Last month, I had a great time tweeting across Europe with you as my husband and I traveled to seven different countries! We made ten stops and I tweeted with you every day. It was so much fun to interact with you. It was a great way to interact with my Twitter friends and our families at each new place. The question I received the most often was, “Which place did you enjoy the most?” So… guess which place I love the most? The answer is revealed below.
| London: Our first stop was London and what made this particular stop so memorable was a Tweet-up that was arranged by Sir @paul_steele. I have been following him for almost two years. This FUN, polite gentleman you see in the Twitter stream and his Twitter sing-up videos is the same person I met that day on April 4, 2011. Our meeting was a casual, low-key get together at a Founders Arms Riverside Pub with a beautiful view of the Thames River. I met some new friends at this Tweet-up that Paul organized. Thank you Paul for taking the time to travel to London and arrange the wonderful Tweet-up! If you don’t know who the Bald Hiker is, he is a MUST follow on Twitter. http://www.baldhiker.com/ | |
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| Paris: Paris was our next stop. I really enjoyed the beautiful gardens and the artistic rooms at the Versailles chateau and gardens. I loved sitting at the outdoor cafés and watching life go by. I admired seeing women in stilettos and sleek ensembles while riding on their mopeds. How do they handle all that walking in their stilettos? I especially miss the fresh croissants, baguettes and cafes in France. | |
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| Amsterdam: I met the lovely @cindyvriend in Amsterdam. It was a last minute arrangement and thanks to @paul_steele who rang her while he and I were at the London Tweet-up. I enjoyed this one-on-one visit because I got to know Cindy on a deeper level. I didn’t have to share her and our conversation with anyone. Although my husband was with us at dinner, he doesn’t get Twitter. I love Twitter because I get to meet such wonderful people on here like Cindy. Cindy, thank you for taking the train in to see me. More about @cindyvriend and another MUST follow: http://blog.4friendz.nl/ Besides meeting another wonderful Twitter friend, this stop offered the beautiful Keukenhof Gardens in Holland. It was a delightful way to spend my day to reflect and enjoy the beauty and the vibrant colors of the garden. It’s such a magical place to just sit and be. |
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| Germany: Next, we took an overnight sleeper train from Amsterdam to Munich, Germany. That was an adventure for me because I don’t like closed spaces. I handled it pretty well because I slept through the trip. After that we stopped at Neuschwanstein – The Famous So-Called ‘Cinderella Castle’, however, most Americans probably do not know that Sleeping Beauty’s Castle in Disneyland was modeled after the real Bavarian Neuschwanstein castle. | |
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| Switzerland: The following day we took two cable cars up to Murren, Switzerland. I don’t really particularly care for cold weather and we were blessed with a warm day up in the Alps. This would be such a breathtaking place to go hiking; preferably in warmer weather for me. I loved the serenity and the beauty the place offered, definitely one of my favorite stops. | |
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| Italy: Lake Como may have been my favorite stop. I loved the landscape and quaint villages with the most impressive scenery winding along the lake. We spent an afternoon in the village of Bellagio, which sits on the hilly point where Lake Como splits in two directions. I love the food, the wine and the shopping! I would like to visit southern Italy the next time I vacation in Europe. No, I didn’t get to see George Clooney but I was told by the owner of the hotel we did stay across the lake from him. | |
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| France: Nice and Cannes, France are both beautiful and fun cities to visit. The ancient town of Arles, France was an in between stop to our next destination. Van Gogh lived out his final years here and I had the best meal in my entire life time there! | |
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| Spain: Barcelona was our last stop and what a great city to wrap up our trip. It was Easter Weekend and most of the shops were closed except for one day we were there. We arrived on the day where most stores were closed and the streets were flooded with energetic people. The following day, the mood and the crowd was so festive! It was Saint Joudi day, part of the long Easter weekend holiday, where it’s customary to give the ladies a rose and the men receive a favorite book. Hundreds of women lined the streets to have their books autographed by the authors. And literally hundreds of rose peddlers hawked red roses on virtually every street corner. I am more of a suburban gal these days but I really enjoyed Barcelona. I would have loved to extend our vacation in Barcelona but we had to get back to real life. It was a wonderful trip meeting everyone along the way. I learned a lot from others and I learned quite a bit about myself on this trip. It’s a wonderful life! Thank you! | |
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BARCELONA,I think the 2nd biggest city in Spain,is a wonder to be felt by any travler,not just because of its beautiful markets and friendly people,tree lined avenues of stalls stacked with goods of all Europe,but why i think i really liked it here the most,was because seeing now it was my last stop,the entire trip came back to me,as i relaxed knowing i would be going home soon,BARCELONA BECAME A FRIEND like all the other beautiful friends i met on this exciting tweeting trak of Europe,again yes please xxx
Ann,
What a beautiful portrayal of your journey both in words and pictures. You got to meet two of most favourite people in Social Media, Paul and Cindy..envious 🙂
You brought back so many memories for me; as a young girl I lived in Europe and traveled to many of the same destinations as you did..you will have the treasure of this for the rest of your life.
Thanks for sharing your journey and ps: My hubby doesn’t get Twitter either 🙂
Jackie xxx
Sounds like a LOT of fun Ann! Isn’t it grand to meet folks that one knows from social media? Social Media and Twitter has had such a profound impact our our open ended world tour that we started in 2006..something we never expected.
We’ve just arrived back to Europe for the summer so I am sorry we just missed you ( we were in Penang, Bhutan , Bangkok and Jordan on our way back here ).
Love the photos! Europe still makes me smile and feels like a second home now.
Ann, what a beautiful trip!
It is fun seeing some candid shots of you and our good Twitter friends. It is amazing how social media has helped to make the world so much smaller.
Kudos to your husband for being such a good sport even though he doesn’t tweet! From the beautiful pictures, I can tell you both had a wonderful European adventure.
~Lori 🙂
What a Gorgeous journey, Ann! Very special to meet those you’ve been tweeting with, as well. How do those Parisian ladies rock those stilettos? And, on cobblestone, no less! 😉 Ah, but life is Wonderful, indeed! 🙂 Thanks for sharing the Beauty