It's a beautiful winter morning in Saskatoon, but I thought I would take a break from craft blogging to go down memory lane for the benefit of my sister and cousin who asked to see some photos of our trip earlier this year. I couldn't pare it down to my top 10 favorites, but it's far fewer than the 800 some people have been subjected to (sorry, Erin!)
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| First couple hours in Paris: the rain cleared up and it was a beautiful day along the Seine. |
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| The first of many "wine breaks" |
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| At the Louvre |
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| The Arc de Triomphe: Way bigger than I expected it to be. |
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| With Matt's aunt and uncle in their Paris "appartement" |
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| La Tour Eiffel |
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| Beautiful Paris |
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| Aix-en-Provence: All the kids were drinking this creme de menthe concoction, so Matt also decided to try it. He didn't order a second one. |
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| Beautiful architecture and art in Aix (behind us, we're not it) |
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| Walking (okay, posing) along the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, France |
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| Parc de la Chateau in Nice |
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| Renting beach chairs and a parasol in Nice was a genius idea: 28 degree air and 25 degrees in the ocean! |
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| Breathtaking Manarola, part of the Cinque Terre on the Italian coast |
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| Riomaggiore, another one of the five towns |
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| An almost vertical street in Manarola |
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| Our sailboat caption, Faust, and his first mate |
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| Steak Florentine: 2.2 pounds of regret |
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| "Due cappuccini" at a real Italian coffee bar. It was delicious. |
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| Mile-high gelato |
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| The gorgeous simplicity of Italian food: just add lots of cheese! |
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| Learning anatomy in Florence. This is the fake statue of David, I know, but by this point, we were tired of line-ups. |
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| I drank the kool-aid. |
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| Looking out over Florence from the Campanille di Giotto |
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| Tuscany takes your breath away |
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| Yep, we could drink that. |
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| Siena's seashell-shaped piazza. I'm hiding somewhere in it if you look really closely! |
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| At the Capannelle winery in Tuscany. |
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| Looking out the front doors of our B & B in Tuscany |
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| Borgo Argenina was as quaint and rustic as Tuscany in the movies |
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| The proprietor, Elena, picking fresh figs for us to try (they were wonderful) |
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| Making an authentic Italian feast with other guests at the B & B |
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| The Spanish Steps in Rome |
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| The Trevi Fountain - amazing. |
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| Circus Maximus, where ancient chariot races were held. That day, people were eating their lunch there instead. |
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| Strip of pizza for ya? |
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| The Colosseum |
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| Tunnels underneath the floor of the Colosseum |
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| Piazza Navona |
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| The Vatican's nutella station |
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| In St. Peter's Square |
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| Entering St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican |
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| Looking back over the crowds in St. Peter's Square |
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| Inside the Basilica |
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| The colourful Swiss Guard |
And I'll finish with the Holy Triduum of Italy:
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| Pasta! |
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| Pizza! |
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| and Peroni (beer)! |
To tie it back to Prairie Sown, I took great artistic inspiration from this adventure; from the romance of Paris to the colourful towns in the Cinque Terre. I don't know where and when these images will turn up in my handmade goodness, but rest assured, they will!
19 November 2012 at 07:20
Amazing!!! Thanks for finally sharing some of your great shots of what looks like a fantastic vacation. xo