Travel :: Packing for Europe

We're already halfway to the weekend y'all! Don't you love short weeks?! Since we're packing up for a little road trip to the Sunshine State this weekend, I've been frantically trying to cross some things off my trusty to-do list.

One thing I've been working on is a photo album of our Europe trip, which is taking me longer than I expected because A) I'm a perfectionist and B) I keep finding myself scrolling through pictures, drooling over the food we ate and wishing I had two weeks off of work again.

I remembered how hard it was for me to pack for unpredictable Spring weather, without completely over-packing and lugging massive suitcases around Italy. I usually lean more toward comfort for trips like this, I certainly wasn't the most fashionable in Paris, but I don't think I looked like a tourist which was a good thing.

Spring Essentials for Europe

Jackets/Blazers: I packed my favorite trench coat and although it was a little thin for the colder days we had in Paris, it was perfect for the majority of the trip! We were so lucky to only have 2 days with a little rain but it came in handy at night when it was a little cooler, even in Italy. If I wasn't wearing my trench, I had a navy blue 3/4 sleeve blazer that was easy to throw on if I was chilly.

Dresses: I love wearing dresses in general so I brought one along for the warmer days. Make sure it covers your shoulders, or bring a scarf to cover them, when you're heading to tour churches.

Pants: I packed two pairs of jeans and two pairs of leggings and it worked great with the Spring weather. I never had to wash my jeans and my leggings were easy to wash and hang to dry.

Tops: I brought two short-sleeve tees, two thin button downs, and two or three shirts with 3/4 sleeves. The longer sleeve shirts were my go-to on most days while we were in Italy so I didn't have to bring a jacket. I also wore a thin sweater around Siena and it was perfect in the morning.

Crossbody Bag: This was the number one thing all of my blog friends recommended and they were so right! I brought one big enough for my DSLR and another smaller one for the evenings when I didn't feel like bringing my camera.

Shoes: I debated taking my boots but was glad that I did because I needed them in Venice and Paris. I saved space in my luggage by wearing them on travel days. Pack a comfy pair of flats and some boat shoes or something similar for a more casual tourist day.

Jewelry: I didn't go too crazy on the jewelry while we were in Europe. I don't like bulky statement necklaces while I'm walking around all day but if you're into that, pack one that matches most of your outfits.

Scarves: These were probably the best accessory I packed! I had 3 scarves that I could mix and match with all of my outfits and with the cooler breeze in the Spring, I found myself wearing one almost every day.

We really got lucky with our weather and didn't need any warm clothes in Florence. Even Rome and Siena were in the low-70s and sunny on some days, so I found myself removing my scarf or blazer after a couple hours.

Camera Equipment: For my DSLR, I just packed my stock lens and the charger. It worked great for me since I'm a beginner and I feel like I captured a lot of great photos with it! I brought three memory cards and switched them out every couple of days. We used our phone cameras for any pictures we asked someone to take for us and my hubby got some amazing panoramic shots with his iPhone!

Don't forget an adapter! We brought two (found here and here) and they worked great in both Italy and Paris. You can use the two-prong adapters even if the wall socket fits a three-prong. Just don't force it and pull something straight out of Just Married.

If you're looking for help on packing your carry-on, make sure to check out my guest post over at Newlyweds:North!

Anyone have anything else to add?! I know some of you are planning trips to Europe this summer, so hopefully this will help a little even though you'll be dealing with much warmer weather than we did!

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Travel :: Siena.

I hope you all had a great weekend! A headache knocked me out for most of Sunday so we thoroughly enjoyed a day of complete laziness. Love those kinds of Sundays.

Today I've got another travel post to help beat the Monday blues. FYI- This is picture heavy! Siena was one of the highlights of our trip! If you're trying to decide where to stop on an Italian getaway, please put Siena (and the Tuscany region) on your list. Siena and its tiny nearby towns have this charming medieval feel that you just don't get in the other big Italian cities.

In my last Rome post, I mentioned that we took the train instead of the bus to Siena. The train station is kind of far from the old part of Siena, so we opted to cab it to our hotel, Palazzo Ravizza.

Our hotel was beautiful. Palazzo Ravizza's best feature was the patio. It was just along the walls of Siena, so it was still a quick walk into Piazza del Campo but has the most beautiful Tuscan hillside views. We bought a liter of their house wine for about $5 and sat on their patio watching the sunset our first night. Talk about perfection!

The hotel still has so much of its old charm, including double doors to the hotel rooms, beautiful high ceilings, and black and white tile in the lobby. The breakfast was delicious and everyone who worked there were so sweet. The one negative for us was that the walls were thin, but I wouldn't let it deter you from staying there. We were so happy we did.

The view from our hotel room. You can see the city walls and the patio below.

Oh also, the hairdryers at our hotels looked like mini vacuums on the wall so if my hair is a hot mess in these photos, you know why. 

The first day in Siena we visited all of the main sites. You can easily do the Duomo, Baptistery, Crypt, and Museo dell'Opera Metropolitana (great views from here) in just a couple hours. We got the combo ticket for 12 euros per person, and though we didn't spend much time in the crypt and baptistery, it was worth stopping in just because.

 

We also climbed the Torre del Mangia (City Tower), mostly because it was Steve's mission to climb every tower possible during our trip. So many steps but the views were always worth it.

See that archway? Steve walked up there, the guardrail goes only as high as your knees. I couldn't even walk out onto that level, it was terrifying!

We celebrated St. Patty's Day with some Italian beer at Ristorante Alla Speranza right on Il Campo. I mentioned this pizza here, it was one of my favorites from Italy. A lot of places charge a couple extra euros per person if you sit in the outdoor area, so between that and Steve's massive beer, this was a pricey lunch.

I obviously couldn't miss out on gelato, so we split a cone and sat in the square like the locals. For dinner that night we found another restaurant on Piazza del Campo.

Our second day in Siena was our winery tour with Franco Fadda. We were fortunate to be the only tour group he had that day, so we basically had a private tour of Tuscany and its wineries with Franco. At 125 euro a person, it was an absolute steal. Franco was a fabulous tour guide, you can really tell he loves what he does.

Our first stop was at a small, family run winery in the Chianti region called Villa Pomona. We spoke to the winemaker/owner and she gave us a tour of the grounds. I couldn't believe how much effort is put into making the wine, and it was obvious that she really loves it. Our tasting there consisted of the Chianti Classico and Reserve wines, as well as some delicious Olive Oil.

Our second winery stop was a much larger winery, Castello D'Albola. We toured the facilities here too which was so interesting to contrast with the smaller winery. Franco had us tasting tons of delicious wine there and we were able to compare the same wines from different years to see how aging changes the taste.

We had lunch at the most charming family-run restaurant, Bar-Ucci, in Volpaia, a little town of just 40 people. Everything was absolutely delicious, between the caprese salad, lasagna, and tiramisu. We just kept telling the owners everything was delizioso!

 

We stopped at a couple more charming little Tuscan towns, including one that only had 15 permanent residents, before Franco brought us back to the hotel. It was an amazing tour, if you're heading to Siena please contact him!

Unlike Rome, Siena closed down pretty early, at least on the weeknights we were there. We were so tired so we didn't even have a full dinner the second night. We did sneak in a trip to Nannini for Siena's famous ricciarelli cookies. Oh my goodness, I miss those almond cookies. I immediately wished I had bought like 20 more.

The next day we headed back to the train station en route to Florence!

Has anyone been to Siena? Feel free to email me if you are heading there and have questions!

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