Mr. Bear had quite a few photo shoots while in Europe and is still quite tired.
I need to go through the pics and only bother downrezing and color correcting the good ones, so it'll take some time. I'll likely use photobucket, or some other similar service, as my own server doesn't allow me nearly the space my old server did.
The trip was amazing though. Thanks to all of you for your suggestions. Tom: your suggestion of going on the Lake Lucerne boat trip was dead on! How you could possibly describe that experience as only "quite pleasant" is beyond me. I've literally never seen anything that beautiful before. (Well...there are a few porn dvd's I've got...but I guess that's a different kind of beauty. LOL)
Imagine a lake as smooth as glass. A fine mist hovering above the water, with a backdrop of snow covered alps. Holy cow.
Florence...that's an old dang city. It was amazing to just wander the streets and realize that very little has changed there in over 700 years. But if you go to florence for only one reason, it's got to be to stand before the statue of David in awe. I've seen a million pictures of it, but actually seeing it in person is truly awe inspiring.
Rome...I was sick, and we only had six hours in the city, but Roger dragged my tired, sick butt all over the city. We caught all the big things. Trevi fountain was impressive, but I couldn't help but think...Caesar's Palace. The 1,000's of tourists, and street vendors didn't help the experience any. Italy really needs to crack down on the street vendors, and litter. Standing on a street strewn with litter, and seeing three street vendor carts selling cheap plastic knock offs of their historic monuments really detracts from the experience.
Burgundy...sweet. Such a nice, calm, peaceful, and pretty place. We stayed just outside of Beaune, at a magnificent B&B.
la Maison Chaudenay en Bourgogne. If you ever go to Burgundy, I HIGHLY recommend staying here. The rates were extremely reasonable, and the rooms were superb. Service was spectacular. We had breakfast every morning. Each evening our host, Bruce, gave us a restraunt recommendation, as well as driving instruction how to get there. (A must, as most of the streets didn't have sign posts!) We also took a wine tour with
Burgundy Adventures...a fun and very informative trip. We visited four different vineyards, sampled their wines, toured their caves (one cave was first built in the 13th century and they were still using it today for making wine!)
From Burgundy we took the train to Paris. What a nice city. Clean, historic, easy to get around, tons of museums, a vibrant night life. Pretty much a perfect city. The Louvre get's all the press, but the Museum D'Orsay is the museum to see. Seriously, don't miss it.
PS - GET RESERVATIONS AHEAD OF TIME TO VISIT MUSEUMS IN PARIS AND FLORENCE! It's easy, it's cheap, and it'll save you HOURS of waiting in line.
Pictures to come.
