Quick Trip: 24 Hours in Strasbourg, France

I was so surprised by how much I loved Strasbourg and left it wishing we had spent more than 24 hours there. Located close to the French and German border (and fought over by the two countries many times), it is the cutest combination of two cultures. I haven’t added to my Quick Trip series since last summer, so today I wanted to share why Strasbourg makes my list of places to visit in France besides Paris.

How to get there: 
Strasbourg has an international airport with a number of flights a day to and from Paris. However, it might be cheaper to fly into a major European airport and then take a train to Strasbourg. Strasbourg is 2.5 hours from Paris, two hours from Frankfurt, Germany, and two hours from Zurich by train.

What to do: 
One of my favorite things to do in Strasbourg was to walk around the city center and see all the adorable shops and buildings. The Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Strasbourg is impossible to miss, as it towers over the city center. It was the tallest building in the world from 1647 to 1874 at 466 feet and showcases stunning Gothic architecture. Go inside to see the astronomical clock and climb up 320 steps to the cathedral platform for a nice view of the city and the Black Forest.

My must-see area in Strasbourg was La Petite France. With its cobblestone streets and beautiful medieval buildings, it was such an adorable area to shop, eat, and stroll along the riverside. Plus, it makes for many gorgeous photo opportunities!

If you have more time: 
If we had more time, I would have liked to wander around the Parc de l’Orangerie and visit the Musée Alsacien. Someday, I would love to make it to Strasbourg around Christmas to see all the Christmas markets! I would also love to explore more of the Alsace region, especially Colmar and Riquewihr.

Where to eat: 
Because of the blend of two cultures, Strasbourg has both delicious French food and German food. We had an amazing meal at Winstub S'kaechele, which offers several Alsace specialties at great prices. I really enjoyed the smoked ham shoulder.

Where to stay: 
I really liked the Hotel Cathedrale. The price was great, it’s right across from the cathedral, and the rooms were nice.

Have you been to Strasbourg? What are some of your favorite places in the city?
Other cities in the Quick Trip series: 24 Hours in Boston 24 Hours in Bath, England 24 Hours in Stresa, Italy 24 Hours in San Juan, Puerto Rico

Quick Trip: 24 Hours in San Juan, Puerto Rico

It has been too long since I have added to my Quick Trip series, and the weather lately has me dreaming of the beautiful water in the Caribbean. A little while before I started this blog, we went on my favorite Caribbean cruise (Alaska still wins the title of best cruise), which started and ended in beautiful San Juan, Puerto Rico. I wish we had more than 24 hours to explore the city, and it is definitely on my list of places I would love to visit again!

What to do: 
We packed as much as we could into our short time in San Juan. First on the list was to visit the Castillo de San Felipe de Morro. It was designed to guard to protect the entrance to San Juan Bay when it was a Spanish colonial city and was later used by the United States during World War I and World War II. Though learning the history of the fort is great, the best part of visiting the fort was the views! I could sit out there and stare at the ocean forever.

We spent a large chunk of our day wandering around Old San Juan. It was such a cute area with fun, colorful buildings. Of course, we had to stop by the San Juan Cathedral, a beautiful cathedral and the resting place of Ponce de Leon, a Spanish explorer who searched for the Fountain of Youth.

If you have more time: Next time we’re in San Juan, I would love to visit the El Yunque Rain Forest.

Where to eat:
Chris keeps telling me we need to go back to San Juan just so we can eat at Ropa Vieja Grill. It had great Cuban and Puerto Rican food. I loved the mofongo filled with flank steak, and all the meat we tried was amazing.

Where to stay:
We stayed at the La Concha Resort and loved everything about it! From the nice, comfortable rooms to the beautiful views, it was the perfect place to relax. My only regret is that we only had one night before the start of our cruise. La Concha (and San Juan), we will be back!

Have you been to San Juan? What's your favorite place to visit in the Caribbean? 

Quick Trip: 24 Hours in Stresa, Italy

With the cold, icy weather outside, I can’t stop thinking about the beautiful day we spent in Stresa, Italy. After two weeks exploring Milan, Florence, Venice, Rome, Naples, Capri, and Cinque Terre, all we wanted to do was relax. With islands to explore and gorgeous views of Lake Maggiore, we couldn’t have picked a better place to cap off our trip to Italy.

How to get there: 
The easiest way to get to Stresa is by train. Stresa is only an hour away from Milan, so we took a train to Milan and hopped on a regional train to get to Stresa. You can also get to Stresa from Switzerland. Trains run daily from Geneva to Milan with a stop in Stresa.

What to do:
As soon as we got off the train, I was eager to explore the area around the lake, luggage and all. Thank goodness for my more practical hubby, who convinced me to drop off our luggage at our hotel before heading to the lakeside promenade. The promenade was lined with palm trees and flowers, with plenty of gelato stands and park benches!

After we enjoyed the park and ate way too much gelato (is there really such a thing as too much gelato?), we took a ferry from Stresa Lido to the Borromean Islands. Isola Bella and Isola Pescatori were by far my favorite parts of our time in Stresa. Isola Bella definitely lives up to its name of “beautiful island.” The island, known for Borromeo Palace and its beautiful gardens, was absolutely gorgeous. We explored the gardens and visited the street vendors. There, I picked up one of my favorite souvenirs from the trip, a potholder with my name embroidered on it.

After Isola Bella, we took the ferry to Isola Pescatori, a small fishing village filled with markets that sell everything from gelato to ceramics. Isola Pescatori is known for its delicious fish, so we decided to split a fish dish (and a giant gelato sundae) on the terrace of a restaurant as we watched the sun set over Lake Maggiore. After weeks of running from one attraction to another, it was lovely to sit back and take in the beauty of Italy.

We arrived in Stresa in the afternoon, so the next day we explored the city (a walking tour can be found here), went shopping (I got a hand-painted bowl from a local artist), and spent more time by the lake before leaving for our next destination.

Have more time?
If we had more time in the area, we would have visited some of the other towns along Lake Maggiore, such as Baveno, Pallanza, Cannobio, and Ascona. I would also love to take the Lake Maggiore Express, a train that takes you through the many villages and valleys of Lake Maggiore.

Where to stay:
We stayed at the Hotel Meeting, which was a nice, basic hotel with a free continental breakfast in a central location: a 10-minute walk from both the train station and Lake Maggiore. We also had dinner at the hotel for a fixed price. My dinner was bacon pasta, trout, and tiramisu, and I thought it tasted good for the price we paid.

Quick Trip: 24 Hours in Bath, England

It’s been a while since I introduced my Quick Trip: What to do in a city when you only have 24 hours series with Boston. Today I wanted to switch gears from recapping our fall foliage cruise and share one of my favorite places in the United Kingdom—Bath, England.

When we were in England, I knew I had to visit Bath for two reasons—to see the Roman Baths and a city where Jane Austen lived. Bath is located only two hours from London and one hour from Stonehenge so it’s a great place to add to a London itinerary. Plus, the beautiful, quaint city is so much fun to explore!

What to do: The Romans built the Roman Baths around 2,000 years ago, and tourists have been visiting since that time (first to bathe, now to explore). I really enjoyed our visit to the Roman Baths, especially the Great Bath. We bought the audio tour, which was well worth it. As we explored the different areas, it explained the purpose of each room. You can’t bathe in the natural mineral water at the Roman Baths, but Bath does have a warm mineral spa called the Thermae Bath Spa where you can relax in the thermal spa.

After we finished at the Roman Baths, we wandered over to the Bath Abbey across the street. The Bath Abbey is absolutely beautiful and worth a visit. We decided not to do this, but you can also pay £6 for a 45-minute guided tour that takes you up to the tower, where you can get a lovely view of Bath.

Another highlight to our time in Bath was the Pulteney Bridge, which has fun shops on both sides (it is one of four bridges in the world that has a full span of shops on both sides). We also enjoyed the gorgeous architecture of the Royal Crescent and the nearby Victoria Park.

Although Bath is known as a place where Jane Austen lived with her family for several years (Northanger Abbey is said to be based on her time living in Bath), I thought the Jane Austen Centre was disappointing. It wasn't interesting to me because it wasn’t close to where she lived, and it didn’t include any artifacts from her life.

Where to stay: We decided to spend the sleeping part of the 24 hours in London instead of Bath. Since London is only two hours away, it made sense for us to spend the night there since we were headed to Belgium the next day. If you would like to stay in Bath, several of my friends have recommended the Bailbrook Lodge.

Have you been to Bath? What are some of your favorite places in the city?

Quick Trip: 24 Hours in Boston

I am so excited to introduce a new series: Quick Trip: What to do in a city when you only have 24 hours. Even though I prefer longer trips (who doesn’t?), sometimes I have to make the most of 24 hours in a city. I wanted to put together a series that highlights my favorite things to eat, see, and do in a short time. This will be an evolving series so I appreciate your feedback.

It didn’t take me long to fall in love with Boston. For some reason, I have always felt an attachment to the city, and I was so excited to finally visit.  With such high expectations I was prepared to be disappointed, but I loved the food, history, and the culture.

What to do: 

I really love history so we had planned to do a self-guided tour of the Freedom Trail, but when we landed, it was pouring. We still wanted to see the city, but it was too windy to walk around with an umbrella so we opted for a trolley tour. I am so glad we did! Even though we usually prefer to explore on our own, the trolley was perfect for a rainy day.

We couldn’t really take advantage of the hop off option, but the guides were funny and informative, and we were able to see a significant amount of the city in a short time. There are several trolley companies, but we chose the Old Town Trolley Tours. The tour also included a ticket to the Boston Tea Party Museum and a Boston Harbor cruise, but we ran out of time to do the museum, and it was raining too hard to do the Boston Harbor cruise. You can also use the trolley tour as your taxi—there are 20 total stops, and it can take you as far as Cambridge and Beacon Hill. Some of the highlights for me were seeing the Trinity Church, Massachusetts State House, the Old State House, USS Constitution, and Fenway Park.

The weather cleared up in the evening so we got a chance to walk part of the Freedom Trail. We explored Faneuil Hall, saw Paul Revere’s house, got a close-up photo of the Massachusetts State House, and enjoyed the evening at the Public Garden.

Where to eat: 

We were told by many people that Boston is known for seafood, steak, Italian food, and Irish food so we knew we wanted to try those cuisines. We went to Legal Seafood for lunch, and I had an amazing crab cake.

For dinner, Biana told me that we couldn’t go wrong in the North End, and we met one of my friends from high school for a meal at Panza. Here’s the thing: At home I usually don’t go out for Italian food because I think it is much cheaper and tastes just as good to make it at home. Panza proved me wrong. The meal was delicious and unique enough that I didn’t feel like I could easily make it at home. Be prepared to wait at most of the restaurants in the North End, even with a reservation. We had a 6 p.m. reservation and were seated around 7 p.m. Most of the restaurants in the North End are small and don’t have many tables so seating largely depends on when other people leave. We didn’t mind waiting, but it could be difficult for those on a tight schedule.

Where to stay: 

Hotels in Boston are expensive so if you want to save money, you can book a hotel in Quincy or Cambridge and take the T into the city. However, if you only have 24 hours, it would be ideal to stay in Boston if you can find a deal. When we were in Boston, there was a convention with 10,000 people in town, so even though we booked six months in advance, the prices were high.

We got a deal (if you can call it that) on Priceline to stay at the Taj Boston, which was in the perfect location. We could walk anywhere we wanted from the hotel, it was close to the Old Town Trolley stop, and our room had a beautiful view of the Public Garden. My hubby was a bit thrown off because they don’t allow tennis shoes in the lobby, and when we went down to dinner, everyone around us was in ball gowns and tuxedos for a wedding. The room was nice. Was it worth the price tag? For most places, no, but for an ideal location in Boston, probably.

Have more time? 

On the morning before the cruise, we visited the USS Constitution (We liked it so much that I’m going to do a separate post on it) and explored the Boston Harbor area. If we had more time, I would have loved to do a Boston Harbor cruise.

Have you been to Boston? What are the sights you think are must-sees? I would also love your feedback on my new Quick Trip series. I don’t think others will be nearly this long, but I’m sure it’ll change as I keep going. Are there any specific cities that you’d like me to highlight? I am also open to Quick Trip guest posts so if you want to do a Quick Trip on your hometown or a place you visited, I would love to have you!