Paris, France – Part 1

Jon and I have each previously been to France, not together, and on guided tours which filled our days with as many sites as possible in a short time. During this visit, we were able to spend two full weeks slowly exploring the City of Lights together. Happily, we also got to share our time in Paris with friends. This divided our trip into three distinct segments; enjoying French food Alvin and Yue Chao, lazily exploring lesser visited neighborhoods on our own, and visiting the major tourist attractions with my sister, Marisa. Paris, France – Part 1 will describe our visit with our friends, ventures into French food, and the neighborhoods not typically visited by tourists on a tight schedule. For the major tourist attractions see our follow up article, Paris, France – Part 2, written by guest blogger Marisa P.

Prague, Czech Republic

Prague is a city that we’ve heard wonderful things about for years and were excited to visit. It may not be as cheap and untouched as it was 10 years ago when American tourists started to visit by the thousands, but the city is still charming with its old world beauty and authentic cuisine.

Vienna, Austria

I’ve been to Vienna once before in 2004. I remember it as charming, with beautiful architecture, wide streets, and outdoor cafes. In the past 11 years, the tourist areas seem to have become more crowded and designer stores now line the streets instead of cafes, but the architecture remains.

Budapest, Hungary

I liked Budapest. It surprised me how much I enjoyed our time there. Maybe it was because it was our first European city after months of traveling in Asia and Australia, but what I remember is the unique, gritty character of the city.

Hiroshima, Japan (広島市)

Hiroshima is known for its historic destruction during WWII. The city has once again become a bustling metropolis, but it is also a place of remembrance. Hiroshima has developed its own, new legacy by promoting worldwide peace and education of the repercussions of war. While in Hiroshima, we also took a day to visit another world heritage site, the Itsukushima Shrine and its famous watery torii gate.

Himeji, Japan (姫路)

Most people come to Himeji for one reason, and so did we, to see the Himeji Castle. It is typically a day trip from Kyoto or Osaka, but we made it a pit stop on our way to Hiroshima.

Kyoto, Japan (京都市)

Before coming to Japan, we heard countless times to make sure to spend a few days exploring the ancient capital of Kyoto and its thousands of picturesque temples scattered across the city.

Yokosuka, Japan (横須賀市)

Yokosuka is best known throughout Japan for having a large American Naval Base. For us, Yokosuka was a place to visit our friends for a wonderful introduction to Japan, where we would be spending the next three weeks.