As the idea for this year's holiday emerged it seemed that, almost accidentally, we were following the tradition of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and what they called the Grand Tour. The idea of visiting the key centres of Southern Europe and emerging ourselves in their tradition and culture sounds rather grand, but as neither of us had spent much time in any of the places we intend to visit it seems like a good idea.
It is hard to pinpoint how we picked the particular Cities for this journey, I'd been wanting to visit Florence for many years especially since I heard the wonderful reports of the City from my parents who had their last holiday together there (my Mam died the year following the holiday).
I'd also long promised myself a visit to Naples, for some reason the phrase 'See Naples and die' had been a part of my memory from my earlier days apparently in its Italian form (Vedi Napoli e poi Muori) it is a 18th Century description of the City. Though some of my friends think it refers to Naples criminal (maybe lethal) tendencies - the Huffington post supported this view two days before we leave for the holiday!
Finally my sister and her husband have spoken of great times they have had in Barcelona so that was in my mind as a possibility.
Drew had long wanted to visit Monte Carlo and had also spent only three days in Italy and wanted to see more.
So between us we thought where we might go in one holiday covering the area. We began by thinking of driving. Anyone who followed us last year will know we had no problem driving long distances, but driving in the US and Canada is a different issue from driving in Europe. The last time I did a long European drive was in 1991, and we stayed away from all the big towns. So Drew said why don't we try something really different for us and do the holiday by train.
So the planning began and by Christmas 2011 we had an outline schedule of our route:
Friday - 03/08/2012
- Taffs Well to Paris
Saturday - 04/08/2012 - Paris
Sunday - 05/08/2012 - Paris
Monday - 06/08/2012 - Milan
Tuesday - 07/08/2012 – Milan to Florence
Wednesday - 08/08/2012 - Florence
Thursday - 09/08/2012 - Florence
Friday - 10/08/2012 - Florence to Rome
Saturday - 11/08/2012 - Rome
Sunday - 12/08/2012 - Rome
Monday - 13/08/2012 - Rome to Naples
Tuesday - 14/08/2012 - Naples
Wednesday - 15/08/2012 – Naples to Monte Carlo
Thursday - 16/08/2012 - Monte Carlo
Friday - 17/08/2012 - Monte Carlo to Barcelona
Saturday - 18/08/2012 - Barcelona
Sunday - 19/08/2012 - Barcelona
Monday - 20/08/2012 - Barcelona
Tuesday - 21/08/2012 - Barcelona to Madrid
Wednesday - 22/08/2012 - Madrid
Thursday - 23/08/2012 - Madrid
Friday - 24/08/2012 - Paris
Saturday - 25/08/2012 - Paris
Sunday - 26/08/2012 - Paris to Taffs Well
More details of how we went about booking and how much easier it was than I expected in future posts.
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