We are very excited about this summer’s adventures! We will be visiting 13 European countries: France, Hungary. Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia, Slovenia, Italy, and Austria.
The preparations for the 70 days away from home – that is 10 weeks – included logistics of house sitting for our home, planning everything for visiting Paris, France, and getting ready for two small group travels throughout Eastern Europe.
During the months of preparation, we met with friends to get ideas about what to do in Paris – thank you, Shelley and Judy! We also consulted guide books, read travel blogs, and watched travel videos. Steve bought the airline tickets, ordered tickets for famous sites and museums in Paris. I designed our usual carry-on only packing lists. We are anticipating very warm weather, especially in the Balkans, so we are carrying mainly light summer clothing.
We will be doing sightseeing on our own, go on trips with a small group of people, and will be visiting with family and friends. There will be flights, riding the metro, trains, and buses, taking a boat and a ferry. We will be renting a car and drive to Slovakia from Budapest and Vienna to my village. We will be staying in hotels and apartments, tasting the local cuisine of different countries. Our journey will take us to museums, churches, palaces, a winery, a castle, a fortress, and a cave. We will be walking in city parks and in a national park, on the streets of medieval and modern cities, shores of lakes and rivers and a sea, experiencing stunning architecture and different cultures.
Here is a glimpse into what places we will be visiting.
France: (6 days): Paris
Hungary (4 days): Budapest
Slovakia (25 days): Pozba, Dunajská Streda, Nové Zámky, Levice, and some others
Romania (5 days): Arad, Sighisoara, Brasov, Bucharest
Bulgaria (4 days): Veliko Tarnovo, Sofia, Plovdiv
Turkey (4 days): Istanbul
Serbia (3 days): Novi Sad, Belgrade
Bosnia and Herzegovina (3 days): Sarajevo, Mostar
Montenegro (2 days): Kotor
Croatia (8 days): Dubrovnik, Hvar, Split, Plitvice, Rovinj, Zagreb
Slovenia (3 days): Piran, Lake Bled, Ljubljana
Italy (1 day): Trieste
Austria (2 days): Vienna
We can’t wait to be in all of these places and share our experiences with you! Hope you can join us by following along on this blog. I will try to blog in real time or post summaries of our travel after we visited the sites.
Day 1, Wednesday, June 3: Flying to Paris
From home, mid-afternoon, we took Uber to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, in a very slow, exhausting traffic. We flew with Delta airlines and took off at around 7 pm. A nice and eventless flight with a little turbulence here and there: watching two films and napping a little.
Day 2, Thursday, June 4: Paris
Landed in Paris at the Charles de Gaulle Airport at 2 pm local time. We’ve been through this airport in the past a few times, but never visited the city.
But now, we were finally here in this iconic place, a megacity of 12 million people.
Steve figured out – with a little help from the train station employee, with whom he spoke basic French! – how to buy our Navigo card, a ticket for the RER train that took us in 45 minutes to Denfert-Rochereau station. From there, we took the metro (Line 6) to the Montparnasse-Bienvenüe stop. Fortunately, we had the Bonjour RATP application on our phones, so Steve could buy our tickets online while standing at the station in the sea of commuters approaching the metro.
Our hotel in the 14th arrondissement (district) was only an 8-minute walk from the metro stop, according to the hotel webpage. However, it wasn’t the case in reality. A sudden downpour and a very strong wind made us to fight the elements and seek shelter for a while by a restaurant wall. Needless to say, we reached Hôtel du Parc Montparnasse totally soaked!
The elevator, taking us to the 5th floor, was the tiniest we’ve ever seen (our two small suitcases and us barely fit into the space), and our room was very small too. This wasn’t a surprise; I read somewhere that hotel rooms in Paris were not very spacious.
After we settled in, even though we didn’t sleep during the flight, we decided to start our Paris adventure. We wanted to see as many iconic landmarks as was possible in our 6 days here. But we also wanted to experience everyday life possibly with walking and taking breaks during the days.
The Montparnasse Tower was only a 5-minute walk from our hotel. Its panoramic observation deck promised the “very best view of Paris.” But guess what? It was closed to the public for renovation!
Instead of getting a view of Paris, we decided to walk to the famous Luxemburg Gardens (Jardin du Luxembourg). Only 1.1 km, about 16-20 minutes leisurely walk from the hotel.
On our walk, we got a glimpse of Parisian life – people sitting in cafes enjoying their drinks and conversation – and the typical shops and architecture.
The Luxembourg Gardens – located in the 6th arrondissement on the Left Bank of the Seine River – has been a green oasis since 1611. It combines Italian, French and English landscape design.
We saw many people, Parisians and visitors alike, relaxing in the numerous green chairs and benches. The garden houses the French Sénat in the Palais de Luxemburg.
As we were walking through the garden, rain clouds were gathering, resulting in some rain and a beautiful rainbow.
On the way back from the Luxemburg Gardens, we entered a local boulangerie to buy our first baguette sandwich. (I’ve been looking forward to eating on this trip French baguettes and croissants in abundance.)
Around 8 pm, we were more than ready for the first night’s sleep in Paris.
