France, Switzerland and Italy: Three Gems of western Europe
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Switzerland has been my mom’s dream destination for so long, and, all of a sudden, the dream came true. Thanks to my dad, who also has a dream to travel the world, he brought us to one of the most serene countries in the world. However, Switzerland is just one of our destinations on this trip. We also went to France and Italy, whose beauty is second to none!
This trip is probably the longest one we’ve ever had, so I’ll just show you where I’ve been to and how I feel about those places. I’d say that most of the places we visited are considered tourist traps, but I genuinely never feel bad to follow the mainstream. I always think that popular places deserved to be popular for a reason, so just enjoy them!
France
Our plane landed in Paris, France. By the time we arrived, it was around 10 AM, and we all were exhausted already. Though we didn’t get to sleep that much on the plane, the romantic atmosphere of Paris kept our eyes wide open. The city was beyond beautiful, especially under the blue sky in the summertime. Our first destination is, of course, the Eiffel Tower, the symbol of Paris. This tower was not considered to be a favorite landmark for Parisian when it was done, but nowadays, people absolutely fell in love with this metal structure, so do I!
Apart from the Eiffel tower, we also went to Arc de Triomphe, located in the middle of Place Charles de Gaulle. Then, we were wandering along Champs-Elysees street. To get the sense of being a celebrity, we decided to visit one of the coffee stalls. My mom and dad ordered some food also, and the portion was so immense that we could not finish it. I’d say that was the first time my parents experienced the European food portion. This experience will prepare them for having an American portion!
After that, we got on a Seine river cruise. My father tried to get the best shot of me with the Eiffel tower, but it didn’t go that well. Anyway, we really enjoyed seeing the houses along the river and people walking and jumping into the water.
On the second day, we went to Louvre Museum, the biggest museum in France. One of the highlights in this museum is the most famous painting of Leonardo Davinci, Monalisa. Like the Eiffel tower, the pyramidal dome, which is the museum’s symbol, did not impress Parisian when it was first designed. Its shape contrasted with the old buildings around it, but, in the present, its weird form attracts people around the world and makes tons of money every year.
On the same day, we went to Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris. When we saw the line in front of the cathedral, we did not want to go inside at all. Still, we decided to line up because this cathedral is one of the most famous landmarks in Paris, and it would be a shame if we just walked past by. It was pretty crowded inside but worth it because of several gorgeous sculptures inside.
On 15 April 2019, which is around half a year since we’ve been to the cathedral, a tragic fire broke out beneath the roof and destroyed parts of Notre Dame. I hope its renovation will bring it back to us soon.
On the third day of our trip, we went to Reims in the Grand Est region of northeastern France. There are not many places to visit in Reims; one of the must-visit attractions is Reims Cathedral which is very old and as important as Notre Dame. We also stopped by a pizza restaurant. The food was just decent, but the yellow light made the pizza look super yummy. That night we stayed in Strasbourg, the capital city of the Grand Est region. Since there was some time left in the evening, my adventurous soul dragged my parents to the downtown. We got to see Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris and place Gutenberg at night. The light beaming from the edges of those structures made this town as charming as Paris.
On the fourth day of the trip, we were headed to Colmar. This city is called the little Venice because of several creeks that runs passed through the town. We took a horse and carriage tour to enjoy the scenery of the town. The horse stopped from time to time to let us take pictures of this city.
Switzerland
In the afternoon of the same day, we crossed the border from France to Switzerland! Yes, FINALLY! The first stop is Schaffhausen, the capital town in the northern part of Switzerland. We visited Rhine falls, the most significant falls in Europe. The power of nature was incredible, and somehow that power broke my camera. (Lucky enough that we brought two cameras! Phewww)
That night, we stayed at Jugendstil-Hotel Paxmontana. As you can see, I haven’t yet reviewed any hotel, so this one must have impressed me a lot! As a matter of fact, the hotel itself is neither luxury nor well-decorated, but it is located in the middle of gorgeous Swiss mountains. We spent a whole hour in the morning walking around and take a deep breath to get the fresh air from this place.
Sadly, the trip needed to be moved on. We went on to see the Lion Monument in Lucerne, Switzerland. (Later, my roommate Annina who has swiss relatives, also told me that she is a fan of this place. Though she thought that it was pretty crowded and touristy.) Then, we went to see the Chapel Bridge, which is made of wood. The bridge ages over 800 years, but it was still being used! Since we had an hour left in the town, we decided to rent a boat to ride around lake Lucerne. I know I shouldn’t brag about my dad, but that was his first time controlling a boat, and it wasn’t as scary as I thought!
Our last destination in Switzerland is Titlis, Engleberg. Titlis is a mountain of the Uri Alps with a height of 3,238 meters above sea level. No words could describe the beauty of it. Since we stepped out of the bus, it felt like the mountains embraced us.
Italy
The last country we visited on this trip was Italy. We crossed the border from Switzerland to Italy on the same day we went to Titlis. Since we traveled by convenience, we didn’t try to visit the Pisa leaning tower nor Colosseum. Instead, we went to the vacation town, Como. We were wandering around, buying some shoes for my brother and having some gelato.
The last day of the trip was well spent in Milan. We first went to Sforzesco Castle. Even though we didn’t get to see what’s inside the castle, several historic sculptures around the castle area are worth a visit. After that, we took a walk to Piazza del Duomo. It was like a dream when I arrived at the square. The ground was full of birds, and there was Milan Cathedral as a background. Anyway, I ended this trip with a cone of gelato, and that was how I remember you, Italy.
In this family trip, we visited several famous places in northern Vietnam, namely, Sapa, Hanoi, and Ninh Binh. For some people, the more they see the world, the less impressive some places appear to them. We also did not find this part of Vietnam outstanding from all the places we have been together, yet it was still charming and gave us vacation vibes. I’d recommend those who like natures to visit Ninh Binh; Sapa is also beautiful, but it seems have some construction going on at the top of Fansipan mountain.
After having to postpone the Visa appointment for a year due to the pandemic situation, my parents have now got their first ever US Visa! A month right after they received their passports, now with the US Visa attached to, they flew from Thailand to the US to visit me in Illinois. To be more accurate, WE flew together from Thailand to Chicago, though on different flights. Our itinerary was to visit Chicago, Washington DC, NYC, and, of course, my beloved corn field city, Champaign.
The spring semester ended on May 12, marking the end of my first year as a Ph.D. student at UIUC. To celebrate the hard work, I invited my boyfriend to come visit me in Champaign. But since Champaign has nothing much to do, we also planned a short trip to Chicago and also Florida! Poy had never been to Disney World before, so we tried so hard to make it happen despite the price of Disney world’s tickets. Poy flew from England to Chicago, so our first short trip happened in Chicago! It was my second time in Chicago, so I tried to visit different places than the last time I went to in January.
I usually don’t travel over spring breaks as they are quite short and most schools in the US have spring breaks around the same time, so everywhere is just crowded. However, this break was special because I went to visit my boyfriend in England! We hadn’t seen each other for a while (aka 8 months at least), so I didn’t hesitate to go there when I had a chance. Though I had been to many countries in Europe, I had never visited England. I went there for 5 days not including the flight time, but I felt like I got a very rich British experience thanks to Poy.