Europe with Morgan

I knew it was going to be a good trip when I started my San Francisco to Paris flight with TWO empty seats by me! The stewardess said the people were no-shows. It was a long flight and people around me were so jealous. After an hour or so some man came and sat in the aisle seat so then I had to protect the lone empty seat by putting my legs on it for the rest of the flight. 

I had zero jet-lag. We hit the ground running and I never knew what time my body was supposed to think it was.

Morgan was the travel guide for this trip and we saw ALL the things.

I think we were a great team and if we were ever on The Amazing Race we would crush the travel portions on the show. We just assumed we would be pickpocketed at some point because we screamed "tourists" but we didn't have anything stolen or even lose anything as we ran around Europe.

Our first stop was Paris

Even McDonald's is fancier in Paris.

The Arc de Triomphe was probably my favorite site. It is SO high and I think we thrashed our thigh muscles day 1 by climbing to the top but it was totally worth it.

360 view of Paris

We roamed around the city until the bitter end and got to see the Eiffel Tower lights twinkle.

The Palace of Versailles

Hall of Mirrors

We flew to Rome next and the Colosseum was my favorite site there. I love how messy people have their place in history too. Most of the ancient artifacts recovered from the Colosseum were dropped and lost by people attending events and washed down to the drains. Games, hairpins, toys, seeds and bones etc... The exhibits were fascinating. 

We were only about 25% sure this water was meant to be consumed.

They are scattered around the city. This one was kind of cute but the next one we found was sketchy... it was like a foot off the ground and I'm sure hundreds of dogs had also taken a taste from it.

I think I asked about 100 times how they could possibly build columns and buildings SO tall.

The roads were made of square "cobblestones"

Trevi Fountain- we got to see this in daytime and nighttime.

Another exciting Roman site.

Look at these floors... so many pictures of roads and floors on my phone!

St Peter's Square and Basilica

Morgan- again, our intrepid tour guide, had purchased all these little tour books for each city we visited. Then, to save space since we each just had a carry-on, she ripped out and packed only the part she wanted for each city. THEN, as we were leaving a city and headed to the next destination she'd chuck that section of tourbook into a garbage can and pull out the next one. Haha

This sleeper train was really fun. We waffled back and forth about whether it would be a nightmare or a highlight and I'm glad we tried it out. The train came in and out of stations really smoothly all night long and I didn't wake up once. The countryside out the widows was gorgeous also. And we would have missed out on our German speaking attendant who we couldn't understand at all but who always seemed to be just around the corner or asking us questions and then answering them himself. 

We stayed the longest in Vienna and have the least amount of pics. Liz was amazing and showed us all the sites and food all while pushing a double stroller and keeping James and Lois happy. I was insanely impressed while watching her in action.

Favorite food was Kaiserschmarrn (which I ate before getting a picture)- I tried out a few recipes after returning home and it's just not the same!

We took a couple day trips from Vienna- first to Budapest.

Fisherman's Bastion was beautiful and offered a great view.

The chimney cake looks cool but was so gross

Morgan took us on the scenic route to get to the Dohany Street Synagogue. We got to visit the underbelly of Budapest and the red light district where we were NOT propositioned at all. Not once.

Luckily we made it to the synagogue and got to see the memorial tree for the thousands of jews who died during WWII in the Budapest ghetto and were buried in this courtyard.

Despite having physical tickets in hand we practically had to beg to be let into St Stephen's Basilica. They 100% thought we were scamming them or had found old tickets on the street or something. The stairs to get up to the top were a little rickety but the view was top notch.

Prettiest gelato of the trip 

Shoes on the Danube Bank Memorial for the Jewish people who were told to take their shoes off before they were shot at the edge of the river and carried away by the stream. Shoes treated as more valuable than life. This was one of the more poignant memorials I've ever seen. 

The next day our trip was to Bratislava in Slovakia. Charming and walkable- I loved it. This family owns hives and makes beeswax candles and honey products that they sell in their store.

Cannonball from the Napoleonic Wars

So much gelato

Schonbrunn Palace was another favorite. It was the main residence of the Habsburg rulers. It is massive! We used the audio tour through the palace which I would say greatly added to the experience.

Morgan often walked and read about where we were. And we had one speed for this whole trip which was a very speedy power walk. I don't know how she didn't trip.  I take that back... we had 2 speeds: power walking and sprinting- which we used out of necessity to catch a few trains and our last flight. Sometimes it would take us an hour to cool off and regroup after barely catching a train. And sometimes we would full on sprint for a train and then Morgan would say "umm...just kidding... it actually comes in an hour" haha

The Gloriette at the far end of the gardens... which I insisted on walking to.

We did it! What a fun trip! And we didn't get Covid so we passed our required tests and the USA let us back in. Wouldn't have happened without all her research and prep work- thank you!!