In April 2010 La Cochinita and our 14yo son and I spent 10 days in Paris, Venice and Rome. We used our Star Alliance points to fly open jaw Lufthansa from SFO to Paris via Frankfurt, returning out of Rome via Munich. For our internal European flights between Paris and Venice and Rome we used Easyjet.
Last week our son had a writing assignment for his 9th grade English class where they had to describe something memorable. He chose to write about our trip to Europe.
Reading through his essay, which I've copied verbatim (my comments are in italics), I'm fascinated by those things that stuck with him. So without further ado, here is his essay for your reading enjoyment.
Going onto the plane and listening to the pilot say, “This is your captain speaking. Hope you have a great flight. We will be arriving at Paris, France around 2:10 in the afternoon” had me pumped for the next two weeks I would experience. On this trip I traveled to Paris, Venice, Rome and Normandy.
When we landed in Paris we went to a super small apartment for my dad, mom and me. It was raining a lot our first day but that didn’t stop us from looking around. We learned that they have different small markets for certain foods. If you wanted bread you go to the bakery and if you wanted meat you go to the butcher. In Paris we also visited the Mona Lisa, which is much smaller than I expected. It was also behind a bullet proof wall. Afterwards we went on a boat ride through the Seine River.
One day we left on a train for a day trip to Normandy. I have wanted to go to Normandy since sixth grade. Before leaving for our trip I watched Saving Private Ryan to get a better understanding of where I was going.
The train ride into Normandy looked amazing because of all the green open grass filled with farming vegetation. Arriving at the station (Caen) we walked around and found our rent-a-car (Avis; right across the street from the Caen train station). It took my Dad a while to get the hang of driving a stick shift (It wasn't as bad as my son implies!). First we drove to Omaha Beach and walked around the museum not too far away from the actual beach. Many of the WWII artifacts I have been dreaming about to see in person were there, including the M1 Garand rifle that soldiers used on the attack on the beach. Later we walked over to the American cemetery which made my Dad tear up because of all the men who lost their lives. Right next to the cemetery downhill we saw Omaha Beach. My mom and I walked down the cliff path which didn’t look like I expected. It looked very green with trees and rocks, but once I got to the beach I looked back and saw how difficult it must have been to charge a cliff with bullets firing at you left and right from above.
We then drove to Point du Hoc where we saw giant bomb holes in the ground about 15 feet deep which came from a bombardment. I also went inside a super dark German bunker where I needed to use my iTouch for light.
After leaving Point du Hoc we drove to another museum next to Utah Beach. On the way there I looked out over the land and imagined what it could have been like to be a soldier here in WWII. At this museum I saw cool tanks and different types of weapons. Next we drove to the town of Sainte Mere Eglise which has the church where an American paratrooper landed on the night before the invasion. When we arrived at the church I looked up and saw a pretend dummy to represent this soldier hanging by his parachute from the church steeple. Sadly after leaving the church we headed back to the train station for the train ride back to Paris.
When we came back to Paris we went to the top of the Eiffel Tower which gave us a beautiful view of Paris. At night after our incredible steak dinner (Le Relais de Venise) we saw the Arc de Triomphe glowing light. On our last day we had a fantastic lunch at a restaurant that Napoleon himself used to eat at (Le Grand Vefour). I had to wear a tie and it was a very fancy place. The waiter actually served me wine! Sadly leaving Paris went back to the airport but on the other hand we were going to Italy!
When we landed in Italy (VCE) we immediately rode a bus to Venice. In Venice there are no cars whatsoever therefore we had to walk carefully on the rocky surface ground over bridges and paths with our suitcases. In Venice I had the greatest gelato ice cream ever. I couldn’t stop eating it! Other than the many gelato shops there were also many churches. All the churches were amazing inside with many decorated pieces of art and sculptures. At Venice we went across the canal in a little boat called a gondola. After a short time in Venice we flew over to Rome, the capital of Italy and home of the Vatican.
When we got to Rome late at night we headed to the hotel high above the city. We were staying at the most beautiful hotel I have ever been to (Hilton Cavalieri - upgraded to Executive Floor). We had a super nice room and we had free food in the lounge with an amazing view of Rome. We watched the fireworks from the lounge which were launched to celebrate Good Friday. At the crack of dawn we got up out of bed and started our day. We went to the Vatican where inside we saw MANY paintings, sculptures and different pieces of art. While inside the Sistine Chapel my Dad called my mom and I to sneak into a tour group so we can go the back route to the Saint Peter’s Church because the line to enter the regular way was a 4 hour wait. (There is a tour group exit from the Sistine Chapel on the right side of the back wall which leads directly to St. Peter's. Going this way rather than the regular exit you can save waiting in line plus a long hike around the Vatican. This is for Vatican tour groups only so if you are by yourself play it off like you are with a tour group)
The next day we decided to go sightseeing around Rome. We went on a tour bus that had an open roof and an automated tour guide in English. We drove around and saw everything including the Colisseum. After the bus tour we walked to the Trevi Fountain which was amazing but crowded. Dinner on the last day was the worst food I ever had traveling. That night I threw up seven times, we had to call a doctor to our hotel but luckily it was the last night and we were headed home. (Turns out he had a stomach virus and the Italian doctor prescribed medications which took care of the problem. Fortunately there was a 24 hour pharmacy open on Easter Sunday not too far from the hotel. He was fine on the flight home.)
Europe is one trip I will remember for a long time. I realized that when visiting a different country it means you were visiting a different world. Normandy is something I will never forget; it really surprised me in many ways especially how that WWII is still in the air. Visiting here conquered one of my big dreams. It couldn’t have been any better.