My parents always wanted to take me to Europe and teach me what this fascinating country can offer me, which it did during the 2 weeks vacation/cruise. This trip was on my bucket list for hundreds of years and I’m glad I was able to soak in all of the main attractions Europe can offer.
When me and my family landed in Paris, we had to frantically run to get a taxi that took us to our hotel. Our taxi driver was highly informative regarding all of the history behind the main attractions, i.e. the Louvre, Notre Dame, Effiel Tower, etc. The Louvre Museum was definitely the best with all of the most historic pieces of artwork mankind can ever imagine, i.e. Virgin Mary, Venus statue, ancient artifacts, crucifixion of Jesus Christ, ceiling paintings and the iconic Mona Lisa. My sister, Tiffani, suggested to both my parents and myself to visit the Musee d’ Orsay museum. The museum was alright with all of the famous paintings that were completed by well-known artists.
As we travelled to Barcelona, Spain, we boarded the cruise boat to travel around the Mediterranean Sea for 6 days. The boat had 15 floors and filled with three water slides, plus swimming pools and hot tubs. Our first stop was in Florence, Italy. My mom wanted to visit Pompeii and Sorrento. Luckily, I watched a documentary about Pompeii and the history behind this ancient city. As I was touring around this once-ancient city, I was just astounded at how the structure of this city was still standing after all these years. The pictures below best explain what was left in this once beautiful city that was filled with love, family, kids playing/learning, etc. I would have loved to visit the second city that was damaged by the volcano, however my parents wanted to visit the beautiful city of Sorrento.
I was very very intrigued and surprised to see the ruins of Pompeii, including seeing how an active volcano nearly wiped out an entire city. It was very interesting to see this once ancient and lively city well preserved after so many years. Once we were finished with Naples, Italy, we had to travel back to the cruise ship. I was able to relax and rest my body in the hot tubs plus ride some awesome water slides with my dad. My parents always wanted to take me to Rome because the city is basically filled with some of the most iconic attractions. My mom wanted to visit the Roman Coliseum, however I was highly disappointed that I wasn’t able to roam around the interior of this highly well-known attraction. Then we went to visit the Pantheon and that was amazing to see the architecture and how the room is aligned with the sun. There were hundred of people visiting this famous attraction and I remember studying this in my art history class at PCC Sylvania!! The last stop was the Vatican Museum, which was the highlight of the trip in Rome. I was able to see the ceiling paintings and imagined the hard work and hours of labor for these iconic artists to paint the interior of this famous museum. The last stop inside this well-known attraction was the Sistine Chapel. I wasn’t able to snap any photos inside the Chapel due to security and religious purposes. However, I was astonished and my eyes were like coming out of my head as I saw some of the most famous Christian paintings by Michelangelo, Botticelli and Perugino. I was basically in the House of God and the painting of Heaven and Earth, plus other paintings of Jesus Christ just blew my mind!
Rome blew my mind completely and I was amazed at all of the attractions, including the Vatican Museum. Unfortunately, I was kind of disappointed that I wasn’t able to visit the interior of the Roman Coliseum or St. Peter’s Basilica. I realized there were hundreds of people attending both of these well-known attractions, however I had to accept the fact that there was no way I would be able to see what I have dreamed of for so many years. We had to return to the cruise boat and travel to Florence, Italy. There was not much to see in Florence, Italy other than the statue of David at the Piazza Della Signoria. My mom also wanted to visit the Uffizi Museum that had three pieces of artwork by Leonardo da Vinci.
The next city we visited was Cannes, France. As the cruise boat was about to approach the docks to park the boat, there was severe wind ravishing around Cannes, which delayed everyone on the boat to explore the city. I was fine with that because I was in the middle of eating my delicious breakfast with my parents and just chilled on the top floor of the cruise boat. The only way for us to explore Cannes was everyone had to ride in life boats to the docks and then we were able to do whatever until the departure time. My mom wanted to see another view of the city so we had to walk up a hill. As we were strolling upward, I walked on the sewer line, tripped and accidentally skinned my right leg. I was in a lot of pain and gladly my parents were there to witness my injury. By the good grace of God himself, there was an African American French lady who saw what happened to met and asked if I was okay. She said she can take me to the hospital for free since my family and myself are all tourists, however I was fine. My mom went to a pharmacy and got a band-aid for my leg, which I had to wear until I got back to the cruise boat. I wasn’t able to ride the water slides on the top of the boat, which I was fine with and I was able to allow my leg to heal for the rest of the night. From my perspective, I really loved Cannes and its extravagant beauty it presents to tourists and everyone who visits this magnificent city. My dad also reminded me that famous actors and actresses visit this city for the International Cannes Film Festival. As we were riding the tour bus around the city, I was able to see hundreds of TV and movie posters that were displayed at the facade of several hotels.
Cannes, France is definitely a beautiful city, however we had to leave its elegant beauty and board the final city on our cruise boat excursion. The final city was Palma de la Mallorca. There was not much sightseeing available at this city other than a Catholic Church known as Cathedral of Santa Maria of Palma. We were able to walk around the church then my parents were getting tired and exhausted from walking a ton. My parents and myself boarded a tour bus to take us around the city, which was relaxing and fun at the same time.
London, United Kingdom was the last stop for my vacation in Europe. Our taxi driver mentioned that the day we arrived was the day that protestors were fighting for climate change all over the city. I was shocked and surprised at the same time that I was able to ride in a car with the steering wheel on the right side of the car, which was kind of fun/exciting. As the taxi driver was explaining some historical information about London, I was able to view the architecture of the buildings and city life. My parents and myself both had the once in a lifetime opportunity to see the Queen of England and Prince Charles. Once we dropped off our luggage at the hotel, my mom wanted to visit Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace. As we were approaching Westminster Abbey, the entire city was on lockdown because the Queen of England had to speak at Westminster Abbey and then return back to her house. I was able to see the change of guards, Queen’s guards and the Queen of England/Prince Charles in a carriage, while being surrounded by millions of tourists and locals of London. It was an experience of a lifetime and I would never even experience this type of awesome opportunity anywhere in the world. I am proud to say that I was able to see Former President Barack Obama and the Queen of England. My mom wanted to tour around Westminster Abbey once the parade was finished, however my dad became ill and then we had to head back to the hotel, which was very unfortunate on my part. I wanted to visit other areas of London and experience the night life of this awesome and historical city. I’ll post a link of a video on my Facebook profile where you can watch a video that shows the Queen’s guards and when I saw her in a carriage with Prince Charles. Facebook Video
My mom and I were able to visit an art museum called The Design Museum, which was very close to the hotel. I really enjoyed and loved about this design museum because they had a very specific section where they displayed eco-friendly and sustainable food-related products and togo boxes. Below in the gallery, you would see a very specific picture of seven different materials that everyone, i.e. cooks, wholesale food distributors or even well-known grocery stores like WholeFoods and New Seasons can incorporate into their stores. Since styrofoam is banned throughout the country, this museum had seven different reusable materials that can possibly replace styrofoam as a container to pack left over food from a restaurant. I really enjoyed this type of sustainable idea because it would lessen the health defects of styrofoam and not damage the environment. There was also another area in that same display that showed a spaghetti straw instead of a paper or clear straw, which can be edible at the same time. I really hate having to sip any kind of drink through a paper straw because any kind of extra ingredients always get stuck in the straw. My mom and I saw a timeline of tech products and other iconic items that we used to love dating way back from the 1990’s until now, which was very interesting for me to see this. My parents and I went to visit the British Museum to see a wide variety of historical and ancient artifacts. I had the opportunity to see the first Gutenberg Bible, Rosetta Stone, statues of the Pantheon and the Magna Carta. I don’t think I would be able to see these four ancient historical items anywhere else if I didn’t visit London.
I am very fortunate and proud that I was able to see and experience this wonderful European trip, plus thankful for my parents to take me on this life changing vacation. I hope you enjoy this post. Thank you!!
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