capri

tomorrow is our last full day of the honeymoon. hard to believe. the following day we head to Rome and leave on Monday morning...

Capri has been a lot of fun! we went up to Anacapri today which was wonderful and took the lift to the top of the island. We were literally in the clouds... it was amazing! Tomorrow, weather permitting, we are exploring the island by boat which should be fun.

did not quite make it to ravello yesterday as the ferry service to capri was questionable due to weather, so we didnt want to risk missing the last ferry over. next time.

love to everyone!
xoxo, becky and steve

positano 2

Ciao everyone!

Positano is amazing!  we had breakfast on our terrace overlooking the sea this morning, looking out towards Praiano.  Spent the morning walking around town, mainly window shopping (as opposed to real shopping, as the Euro/dollar conversion is not helpful).  Had a delicious lunch of Caprese Salad and Pizza down on the Spiagga Grande (the main beach here) and worked it off by walking to the top of the town.  The weather has been spectacular, although rumor is that it may rain tomorrow. :(  We spent the afternoon on the beach and I swam in the ocean, which was quite warm for this time of year.

Tonight we are having dinner up in the mountains in a small town called Montepertuso.  Should be fun.  Tomorrow we hope to head to Ravello, then check out of our hotel and head to Capri for a few nights.  

We are very relaxed... hard to believe just half a week left.

love to everyone!  

xoxo, b and S

POSITANO!!!

We left a cold, rainy, windy Provence yesterday morning and arrived in sunny Positano earlier today.  IT IS AMAZING!!!  So relaxing and beautiful!!

Had a quick visit to Rome last night where we saw the Spanish Steps and had some gelato.  It was a relatively easy trip down the coast to Positano, and it is really spectacular here.  The hotel is up in the cliffs, overlooking Positano and our terrace looks out the sea.  We look forward to exploring the town tomorrow and heading to Ravello the following day.

Having a blast!  thanks for the comments!!  

ciao!!

becky and steve

A visit to the ancient castle in Les Baux

Bonjour!

We have internet access on our computer and am glad to not have to deal with the french keyboard.

Today was one of the handful of days that it actually rained in Provence.  Apparently, there are 360 days of sunshine a year in Provence.  Today it poured, but was still a great day.  We traveled to a small town up in the mountains called Les Baux.  The town consists of a tourist haven of shops, restaurants and boutiques, and the ruins of a medieval castle up on the cliffs.  It was very well preserved and the views were absolutely amazing!  We felt like we were Frodo in Lord of the Rings, or medieval knights protecting the castle!  It was fascinating!!

The town was cute and we did a little shopping to avoid the rain, then came back to St. Remy.  The afternoon included a visit to the famous Joel Durand chocolatier and the cookie bakery Le Petit Duc.  

The blog from yesterday was not particularly informative due to the french keyboard issue, but we had a great day in St. Remy.  We visited the mental institution where Van Gogh stayed in 1889 (?), during which time he painted over 150 paintings.  All over town there are panels of Van Gogh's paintings that he did while in St. Remy.  We also went to these Roman ruins called Glanum, and walked throughout town, window-shopping and taking in the ambiance.  

The shopping has been fun, and the weather has been great other than today.  Tomorrow, we spend the day traveling to Rome, and hope to visit the Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain in the evening.  We leave early Tuesday morning for Positano, and look forward to the warm, sunny weather and pasta!!  

France has been great though, thanks for the comments.  We will try to upload a few pics after dinner, but don't know how that will go.

Married life is great!!  1 week and counting!!

love to you all!!

xoxo, becky and steve

Provence

Bonjour!!!

we love the comments!!

internet access is sporadic and i a, on a french keyboard again so sorry for typos.

yesterday was amazing! we did a wine tour through cote du rhone and it was amazing! our guide gave up his legal job in london 10 years ago and moved to provence with his wife. he bought so,e land and grows wine, and has 2 young boys. he was great and we went to Gigondas, Vacqueryes and Chatenuf du Pope. Drank a lot but it was great!

today we did all of the sightseeing in St. Remy and tommorrow we go to Le Baux. Weather is fantastic! warm and sunny!! food is good but we are eating so much!! we try to walk it off but i will need to go back to physique when i get back!!

love to you all!! will update when we can!!

xoxo, becky and steve
also shout out to allie for graduating from yale this weekend! wish we could be there!!! we are so proud!

DISCORD IN FRANCE

Today, we had a taste of a local phenomenon... the TRAIN STRIKE.

At 7:45 am, upon being served fresh croissants and coffee from our Chateau proprietor, he informed us that the trains were on strike.  He explained that the strike was only for one day and applied to only on certain trains--SOME STRIKE!  He said, "hopefully it will be OK for you" ... and then he ran off to make some wine.

Our taxi driver, Jean-Michel, dropped us off at the Beaune Train station at 9 am, waved goodbye, and pointed to the sign.  We hoped that everything was running on schedule.  We were wrong--our train, along with most others, was cancelled.  There were 2 people working behind one window (one greeter, one interpreter), so, needless to say, the line moved quite slowly.  Eventually, we learned that although most trains were cancelled, we could reach Avignon by 5 pm (as opposed to our scheduled arrival at Noon, which would have provided for a leisurely lunch and vin.)  

Time for Plan B -- we attempted to lug our bags 1/3 of a mile to the nearest Avis to see if they had any available rental cars.  No such luck.  The sole employee at Avis informed us that another nearby rental company--AVA--may have additional cars.  Well, the only cars at AVA were U-hauls, and even those could not be dropped off outside of the Burgundy region.  So, we were resigned to sitting on a bench for more than 5 hours, with 100+ pounds of luggage ... and a cranky bride (yes, Steve is typing most of this, if you haven't guessed already) in tow.  However, we did meet an interesting cast of characters, including "the Texan" (more on him below), who, along with his wife, was also intent on reaching Avignon today.  

Along with most other stranded tourists, including the Texan, we took an 11:50 train to Lyon, which required us to sit in the terminal for 3 hours while awaiting a transfer to Avignon.  After several sandwiches, some mild bickering, and a few toilet breaks (mutual), the train arrived ... Steve graciously lugged our 100+ pounds of luggage up the stairs, and muscled a swarm of people out of the way.  "I'm" not quite sure how, but he was quite successful, and managed to get our bags secured in one of the few open luggage racks on the train, while I scrambled to secure 2 seats next to each other.  SUCCESS!

Just as the train was rolling out, we noticed a lively commotion brewing outside.  Out of the corner of our eyes, we saw the Texan's arms flailing, while expletives flowed from his mouth that few could discern.  Yes, you guessed it -- the "the Texan" didn't quite make the last train to Avignon.  We don't quite know the full story, but one thing is for sure--he DID NOT make it on our train.  Oh well.  So it goes ... you snooze, you lose.

Very long story short, we arrived in St. Remy via Taxi at 5 pm, and proceeded to enjoy the "lovely" grounds and prepare for a gourmet dinner.  More on this tomorrow -- we need to rest up for our personal wine tour of the Cotes du Rhone region in the morning, which should prove to be a great adventure.  Becky looks forward to updating more tomorrow.

Beaune

Bonjour everyone!!

Quick update on the last few days...

Beaune was great.  we stayed in a Chateau run by this guy named Francios who runs the winery. The town was tiny!  Basically it has dozens of wine cellars all over, hidden underneath restaurants, chateaus, and various other buildings.  Really interesting.  We learned a lot about Pinot Noir and Chardonnay since thats all they make in Burgandy.

Food has been outstanding.  We are eating tons of meat and escargot, but looking forward to seafood when we get to italy.  We have met a fair number of couples, mainly from the US and UK.  Everyone has been lovely.  We will try to upload pics.

We just got to Provence.  It took an entire day due to the train strike.  I will write about that in a few, as it deserves its own blog entry.

xoxo, becky

bonjour!

bounjor!

we are having a fabulous time in beaune!!

it is an old town with endless wine cellars that have been so much fun to visit! food and sights have been great! our chateu is amazing and run by this older man who makes us the best breakfast every morning! we did a tasting in the chateus wine cellar yesterday and it was so fun! all Pinot Noir and Chardonnay here but it has been delicious so far!

tommorrow we go to provence and should be able to upload pics and use steves computer there with a normal keyboard! but so far things are great and we love it!!!


xoxo,
becky and steve
PS - thanks to everyone for making our wedding an absolute blast!!!!

Welcome

Hi Guys!!

Instead of sending e-mails to everyone, we decided it would be more fun and easier to do a honeymoon blog from Europe.  We were inspired by my mom's blog.

We will try to update it regularly as we travel through Burgundy, Provence, Rome, Positano and Capri. 

Feel free to comment etc.!

xoxo, 

Becky and Steve