Lily Pond at Giverny
Our trip to Europe this year took on a decidedly different flavor than last year's trip. We went to only four cities (with a few side trips thrown in.) Paris, Florence, Anghiari and Rome. These were our favorite cities last year and we wanted to spend more time in each one. But the main difference was our choice of lodgings. Instead of staying in hotels, we decided to rent apartments. Thanks to the great site VRBO.com, we found some great apartments in our favorite neighborhoods.
We didn't have maid service everyday as is expected while staying in a hotel but we found that it was much more relaxing to come home to an apartment. We shopped at all the little food markets and stands, made snacks or cooked meals when we wanted and were even able to wash and dry our clothes in all but one of the apartments. But the main advantage of apartments versus hotels was the cost. I think we ended paying about 25 to 30 percent less.
However, the nicest thing about staying in an apartment is the separation of space. When two people stay in a hotel room they're in a single room that is usually around 400 square feet. (At least with the exception of a suite, this has been my general observation.) There is no way to avoid one another. If one person wants to take a nap, the other person has to either take a nap, be very quiet or leave the room altogether. Not so in a one bedroom apartment. If one person wants some quiet time to nap or just lie down and quietly rest all they need do is go into the bedroom and close the door. This might seem to be a trivial point but it really does make a difference.
Leaning Tower of Pisa
The Spanish Steps
I decided that I would not post quite as many photos this year as last, except for the photos of Rome. The majority of what I have posted are of places we did not visit last year. So between this year and last you should have a pretty good sense of where we were.