Road Trip

What an Amazing two weeks we just had! Jill and I packed up our little rental on Monday the 28th. We drove to San Sebastian and stayed at a cute little hotel and had a great dinner! We were pretty tired so after dinner we wandered home and went to bed at a reasonable hour. We wandered around the town on Tuesday morning and popped into a few shops and enjoyed the view...of course we had to get a yummy crousant and coffee as well at one of the bakeries! The food is definitely definining my adventure :) We headed out of town around noon and drove north to Bordeaux! Another very cute town! Everyone was very friendly and we found a very small place to stay in the heart of the town square. We were starving at this point and were sad to realize that everything is closed until dinner time and we couldn't get anything! We finally stumbled upon a place were we got some cheese and enjoyed a nice bottle of wine :) Unfortunatly were too late to go on a wine tour so we had to take ourselves on one! We ended up at a really cute wine bar where the lady was extreamly knowledgeable about the area and she basically created a nice little flight for us to enjoy. Of course the one that I liked best was virtually impossible to buy! She said you couldn't visit the winery, but that is the only place you can buy it so I guess I'm out of luck! We had a nice dinner at the Grand Cafe after our "wine tasting" Jill discovered Ratetoullie (sp??) which was incredible! She originally thought it was a meat, but low and behold it is vegatable dish! I went for the steak!

We left Bordeaux in the morning and drove to Paris. Driving in was a little hecktic but once we were settled and started to explore I was in love! What a beautiful city! When we got in we just wandered and then had an amazing dinner. The next morning we realized was a holiday so we weren't sure what would be open....absolutley nothing! We did walk the entire city though and saw everything! We went to dinner and thought that maybe the eiffel tower would be opened so we wandered over and made it just in time for the last ride up! OMG INCREDIBLE!!! I didn't want to leave! Right when we got to the top Midnight hit and all the lights twinkled... the whole thing was just so beautiful. You can tell we liked it by the amount of pictures!! The next day we went back to see the inside of lourve and Grace Cathedral, we also checked out the picasso museaum and the pompedu center. All of it was very cool although I thought I was going to have a panic attack in the lourve due to the amount of people! Throughout the Paris excursion we had a lot of incredible food, gelato and great sightseeing! Everyone was very friendly as well!

On Sunday we left our cute little place in Paris and drove to Amsterdam. Again so darling! I had seen pictures, but didn't expect it to be so darling! The canals and everyone out on their boats, I felt like we were in a movie! The amount of bikes parked everyone made us laugh, and we were defintely more affraid of being hit by the bikers than cars! We stayed at a darling bed and breakfast right on one of the canals and felt like we were staying at a friends house! We did some exploring of some of the old mansion which are beautiful and again wandered around! I think my favorite time here was our canal side picnic :) I was very surprised by the amount of shopping here as well! Jill has a friend (jesse) living in Hoorne, The Netherlands for the summer working on a sail boat. On Wednesday we went with him up to the boat and stopped in Alkmaar on the way. Another darling town with so much charictor! We just wandered around to see it and had a little lunch. Then we continued onto the boat. We were just in time for sunset! So beautiful!! The night they took us to the local Skippers Bar. It was so sureal! Definitely a great time... everyone was completely local and although one lady told me "Americans are Dumb" Everyone was extremely friendly and it was a highlight!

Thursday we hit the road again and drove through Belgium and Luxenburg, then stayed the night in Dijon France. We left early in the morning and made our way to Arles FRance. Right on the Rhone river, very quaint, but a little difficult to navigate! We were extremely happy to get a nice big room and have a quality shower! We wandered around and found our way into the city square which was very cute and had a lot of energy. We were very surprised by the amount of American Tourists! Another great meal here and then we headed out in the morning!

Sadly we were misguided and thought that our next destination was only 6 hours but ended up being more like 9 so we didn't get to enjoy it. We stayed the night in Toledo Spain, and we will DEFINITELY be going back! What an amazing place! I just wanted to get lost in the little streets, but was so exahasted we ended up just going to bed! We had to have the car back the next day so we had a quick breakfast and headed home. All and all a fantastic trip, but defintely happy to have a nice place to come back to! It is a little overcast today but perfect for us to rest up and get ready for Jills family that is coming on Saturday, and start planning our next adventure! We are thinking of Italy and Switzerland in June....any suggestions are always welcome!

Hope everyone is doing well!