sunny day, sweepin' the clouds away...

Weather is a key factor when traveling and some days can really influence how you enjoy the day. Unless you're visiting something that is just so spectacular it doesn't matter what the weather is. I would say that 80-90% of the time I was in Europe, it was sunny and beautiful. If it didn't rain the worst it got was partly cloudy. Nonetheless, I was able to enjoy many, many outdoor activities and sights, the exteriors of most buildings being "not to miss" attractions. Traveling in late November-early December and having mostly good weather was wonderful for me and I considered myself very lucky. Since I'm not a fancy photographer, I needed the pretty weather to make things look extra pretty and the rich blue sky background was ever so helpful in me taking pretty pictures. When it was cloudy, the buildings just didn't look as good as they did in real life.

The other 10-20%of the time there was inclement weather. But for the most part, it didn't affect how I enjoyed the day, which I guess is a good thing. The first morning I arrived in Paris the rain was finishing up, but the clouds had lifted by mid-morning. My day in Tours, France included a bit of rain but nothing that dampered my experience. When it rained in Venice, I got to see how the city reacts like nothing happened and that fascinating experience was one of my favorites. Munich had a bit of rain but it was in the evening so it didn't damper the day too much. And when I finally made it to Vienna, the last leg of the journey, it rained every day. Ironically...yes, that is the best word to use here I think...out of the three weeks I was in Europe, the one day it snowed was the day I was looking forward to the most, the day of my Sound of Music tour in Salzburg, Austria. More on that in the next post.

There's not much else I can say about the weather. I got pretty lucky for the 3 weeks I traversed the continent and although I can normally stay pretty positive and optimistic when weather is bad, if I'd had worse rain days than I had, and a lot of them, my trip may not have been as exciting and fun. Besides rain or shine, it also wasn't too cold ever. Sure it was probably in the 30s towards the end, but that's December...and I had plenty of shirts and jackets to layer to stay warm.