Europe: A love story (and summary)

Now that I've filled you in on all the details of our Italian and Spanish vacation (in just under a month after returning home...ek!) it's time for a quick summary. If you've missed any of the posts you can read all about them -- Rome, Florence, Venice, Barcelona, Sevilla, Granada, Cordoba, Madrid -- but consider this a best of/worst of/what we learned.

Hotels

• Best hotel -- Casa Romana, Sevilla
• Worst hotel -- Hotel Basilea, Venice
• Best hotel value -- Hotel River, Florence
• Best hotel breakfast -- Hotel Intur Palacio San Martin, Madrid
• Best hotel location -- Hotel Basilea, Venice (shockingly -- though all our hotels had ideal locations)

Food

• Best meal in Italy -- giant antipasti platter at La Bottega del Caffe, Rome
• Best meal in Spain -- tapas at Lonja de Tapas, Barcelona
• Best meal value -- mini bocadillos and mugs of tinto de verano at Cerveceria 100 Montaditos, Madrid

Sightseeing

• Best museum -- Museo Picasso, Barcelona
• Most amazingly historic -- Colosseum, Rome
• Most relaxing -- Park Guell, Barcelona
• Best view -- atop the stairs at Piazzale Michelangelo, Florence
• Best clash of cultures -- La Mezquita, Cordoba
• Most unusual -- La Sagrada Familia, Barcelona
• Most claustrophobic -- walking up St. Peter's dome, Rome
• Most crowded -- Uffizi Gallery, Florence
• Only sightseeing you need to plan in advance -- La Alhambra, Granada
• Best way to see all cities except for Venice -- follow a Lonely Planet self-guided walking tour
• Best way to see Venice -- vaporetto Number 1 from Piazzale Roma to Ledo
• Worst audio guide -- Palazzo Ducale, Venice
• Best sightseeing discovery -- WalkiTalki iPod apps audio guides

Cities round up

• Best city in Italy -- Florence
• Best city in Spain -- Sevilla
• Best big city -- Barcelona
• Most overwhelming city -- Rome (I'm so glad we started our trip here when we had the most energy)
• Most touristy city -- Venice
• Spain vs. Italy? -- Spain beats Italy, in my heart
• Favorite city of the entire trip....SEVILLA!

And now, just for fun, because this was only my second trip to Europe in my lifetime, I kept track of what I love about Europe and what I don't love about Europe/what I love about America. I'm really into comparing cultures and keeping lists, so this was a fun activity.

Things I'll miss about Europe

• Cheap, good alcohol
• Food in reasonable portions
• Siestas
• Extensive public transit
• Plazas
• Small cars
• Creative street performers
• How it stays light for so long in the summer (it would be 9:30 and still light!)
• Fanta Limon (why don't we have this in America? Check out this Wikipedia page dedicated to the international availability of Fanta products)

 Things I won't miss about Europe

• Paying for water
• No ice
• No free refills
• Sub-par customer service
• Unclear tipping practices -- to tip or not to tip was always the question; we tried to leave small tips everywhere even though tips seem less customary in most places we visited
• Places that don't accept credit cards
• Smoking
• Unmarked streets
• Scary traffic -- at cross walks, particularly in Italy, drivers look like they're about to run you over
• Less emphasis on small social graces -- people don't hold doors, bump into you in the street without batting an eye

I'm not moving to Europe any time soon, but I thoroughly enjoyed my three weeks in these two fabulous countries. And maybe some time down the road I'll get to check off my next European destination -- Greece!

Next up...how did I pack only carry-on luggage? I'll share my packing plan and my packing retrospective -- what I did well, and what I'd change next time.