Best of '09: Europe Edition

Recently, a friend asked me to send along travel tips for Europe, and it got me reminiscing about my trip. It occurred to me that I've been so busy with other things, I never really took time to share my experiences. So here are some highlights from each city.

Paris was the first city I visited, and it might just be my favorite. The food was phenomenal, the museums and monuments were great, and just walking around the city was a lot of fun. My favorite moment was enjoying a delicious Nutella crêpe outside the Louvre with my guy on a sunny afternoon.

My next stop was Barcelona, where we spent most of our time hunting down all the Gaudi stuff. A memorable night out started with tapas and wine, continued with salsa music, and ended with a Lauryn Hill sing-a-long through Las Ramblas with other tourists.

My visit to Marseille was short, but nice. Mostly, my sister and I walked around, taking it all in, but the highlight was our trek up to the city’s highest point, Notre Dame de la Garde.

Cinque Terre with my sisters and friends was so great that it has not one but two of my favorite Europe moments. The first came during our walk through some scenic trails where we passed the time by singing songs from our favorite musicals. We attracted a lot of attention, but people loved us. The next day, my sister and I were the only ones up for the challenge of more difficult hikes, but it was my absolute favorite. The blue water and beautiful greenery more than made up for the difficulty breathing and all the cuts and scrapes.

I ended with London, where there was never a dull moment between the markets I visited and musicals I saw. The highlight of that city was spread across two days with the Beatles walking tours I went on. I'm a huge Beatles fan, so I had a blast.

It's only been a few months since I went to Europe, but I'm already thinking of when I can take my next trip. Who wants to come along?