All posts filed under: budget vacation

day 8 to 12 – travel journal – french riviera et all

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The most amazing thing about Europe is the fact, everything is connected by train, so there is no need to stress about driving nor flying. One can simply book a point to point ticket or by a Railpass (Outside of Europe Residance only) and arrange to get from any number of destinations within Europe. The beauty of having a Railpass is that the passholder can travel on the TER train – which connects all the beach town along the French Riviera by an intrecit timetable and train schedule.  So, basically in the morning you could be in Cannes and within half an hour to an hour you could be in Antinbes, Nice, Monte Carlo, Menton (depending on the stops the train makes). So, of course we did just that, hopped on the TER everyday and ended up in different parts of the French Riviera. Our stops, on this trip were to St. Tropez, Antibes, Monte Carlo (for the hubby man), VillaFranche Sur Mer and Nice.  Now, although every town is almost the same in that …

day 7 – travel journal – french riviera – cannes

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I love this part of our trips to Europe, the stop in the French Riviera. We took the slow train from Genoa (not intentionally) that was how RailEurope site booked it for me when I did my point to point reservation and within four hours pulled into the Cannes train station. I gladly jumped off the cart and walked to our hotel, which is always across the street from the train station. I prefer it that way. We wasted no time in freshening up and running to the promenade to walk along the shore before heading into old Cannes to have dinner. Cannes is an amazing place to stay, it has everything you need and not as chaotic as Nice is during the busy Summer season.  You can spend the mornings, shopping, then in the afternoon sunbathing at a number of public beaches and then get dressed up and go to dinner at any number of indoor/outdoor restaurants along the promenade, followed by a walk along the shore.  It’s definitely designed for the over forty …

day 6 – travel journal – portofino, italy

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After the hectic day we had while trekking through the Cinque Terre, we decided to take a day to just relax and what better place to do so than Portofino, Italy. From Genoa, we took a train to Santa Margherita for 3.50Euro pp each way, then for  1.50Euro pp each way, we hopped on bus no 82 from the train station to Portofino and within an hour’s time from Genoa we were in one of the most peaceful fishing villages (and a hide out for the rich) in the Italian Riviera. We spend the entire morning leisurely circling the small town on foot, then stopped for lunch at the best bakery in the area for roasted onion focassia  or two or three and then climbed up a hillside to get the postcard views which I have only seen on the cover of most  travel brochures promoting the region. We ended the day by sitting at a sidewalk bar/cafe to people watch while we contemplated their lifestyles and reasons for visiting Portofino. The town is small, …

day 4 and 5 – travel journal – cinque terre,italy

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On day 4 we took the train from Florence to Genoa to get close enough to Cinque Terre so that on day 5 we could spend the entire day trekking (maybe) through the five fishing villages. We woke up early on day 5 to catch a seven a.m. train to Monterosso, which was the suggested first stop by the agent at the train station. The train ride from Genoa to Monterosso costs 6.10Euros per person one way on the regional train, (which meant way too many stops until we reached our destination. So, after two hours on the train experiencing delays and stops, we finally reached Monterosso and got off the train without realizing we had no idea what to do next. Although I read many tour books and online suggestions on how to get around the five villages, nothing prepared me for adventure we were about to experience.  Thankfully the agent at the train station spoke enough English to explain our choices. Either purchase a day pass for unlimited train/bus rides from one village …

day 2 – travel journal – day trip to roma, italy

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There is no way for me to travel through Italy without stopping in Rome, even if it’s just for a day. So, while plotting out this year’s trip abroad, I decided to make Firenze (Florence) my base and take day trips via TrainItalia to Rome, Venice, Pisa and hopefully Verona (will see how that goes). We took an early morning train (7:00 a.m .to be precise ) from Firenze S.M.N. station and arrived in Roma Termini within 2 hours. Upon our arrival we wasted no time taking our walking tour of the city.  The point to remember is that, the suggested independent walking tour  is not recommended for a first time visit to Rome, it’s just intended for people like me who have been to Rome  a dozen times but just can’t get enough 🙂 So, in our case, we started the walking tour with: The entire trip took us twelve hours on foot, with an hour break for lunch and one hour rest break at the Spanish Steps. The train ride back to Florence …

day 1 – travel journal – firenze, italy arrival

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Day 1: We arrived in Florence city center late Sunday afternoon to torrential downpour and thunder storm and after checking into our hotel, decided to immediately tour the city on foot, just long enough to wean ourselves from the jet lag. Along the way and in between the downpour, we experienced the following: {Photos are the property of http://www.rawsilkandsaffron.wordpress.com and may not be used without permission}

olympic fever – london 2012

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For more reasons than one, I planned several years back to be at the Summer olympics in London. But, as usual life dictated otherwise, so my trip to the UK has been postponed for exactly a month after the Olympic games are over. In the meantime, I am spending my evenings catching up on the highlights instead of my blogs.  So, I promise to be right back in the next few days to continue discussing most anything and everything inspiring that I could think of. 🙂

photography in motion: train ride to the suburbs

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I love travelling by train while vacationing  throughout Europe, so I figured it would be nice to do the same on Amtrak (USA) while escaping to the suburbs this past weekend, to visit one of my favorite gals on earth. So,  I bought a round trip ticket and after work on Friday, I took the bus  in San Francisco to the train station in Emeryville,( just past the Bay Bridge)  for my trip to  Sacramento. The only problem with Amtrak is that, while it stops in most metropolitan cities, getting to the neighboring towns is really difficult unless there is a person picking you up on the other end or there is a connecting bus which is available to drop you off somewhere close to your destination. Anyway, I got sidetracked. But the reason for this blog entry is to share with you some of the photographs I snapped while the train was in motion (about 50 MPH to be exact) on the way to and from Sacramento. But after I uploaded the photos unto …