Sorry for my absence, my husband and I took a belated honeymoon to Europe for 2 weeks.  It was pretty wonderful!  October was a pretty nice time to travel.  Although I feel like there are more tourists than when I was there in 2005, I definitely think that October’s crowds are far less than summer’s, and Italy was still pretty warm.  We flew into Paris for a night and then flew to Italy where we spent 3 nights in Cinque Terre, 2 in Florence, 5 in Rome, and back to Paris for 3.  Initially we planned on Venice for a night, but that was trumped by Rome soccer game tickets.

The evenings were by far my favorite time to wander the cities.   Completely different personalities emerged.  During the day it was all tourists, lines, beggars, and street vendors.  But at night, I loved the quiet, strolling hand in hand, and the glitter of lights!

We returned home with over 1,000 photos, but these are my favorites!

After waiting in line for an hour we made our way to the top!

On the hour the whole tower lights ups with twinkling glitter lights, like a giant sparkler!

I don’t think there’s any question – Cinque Terre looks gorgeous in daylight!  I did take a few night shots, but once night fell everyone just went to bed…there was nothing to see.

Florence

Piazza Navona, Rome

Four River’s Fountain

St. Peter’s Basilica

Seine River, Paris

Notre Dame

Arc de Triomph

Paris wanted us to feel at home with all the rain!

I definitely DEFINITELY recommend visiting the Louvre at night.  A few nights a week it is open until 10pm, and the large tour groups are gone.  There were actually quite a few rooms completely empty, obviously not the one with Mona Lisa!