Only one and a half days left!

So our trip is looming near! Saturday morning we will make our way to San Francisco. While the reality of our trip has not quite sunk in yet (nor has the fact that I am on summer break and will not see the kids until late August), excitement is starting to build. The only negative that I see is the fact that two of Argentina's three games in the first round of the world cup will be played while I am in a plane. I usually faithfully watch every Argentina game (and many others) during the world cup, so no doubt I will be a ball of nervous energy on the plane anxiously waiting to deboard so that I can check my iphone for updates. Other than that, I am very much looking forward to beginning our travel adventure.

Change of plans...yet again!

So, our plans have changed yet again. Largely in part to finances, we have to delay our trip to the UK and Paris until later (We are hoping to make it to Europe for spring break 2011). Instead, for the price of what the flight would have cost us, we have booked a trip to San Francisco, CA and parts of the Pacific Northwest (including Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, and Victoria Island). While at first not thrilled by the prospect of not going to Europe, I am now excited about our Pacific Northwest travel adventure. Melissa and I will be joined by Tote for our exploration of San Francisco and Yosemite. Then, we will carry on to the Pacific Northwest.

Stay tuned for more details as well as blogs and images from the trip!

future plans in the works

So despite that fact that we are not yet fully planned for our summer 2010 adventure, we have already begun to discuss our travel wishes for summer 2011. Are we getting a bit ahead of ourselves? I think not! If we don't travel now when will we? Plus, it has been about six years since I was last in Italy, which is entirely too long a period of time as far as I am concerned and so therefore begging to be altered. Italy and Switzerland here we come, with albeit it a bit of a wait.

My Top 3 Must Sees:

• Cinque Terre (which I did not have the pleasure of visiting last time)
  
• My favorite restaurant in Florence, Ristorante da il Latini (www.illatini.com). This restaurant was across from my apartment. We loved it! It is a set price and all the courses, but you have some selections within it and it is ohhhhhhh soooooo good. I even saw it featured on the food network after I came back from Florence! A definite must. They do not take reservations and you have to wait in line outside for a bit, but the upside is that they bring you complimentary drinks while you wait in line and everyone gets a bottle of wine to take home!

• L' Uffizi - No trip would be complete without it, despite the fact that I have been to this museum at least five times. It is where, at the age of 15, I first fell in love with art history! Despite a very annoyed father who grumbled and pouted I spent over an hour (and no, I am not exaggerating) in the Boticelli room. I was in complete awe of La Primavera. I tried to take in every last detail, despite the occasional loud and boisterous tourist group (You know the ones I am talking about. Every time I enter the Uffizi I encounter them. They move fast from one must see painting to the other. They stop to hear a few key details of the painting and then race to the next stop on their list taking out any bystander who gets in the way).

Then, on to Switzerland where I am sure I will take a picture of every Swissy I encounter in honor of Tasha.

Travel Plans

ENGLAND: While in England I will...

• be a complete and total literary dork visiting all the key sites of Jane Austen, Harry Potter, and more.
• be complete and total history dork.
• go to a play at the Royal Shakespeare Company Theatre in Stratford-Upon-Avon.
• explore Oxford.
• visit the Peak district with Pride & Prejudice in hand (this includes Pemberley!).
• go the to Tate Modern.
• wander through Bath.
• visit the Harrisons and meet little Drew!

SCOTLAND: While in Scotland I will...

• visit Stirlingshire and the castle in Monty Python’s Holy Grail, Doune Castle, quite possibly reenacting a scene or two. Clanking coconuts anyone?
• explore Edinburgh fully.
• visit Alnwick Castle which is the castle that is thought the castle on which J. K. Rowling based Hogwarts.

FRANCE: While I am in France I will...

• not freeze my butt off during the coldest freak week of the year as I have the last two times I have been there.
• enjoy Versailles for all it has to offer.
• lose myself in the Louvre.
• go to an open air market and buys lots of yummy food to enjoy on a picnic along the Seine (bottle of wine included of coarse).
• drink copious amounts of wine.
• understand what the scary men on stilts were telling me.
• indulge myself with all the chocolate croissants I can stomach.

A slight change of plans

So upon further reflection, Melissa came to the very good point that is would probably be more effective, and perhaps less expensive, to start in Scotland and work our way down to London before taking the train to Paris. We still plan on hitting the key spots mentioned before and added a few more in regards to Scotland. Monty Python’s castle in the Holy Grail anyone? :) I foresee a few reenactments in our future...

The planning begins

Following a very productive desktop share (courtesy of ichat), we have a general idea of our itinerary for the summer adventure. We put together a list of must-stop locations including Bath, Oxford, Stratford-upon-Avon, London (of coarse!), various estates in the Peak district, Leicester, and Manchester where we will promptly take a train to Scotland. The rest is still to be determined...