http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Jessica and Thaddeus/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Jessica and Thaddeus en-us Sat, 30 Aug 2008 14:45:12 BST Sat, 30 Aug 2008 14:45:12 BST We're home Well Thad's home in L.A. anyway where I'm hanging out with him until after Thanksgiving. We were both sad to see the trip come to an end and would have loved to have traveled more. We just kept listing the things we missed so we wouldn't be too disappointed to be returning FriendsFamily not just seeing them but being able to talk to them regularly. I have to admit I'm really http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/Los-Angeles/blog-221689.html Nov 10 And we're off to Paris We drove to the hotel Thad returned the coupe and we walked around. A fantastic lunch Thad had salmon and I had this layered thing of eggplant tomato and cheese with salad. We went shopping and found 2 suits for Thad. Then dinner at a Moroccan place that was fantastic we shared a vegetable couscous and Tajine with peas potatoes and carrots.Nov 11 Crepe http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/blog-221688.html Left to Tours and went to Vouvray for a Champaign tour and tasting which was a lot of fun. Bought one bottle. We got a restaurant recommendation for lunch from the person who did our tasting and the place was fantastic every meal Thad keeps proclaiming that each meal is the best one of the trip. I had a cream and puree of vegetable soup and salad Thad had Coq au Vin again and said this one wa http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/blog-221687.html Nov 7 Drove from ClermontFerrand to Tours and on the way stopped in Aubusson for a fantastic lunch. It was a cute quaint little restaurant and the prices couldn't be beat. Thad had Coq au Vin for a main course and this funky appetizer made up of little fishies had he known what he was ordering it would have gotten the beef in puffed pastry I had salad and a cheese plate we split a fantasti http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/blog-221686.html Nov 5 Checked out of the hotel and drove to Ales for a drink and mushroom crepe. We walked around for a bit then continued our drive to ClermontFerrand a small university town. It took us a bit to find a hotel and we weren't feeling all that great so rested a bit there. Dinner was a salad and a local specialty aligot which is basically mashed potatoes with cheese. As of today we have trave http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/blog-221683.html Everything was closed today in Arles since it's a Sunday so after walking around went to Avignon where we had a lunch of an eggplanttomato saucecheese crepe for me and duck for Thad with some wine. We then went to the Palace of the Popes. Walked around some more just not a lot going on today. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/blog-221681.html A spectacular day in Monaco. I walked about 4 miles along the beach path then met up with Thad for our first brunch picnic which consisted of bread cheese guacamole olive paste carrots and bulgur salad. Beautiful picnicWe then picked up our new French rental car The Coupe as Thad likes to call it which was a Peugeot coupe that Thad LOVED We left Monaco and drove to Marseilles took a http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Monaco/blog-221680.html Nov 1 I took advantage of the fitness center again to spend an hour on the ellipticalhellip I've missed working out so much We had a fantastic picnic on the wall by the ocean and also near the helicopter pad which is how people fly in. Our picnic consisted of salad mascarpone gorgonzola cheese guacamole I'd been craving it since we left a warm baguette and beer. We walked around tow http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Monaco/blog-221679.html Drove to Monaco from Siena had our last lunch on the way at the Auto Grill. We stayed at a Marriott on the beach normally 600night and with Thad's discount it was only 100night Of course the internet was 18hour and you had to buy an hour so no luck using the internet there either. Thad drove back to Italy to return the rental car and take the bus back while I worked out at the fitn http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Monaco/blog-221678.html Some general thoughts about Italy Italy Where Traffic Laws are Mere Suggestions is our quote about Italy.Italians far very friendly mellow and relaxed until you put them behind the wheel of a car then they can't get anywhere or mow you down fast enough I think they're all amped up from all the coffee they drink or something Today saw a pedestrian almost get hit by a car for which he http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/blog-221675.html I love my birthday and this was definitely the best one ever I mean how can you beat being in Siena First thing I woke up and Thad gave me some beautiful Swarovski crystal earrings that he'd been carrying around since Salzburg. We then had breakfast at the hotel and Thad gave me another gifthellip a purse from Florence that I loveIt was pouring rain out good thing we did my bday picni http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Siena/blog-221669.html Left Florence to drive through the Chianti region on our way to Siena. Spectacularly beautiful drive all of the leaves were yellow. We stopped in a cute town to do a little wine tasting. They had hundreds of wines to taste you buy a card for 10 Euro then insert it and select your wines one at a time. A specific amount is poured into the glass and deducted from the card. Lots of fun and we bou http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Siena/blog-221668.html Oct 26 Drove to Florence stopped for lunch at the AutoGrill above the freeway and got salads with fruit for dessert. Rested for a while then went to dinner. On our way to find a restaurant we FINALLY found an art opening which we had kept our eyes open for the whole time. It was down a small alley and had a bunch of Tibetan art music and of course free food and drink. Very fun For dinne http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Florence/blog-221666.html Drove from Rome into Florence today. I'm finally caught up with the travel blog as of right now but will quickly fall behind again as I can't upload any pictures from the PC in our hotel.Thad was online this morning and discovered nonstop flights back to LAX from Paris for only around 300 so now we are thinking about skipping Spain and doing SpainPortugal on another trip in a year or two http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Florence/blog-214536.html Took the train to Naples right after breakfast. Had pizza at the place recommended in Lonely Planet... personally I didn't care for it and liked all of the other pizza we have had much better. There are two kinds of Napolese pizza tomato sauce cheese and either basil or oregano. Very doughy crust watery tomato sauce although it was flavorful you have to order double cheese or else there http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Campania/Naples/blog-214351.html Going to Vesuvius and Pompei today then heading to Sorrento for a couple of nights. Unfortunately we had to pick a very cold and foggy day for Vesuvius so we couldn't see much. Had we been smart we would have stayed in Sorrento first where we could see if it was clear on Vesuvius... which it was the two days around when we went. Could have been worse though. The day we left there was SNOW http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Campania/Pompei/blog-214348.html We were going to take a boat to Positano for a hike in part to avoid the horrible road to drive there but found out the only ferry running that day was 820am they were supposed to be every hour and it was about 1015 when we got there so had to drive. And it was a horrible curvey albeit scenic road. The road wasn't wide enough for two cars in places not to mention trying to avoid all o http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Campania/Amalfi/blog-214347.html As of today we have been travelling for 5 weeks And it's going by MUCH too fastFound a beach on the way to Paestum best preserved Greek ruins in Italy and decided to stop for a picnic. So glad we did as the weather was fantastic and it was so relaxing We had the beach entirely to ourselves and collected a few shells.Spent a couple of hours wandering around Paestum which was very cool ev http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Campania/Amalfi/blog-214345.html Arrived in Bari on the ferry 8am. Drove to Matera Italy which happens to be the place where Passion of the Christ was filmed a movie I haven't seen or plan to we went because of the amazing sounding cave dwellings that we wanted to see. We walked around the main town a bit had sandwiches for lunch at a great roof top cafe then went off to see the inside of a cave that is setup to look like w http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Basilicata/Matera/blog-214342.html Jumping ahead to now... I'm still about 8 days behind on the blogWe arrived in Rome on Oct 22. Did a bit of shopping then lunch at one of the top five restaurants according to Lonely Planet YUM I had a fantastic veg lasagne and minestrone with a limoncello tart for dessert. Walked around Rome and saw Pantheon Church of St. Minerva Fountains 4 rivers Moro Neptune St Angelo walking br http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Rome/blog-214335.html