunscreen
face products
dental hygiene necessities
makeup & remover
1 pair of flipflops
1 pair of sandals
Cameras & chargers with the European power outlet converter
3 4GB memory cards
Gorillapod
1 backpack and 1 camerabag purse
Travelbook
I wore:
A pair of jeans
A long sleeve top and a sleeveless top
A pair of very comfortable sneakers “my potatoes”
On a side note, last night one of our chinchillas, Gina I believe, started barking, kind of loudly and rhythmically. I’d never heard it before. They’re nocturnal so I’m used to them making noises, chewing, scratching, throwing cardboard about, but I’ve never heard them bark at night or during the day. The most they do is squeak. It was 2:30AM and I thought she was hurt or maybe Marco was crushed by his foodbowl. He thinks he’s a toughguy flipping over his heavy marble mortar bowl to the floor. They were quiet when we turned on the lights to check on them and both were just fine. Then when we left, the barking started again. It was rather cute. I’m bugging them right now. I like to pet Marco as he sits there with that flat expression on his face. Boinky boinky to his head.
Go in early Spring or late Fall. Rome is HOT! You will be outdoors for many of the attractions and at the very least walking around a good deal. In fact we probably should have done our trip in reverse: Rome, Venice, Paris.
Pre-print maps and know how you’re going to get from the airport to your hotel. In Paris, you can take the train but figure out which train station to get off from and how to walk from the station to the hotel. Same thing for Venice and Rome.
Bring a backpack to conveniently carry a jacket/long-sleeved shirt, bottle of water, tissues, Benadryl (for any emergency allergic reactions), and an umbrella.
In Paris, just by the day pass for all the trains and all the days you plan on being there, right off the bat at the airport. In Rome, you may just want to pay per trip because you will mostly walk everywhere (4 Euros for the daily pass, 1 Euro per trip. We rode about 2 trips a day if that.). Their train system isn’t as comprehensive but things are close enough to walk.
Also in Paris, take the RER as much as possible over the Metro from either airport or anytime carrying a lot of luggage.
Watch out for mosquitos in Venice but particularly in Rome. Bring Zyrtec to preemptively fight those itchy mosquito bites. I got attacked every night in our hotel room and even woke up in the middle of the night in fits of scratching. It was pretty torturous.
In any city you go, no matter how touristy it is, find a local grocery store to buy your waters. Don’t pay 3 Euros at a tourist stand. They’re really no more than 0.50 Euro a liter.
In Paris, water in restaurants can be tap (free) or bottled. We observed about 50/50 tap vs. bottled among the patrons in restaurants. In Italy don’t ask for tap or they’ll think you’re ridiculously cheap. (We learned this from our local Italian friend.) Or just get a bottle of house wine.
Get the house wine. It’s inexpensive and good.
Go a little off the beaten path to discover restaurants that the locals frequent. In Paris, try to go to at least one restaurant that does not translate the menu into English. Remember, carpaccio = raw, usually raw beef sliced paper thin. In Rome, we found a local restaurant by our hotel where they barely spoke English. We would speak English and the guy would reply in Italian. And yet we understood each other. We loved it so much we went back. In fact if they hadn’t been closed on Sunday we were planning dinner there a third time. Some places will offer you a limoncello gratis if you are a foreigner. I think they just like to see you pucker your face when you down it. We didn’t bring home a bottle of that stuff, if that tells you anything.
In predominately Catholic countries, eat dinner early on Sundays or you will be wandering a good deal looking for an open restaurant. In Paris we wound up eating at a Kosher restaurant on Sunday night and in Rome, we ate at an Italian place but the manager that night was Indian and the chef in the kitchen was another Asian.
IMPORTANT TIP!! For some tourist attractions, you can buy one ticket to see multiple places. Go to the least popular site of the package deal to buy the ticket because there will be little to no line. Then when you get to the popular attraction, you can bypass the chaos of the long lines. In Venice, the Correr Museum and the Doge’s Palace are one ticket. We went to the Correr first and got our ticket which was good for the day and also covered the Doge’s Palace which had long lines that morning. In Rome, we waited an hour at the Colosseum for a ticket which was in package with the Roman Forum and Palatino. Had we been savvier, we would’ve gone to the Palatino/Forum for our ticket and then headed to the Colosseum. Live and learn.
In Paris you might be able to purchase from your hotel, museum ticket package deals where one ticket will get you into Musee Louvre and d’Orsay and such. If you’re planning to go to them anyway, it’s worth it. In Rome, if you want to go into St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, you might consider joining a tour group when you book your trip or ask your hotel to arrange a tour group. Otherwise, you’re in for a long wait with a line that seems to wrap around the whole square. We wound up taking photos of the outside and being satisfied with that. Rome has so many beautiful sites to see, missing out on the Sistine Chapel was to us, not a big deal. Plus, given that we had only 4 days, we knew we wouldn’t get to everything anyway.
Be wary of all the knockoff/junk sellers. Things in Europe are generally pricey so if it’s cheap, it’s probably made in China. If you’re going to shop, splurge on something of quality that’s made there. Venice is known for Murano glass and it’s pretty, and not that expensive. I got a good amount of Murano items. In Rome, I bargained with a vendor for a wallet. He went from 15 to 10 to 8 to 5 Euros. I took a closer look at it and said no thanks. Later, we saw other vendors hawking similar wallets for 3 Euro. They were all probably cobbled together by some poor Chinese kids. So when you shop, just be careful. Even paintings, unless the artist himself is painting and selling his works, it’s probably painted by that same poor Chinese kid after he was through cobbling together the janky wallets. We wound up only buying art from one painter in Paris. He had his watercolor paints out, a little bio of himself printed from some website and all his works were unique and he could tell you which vantage point he painted from.
Italians don’t dip their bread in olive oil. However you can sop up the sauce from your dish with the bread. Some places will put a bread basket on your table some won’t unless you ask for it. Unlike in Paris though, bread baskets in Rome are not gratis.
Watch out for the subway beggars in Rome. They stand by some ticket kiosks with a cup and “help” as you buy your ticket. These machines all have language options for Italian, French, German, and English so you don’t need help. However after you get your ticket they will ask for a donation. You can bypass those kiosks and go to others or you can just ignore them. I don’t like to encourage such behavior because it just encourages them to keep doing that to other tourists.
Don’t be shy about asking for directions. They’re a friendly bunch in each of the three cities. I wonder what tourists think of us when they come visit?
This was my first time stepping foot on the European continent. We entered by way of Madrid and when we got off the airport in Spain, I was like, “I can’t believe I’m in EUROPE!!” It was a little surreal. Very tasty. Romantic. Exciting. Tiring. Unforgettable.
First stop, four days in Paris.
The public transportation system in Paris is easy-to-navigate, convenient and comprehensive. It took us everywhere we needed to go from the Orly Airport to our hotel to the Chateau at Versailles to Charles DeGaulle Airport and all the major tourist attractions.
It ran late enough that we could ride out to see the Eiffel Tower lit up at night (12PM/1AM?). They have an RER train (double decker) and a smaller local metro (Metropolitain). They run on intercrossing stations so some places you have to transfer or take a specific train. However, you can use the same ticket to take you anywhere you need to go during your stay. We got a 5-day pass (they don’t have 4-day). Also they hand out maps to the city at all the stations. It’s very tourist friendly.
Dining in France is slow and relaxed. You can’t rush even if you wanted and I think that’s a great thing. In DC waitstaff will tell you to dine quickly if you show up late at night or late for your reservation because they want to flip tables a few times a night. Here, if you arrive on time, they’ll seat you and you’ll be among many other diners still resting with a cafe or degestif. I think they only have one round of tables each evening. Maybe two? I noticed even when we tried to slow down to enjoy our meal we’d inevitably finish before others who had been there before us. Even our “quick lunch” turned into a one hour experience. They don’t even like to give you your check too soon, we’d always have to ask for it. I guess they didn’t want to rush you?
Also, I loved watching in the evening, from around 5pm to 7 or 8pm people walking around the city carrying one or two sticks of baguettes, mostly unwrapped. Some would be eating them, but I think they’re taking them home to enjoy with dinner. It’s like rice for an Asian person. A staple. One night while dining next to a boulangerie I counted 50+ baguettes carried by passersby. I think we had it at every meal because that’s the first thing restaurants would set down before us whether for lunch or dinner. Glass of water, crust of bread. No butter or oils to put on the bread though in France or Italy. It must be an American thing. Our hotel breakfast had croissants, baguettes, boiled eggs, meats, cheeses, yogurt, fruit, juices, and coffee, hot chocolate, or tea. We also tried local bakeries’ croissants. I think the ones here in the US are equally good though.
Second stop, three days in Venice. We took a flight from DeGaulle to Venice.
From the airport, they have waterbusses (Vaporetto) which dropped us off near our hotel. Later we also took the Vaporetto to the train station when we headed to Rome. In Venice, they don’t pass out maps readily. It is the true Euro Disney and they milk the tourists for what they can. For example you have to buy the maps in Venice. Or get one from your hotel. They aren’t as readily available everywhere. And even with the map, you will get lost. The walkways and bridges with the buildings right up against them make it a veritable rat maze. You can’t see over any horizon to any landmark. It’s just walls and more walls with similar looking vendors and palazzos (squares). That’s also the fun of being in Venice, getting lost and finding your way back.
Or walking aimlessly in search of a place to eat and along the way, poking your head in random wine shops to buy wine filled in an empty reused water bottles of unknown origin. Best wine we had in Europe though, Refosco.
After dinner, you have to find you way back and if you can back track all those twists and turns I’d be surprised. We always wound up taking a different path back to the hotel.
The main tourist attractions are probabily St. Mark’s Square with the Doge’s Palace and the adjacent basilica connected to it.
We also went to the island of Murano where they make the famous glass jewelry. Various artisan shops will do demos, then take you through their showrooms selling items that are hugely expensive and then the gewgaw jewelry pieces. I was trapped there for hours just looking at earrings, necklasses, and bracelets.
One hidden gem we went to see was the Contarini del Bovolo. Going by my GoogleMap, I had the wrong location to begin with. We wandered for a while and finally a Polizia told us the way. It’s very hidden. It was also closed for renovations. Still very beautiful to see from the outside.
Venice is very international because of all the tourists. I felt safe there walking around late at night, even getting lost. People about are either tourists or the staff. And the staff all speak fluent English as well as French, Spanish, German. Posted menus were in all of those languages and even Chinese and Russian. So it sounds like Venice is a tourist trap. Well sorta. But it’s such a unique city on water that it’s worth visiting. Just being there is a wonderful experience. Just don’t go there during the hot months because even though it didn’t smell too bad when we were there, I can imagine during the warm months, the canals might not smell too good.
And finally, Rome. All three places are rich with history and culture but Rome is like present day history. We’d be walking down the street, cars honking, gelato stores everywhere and boom, right there, yellow tape or a chain fence around an archaeological dig of buildings that were probably thousands of years old.
Walking in the Colosseum and along the stone paths of the Roman Forum was surreal. You’re walking on ancient cobblestone roads, and oh by the way, that’s Julius Caeser’s tomb. And this castle here is where Hadrian was buried. We’d go back to our hotel in the evening and Wikipedia Hadrian or the Vestal Virgins or whathaveyou.
My favorite food was pizza before going to Europe. After this trip, my favorite food might be spaghetti. And they use Barilla. It’s no different than the kind you can get in our local grocery stores. I just now realized I’ve been overcooking it the whole time. Al dente is just barely cooked all the way through. I ate pasta everyday and I’m still not sick of it.
And we’re back! Back and vacuumed the destruction that Marco and Gina made. Boy I sure missed my wascally chinchillas. We’ve started two loads of laundry with probably 5 more to go. Just brought home some groceries for this week a few hours ago and now I’m transferring the 2000+ photos we took. I’m dreading going to work tomorrow. Very tempted to just take the rest of the week off to recuperate from the vacation.
Here’s a brief synopsis of what we did:
We ate.
And we ate.
And we ate.
There was a few other things along the way too I suppose. That’ll take more time to tell though.
Today is major prep day. That’s laundry and tidying up the place so when we return, we can explode our travel stuff all about. Most of the fridge is emptied out. I’ve made a checklist of things to do before shutting the front door as we set off for the trip. Things like watering the plants, feeding Marco and Gina (I’m gonna miss them!), and deleting reruns off the DVR so they don’t take up precious memory space! In my paranoid state of fear of forgetting something critical, I woke up twice last night to grab random things to pack – telephoto lens, contact lenses, and extra memory cards. I guess I don’t want to miss any Kodak moments while there.
I still have to do some major packing. Because of the varying weather conditions in the three destinations (cool and rainy in Paris – mild and warm in Venice – possibly hot in Rome), I feel like I have to pack more options. Something to consider for future vacations. Try to stay in the same latitude.
And the language thing. I’ve decided I need to learn a few bare bones phrases in both languages. Parlez vouz Francais? Merci. See voo play. (I can’t spell the crazy French language. They like to cut off random letters at the end.) Parlete inglese? Per favore. Grazie. Oh and better not forget the all important toilettes or riposo or whatever. Are you impressed or what? Don’t answer that.
This time next week, I will be aboard a plane, headed to Madrid, en route to Paris, France!! Heee! Just thinking about it has me giddy with excitement. This trip has been planned and booked since December but it always seemed like such a distant event that I never gave it much thought. I mean yeah, I want to visit the Louvre and see the Eiffel Tower but it wouldn’t be for months. Well, the months have passed and in one week, I’ll be in Europe. Paris, Venice, and Rome.
Last night, I started packing. I gathered some basic essentials and threw them into my suitcase. Already I have too many things, tops, shorts, blouses, dresses. Plus, just checking the weather, it looks like I packed for the wrong season. It’s going to be in the 50s to low 70s. Warm, but not hot. Perfect walking weather. I am ready for this vacation… just as soon as I gather:
New York City makes Washington DC look like the boondocks. As we stepped off the bus when we arrived, I was just amazed by the hordes of people and the tall buildings everywhere! Nut stands, hot dog and gyro carts everywhere. Going in, I thought if I could navigate the MARTA, Metro, and BART, there should be no reason why I can’t navigate the Subway.
I can not navigate the NY city subway. It’s wild. Multiple tunnels, lines, and levels. If not for our wonderful NY resident hostess, we would’ve been lost. But thankfully, she knew where we were going and we went everywhere!! Hudson River, Chelsea Piers, West Village, Greenwich Village, Chinatown, Little Italy, Empire State Building, 30 Rockefeller Plaza all in the course of 1.5 days. Wow. When we arrived back and stepped off the bus in DC, it was so quiet and calm. What a difference, NYC and DC.
Friday, right off the bus, when we flagged down a taxi, this black Cadillac type car picked us up. We figured something was amiss when we didn’t see a meter, and everyone knows NYC cabs have meters. Well, he charged us $15 for what should’ve been $7 but I’m grateful we didn’t get kidnapped! After arriving and dropping off our luggage, we had dinner at Puttanesca, an Italian restaurant not far from where we were staying with our hostess. We shared dishes of monk fish, gnocchi, and goat cheese ravioli. So tasty. But the most memorable was the panna cotta dessert. I will return and I will get the panna cotta! It was light, cool, creamy, not too sweet, melt in your mouth.
Saturday. Food. Gluttonous amounts of it.
1. The Grey Dog’s Coffee. They have great (huge!!) sandwiches and breakfast items. 
We made a rookie mistake trying to eat the whole thing. We should have shared our entrees. It was a lot of delicious food and I couldn’t stop myself from finishing it all myself!
2. Bubble Tea at Chinatown. We all know how filling bubble tea can be. Ooof!
3. Banh Mi Saigon Bakery for banh mi. We shared this time, but I think I wound up eating almost a whole thing myself because I guess I was the only sardine fan. What!? They’re good!
4. Mamoun’s Falafels. Their falafel sandwiches might have been my favorite out of this entire trip. So flavorful. I will be back for this one!
5. John’s Pizzeria. Three of us shared a medium sized cheese pizza. 
I was already too full but managed to eat a slice. Fresh tomatoey sauce, thin crispy crust. Don’t try to soak up the grease with your napkin. It will pick up all the good cheese. Just enjoy! I will be back for more NY pizza but I do want to try others. Not that John’s wasn’t wonderful, I mean as full as I was, I still thoroughly enjoyed it, but there are so many choices, I figure I needn’t have the same one twice.
During the day, we went to two farmer’s markets and then Chinatown. I wanted to experience shopping the knockoffs and bargaining. And I did. Only I came home with 2 non-functioning janky watches. Ah street peddlers, it’s part of the experience though. We also walked by Little Italy. Then to the Empire State Building. Even at 10:30 in the evening, the lines were still a little over 30 minutes.
The views at night were spectacular though. You could see the city all lit up. In between, we took a break and played 5 hours of Fat Princess on the PS3. The object is like capture the flag. You have to keep the opponent’s princess in prison while rescuing your own princess. Meanwhile, you want to feed your prisoner so she gets fat and hard to carry. After you rescue yours you can also feed her so she’s harder to kidnap. “I’m hungry” she says during the whole game. It has cute graphics and yet it’s bloody.
Sunday we woke up and watched VH1’s Tough Love Couples. The drama is Jerry Springer-esque. I have it on my DVR queue now! After packing up, we walked out to eat on 9th Avenue in Hell’s Kitchen. We were expecting to just have a normal brunch but lo! There was a huge street fair.
I felt like I had won the vacation lottery!! So we shopped jewelry and ate along the way. It was the perfect combination of food and shopping. We shared pupusas with slaw, tamales, crepes, gyros, arepas, emanadas and the girls got the rings and necklaces. I know they’re tchotchkes but that’s the charm of them. I didn’t want to leave, but we had to catch a bus back and before that, I wanted to check out 30 Rock! We got a nice little tour of the NBC office building and checked out the Saturday Night Live set.
Tina Fey used this restroom!
For our trip back we grabbed a final lunch, reuben sandwich. I wanted a street vendor hot dog sorta, but I was afraid of being trapped on a bus and eating questionable foods. Maybe next time. There will definitely be a next time and another and another.
Visiting New York City was like taking a 5 hour bus ride to another country. I pictured myself having to live there and how my life would change. I’d have to walk up 5 flights of steps daily. If I forgot something, I would think long and hard about whether I really needed it. Laundry? Suddenly, handwashing doesn’t seem like such a hard task compared to lugging it to and from a store to have it done. Closet space is such a premium, I’d have to quickly learn how to shop judiciously and toss frequently. Grocery shopping would be different. Cooking in a limited spaced kitchen would require some creativity and resourcefulness. My herb garden would probably not exist. I now have a different appreciation for the slower paced life in Washington. It’s much more relaxed and spacious here. And this trip really made me see how little we really need. Maybe I do have enough shoes. And I won’t complain about not having enough closet space anymore. It’s all so spacious!
And we’re off! I’ll be leaving from work to catch the Chinatown bus to New York City. First on the agenda, food. What else!?
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