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Paris boasts of over 150 museums, with the The Louvre, Musée d'Orsay, Musée de l'Orangerie, Musée Rodin, and Centre Pompidou as some of the most popular ones. However, The Louvre topbills the list…well, specifically my own list of “must-visit” museums in Europe. The Louvre is one of the most awe-inspiring museums in the world, with its 73,000-square meter exhibition space featuring 70 rooms of magnificent artwork. A visit there is akin to taking a crash course in history and

We were scheduled to go up the Eiffel Tower in the morning (as if we did not have enough by seeing it from the bus and the boat in the daytime, as well as from a park at nighttime the previous day). But I was told that this is another unique way of experiencing the tower. In fact, its creator, French engineer Gustav Eiffel, believed that this is the best way to see his work. My husband was still unwell when he woke up in the morning, so I had to cancel his booking. We were al

We knew we were approaching Paris as the traffic got heavier. This was typical, according to our Tour Director. We arrived at our hotel a little after lunch time and were given time to rest before our late afternoon tour and evening river cruise. My husband and I scoured the neighborhood to look for fresh bread. And since this was France, there was a plethora of boulangeries and patisseries along our street alone. Our hotel is located in the 14th arrondissement, in the Montpa

I woke up that morning feeling a little better, but still heavy in the head and sniffling like a bunny in the cold. This did not deter me from going ahead with that day's adventure line-up. It began with a horse-drawn carriage ride up the mountains to visit a rural community. The local farmers took us on a delightful countryside tour after which, homemade snacks and drinks were served in a 17th-century barn. It was like being a part of a scene from a fairy tale book. But the

It was a pity that I was not feeling well. Lucerne is so beautiful and there was so much to see and explore, but that time, all I wanted to do was lie down and sleep. After our rooftop cocktail hour, my husband and I just took a stroll around the city for a bit until sundown, then I told him he could just walk me back to the hotel. I would take a nap, and he could continue exploring on his own. When he's back, he could wake me up and we could have late dinner at one of the ho

We had a long drive to Switzerland from Italy, and this time, I joined the mad cacophony of sniffling and nose-blowing on the bus. But I didn’t let my minor affliction dampen my spirits, for it was a very scenic ride. We traveled through farmlands as we crossed the border from northern Italy. We caught a glimpse of the beautiful Italian Lake District, which I definitely would like to visit when I go back to this part of Europe. And as we continued into the heart of the Swiss

We had some down time in Burano, another popular island in the Venetian lagoon, around seven kilometers from Venice by boat. It was a good idea to get away from the crowd in Venice and we enjoyed a very early and very heavy fisherman's dinner consisting of various fresh seafood caught in the lagoon at the Trattoria da Romano, said to be one of the best, if not the best place to eat on the island. The trattoria (told you...in Italy, there are many different eatery categories.

After a tranquil night in Venice the previous night, we took a vaporetto (water taxi) and sailed back from our Lido Island hotel to join the rest of the crowd in exploring Venice. The Grand Canal certainly had a different vibe in the daytime compared to its more subdued version the night before. As the main traffic corridor in the city, it was teeming with gondolas, motor boats, and other vaporettos filled with tourists like us. The ride was like a trip across time, from the

From the Lido, we boarded a small private launch to go to Venice for a little night of music after an early dinner at our hotel. We sailed down the Grand Canal at dusk, and as the sun was setting, we passed by grand mansions with facades in richly toned plaster work, glided along palazzos illuminated with twinkling chandeliers from the grand ballrooms inside, and went under Venice's iconic bridges. It was a most romantic ride...making us feel we were in a sepia-toned film as

After leaving Verona, we passed by Padua to head to another romantic Italian city – Venice. But we only got a glimpse of it at this time. We took a ferry from Tronchetto in Venice to San Nicolo on Lido Island, an 11-kilometre-long barrier island in the Venetian Lagoon, where our hotel was located. Along the way, we caught sight of bustling Venice from the Giudecca Canal side. I thought it was a good idea to stay a bit further away from tourist-laden Venice. The Lido was only

We headed to the shopping streets of Via Mazzini, where the expensive brand-name stores are located, and the Corso Porta Borsari, where the more regular shops are lined up. We didn’t really buy anything. We just checked out what was available and passed by the costumed street performers around the corner. One thing I noticed was the shiny, coppery-rose marble on the pavements of the most expensive streets. Our guide said this is called Rosso di Verona , a locally-quarried mar

Our first stop in Italy was Verona, made famous by Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet . But apart from being the setting of a most-tragic love story, Verona was a Roman city with many ruins that have been preserved, most notably, The Arena, an enormous amphitheater that is almost like a smaller version of The Colosseum in Rome. Our guided tour took us around the centre of the city, which used to be an old Roman military settlement. We walked around the maze of elegant squares wit

First, a bridge, then a mountain pass, then a jagged mountain range...this was not your regular long drive. Our trip from Innsbruck, Austria to Verona, Italy was indeed thrilling. We traversed the Europabrücke (Europa Bridge). At 192 meters above ground, it is one of the highest bridges in Europe. It is 777 meters long, stretching across the 657-meter Wipp Valley above the Sill River. The views below and around were amazing, though some older members of our tour group closed

We had a nice schnitzel and spätzle lunch, which we enjoyed leisurely with ice-cold drinks – lemonade for me, and Austrian beer for my husband. He grew up eating his mom's made-from-scratch schnitzels (slice of meat thinned by pounding with a meat tenderizer, breaded, and fried) and spätzle (egg noodles), so he is always on the lookout for these. And of course, he believes that the best beers come from Bavaria, Austria, and the Czech Republic (in that order). Some of my tour

We drove to Salzburg, Austria's fourth largest city and capital of the Federal State of Salzburg. The Old Town, with its world-famous Baroque architecture, is one of the best-preserved city centres north of the Alps. It's also the birthplace of my favorite composer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the setting for parts of the classic film, The Sound of Music . We walked along the Salzach River to see the beautiful Schloss Mirabell (Mirabell Castle), built by an Archbishop for his

We signed up for an after-dinner Tyrolean show, so right after our meal, our bus took us to Gasthaus Sandwirt am Inn owned by the Gundolf Family. They have been providing folk entertainment to Innsbruck visitors since 1967. Dinner was over by the time we arrived (the inn offers dinner and show packages but we bought tickets only for the show). At the performance hall, the chairs were already arranged to face the stage. We were served apple cider drinks and beer before and dur

We finally reached Innsbruck, but I was still awestruck from our spectacular Alpine drive where Mother Nature just hit me with her beauty. Innsbruck is the capital of the Federal State of Tyrol in western Austria. It is dubbed as the “largest ski resort in the Alps” and has twice hosted the Winter Olympic Games. It's such a charming city. We drove around the city for a bit before stopping at the Wilten Basilica (Basilica of the Immaculate Conception and Our Lady of the Four P

As we approached Tyrol, in the heart of the Austrian Alps, I felt like yodeling. We were headed to Innsbruck and our long drive was right smack in the Alpine region. When I was growing up in the Philippines, there was this instant milk product called “Alpine Milk” that was introduced in the market to compete with the more popular “Birch Tree Dutch Milk.” I have memories of my mom forcing me to drink "Birch Tree" milk every, single night before bedtime and I used to dread the

After a hearty German breakfast, we skirted the Northern Black Forest and headed for the rolling Bavarian Alps. We stopped at the small town of Hohenschwangau near the foot of the renowned Hohenschwangau Castle and King Ludwig’s fairy-tale Neuschwanstein Castle. My husband was truly excited. He has had a fascination for Bavarian castles since childhood. In fact, his most treasured puzzle posters, meticulously assembled, glued together, and professionally framed, were those of

We reached Heidelberg in the mid-afternoon. It is a charming city located in the region where the Odenwald mountain range opens up towards the plains of the Rhine Valley. The cityscape is made up of many attractive Baroque-style red-roofed structures which line the banks around the winding Neckar River. Much of central Heidelberg is dominated by its imposing castle ruins known locally as the Schloss , nestled 300 feet above the city. It is a combination of several buildings s