Toussaint - Paris, Milan, Venice

From Grenoble Exchange

This is about 2 weeks late, but I suppose some account of events is better than nothing.

A little background information. Toussaint is a religious holiday in France, causing schools to close for the week. To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure what specifically they were celebrating, but I'm not one to complain about a week off from school. With this extra time, Vanessa and I decided to visit Paris, Milan, and Venice.

Paris
Naturally, we visited all the major tourist spots - the Eiffel tower, the Louvre, l'arc de triomphe, etc. Paris definitely had the big city feel (duh...) which I really enjoyed but Vanessa found to be a little too much. We got lost more than a handful of times, and it rained the last two days we were there. One thing we stupidly didn't consider was that it things would be more expensive in Paris. If you ever find yourself planning to visit Paris, expect to pay 25-50% more than what you normally do. Despite the prices, we thoroughly enjoyed Paris.

Milan
Quick summary: cold, rainy, and really REALLY expensive stuff. Like ten thousand euro wallets and hundred thousand euro baby cribs expensive (how much money do you need to justify spending 100000 euros on something your baby's going to sleep in for a year?). I suppose it was nice to do some window shopping for things that we clearly could not afford, but you won't find me in Milan again unless my bank account suddenly multiplies by, oh I don't know, a million times. We did have some kick ass food in Milan though, including Milanese risotto and some bomb pizza.

Also, I have to say that the hostel we stayed at were amazing. Vanessa forgot her camera there when we moved out. We called the next day (when we were already in Venice), and they told us they found it and that we could pick it up. They could have easily said they found nothing and kept it for themselves or ebayed it, but they were honest, and we really appreciate that.

Venice
Another easy place to sum up: gorgeous. I know, it's a complete tourist trap. Everything caters to tourists, meaning it doesn't have much else and everything is expensive. The food was mediocre and a little on the pricey side, but just walking around was amazing. It is easily the most beautiful city I've seen. It isn't a terribly exciting location or known for it's amazing parties, it was simply beautiful. We also happened to be there Halloween night, so it was fun seeing little kids in costumes trick-or-treating (I have no idea what it's called in Italian). For some reason, they trick-or-treat at shops instead of at houses, not sure why.