3 week winter holiday: London, and bits of Germany and Italy

December 17-Jan 6
Winter Holidays
We hated to miss out on holiday festivities here in Spain, but we felt we should take advantage of the long school holidays.  It was the perfect opportunity to do a longer trip and see other parts of Europe. We packed very small backpacks that were within the size limit of the many budget airline here in Europe for guaranteed carry on.  We aren't sold on rolly-bags yet.  We still prefer using backpacks because they allow us to maneuver more nimbly though train stations, up stairs, and on cobbles streets (we usually get around using public transport).  We are getting this packing thing down to a perfect science, though we are not going so far as to break our toothbrushes in half to keep the weight down.  I was going to describe how to pack, but saw this very good article on the Lonely Planet website.  Every trip is different...depends on the season, culture etc, but the article has some some pretty good guidelines.

Lonely Planet has a really clever packing post, here is the link:

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/round-the-world-travel/best-of-round-the-world-travel/content/travel-tips-and-articles/how-to-pack-light-tips-from-a-master-packer

We learned to use the Trip Advisor City Guides App to get around.  You can use their maps without turning your data on to avoid roaming fees.

We also really enjoy watching Rick Steves travel episodes on the various cities we visit.  We watch them on our ipad or cells using wifi in our pensions to help give us inspiration and add depth to what we are seeing.  We also asked the folks at the front desk of our pensions for those "hidden gems" that are sometimes hidden in plain site.  The smaller pensions often compete by offering exceptional personal service, as there interiors are often fairly humble,  or may be up many flights of stairs.

This is an overview of our travels.  I intend to post in more detail about the various places we visited, and some of the more exciting things that occurred in detail (I don't want to let my mom down...she loves the details).

This was our itinerary:
We had sort of an ancient Roman city theme happening:

London- for 5 days to see the sites, drink in the history, and have a reunion with my friend Amanda who I last saw 22 years ago when we met on a trekking in northern Thailand

Trier, Germany- For a very traditional Christmas with my high school friend Diana, and her family in the hilly volcanic Eiffel region, and for a very anticipated first time visit with 3rd cousins that we only just discovered the existence of last year.  We were even invited to stay with them in the "Duero" family house dating back to 1741.

Sorrento, Italy- We celebrated New Years here (huge fireworks display), and used this citrus laden town (home of Lemoncelo) near the Amalfi coast) as a base for side trips to the ancient Roman towns of Pompeii, and Herculaneum.

Rome- This was my 3rd and best trip to Rome.  They have rerouted traffic away from the ancient sites since we were there last in 1999.  It has become a clean and pedestrian friendly place, and if you haven't been there, you are really missing something spectacular.  I feel about Rome like I feel about a giant old growth redwood tree/forest...I wish everyone had the opportunity to "experience" the majesty.  The city and ruins were lit up at night for the holidays, and this was my favorite time to wander (and take photos).  Huge tip: best gelato anywhere (see writing on cup)


*typically we stay in small humble pensions, but for one night in Bonn we stayed in a fancier hotel that Drew chose online in a hurry (the hallway was akin to entering the fires of hell- just to be clear, this photo is untouched!!!!)