Pushing my terrible memory to the test here, but, going back to February 16th was the day i left little Launceston for London on my first European holiday.
I'll just start with i totally get the hype about going to Europe, it really is something else! The 22hr plus flight was nowhere near as dreadful as i'd thought it would be, courtesy of a sleeping tablet i won't lie.
We stayed in a picture perfect Air bnb townhouse in Kensington (HIGHLY RECOMMEND,) a 5 minute walk down the street and we were at Kensington Palace on the edge of Hyde Park. Every single place on earth should have a Hyde Park near by, it's so incredible.
We did the classic tourist attractions, castles, Trafalgar square, tower bridge, SO MANY cathedrals and Harrods (haha) and so on. One of my favourite things we did while there was climbing to the top of St Pauls Cathedral to see all over London. We were so lucky with the weather we should have been in 10 layers and still cold, but it was a cosy 13 degrees(ish) most days with the sun shining and clear skies with the exception of one rainy day.
On the 21st of February we got the bullet train to Paris, inconveniently the same day i felt like i was possibly dying with the flu (or something lesser but felt like the flu...) Two hours later everyone around us was speaking French, it was crazy to travel sooo long to London yet still everyone was speaking English to then spend 2 hours on a train and hear nothing but French.
Paris is MAGIC, I know there are plenty of people who would disagree but I LOVED IT and definitely fell in love, this is one place I will come back to one day. This time we had an Air bnb apartment in Le Marais just off a main street full of cafes, delis, bakeries, green grocers and the BEST ribs shop called Stévenot. I crave those ribs and potato gratin every other day.
The highlight from Paris would have to be climbing to the top of the Arc De Triomphe and looking down Parle Vous France, the view was stunning! Sitting on the edge of the window in our apartment and seeing all of Paris' beauty. Oh and eating, eating was a MASSIVE highlight in Paris.
Again we were so lucky with the weather in Paris, it stayed around 16-18 degrees every day with no clouds in the sky just sun.
Then ROMA, the weather was much the same, again, lucky us! We stayed at a cute hotel 5 minutes walk from the Trevi fountain. Spent our days walking around the Vatican, the Colosseum (better from the outside) and St Peter's Basilica which was the biggest building I've ever been inside full of gold and marble.
I'll be honest Rome was beautiful but it's not a place i feel id ever need to go back to unlike Paris and London.
Say HELLO to Firenze! (Florence). Again Air bnb takes the accomodation cake, we had an absolutely stunning apartment on the water right next to Ponte Vecchio bridge. We only had two nights in Florence minus the travel time the day we got there and the day we left, so we had a guided tour to see as much around us as possible. All i can say is it was beautiful.
March 4th we got on the train to Venezia (Venice), walking outside the train station to see nothing but water was something else. All six of us and our 9 or so suitcases jumped on a water taxi to our hotel which made me nervous, but i will say it was incredible. Our hotel was right on the water (obviously) it was super classic inside, lots of green and red wallpaper. Basically other than eating and drinking we walked around taking in the beauty of the city on water.
It was much colder here being surrounded by water, we sat at the waterfront bar below our hotel playing cards and drinking in puffer jackets, scarves, gloves and blankets! I highly recommend seeing Venice if you are going that way, 2 nights would suffice.
Our last stop on our holiday was Positano on Italy's Amalfi Coast, our hotel was sitting cliffside on the last road closest to the beach. I didn't appreciate it here as much as i think i would've had it have been peak season full of people and hot, most shops and restaurants were under maintenance getting ready for the busiest time of the year.
But the village itself was so incredible, we ate the BEST pasta at one of a few restaurants on the beach "Chez Black", the gnocchi was unbelievable. I put my brave pants on and double dinked with my boyfriend Sam on a scooter around the windy mountain roads. The experience and to say i'd done it was all i needed and that was that.
Without a doubt in my mind i will be back to London and Paris as soon as i get the chance, i honestly had the most wonderful time seeing that part of the world.
Thanks for reading! If you have any questions about where exactly we stayed feel free to contact me, happy to answer any queries.
Chelsea X