Cinque Terre
of In my quest to see the world (which I luckily am doing pretty good at), Cinque terre was one place that I will probably never go back to but was so easy to get to from florence that I could not miss it! Cinque Terre literally means 5 lands, and is made up of 5 small villages near la Spezia. It is on the northwestern coast of Italy (I was so close to france it hurt) and was unbelievable!
Getting there was a little more complicated than we had thought because it is not yet the summer. We took 3 trains, but about 2.5 hours later we arrived in La Spezia! Right when you get off the train you get a train pass to hop through the 5 towns and we went directly to the first town of riomaggiore. It was absolutely stunning. The town is very small and is all on a hill but the colorful houses and beautiful ocean was breath taking. We had a cappuccino and croissant here (we hadn't eaten anything) and walked around a little, until we got back on the train to go to the next city.
Usually, you hike in between the cities, but most of the hikes were unfortunately closed.
BERLIN
So, when planning out where we would travel to, we wanted to try to get to places that we would not likely return to on a vacation to Europe in the future. So, we chose to go to Berlin (and nixed the french riviera ... much to my dismay), but i was very excited to see this city!
We arrived in Berlin on Friday afternoon and went right out to the Jewish Museum. This museum was not like any Jewish Museum I had been to before, mostly because it was mostly information about being Jewish and not the Holocaust. It was very well done and informative. It also of course had a lot of information about the holocaust and life in Berlin for Jews, but it did a very good job of incorporating a lot into one place. (although we did spend about 3 hours there! The audio guide was great!) After the museum, we continued to a restaurant the concierge recommended called Edd's. It was very very average thai food. Nothing special.
When we got back to the hotel that night, Gabi spoke to her mom, who informed us that this exhibit in the Jewish Museum in Berlin was making world-wide news.... and of course we missed it! It is a temporary exhibit that was in a different section of the museum that we simply did not see! So we of course had to go back the next morning to see it!
We woke up around 10 and headed straight back to the Jewish Museum! We went to the exhibit which was called "everything you wanted to know about Jews" It was very well done, and informative for people that once again, knew nothing about Judaism. It asked quite ignorant questions, but of course had very sarcastic and "Jewish humor" responses. One of my favorite quotes was painted on a wall and said "A rabbi is asked why Jews always answer a question with another question 'Why not?' He replies," there were quotes like this everywhere! The main attraction in this exhibit was something called "Jew in a box" in which a Jewish person from Berlin literally sits in a box. But of course, since we went back to this on a Saturday, it was shabbat and he was not there. But we did see the box!
After this we went to Einstein Cafe, which is quite famous in Berlin. (Everything is Einstein, Einstein Coffee, Einstein Cafe, weird that a Jewish man is their most prominent figure, but he did go to college in Berlin!) Einstein Cafe looked reallyyyy sketchy from the outside, and the inside too, but just as we were told the food and coffee was delicious!
After this we headed to the train station for the start of our walking tour. With such a big city with so much history and so little time, we wanted to maximize our time by handing the reigns over to someone that knows what they're doing! And it was a really great move! We met at the train station on the West Side and took a train right to the east. Our first stop was Museum Island, where we walked past the old museum, new museum and others (they're SUPER creative with names in Berlin). Then we headed
After the tour we headed to a small shop to pick up a giant pretzel, because really, who could go to Germany and not get a pretzel as large as your face?! and then went went to dinner at ___ which our tour guide had reccommended and was delicious!
Sunday morning, we had a late flights, so we woke up and headed to the synagogue (we had to make up for being bad jews during passover, so we had to do as many Jewish activities as humanly possible!) The synagogue was truly beautiful and looked more like a mosque. Unfortunately, we were not allowed in the sanctuary and only saw the museum aspect of it, but it was still breath taking. After this, we headed to the topography of terror. This is a museum located next to a remaining section of the Berlin wall, and was built over where many Nazi offices were held. This museum goes through the Nazi reign and discusses each different part of the government, concentration camps, and places around the world affected by Nazi rule.
It is truly haunting to know that these people stood in the same place as I did and planned such atrocities. Although I have learned about the Holocaust and the Nazi rule since I was young, it took on a new life being in Berlin and intensifies the situation. (It did not help that I was reading a book on the holocaust at the same time)
On a lighter note, after this, we went back to the hotel and packed up to head to the airport. Berlin was such a crazy place. We all simply felt weird being there. It is definitely not a beautiful city, it looked gloomy and gray the entire time. But more than that, being in a place where there is so much history and so much evil that took place is truly haunting. Standing above Hitler's bunker and standing over both east and west berlin at once, we all just felt strange. I don't know if it was coincidence that we went to Berlin right before Yom Hashoah (Israeli Day of remembrance) but it meant something os muc
We arrived in Berlin on Friday afternoon and went right out to the Jewish Museum. This museum was not like any Jewish Museum I had been to before, mostly because it was mostly information about being Jewish and not the Holocaust. It was very well done and informative. It also of course had a lot of information about the holocaust and life in Berlin for Jews, but it did a very good job of incorporating a lot into one place. (although we did spend about 3 hours there! The audio guide was great!) After the museum, we continued to a restaurant the concierge recommended called Edd's. It was very very average thai food. Nothing special.
When we got back to the hotel that night, Gabi spoke to her mom, who informed us that this exhibit in the Jewish Museum in Berlin was making world-wide news.... and of course we missed it! It is a temporary exhibit that was in a different section of the museum that we simply did not see! So we of course had to go back the next morning to see it!
We woke up around 10 and headed straight back to the Jewish Museum! We went to the exhibit which was called "everything you wanted to know about Jews" It was very well done, and informative for people that once again, knew nothing about Judaism. It asked quite ignorant questions, but of course had very sarcastic and "Jewish humor" responses. One of my favorite quotes was painted on a wall and said "A rabbi is asked why Jews always answer a question with another question 'Why not?' He replies," there were quotes like this everywhere! The main attraction in this exhibit was something called "Jew in a box" in which a Jewish person from Berlin literally sits in a box. But of course, since we went back to this on a Saturday, it was shabbat and he was not there. But we did see the box!
After this we went to Einstein Cafe, which is quite famous in Berlin. (Everything is Einstein, Einstein Coffee, Einstein Cafe, weird that a Jewish man is their most prominent figure, but he did go to college in Berlin!) Einstein Cafe looked reallyyyy sketchy from the outside, and the inside too, but just as we were told the food and coffee was delicious!
After this we headed to the train station for the start of our walking tour. With such a big city with so much history and so little time, we wanted to maximize our time by handing the reigns over to someone that knows what they're doing! And it was a really great move! We met at the train station on the West Side and took a train right to the east. Our first stop was Museum Island, where we walked past the old museum, new museum and others (they're SUPER creative with names in Berlin). Then we headed
After the tour we headed to a small shop to pick up a giant pretzel, because really, who could go to Germany and not get a pretzel as large as your face?! and then went went to dinner at ___ which our tour guide had reccommended and was delicious!
Sunday morning, we had a late flights, so we woke up and headed to the synagogue (we had to make up for being bad jews during passover, so we had to do as many Jewish activities as humanly possible!) The synagogue was truly beautiful and looked more like a mosque. Unfortunately, we were not allowed in the sanctuary and only saw the museum aspect of it, but it was still breath taking. After this, we headed to the topography of terror. This is a museum located next to a remaining section of the Berlin wall, and was built over where many Nazi offices were held. This museum goes through the Nazi reign and discusses each different part of the government, concentration camps, and places around the world affected by Nazi rule.
It is truly haunting to know that these people stood in the same place as I did and planned such atrocities. Although I have learned about the Holocaust and the Nazi rule since I was young, it took on a new life being in Berlin and intensifies the situation. (It did not help that I was reading a book on the holocaust at the same time)
On a lighter note, after this, we went back to the hotel and packed up to head to the airport. Berlin was such a crazy place. We all simply felt weird being there. It is definitely not a beautiful city, it looked gloomy and gray the entire time. But more than that, being in a place where there is so much history and so much evil that took place is truly haunting. Standing above Hitler's bunker and standing over both east and west berlin at once, we all just felt strange. I don't know if it was coincidence that we went to Berlin right before Yom Hashoah (Israeli Day of remembrance) but it meant something os muc
Just Being in 2 places at once ... Istanbul <3 !
PAREE (Paris!)
Having many loves, (most importantly, fashion) Paris was one city that I was looking forward to the most, I mean really.... how could I not?! Gavi's sister Ali was visiting for the week so we decided to go with her to spend the weekend in this UNBELIEVABLE city! We arrived thursday night and immediately noticed the difference from any other country we have seen in Europe. We took the train from the airport to the city center, and when we got out of the trainstation, there was NO ENGLISH. Not even under the directions to let us know where to go. Luckily, we are intelligent girls and were able to figure it out, but it did take a while! Once we finally were able to make it to the hotel to drop off our bags, we went right to dinner! (If all the stores were closed the least we could do is eat!) So we went to a place called Cinq Mars which we had seen on a few blogs and it was delicious! We got champaigne (we were in France, can you blame me?) along with a pumpkin soup, salad, toast with mushrooms, cod with cream spinach, and another fish with mashed potatoes. Everything was delicious! Then we went back to the hotel and prepared for our day of exploring Paris!
We woke up Friday morning and went to Angelinas for breakfast! We got hot chocolate, coffee, croissants and some juice to top off our morning! Angelinas is such a beautiful restaurant, although I think you only need to do it once a trip (its a little pricey, but the hot chocolate is beyond worth it!) The hot chocolate is basically melted chocolate into a cup, SO GOOD , but so rich that you can not finish an entire cup, or at least I couldn't! So we shared and used the extra to make our coffee extra special! After Angelina's we headed to the Pompidou (the modern art museum) There was a Dali exhibit in its final days so I was so happy that we were there in time to check it out! His work was so cool and crazy, I really enjoyed walking around. The rest of the museum was well ... strance (for lack of a better word), thereI am all for different forms of expression but some things in that museum just were not art. For example, there was a navy canvas ... thats it. ( I don't get it!) But when ever there was something that reqired real thought and talent I was happy to sit and stare for a while!
We left the pompediu to head towards the Marais (The Jewish quarter) to walk around and eat (of course). We had heard that the falaffels in the marais were unbelievable, so we had to test it out and they did not disappoint! We took our flaffels to go and continued to explore this area of the city. We also went to a store called Merci, which had clothes, home stuff, jewelry and more. They had this really cool wallpaper that looked like wood, we really didn't know it was paper until we went up and touched it! Then we went to the Place des Vosges, which is the oldest planned square in Paris. It was right in the Marais and so beautiful! We then walked through a few streets and walked into a few really cool art galleries! We also walked into a store called Pauline which is famous for their sourdough bread, so of course we had to try! (whoops?)
We then walked to Palais Royale, which is so beautiful and has many shops around! We then walked down rue de cambone (home to the first chanel store ever, where Coco Chanel had her apartment on top. Although I was not lucky enough to see her apartment, we did see the area where she would watch fashion shows from! Talk about heaven on earth!) That night we went to a restaurant called Hotel de Nord. Although it was not traditional french everything we got was delicious! We had soup, burrata, and fish of course! (we might overdo it with the fish when we go away but I just miss it so much!)
Saturday morning we woke up and had coffee and croissants at a little bistro near our hotel, we had to start our day off somehow! Then we headed straight to the Orangerie, which was actually very close to our hotel. To get there, we walked through a beautiful park and of course had a great sight of the eiffel tower! The orangerie was really cool! It is home to Monet's "water lillies" which I thought was unbelievable. Up close it doesn't look like any thing at all but when you step back it is truly beautiful. You're not supposed to take pictures but my father has taught me well and I of course snuck in a couple! On the other level of the museum, they had paintings from Picasso, Matisse, and more! I really loved this museum and would definitely say it is a must-see!
After this, we headed to Notre Dame! The church was so intricate and beautiful (you know, real different from the other 10,000 churches I have seen in Europe) but it was really cool. Although I was surprised that the hunchback didn't come and say hi to me. (my life will forever be a disney movie, which is also why I am convinced that all the statues I see are going to come alive and be friends with me... which isn't too far fetched considering their are people dressed up as statues everywhere. But I am getting ahead of myself!)
Right behind Notre Dame, there is a memorial for the hundreds of thousands of jews that were deported from France during World War II. (of course not many people know about it) But it was very beautiful and I am happy that I saw it. After this, we crossed one of Paris' famous Locks Bridges. On these bridges, couples come and place a lock on the bridge and throw the key into the water as a symbol of their everlasting love. There are many places in Europe where people do this, but in Paris there are bridges FULL of them! It is such a beautiful sight. (how many people actually stayed together is another thing... but the bridge is really cool!)
Then we headed to another shopping street (Its Paris, its not my fault!) And went into this really cool store called Apriati that Gavi had been to and had gotten really cool jewelry from. They had really cool string bracelets, it was really fun to look around! We then had lunch around there, which was just okay. But from there we headed to the highlight (or at least one of them) The Eiffel Tower! It was so amazing! I was shocked that I was actually standing in front of this amazing tower! We were SUCH tourists and took a bunch of pictures in front of it, but how could we not?!
We walked from the Eiffel Tower to the Arc de Triumph, which was also beautiful. (we had to walk a lot of burn off all that we were eating!) And then walked from the Arc de Triumph down the Champs Elysee (basically the 5th avenue of Paris!) There we went to the flagship Luis Vuitton which was HUGE! We tried to find out how much they make in a day, but they weren't allowed to tell us =[. And of course we had to go to Laduree (Macaroons!) At this point in the trip, we have had Laduree from London and Milan but nothing compared to them in Paris! (They just opened one in New York, so who ever wants to take a trip when I get home, I am in!).
After lunch, and macaroons, we realized we still hadn't had a crepe, and of course we just had to! So we went to a restaurant and ordered some! They were UNBELIEVABLE! (screw freshman 15, im gaining the abroad 1500!) That night we went to a restaurant called Bistro Vivine. It was very good but not amazing!
My trip to Paris was beyond amazing! I absolutely loved the city. It was a very metropolitan place, without being too "New York-y," what I mean by that is it still felt like Europe. (maybe because there was no english anywhere!) But really, it was such an amazing city and I hope to return there again at some point in my life to explore it more!... and of course eat some more!
We woke up Friday morning and went to Angelinas for breakfast! We got hot chocolate, coffee, croissants and some juice to top off our morning! Angelinas is such a beautiful restaurant, although I think you only need to do it once a trip (its a little pricey, but the hot chocolate is beyond worth it!) The hot chocolate is basically melted chocolate into a cup, SO GOOD , but so rich that you can not finish an entire cup, or at least I couldn't! So we shared and used the extra to make our coffee extra special! After Angelina's we headed to the Pompidou (the modern art museum) There was a Dali exhibit in its final days so I was so happy that we were there in time to check it out! His work was so cool and crazy, I really enjoyed walking around. The rest of the museum was well ... strance (for lack of a better word), thereI am all for different forms of expression but some things in that museum just were not art. For example, there was a navy canvas ... thats it. ( I don't get it!) But when ever there was something that reqired real thought and talent I was happy to sit and stare for a while!
We left the pompediu to head towards the Marais (The Jewish quarter) to walk around and eat (of course). We had heard that the falaffels in the marais were unbelievable, so we had to test it out and they did not disappoint! We took our flaffels to go and continued to explore this area of the city. We also went to a store called Merci, which had clothes, home stuff, jewelry and more. They had this really cool wallpaper that looked like wood, we really didn't know it was paper until we went up and touched it! Then we went to the Place des Vosges, which is the oldest planned square in Paris. It was right in the Marais and so beautiful! We then walked through a few streets and walked into a few really cool art galleries! We also walked into a store called Pauline which is famous for their sourdough bread, so of course we had to try! (whoops?)
We then walked to Palais Royale, which is so beautiful and has many shops around! We then walked down rue de cambone (home to the first chanel store ever, where Coco Chanel had her apartment on top. Although I was not lucky enough to see her apartment, we did see the area where she would watch fashion shows from! Talk about heaven on earth!) That night we went to a restaurant called Hotel de Nord. Although it was not traditional french everything we got was delicious! We had soup, burrata, and fish of course! (we might overdo it with the fish when we go away but I just miss it so much!)
Saturday morning we woke up and had coffee and croissants at a little bistro near our hotel, we had to start our day off somehow! Then we headed straight to the Orangerie, which was actually very close to our hotel. To get there, we walked through a beautiful park and of course had a great sight of the eiffel tower! The orangerie was really cool! It is home to Monet's "water lillies" which I thought was unbelievable. Up close it doesn't look like any thing at all but when you step back it is truly beautiful. You're not supposed to take pictures but my father has taught me well and I of course snuck in a couple! On the other level of the museum, they had paintings from Picasso, Matisse, and more! I really loved this museum and would definitely say it is a must-see!
After this, we headed to Notre Dame! The church was so intricate and beautiful (you know, real different from the other 10,000 churches I have seen in Europe) but it was really cool. Although I was surprised that the hunchback didn't come and say hi to me. (my life will forever be a disney movie, which is also why I am convinced that all the statues I see are going to come alive and be friends with me... which isn't too far fetched considering their are people dressed up as statues everywhere. But I am getting ahead of myself!)
Right behind Notre Dame, there is a memorial for the hundreds of thousands of jews that were deported from France during World War II. (of course not many people know about it) But it was very beautiful and I am happy that I saw it. After this, we crossed one of Paris' famous Locks Bridges. On these bridges, couples come and place a lock on the bridge and throw the key into the water as a symbol of their everlasting love. There are many places in Europe where people do this, but in Paris there are bridges FULL of them! It is such a beautiful sight. (how many people actually stayed together is another thing... but the bridge is really cool!)
Then we headed to another shopping street (Its Paris, its not my fault!) And went into this really cool store called Apriati that Gavi had been to and had gotten really cool jewelry from. They had really cool string bracelets, it was really fun to look around! We then had lunch around there, which was just okay. But from there we headed to the highlight (or at least one of them) The Eiffel Tower! It was so amazing! I was shocked that I was actually standing in front of this amazing tower! We were SUCH tourists and took a bunch of pictures in front of it, but how could we not?!
We walked from the Eiffel Tower to the Arc de Triumph, which was also beautiful. (we had to walk a lot of burn off all that we were eating!) And then walked from the Arc de Triumph down the Champs Elysee (basically the 5th avenue of Paris!) There we went to the flagship Luis Vuitton which was HUGE! We tried to find out how much they make in a day, but they weren't allowed to tell us =[. And of course we had to go to Laduree (Macaroons!) At this point in the trip, we have had Laduree from London and Milan but nothing compared to them in Paris! (They just opened one in New York, so who ever wants to take a trip when I get home, I am in!).
After lunch, and macaroons, we realized we still hadn't had a crepe, and of course we just had to! So we went to a restaurant and ordered some! They were UNBELIEVABLE! (screw freshman 15, im gaining the abroad 1500!) That night we went to a restaurant called Bistro Vivine. It was very good but not amazing!
My trip to Paris was beyond amazing! I absolutely loved the city. It was a very metropolitan place, without being too "New York-y," what I mean by that is it still felt like Europe. (maybe because there was no english anywhere!) But really, it was such an amazing city and I hope to return there again at some point in my life to explore it more!... and of course eat some more!
Dublin for St. Patricks day weekend!
So I did survive Dublin! I wish I could say I did some more touring and saw more of the city ... but I did see a lot of different bars!
We arrived in Dublin on Friday afternoon. I don't think any of us really thought about just how long it would take to get there (about 9-10 hours traveling time total!) But once we did make it we were excited to be there! We immediately dropped all of our stuff off at the hotel (if you can even call it that) and went right to a store to put on as much green as possible! We then went for lunch/dinner at this restaurant called GBK burger. I had a vegeburger and a milkshake with baileys. (it sounded like a REALLY good idea at the time ... but it wasn't) We then went out for our first experience in an Irish bar. There was live music and dancing and we all had so much fun!
Saturday morning we woke up and had brunch at this adorable restaurant Cornucopia. Me and my friend Alyssa shared a breakfast crepe and eggs (both were unbelievable!) Then we walked around the shopping streets and of course ran into a few jewelry stores (we just couldn't help ourselves) and of course got starbucks. Then we headed back into the bar scene and the day pretty much blended together from there on. (I will not even type where we had dinner because its beyond embarrassing, but a bunch of drunk girls who wanted food immediately... we did what we had to do!) Then, it was Gavi and Gabis friends birthday at 12, so we went back to her hotel and had cake, and then went out for some cocktails (we were really lacking in the alcohol department this weekend .... ) and some food. The night was so much fun! That night when we got back, Gavi really wasn't feeling well, and Gabi wanted to go home, so the two of them changed their fight and decided to go home on Sunday. I wasn't ready to leave yet so I decided to stay the extra day.
Sunday we woke up and it was ST PATRICKS DAY! The feel of the city had totally changed. We had been saying the whole weekend that it was such a "Jolly Place" (not the happiest place, because that is Disney, but definitely the jolliest ! Everyone is so nice always!) We went right to a restaurant called Queen of Tarts for breakfast. It was so cute and they served real breakfast food! (something we are definitely lacking here in Italy) While we waited for our table we had scones and coffee (they are famous for their scones .. and rightfully so!) then for breakfast I had oatmeal and fruit. SO GOOD! Then we went right to a little restaurant to drink and wait for the parade to start. From then on we just kept going to bars and talking to people. Although it doesnt sound like we did much (because we really didn't) we spoke to so many different people and got a great feel for the city. Although this was not the place that we did the most sightseeing, it was definitely one of the most fun weekends we had so far!
Dublin is such a cool place, and if we had more time there I would have loved to see more of the city. However, the weekend was really about having fun and enjoying the festivities and that is exactly what we did!
We arrived in Dublin on Friday afternoon. I don't think any of us really thought about just how long it would take to get there (about 9-10 hours traveling time total!) But once we did make it we were excited to be there! We immediately dropped all of our stuff off at the hotel (if you can even call it that) and went right to a store to put on as much green as possible! We then went for lunch/dinner at this restaurant called GBK burger. I had a vegeburger and a milkshake with baileys. (it sounded like a REALLY good idea at the time ... but it wasn't) We then went out for our first experience in an Irish bar. There was live music and dancing and we all had so much fun!
Saturday morning we woke up and had brunch at this adorable restaurant Cornucopia. Me and my friend Alyssa shared a breakfast crepe and eggs (both were unbelievable!) Then we walked around the shopping streets and of course ran into a few jewelry stores (we just couldn't help ourselves) and of course got starbucks. Then we headed back into the bar scene and the day pretty much blended together from there on. (I will not even type where we had dinner because its beyond embarrassing, but a bunch of drunk girls who wanted food immediately... we did what we had to do!) Then, it was Gavi and Gabis friends birthday at 12, so we went back to her hotel and had cake, and then went out for some cocktails (we were really lacking in the alcohol department this weekend .... ) and some food. The night was so much fun! That night when we got back, Gavi really wasn't feeling well, and Gabi wanted to go home, so the two of them changed their fight and decided to go home on Sunday. I wasn't ready to leave yet so I decided to stay the extra day.
Sunday we woke up and it was ST PATRICKS DAY! The feel of the city had totally changed. We had been saying the whole weekend that it was such a "Jolly Place" (not the happiest place, because that is Disney, but definitely the jolliest ! Everyone is so nice always!) We went right to a restaurant called Queen of Tarts for breakfast. It was so cute and they served real breakfast food! (something we are definitely lacking here in Italy) While we waited for our table we had scones and coffee (they are famous for their scones .. and rightfully so!) then for breakfast I had oatmeal and fruit. SO GOOD! Then we went right to a little restaurant to drink and wait for the parade to start. From then on we just kept going to bars and talking to people. Although it doesnt sound like we did much (because we really didn't) we spoke to so many different people and got a great feel for the city. Although this was not the place that we did the most sightseeing, it was definitely one of the most fun weekends we had so far!
Dublin is such a cool place, and if we had more time there I would have loved to see more of the city. However, the weekend was really about having fun and enjoying the festivities and that is exactly what we did!
Last Stop on Spring Break: Barcelona!
I have so much to say about this city I am honestly not even sure where to start! I guess I will start with this .. from the second I walked into barcelona I LOVED IT! It was beyond beautiful and amazing and interesting and so much fun! So, we arrived early on thursday morning and went right to check into our hotel, which was interesting to say the least, but was fine for the little time we spent there!
Thursday
We immediately went out to start exploring down la rambla, a large and popular street through Barcelona. We had lunch at a restaurant called Juicy Jones. When people talk about a "dani restaurant" this is pretty much what it would be, but I loved it! All the food was delicious and it was the perfect start to our weekend in Barcelona! After lunch we walked around the gothic area to look at the architecture, and then continued onto the cathedral. Then we went for a big change, a synagogue! However, even the jews in true european fashion had taken their random part of the day break so we continued on our journey and planned to come back later in the day. We continued onto the Picasso museum. I really liked how in his early work you can see the true realism and see how talented he really is, then you stepped into the work he is most famous for and got to see how strange he is. It was crazy to think that the many works in the museum were done by one person! I really enjoyed it!
We then went to "happy pills" which in fact is not a pharmacy or a bar, but a candy store! It was the cutest idea I have ever seen! All of the containers said something different and there was even a "lab" in the back that was filled with larger jars of candy! The only way it would have been cuter is if I actually liked the candy, but it was cute nonetheless!
Finally, we headed back to the synagogue. This was the oldest synagogue in Europe! We walked in and were told that we would be given a "tour" of the synagogue, and what they meant by that was that a man would come talk to us in a small room and explain the history. (and by us I mean me, Gavi Gabi and one other couple...you can see how much Europe cares about Jewish people), but it was very interesting. The synagogue was only found in 1996 and excavations and renovations did not finish until the early 2000s, so it was very interesting to sit and listen to!
Now a little background: As I said in the blog post, although we planned our spring break through Spain before we arrived in Europe, once we got here a big concert was made and just happened to be the weekend we were in Barcelona. When I say that all of Long Island was picked up and moved to Barcelona for a weekend I am not kidding! Because the concert oversold tickets by about 700 (least surprising fact ever) they tried to make it more difficult for people, so we all had to go exchange our print-at-home tickets for real hard tickets. The bright side was we got to walk by the port for a little and see some friends!
We then went back to the hotel to shower and get ready for the night. (and ordered in Sushi for dinner because we were pressed for time) Then we got to go hang out at my friend Brians hotel room before we went out together! I was so happy I got to see him in a normal environment before the concert! Once we all got to the concert, I literally saw a new person every time I turned around. But the night was really fun and we all had a great time!
Friday
We woke up the next morning and were so excited that we still had two full days to explore this amazing city! (we picked the perfect city to spend extra time in!) So we left the hotel and obviously there was a mandatory first stop ... starbucks! But don't worry, we of course planned it out strategically so it was conveniently located next to Gaudi's la pedrera! I was shocked by the beauty and uniqueness of this building. It is really so stunning and such an amazing piece of architecture! We then went to la boqueria which is Barcelona's market. It was more similar to Florence's market but really cute and fun to walk around!
We then walked o the port and walked around the water and had lunch at a place called tlaxcal which was a really adorable little restaurant. Then we took a cab to Parque Guell. This was BEYOND amazing! Every time you turned around you found something else that was beautiful and stunning. Between simply the way the rocks were laid, to the mosaic to the view, we walked around for so long and probably could spend days just staring at the beauty! This was without a doubt a highlight for me!
Finishing off our Gaudi day, we walked to la segrada familia. This is a church designed by Gaudi. It was his last project and he died before a quarter of it was finished. It is supposed to be finished on the centennial of his death (still not for a while) which is really cool! We wanted to go in but unfortunately we spent too much time staring at his work in Park Guell that we arrived too late. But the outside was really a sight to be seen!
For dinner we went to a tapas restaurant someone had told us about, which was just okay. (I am too spoiled by amazing food) Then we got ready to go out again! The night was fun once again, we got to see our friends from school which was really nice!
Saturday
Saturday we woke up and went to the top of the mountain to see the olympic park. We walked around the mountain to look at the beautiful scenery and amazing view of everything Barcelona had to offer. We then walked on the beach and relaxed in the sun for a little (while wearing boots, but it was gorgeous out I promise!) The beach is beyond amazing there and it is crazy to think of how many different sides one city can have!
Then, our friend recommended that we try out "carpe diem" which is a bar/restaurant/lounge which did not disappoint! You lay on big beds and drink sangria, just about perfection! We sat there for so long just talking about our weekend and thinking about all of Barcelona!
We then walked so far to the restaurant where we had dinner reservations (and by far I mean we walked very far!) but then the restaurant didn't look very good, so we changed to another sushi place that was recommended by our friend that studying abroad in Barcelona. The food was amazing! (or it was just so nice to have sushi.. who knows!)
we then went back to shower and get ready to go out again (I know I don't think I've ever gone out so much in my life!!!) But we had a great time! We went to this bar called "pippermint" with HUGE drinks (no not fishbowl huge for anyone that goes to UF) like about 20 times the size! It was insane! Then we went to a club called duvet, and the line was literally rounding the corner. Somehow we managed to slip in without waiting too long and made it a successful night and weekend!
Sunday
Usually when a day is only travel I won't comment on it, because really all airports look the same. But this is something I HAD to write about. Now, I talk a lot about things being "scene-y" as in there are a lottt of people there, and a certain type of person. Well the airport this day was a full blown SCENE. Not only was every person studying abroad on our flight back to Florence, but even the club promoter (probably the biggest guy you will ever see in your life, fully decked out in designer gear) was also on our flight! It was insane! Luckily, we had picked our seats and the three of us were able to be in our own world. (I was wearing a sweater and glasses for goodness sake!) and we made it home safe and exhausted!
Overall thoughts on Barcelona: I LOVED Barcelona! It is such an amazing city with such a great feel. There are so many different sides to the city between the bar scene, the gaudi buildings, the beaches, the shopping and the quiet little parts. It was such an amazing place that I would go back to in a heartbeat!
Thursday
We immediately went out to start exploring down la rambla, a large and popular street through Barcelona. We had lunch at a restaurant called Juicy Jones. When people talk about a "dani restaurant" this is pretty much what it would be, but I loved it! All the food was delicious and it was the perfect start to our weekend in Barcelona! After lunch we walked around the gothic area to look at the architecture, and then continued onto the cathedral. Then we went for a big change, a synagogue! However, even the jews in true european fashion had taken their random part of the day break so we continued on our journey and planned to come back later in the day. We continued onto the Picasso museum. I really liked how in his early work you can see the true realism and see how talented he really is, then you stepped into the work he is most famous for and got to see how strange he is. It was crazy to think that the many works in the museum were done by one person! I really enjoyed it!
We then went to "happy pills" which in fact is not a pharmacy or a bar, but a candy store! It was the cutest idea I have ever seen! All of the containers said something different and there was even a "lab" in the back that was filled with larger jars of candy! The only way it would have been cuter is if I actually liked the candy, but it was cute nonetheless!
Finally, we headed back to the synagogue. This was the oldest synagogue in Europe! We walked in and were told that we would be given a "tour" of the synagogue, and what they meant by that was that a man would come talk to us in a small room and explain the history. (and by us I mean me, Gavi Gabi and one other couple...you can see how much Europe cares about Jewish people), but it was very interesting. The synagogue was only found in 1996 and excavations and renovations did not finish until the early 2000s, so it was very interesting to sit and listen to!
Now a little background: As I said in the blog post, although we planned our spring break through Spain before we arrived in Europe, once we got here a big concert was made and just happened to be the weekend we were in Barcelona. When I say that all of Long Island was picked up and moved to Barcelona for a weekend I am not kidding! Because the concert oversold tickets by about 700 (least surprising fact ever) they tried to make it more difficult for people, so we all had to go exchange our print-at-home tickets for real hard tickets. The bright side was we got to walk by the port for a little and see some friends!
We then went back to the hotel to shower and get ready for the night. (and ordered in Sushi for dinner because we were pressed for time) Then we got to go hang out at my friend Brians hotel room before we went out together! I was so happy I got to see him in a normal environment before the concert! Once we all got to the concert, I literally saw a new person every time I turned around. But the night was really fun and we all had a great time!
Friday
We woke up the next morning and were so excited that we still had two full days to explore this amazing city! (we picked the perfect city to spend extra time in!) So we left the hotel and obviously there was a mandatory first stop ... starbucks! But don't worry, we of course planned it out strategically so it was conveniently located next to Gaudi's la pedrera! I was shocked by the beauty and uniqueness of this building. It is really so stunning and such an amazing piece of architecture! We then went to la boqueria which is Barcelona's market. It was more similar to Florence's market but really cute and fun to walk around!
We then walked o the port and walked around the water and had lunch at a place called tlaxcal which was a really adorable little restaurant. Then we took a cab to Parque Guell. This was BEYOND amazing! Every time you turned around you found something else that was beautiful and stunning. Between simply the way the rocks were laid, to the mosaic to the view, we walked around for so long and probably could spend days just staring at the beauty! This was without a doubt a highlight for me!
Finishing off our Gaudi day, we walked to la segrada familia. This is a church designed by Gaudi. It was his last project and he died before a quarter of it was finished. It is supposed to be finished on the centennial of his death (still not for a while) which is really cool! We wanted to go in but unfortunately we spent too much time staring at his work in Park Guell that we arrived too late. But the outside was really a sight to be seen!
For dinner we went to a tapas restaurant someone had told us about, which was just okay. (I am too spoiled by amazing food) Then we got ready to go out again! The night was fun once again, we got to see our friends from school which was really nice!
Saturday
Saturday we woke up and went to the top of the mountain to see the olympic park. We walked around the mountain to look at the beautiful scenery and amazing view of everything Barcelona had to offer. We then walked on the beach and relaxed in the sun for a little (while wearing boots, but it was gorgeous out I promise!) The beach is beyond amazing there and it is crazy to think of how many different sides one city can have!
Then, our friend recommended that we try out "carpe diem" which is a bar/restaurant/lounge which did not disappoint! You lay on big beds and drink sangria, just about perfection! We sat there for so long just talking about our weekend and thinking about all of Barcelona!
We then walked so far to the restaurant where we had dinner reservations (and by far I mean we walked very far!) but then the restaurant didn't look very good, so we changed to another sushi place that was recommended by our friend that studying abroad in Barcelona. The food was amazing! (or it was just so nice to have sushi.. who knows!)
we then went back to shower and get ready to go out again (I know I don't think I've ever gone out so much in my life!!!) But we had a great time! We went to this bar called "pippermint" with HUGE drinks (no not fishbowl huge for anyone that goes to UF) like about 20 times the size! It was insane! Then we went to a club called duvet, and the line was literally rounding the corner. Somehow we managed to slip in without waiting too long and made it a successful night and weekend!
Sunday
Usually when a day is only travel I won't comment on it, because really all airports look the same. But this is something I HAD to write about. Now, I talk a lot about things being "scene-y" as in there are a lottt of people there, and a certain type of person. Well the airport this day was a full blown SCENE. Not only was every person studying abroad on our flight back to Florence, but even the club promoter (probably the biggest guy you will ever see in your life, fully decked out in designer gear) was also on our flight! It was insane! Luckily, we had picked our seats and the three of us were able to be in our own world. (I was wearing a sweater and glasses for goodness sake!) and we made it home safe and exhausted!
Overall thoughts on Barcelona: I LOVED Barcelona! It is such an amazing city with such a great feel. There are so many different sides to the city between the bar scene, the gaudi buildings, the beaches, the shopping and the quiet little parts. It was such an amazing place that I would go back to in a heartbeat!
Sevilla!
After a long day of traveling (3 cities in one day) we made it to Seville! Mine and Gavi's friend from school Jenna is studying abroad there so we stayed with her. We got in around 8 at night so we changed and went right to dinner at Vineria Santelmo. There were about five of us at the end of a table of about 20 so we all shared a bunch of different tapas including tuna tartar and salads, and sangria of course! Everything was delicious! After this, we went out to a club with Jenna and her friends. We all had a great time and even tried the beer from Seville. (My dad would be so proud)
The next morning we woke up and left for our walking tour of Seville. Jenna luckily did not have class until 5 so she had tteh whole day to show us around her city. We started out going to the Triana market, which was similar to the markets we have in Florence. After this, we went to a famous ceramics store. Ceramics used tobe made exclusively in Triana so they had very interesting pieces!
Then we walked to the cathedral (I know, something very rare to see in Europe) It was beautiful though! It was one of the biggest cathedrals I have ever seen with beautiful stained glass windows. We then climbed up it to see a beautiful view of all of seville. This climb wasn't stairs but ramps so it was not as difficult as the others, but we were simply happy to walk a little!
Next we went to the "real alcazar" and saw beautiful gardens and even peacocks! it was so nice to walk around. Luckily the weather was beautiful and we were able to enjoy the gorgeous day walking around outside!
Finally on our tour of Seville, we went to the plaza de espana. it is now used as a government building, but on the outside of the building there are sections for each of the provinces of Spain. Such a beautiful building and a really cool place to visit!
Then Jenna had class and me and Gavi just walked around a little and got some yogurt before going back to her apartment and getting ready for dinner. We had dinner at another tapas place. All of the food was really good! We of course shred a few things, and then walked home to prepare ourselves for the next and final part of our spring break! BARCELONA!
The next morning we woke up and left for our walking tour of Seville. Jenna luckily did not have class until 5 so she had tteh whole day to show us around her city. We started out going to the Triana market, which was similar to the markets we have in Florence. After this, we went to a famous ceramics store. Ceramics used tobe made exclusively in Triana so they had very interesting pieces!
Then we walked to the cathedral (I know, something very rare to see in Europe) It was beautiful though! It was one of the biggest cathedrals I have ever seen with beautiful stained glass windows. We then climbed up it to see a beautiful view of all of seville. This climb wasn't stairs but ramps so it was not as difficult as the others, but we were simply happy to walk a little!
Next we went to the "real alcazar" and saw beautiful gardens and even peacocks! it was so nice to walk around. Luckily the weather was beautiful and we were able to enjoy the gorgeous day walking around outside!
Finally on our tour of Seville, we went to the plaza de espana. it is now used as a government building, but on the outside of the building there are sections for each of the provinces of Spain. Such a beautiful building and a really cool place to visit!
Then Jenna had class and me and Gavi just walked around a little and got some yogurt before going back to her apartment and getting ready for dinner. We had dinner at another tapas place. All of the food was really good! We of course shred a few things, and then walked home to prepare ourselves for the next and final part of our spring break! BARCELONA!
Quick stop in Madrid
There is nothing like trying to literally fit all of Europe into a short amount of time. We knew we wanted to see a few cities in Spain, but Seville and Barcelona were our priorities, so we had a little stop in Madrid for a day! We took a 6:55 flight from Lisbon to Madrid. Luckily, I have a friend from school studying abroad in Madrid, so we were able to leave all of our bags at his apartment and head out to explore Madrid!
Madrid is a much bigger city than I had expected, so we took the metro. All of the metro's in Europe are extremely easy to navigate and very clean. So, after grabbing a quick coffee, we went on the metro and headed to Parque del Retiro. It is a big beautiful park that we walked around for a while. Afterwards, we walked by the prado museum and headed towards the Sol. Sol is a large area of shops and restaurants. It was so cute and fun to walk around!
After this we headed towards the San Miguel Market... and the eating began. Instead of the markets I was used to in Florence which is mostly raw meats, and food that hasnt been prepared, the San Miguel Market was more of a lunch place with different stands of the most amazing food! We all tried payeya, and for dessert had the most amazing yogurt and a chocolate covered strawberry to finish! All of the stands were so different and cool, it was definitely one of my favorite places.
After this long day of walking around madrid we headed to the train station to go to SEVILLE!
Madrid is a much bigger city than I had expected, so we took the metro. All of the metro's in Europe are extremely easy to navigate and very clean. So, after grabbing a quick coffee, we went on the metro and headed to Parque del Retiro. It is a big beautiful park that we walked around for a while. Afterwards, we walked by the prado museum and headed towards the Sol. Sol is a large area of shops and restaurants. It was so cute and fun to walk around!
After this we headed towards the San Miguel Market... and the eating began. Instead of the markets I was used to in Florence which is mostly raw meats, and food that hasnt been prepared, the San Miguel Market was more of a lunch place with different stands of the most amazing food! We all tried payeya, and for dessert had the most amazing yogurt and a chocolate covered strawberry to finish! All of the stands were so different and cool, it was definitely one of my favorite places.
After this long day of walking around madrid we headed to the train station to go to SEVILLE!
Lisbon!
Sunday morning, me and gavs woke up in out apartment in Milan, went to arnolds coffee (knockoff Starbucks) and headed to the airport to go to portugal. When most people go abroad they usually hit the highlights, Paris, London, Barcelona etc. I did not expect to be going to portugal but I am so glad I did! We arrived in Lisbon Sunday afternoon and went to check into the holiday inn (classy I know ;) ) The hotel was a little far from the center of the city, but it was not totally horrible (ish). We went right to the city center, which in-fact is the end of the city. There are a bunch of cute squares (I got yelled at every time I described one as a piazza .. but thats what happens when you live in Italy!) and a large port. It looked as if you stepped into the city portion of a Caribbean island! The concierge at the holiday inn had told us a street with a bunch of restaurants to eat at for lunch. (we should have known not to listen, but whoops!) the food was sooo bad, pretty much we just ate the bread on the table for our meal. But, we continued on! We took the San Justa lift up to a gorgeous view of all of Lisbon. (Me and Gavi wanted to climb it but everyone else was happy it was only an elevator!) The view was absolutely beautiful. We also got to the top just around sunset so everything was even more beautiful. The best part, was we began talking to a man who spoke perfect english and has lived in Lisbon for about 17 years. He told us everything to see the following day and places to eat. Thank goodness for that man! He became our new best friend, even though we never saw him again. He recommended that we go to Largo for dinner, which was a trendy Portuguese restaurant in an adorable part of town. Everything we ate was delicious, so we decided to listen to him for our plans for the next day. But ... of course something had to go wrong and the weather was HORRIBLE! It was pouring the whole day, but we still had to see what Lisbon had to offer!
The next morning we woke up and went directly to Starbucks (who is surprised?) Then we went to the San Jorge Castle and walked all around it... in the pouring rain. But it was still beautiful and cool! Inside the castle there was a museum of artifacts found at and around the castle. Everything was so beautiful and interesting! After this, we went to the LX factory area, which was another cute artsy part of town. (we had a hard time figuring out where it was because in Portuguese, X is pronounced "shish" and we kept saying LX, but someone finally understood!) We found an adorable little japanese restaurant which was decorated with old printing presses and big machines. (it is not that weird that we went for japanese because the fish is so fresh, I promise!) After lunch we found a little cafe called Cafe chef nina, which was probably the cutest shop I have ever seen with the nicest people!
At that point, it was in the afternoon and the rain was too bad to walk around anymore. Luckily, Lisbon has a very famous aquarium that we had discussed going to before we left. The aquarium was so large and so well done! There were many sea turtles (my favorite) and just about every other type of fish. I felt like a little kid but we all had a great time!
That night for dinner we went to solar os presuntos for dinner, which was less trendy and more traditional Portuguese. In portugal they do this weird thing, where the put a bunch of different food on your table, and if you eat it you are charged. So we had to tell them to take it away. It is their way of tricking people and luckily we caught on early on our trip! The food was very good, we shared salmon and soup!
Overall thoughts on Lisbon: I really really liked Lisbon. If I had any advice, I would say definitely to go when it is nice out, because it is such a beautiful city with so much to offer, but not much to do in the rain! But it was a lot of fun and we were (semi-)prepared for our longest day of the trip ... Madrid and Seville!
The next morning we woke up and went directly to Starbucks (who is surprised?) Then we went to the San Jorge Castle and walked all around it... in the pouring rain. But it was still beautiful and cool! Inside the castle there was a museum of artifacts found at and around the castle. Everything was so beautiful and interesting! After this, we went to the LX factory area, which was another cute artsy part of town. (we had a hard time figuring out where it was because in Portuguese, X is pronounced "shish" and we kept saying LX, but someone finally understood!) We found an adorable little japanese restaurant which was decorated with old printing presses and big machines. (it is not that weird that we went for japanese because the fish is so fresh, I promise!) After lunch we found a little cafe called Cafe chef nina, which was probably the cutest shop I have ever seen with the nicest people!
At that point, it was in the afternoon and the rain was too bad to walk around anymore. Luckily, Lisbon has a very famous aquarium that we had discussed going to before we left. The aquarium was so large and so well done! There were many sea turtles (my favorite) and just about every other type of fish. I felt like a little kid but we all had a great time!
That night for dinner we went to solar os presuntos for dinner, which was less trendy and more traditional Portuguese. In portugal they do this weird thing, where the put a bunch of different food on your table, and if you eat it you are charged. So we had to tell them to take it away. It is their way of tricking people and luckily we caught on early on our trip! The food was very good, we shared salmon and soup!
Overall thoughts on Lisbon: I really really liked Lisbon. If I had any advice, I would say definitely to go when it is nice out, because it is such a beautiful city with so much to offer, but not much to do in the rain! But it was a lot of fun and we were (semi-)prepared for our longest day of the trip ... Madrid and Seville!
MILAN
Friday March 1st
So having already done a summer in Italy and being lucky enough to travel to many different cities, I came home saying that the only city I wanted to go to in Italy was Milan. Well, I finally got to! Nothing better than starting off a 10 day tour of Europe with one of the fashion capitals of the world! Can you say heaven on earth? Me and Gavi packed and headed out early for a train to Milan on Friday morning. (It feels like forever ago now!) Usually, we walk to the train station (only about a 25 minute walk from my apartment) but with 2 full suitcases of luggage and uneven pavement, we wanted to take a cab, and planned accordingly. Living in a large piazza has many ups and downs (as I openly discuss on this blog) but one of its large advantages is the taxi line approximately 2 steps from my door. Well, in true Italian fashion, Florence decided this morning was the perfect time to tear up the streets of the piazza and shut it down completely.... just my luck! So me and Gavi sprinted to Piazza della republica with all our luggage, virtually still sleeping and on VERY uneven pavement to the next known taxi line. Lets just say the train doors basically shut as soon as we were inside them! ... nothing like a close call to start off a trip of traveling.
But once we were on the train, we figured the rest of the trip would be fine. Well, of course there had to be one more. So... Milan happens to be a very expensive city. Being two college girls traveling every weekend, a fancy hotel was not in our budget, and a hotel with cockroaches and bed bugs wasn't our idea of a good time. So instead we used a website to rent apartments for the weekend. Clean, easy and cheap! So when we got off of the train and called the owner to let us in and give us keys, he let us know that he wouldn't be able to be there for an hour. So, what to do when you haven't eaten and have an hour to spare, we ate! But of course we wanted to be close to the apartment and have something fast so we could explore Milan. So our idea of a good meal? Go through La Rinacente (one of the nicest department stores in Italy) with all of our bags, in sweatpants to a salad place we had read about. The food was really good, the experience was quite embarrassing. But what can you do?
Once we finally got into the apartment, the day started to turn around! The apartment was clean and most importantly was a step away from the Duomo! (Which is unbelievable!) So of course our first real order of business (being the exercise minded people we are) was to climb the duomo! The climb was just like all of the other climbs, small and not scenic. But once we got to the top it was beautiful, not only the scenery but also the weather! So much so that the two of us laid down on the top of the duomo and just tanned for about a half hour. I don't think it gets much better than that (I probably will say that about 20 times in the following posts, but really so much is amazing!) After we came back down to ground level, we went to the Galleria Vittorio Emanuel's which is an indoor shopping galleria which is amazing! In it, is one of the largest Prada stores, which of course we had to go into!
After walking around the galleria, we headed to Via montenapoline. That street in combination with a few others around it is considered one of the most elite shopping areas in the world. (okay really this time, does it get much better than that?!) Each store was better than the last with amazing designers and the most unbelievable window displays I have ever seen. I think we walked around for a couple hours and I probably would live on the street just to stare at everything forever!
Then, being exhausted as we were from a long day of traveling and touring, we picked up a bottle of wine and some cheese and headed back to the apartment for a little break! We then went to Da Puccini for dinner because it had high ratings on trip advisor... trip advisor sucks. The food was very average, but as I have said before average sucks. The restaurant was very touristy and just decent food. We then went to Ciocciolati, a gelateria recommended to us by a friend. This place was very cool! They had sinks of chocolate, and waffles and blocks of different types of chocolate! We just got gelato which was incredible!
Saturday March 2nd
The next morning we woke up and went to Arnolds, which was Milan's knock-off of starbucks, which was 20000% fine with me because they had coffee larger than a shot of espresso which was exactly what I needed! We of course had another adventure awaiting us .. So we print everything out (boarding passes, tickets ect) the thursday before each trip at school because it is the only place that we have access to a printer. Gavi had bought the tickets for both of us to the last supper and by accident forgot to print them out. The only problem is you need a hard copy of the tickets! So we left enough time in the morning to get coffee, go to an internet cafe and get to the last supper by 10. (our appointment was at 10:15). Well, in true Italian fashion, when we got to the internet cafe, which was supposed to be open, it was not. So we ran around Milan trying to find an internet cafe or anywhere to print something but we found nothing. Luckily we found a zagat rated hotel close to the last supper. We were so fortunate that the man at the desk felt bad for the two dumb sweaty american girls begging him to help us! We made it just in time!
Now for the last supper. I will preface this by saying I LOVE art, art history and feel so lucky that I am able to come to Europe and see these amazing pieces of art. I love learning about the history and could stare at many pieces for hours. HOWEVER, the last supper is a complete and total disney ride. You have to book an appointment a while in advance and pay a ridiculous amount of money. Then, once you get there, about 30 people are shoved into a little glass room, whose doors don't open until everyone is in the room and the doors behind you close. This happens about 3 times just to ensure that you feel like a herded cattle. Then, once you finally get into the empty room with only the last supper and one other painting on the opposite side, you have 15 minutes to look at the painting until a voice comes over the loudspeaker and basically says okay get out now, at which point you need to go through about 2 other glass doors, just so you don't forget the feeling of being a herded cattle. Oh, and in the 15 minutes that you have to look at a wall, the person standing in the room lets you know that DaVinci messed up and tried this new technique so half of the painting isn't actually his work anymore. All of that being said, it is definitely something you need to do if you go to Milan, and it was pretty cool to be standing in front of it. =D
After this, we headed towards the Castello Sforza. It is crazy to think that people actually lived in these amazing palaces! We then walked through the brera area which is the art district in Milan, and window shopped some more. (a girl can dream can't she?!) Then we went to corso como which is a really cool shopping and restaurant street. We had heard about this bar/restaurant/store called 10 Corso Como (they got really creative with the name) Inside, they had just about every designer clothing, shoe, bag and jewelry in the most modern store! it was so cool! When we were finished looking around, and by that I mean examining every single item, we had about an hour until dinner. So, we went to the bar of 10 corso como and each had a mojito which was one of the best drinks I have ever had! We had so much fun!
We then went to Alla Cucina Della Langhe for dinner on corso como. On a street that we had so much fun on, we figured it could not disappoint, and we were right! We shared Milanese risotto (it has Milan in the name.. we had to!) and the gnocchi and everything was delicious! After this we just went back to the apartment to pack up and prepare ourselves for our next stop ... LISBON!
Overall thoughts on Milan: The main difference between Milan and every other place in the world is EVERY person is dressed PERFECTLY with the most gorgeous handbags in the world, and when I say every person I mean EVERY SINGLE PERSON. Literally, it is insane! Not one person looked disheveled or out of sorts (except for me and gavi running through la rinacente with all of our luggage) But really, every person looked perfect, always! It was amazing. That being said, you don't need more than a day and a half to accomplish all of the "touristy" attractions in Milan. Also, I have no idea why any boy would ever go to Milan. Unless you are DaVinci's child wanting to see the last supper, all of Milan is fashion (so clearly I loved it!)
So having already done a summer in Italy and being lucky enough to travel to many different cities, I came home saying that the only city I wanted to go to in Italy was Milan. Well, I finally got to! Nothing better than starting off a 10 day tour of Europe with one of the fashion capitals of the world! Can you say heaven on earth? Me and Gavi packed and headed out early for a train to Milan on Friday morning. (It feels like forever ago now!) Usually, we walk to the train station (only about a 25 minute walk from my apartment) but with 2 full suitcases of luggage and uneven pavement, we wanted to take a cab, and planned accordingly. Living in a large piazza has many ups and downs (as I openly discuss on this blog) but one of its large advantages is the taxi line approximately 2 steps from my door. Well, in true Italian fashion, Florence decided this morning was the perfect time to tear up the streets of the piazza and shut it down completely.... just my luck! So me and Gavi sprinted to Piazza della republica with all our luggage, virtually still sleeping and on VERY uneven pavement to the next known taxi line. Lets just say the train doors basically shut as soon as we were inside them! ... nothing like a close call to start off a trip of traveling.
But once we were on the train, we figured the rest of the trip would be fine. Well, of course there had to be one more. So... Milan happens to be a very expensive city. Being two college girls traveling every weekend, a fancy hotel was not in our budget, and a hotel with cockroaches and bed bugs wasn't our idea of a good time. So instead we used a website to rent apartments for the weekend. Clean, easy and cheap! So when we got off of the train and called the owner to let us in and give us keys, he let us know that he wouldn't be able to be there for an hour. So, what to do when you haven't eaten and have an hour to spare, we ate! But of course we wanted to be close to the apartment and have something fast so we could explore Milan. So our idea of a good meal? Go through La Rinacente (one of the nicest department stores in Italy) with all of our bags, in sweatpants to a salad place we had read about. The food was really good, the experience was quite embarrassing. But what can you do?
Once we finally got into the apartment, the day started to turn around! The apartment was clean and most importantly was a step away from the Duomo! (Which is unbelievable!) So of course our first real order of business (being the exercise minded people we are) was to climb the duomo! The climb was just like all of the other climbs, small and not scenic. But once we got to the top it was beautiful, not only the scenery but also the weather! So much so that the two of us laid down on the top of the duomo and just tanned for about a half hour. I don't think it gets much better than that (I probably will say that about 20 times in the following posts, but really so much is amazing!) After we came back down to ground level, we went to the Galleria Vittorio Emanuel's which is an indoor shopping galleria which is amazing! In it, is one of the largest Prada stores, which of course we had to go into!
After walking around the galleria, we headed to Via montenapoline. That street in combination with a few others around it is considered one of the most elite shopping areas in the world. (okay really this time, does it get much better than that?!) Each store was better than the last with amazing designers and the most unbelievable window displays I have ever seen. I think we walked around for a couple hours and I probably would live on the street just to stare at everything forever!
Then, being exhausted as we were from a long day of traveling and touring, we picked up a bottle of wine and some cheese and headed back to the apartment for a little break! We then went to Da Puccini for dinner because it had high ratings on trip advisor... trip advisor sucks. The food was very average, but as I have said before average sucks. The restaurant was very touristy and just decent food. We then went to Ciocciolati, a gelateria recommended to us by a friend. This place was very cool! They had sinks of chocolate, and waffles and blocks of different types of chocolate! We just got gelato which was incredible!
Saturday March 2nd
The next morning we woke up and went to Arnolds, which was Milan's knock-off of starbucks, which was 20000% fine with me because they had coffee larger than a shot of espresso which was exactly what I needed! We of course had another adventure awaiting us .. So we print everything out (boarding passes, tickets ect) the thursday before each trip at school because it is the only place that we have access to a printer. Gavi had bought the tickets for both of us to the last supper and by accident forgot to print them out. The only problem is you need a hard copy of the tickets! So we left enough time in the morning to get coffee, go to an internet cafe and get to the last supper by 10. (our appointment was at 10:15). Well, in true Italian fashion, when we got to the internet cafe, which was supposed to be open, it was not. So we ran around Milan trying to find an internet cafe or anywhere to print something but we found nothing. Luckily we found a zagat rated hotel close to the last supper. We were so fortunate that the man at the desk felt bad for the two dumb sweaty american girls begging him to help us! We made it just in time!
Now for the last supper. I will preface this by saying I LOVE art, art history and feel so lucky that I am able to come to Europe and see these amazing pieces of art. I love learning about the history and could stare at many pieces for hours. HOWEVER, the last supper is a complete and total disney ride. You have to book an appointment a while in advance and pay a ridiculous amount of money. Then, once you get there, about 30 people are shoved into a little glass room, whose doors don't open until everyone is in the room and the doors behind you close. This happens about 3 times just to ensure that you feel like a herded cattle. Then, once you finally get into the empty room with only the last supper and one other painting on the opposite side, you have 15 minutes to look at the painting until a voice comes over the loudspeaker and basically says okay get out now, at which point you need to go through about 2 other glass doors, just so you don't forget the feeling of being a herded cattle. Oh, and in the 15 minutes that you have to look at a wall, the person standing in the room lets you know that DaVinci messed up and tried this new technique so half of the painting isn't actually his work anymore. All of that being said, it is definitely something you need to do if you go to Milan, and it was pretty cool to be standing in front of it. =D
After this, we headed towards the Castello Sforza. It is crazy to think that people actually lived in these amazing palaces! We then walked through the brera area which is the art district in Milan, and window shopped some more. (a girl can dream can't she?!) Then we went to corso como which is a really cool shopping and restaurant street. We had heard about this bar/restaurant/store called 10 Corso Como (they got really creative with the name) Inside, they had just about every designer clothing, shoe, bag and jewelry in the most modern store! it was so cool! When we were finished looking around, and by that I mean examining every single item, we had about an hour until dinner. So, we went to the bar of 10 corso como and each had a mojito which was one of the best drinks I have ever had! We had so much fun!
We then went to Alla Cucina Della Langhe for dinner on corso como. On a street that we had so much fun on, we figured it could not disappoint, and we were right! We shared Milanese risotto (it has Milan in the name.. we had to!) and the gnocchi and everything was delicious! After this we just went back to the apartment to pack up and prepare ourselves for our next stop ... LISBON!
Overall thoughts on Milan: The main difference between Milan and every other place in the world is EVERY person is dressed PERFECTLY with the most gorgeous handbags in the world, and when I say every person I mean EVERY SINGLE PERSON. Literally, it is insane! Not one person looked disheveled or out of sorts (except for me and gavi running through la rinacente with all of our luggage) But really, every person looked perfect, always! It was amazing. That being said, you don't need more than a day and a half to accomplish all of the "touristy" attractions in Milan. Also, I have no idea why any boy would ever go to Milan. Unless you are DaVinci's child wanting to see the last supper, all of Milan is fashion (so clearly I loved it!)
LONDON!
So I am writing this post while still in London. Unfortunately the weather here is very similar to home and it is snowing so our flight is delayed. Luckily, we had already planned to miss our one class today so we will be fine, just a little inconvenienced. But if this is the worst thing to happen, I say we're doing pretty darn well! Now about our weekend across the pond. When we decided to go to London, I really was convinced by out plans to go to the Manchester game. I have been to London before and was expecting to have the same opinion of it, cool but nothing that great. Well, I was wrong. (I know those are my families 3 favorite words, most likely because they're not used very often) My opinion of London was extremely different this time. I am not sure if its because I did the trip a little more real (and not as lavish) or if I had more of Europe to compare it to,but I LOVED London! Friday we arrived to our hotel which was located in belgravia. This is one of the upscale shopping locations in London (I know everyone is so surprised I chose to stay there. We arrived in London and immediately went to Harrods, located only about a 5 minute walk away. We went downstairs in Harrods to lauderee, a macaroon store which was too cute for words. And we got a box of 8 macaroons (I got chocolate, coffee, rose, caramel, and hazelnut marshmallow) which we assumed would last way longer than they did. They were just too good! Then we went to a few other shops including Harvey nichols and top shop! Nothing like some real stores to contrast Florence! Even more different from what we are used to in Florence was we went for sushi! I do t the we have ever been happier to have a Japanese meal! We found this restaurant from goop, which is gweneth paltrows blog. (Really great if anyone has free time) she lives in London part time and said this restaurant was one of her favorites and not very expensive, so of course we had to try.The restaurant was called Chisou and it certainly did not disappoint! We got a spinach salad which was displayed as a flower and was just as delicious as it was beautiful! We also got another salad, a miso eggplant, and a few rolls for all of us to share. Now for the drinks, we knew we didn't want wine (still overloaded from Italy) but we wanted something small and nine of us are particular fans of saki. So we tried plum wine, it is much sweeter than saki and was actually very good! The couple seated next to us at dinner started talking to us. It was an American man and a Dutch woman who have been living in London and took a liking to us. They were very sweet and gave us reccommendations on where to eat and shop. Things we definitely needed! After this, we of course had to have dessert but didn't feel like Japanese desserts so we went to a yogurt place called snog which is very similar to red mango. It was such a crazy concept to have tart yogurt with fruit! So yummy!!!
Saturday
We woke up Saturday morning very early and knew we wanted to do all of the normal "touristy places" We went for breakfast to one of the places that the couple from dinner recommended. It was called Zefi and was a very local place, not touristy at all! We all got porridge in an effort to be like the locals. (What we really wanted was either to have a british accent or find a boyfriend who did ... we didn't succeed at either.) We got a day pass for the tube and took it to oxford street to do some more shopping. The big top shop is there, and not only do they have really cool top shop stuff as they always do, but the bottom floor had all vintage designers that had some of the coolest clothes I had ever seen. I had so much fun looking around and trying some stuff on. After this we walked around for a little, got some coffee to wake us up and headed back to the tube to go to the London Eye and Big Ben. We then headed over to the London Bridge and tower of London (which is way further than I had thought). After taking a bunch of cheesy, touristy pictures (Don't worry we even took the ones with the phone booth) we headed back to our hotel. But not before picking up some food to bring back of course! We had randomly stumbled into a little cafe which had great salads (not normal salads, but mixes of different vegetables and sauces). It was exactly what we needed to hold us over until dinner!
We went to dinner at a mexican restaurant called Wahaca. It was so fast, good and cheap! The three things we wanted! As always we just ordered a bunch of stuff to share but everything was delicious, i don't think you could go wrong. The best part of the meal though was the drinks! We tried different varieties of mojitos and margaritas. I'm not sure if they were actually amazing, or we were just so happy to drink something other than wine. But I'm pretty sure they were amazing!
After dinner we went to go see the Beatles show, Let it Be. From what we read online, we thought it would be a "Jersey Boys" type show for the beatles ... we were wrong. It was literally a tribute concert. Luckily we like the beatles so It was not so horrible, but DEFINITELY not what we were expecting!
Sunday
Gabi had studied in London for a month, so there were a few places she told us we have to try. Joe's being one of them, so we went for breakfast on Sunday morning. I got eggs while Gabi and Gavi both got muesli, and everything was very good! Both of the places we went to had juices, which we were so happy about! (the concept has not yet come to Italy) - Not orange juice and such like you're probably thinking but more vegetable juices, we were so happy! After this we started our adventure to go to Manchester for the Manchester United game. When I say adventure, I mean full on expedition, and I was very proud of our navigating skills! We had to walk to the tube, change tube lines, then take a train, then take a tram, then walk to the stadium, all in a foreign city! But once we found our way, going to the game was probably one of the highlights of my whole trip! Soccer games in Europe are unlike anything in America. They are not focused on trying to get money from people, it is purely about the love for the team and for the sport. Therefore, there was no where to buy merchandise once the game started (sorry nugget), no sale of food, no anything. You go to watch your team and that is it! It was so amazing! And Manchester won, 2-0! We had a great day!
We left London Monday morning, and after only a little bit of a delay due to snow we arrived back in Florence safely! We had the most amazing weekend! London was such an amazing break from all of the other cities in Europe. Even if the cities are "modern" they are still very foreign. It was nice to feel more at home in a city. I'm happy I didn't go abroad there, because I don't think you could get the real "abroad experience" of being so out of your comfort zone and put into a new culture. But I could totally see myself living there (it is VERY similar to New York) But now, back to classes and "real" life in Florence (whatever real means here) next trip is VENICE with my family!!! <3
Saturday
We woke up Saturday morning very early and knew we wanted to do all of the normal "touristy places" We went for breakfast to one of the places that the couple from dinner recommended. It was called Zefi and was a very local place, not touristy at all! We all got porridge in an effort to be like the locals. (What we really wanted was either to have a british accent or find a boyfriend who did ... we didn't succeed at either.) We got a day pass for the tube and took it to oxford street to do some more shopping. The big top shop is there, and not only do they have really cool top shop stuff as they always do, but the bottom floor had all vintage designers that had some of the coolest clothes I had ever seen. I had so much fun looking around and trying some stuff on. After this we walked around for a little, got some coffee to wake us up and headed back to the tube to go to the London Eye and Big Ben. We then headed over to the London Bridge and tower of London (which is way further than I had thought). After taking a bunch of cheesy, touristy pictures (Don't worry we even took the ones with the phone booth) we headed back to our hotel. But not before picking up some food to bring back of course! We had randomly stumbled into a little cafe which had great salads (not normal salads, but mixes of different vegetables and sauces). It was exactly what we needed to hold us over until dinner!
We went to dinner at a mexican restaurant called Wahaca. It was so fast, good and cheap! The three things we wanted! As always we just ordered a bunch of stuff to share but everything was delicious, i don't think you could go wrong. The best part of the meal though was the drinks! We tried different varieties of mojitos and margaritas. I'm not sure if they were actually amazing, or we were just so happy to drink something other than wine. But I'm pretty sure they were amazing!
After dinner we went to go see the Beatles show, Let it Be. From what we read online, we thought it would be a "Jersey Boys" type show for the beatles ... we were wrong. It was literally a tribute concert. Luckily we like the beatles so It was not so horrible, but DEFINITELY not what we were expecting!
Sunday
Gabi had studied in London for a month, so there were a few places she told us we have to try. Joe's being one of them, so we went for breakfast on Sunday morning. I got eggs while Gabi and Gavi both got muesli, and everything was very good! Both of the places we went to had juices, which we were so happy about! (the concept has not yet come to Italy) - Not orange juice and such like you're probably thinking but more vegetable juices, we were so happy! After this we started our adventure to go to Manchester for the Manchester United game. When I say adventure, I mean full on expedition, and I was very proud of our navigating skills! We had to walk to the tube, change tube lines, then take a train, then take a tram, then walk to the stadium, all in a foreign city! But once we found our way, going to the game was probably one of the highlights of my whole trip! Soccer games in Europe are unlike anything in America. They are not focused on trying to get money from people, it is purely about the love for the team and for the sport. Therefore, there was no where to buy merchandise once the game started (sorry nugget), no sale of food, no anything. You go to watch your team and that is it! It was so amazing! And Manchester won, 2-0! We had a great day!
We left London Monday morning, and after only a little bit of a delay due to snow we arrived back in Florence safely! We had the most amazing weekend! London was such an amazing break from all of the other cities in Europe. Even if the cities are "modern" they are still very foreign. It was nice to feel more at home in a city. I'm happy I didn't go abroad there, because I don't think you could get the real "abroad experience" of being so out of your comfort zone and put into a new culture. But I could totally see myself living there (it is VERY similar to New York) But now, back to classes and "real" life in Florence (whatever real means here) next trip is VENICE with my family!!! <3
AMSTERDAM!
Amsterdam was such an amazing place! We all had a great time and accomplished so much in the short time we were there! I will try to break it down so it is not overwhelming to read but no promises!
Friday
-We left Florence Friday at approximately 5:30 am! (people were still coming home from clubs). We have been loving traveling out of Florence, it is so convenient and small! They did make us check our bags, and we got in a little bit of a fight because they let us on the week before without a problem. But once we got to Amsterdam everything was easy! We went right to the hotel to drop our bags off and start exploring! We stayed at Hotel Vondel, which was a very cute boutiquey hotel. We had a "family room" because there were four of us on this trip. The room was ADORABLE! it looked like a little tree house. Although one thing we did notice is that the steps in Amsterdam were really small (barely fit our feet) and very steep! It's a miracle I did not wipe out(I fall on just about every other surface ever created!) But somehow we survived. We loved our hotel and room, it was in a great location and we had two beds! (Probably the first and one of the last times that will happen!)
-We arrived and went right to bulldogs, a famous coffee house. It took us a little while to find the right one (apparently there are a bunch and some are for different things) but we eventually found the right one! The idea of coffee shop is crazy to me! Although I knew what to expect I was still shocked when i saw it!
-After we left bulldogs we went to the pancake corner, which is a pancake restaurant right next to bulldogs. (We hadn't eaten all day, left at 5:30 and it was about 1 or 2 at this point) Me and Gavi shared mini-panakes which are called Poffertjes, and an omelet. The omelet was decent but the pancakes were very good! After this we walked around the main shopping street (at least thats what it seemed like) and went into a bunch of really cool shops! One of which was called Henri Willig Cheese and More. This was a big cheese shop, but the best part about it was they had tasters of each cheese and stroopwaffles! (A stroopwaffle is made from two thin layers of batter with caramel-syrup filling in the middle. (It's really really yummy!) We had so much fun trying all the cheeses and ended up buying a pesto cheese and a two year aged cheese to bring back to Florence with us!
-After this we went back to our hotel to relax for a little before the rest of our night. (It was a LONG day!) Once we got up (about 30 minutes later...) we went to the Heineken experience. I was more interested in this because I was thinking about my dad the whole time (hey daddy) but it was very cool! The museum/experience tour was very well done and interesting. We did get two different answers on why Heineken does not have any breweries in North America though. Answer number 1 was that out of the 4 ingredients (Barley, Hops, Water and Yeast) the Barley quality is not as good in North America. The second answer was that they wanted to keep their status as an "imported" (not local) beer in America. Which one is true, I am not really sure but I think the first one sounds better so we'll go with that one! The tour took us through the history, how they make the beer and ended in a tasting! They even had a whole section on horses (in reference to horse power-with real horses! I wanted to play but they kind of smelt bad, and playing with the horses was not really part of the tour =[ ) music, and a club type place! It was very fun and different!
-After the Heineken experience we went to dinner at a restaurant called Dubbel, which was close to our hotel. It was adorable and best of all they had FISH! Quite a foreign concept for us in Florence. The food was very good and we were very happy with our day!
Saturday
-We woke up Saturday morning and went right to our 9 am reservation at the Anne Frank house! This was absolutely amazing and I really loved it. It is crazy to imagine what the world was like, being at the museum truly put a lot in perspective. I thought it was very well done and was very moved. It is amazing that the original bookshelf used to hide the annex is still there. It was truly amazing. In the house they had videos of her friends, a woman who helped them hide as well as her father and boyfriend. It was truly an amazing experience.
-After the Anne Frank house we walked around for a little and then went to lunch at Barney's. Since Barney's is famous for their hamburgers (and none of us eat meat) we tried the vegeburger, which was amazing! Even more amazing was the french fries (which apparently are a "thing" in Amsterdam) ... french fries and pancakes, pretty good food choices for a country! We all loved our lunch. Except when we started walking around more, it randomly started hailing, literally hailing. So we ran into a small restaurant to take cover for a little while during the weird weather. Within about 20 minutes is was all over and we continued on our journey!
-The Van Gogh museum was closed for renovations but the artwork was moved to another museum so we went there to look at it. I really loved this exhibit and thought it was really amazing. We did find it quite funny how literal the names of the pieces were. So much so that we made a game in which we didn't look at the name and tried to guess. (We got it right about 98% of the time. The other 2% were random words thrown into the name we had guessed .. were just art experts!) But really, it was all so beautiful and very cool to look at!
-On the way back to the hotel to go relax before dinner, we stopped at a fruit stand to try some exotic fruits. We just got a bunch of cool things we had never seen before and hoped for the best! Luckily it worked out well and found a few really cool fruits that we liked (not that we know the name of any of them or can get them anywhere else) Although there was one that Gabi tried that apparently wasn't very good because she freaked out for about 20 minutes after eating it... and then tried to convince us to try it.
-After relaxing for approximately 5 minutes (not kidding) we headed to dinner. It was a great thai restaurant (we were very thankful for anything that wasn't italian). We got a bunch of different dishes and shared (i know very different than what we usually do). It was an amazing meal in an adorable restaurant! We all loved it!
-We then went to "boom chicago" which is a comedy show. It was an improv show and was HILARIOUS. There were literally points that we did not think we would stop laughing. A highlight was when they asked a few questions from the audience and then made fun of their answers. Of course they asked a question to Gavi and made fun of her for a full five minutes. We literally could not stop laughing! Another highlight was when they asked the audience for things mothers say to their children. An audience member shouted out (in some sort of accent) "I made you I kill you." The cast members had a field day with that and we could not stop laughing! One final highlight was when they asked the audience for a random statement to which someone shouted out "I want a pomelo," no one had any idea what it was but they had to make a skit around it and it was very funny!
-After the show we went to find the red light district. Although I knew what it was, I was still in shock when I saw it. The women literally just stand in windows in lingerie and try to get men to come in. It was so crazy! There were also "live sex shows" and such, it is just unreal! I still can not believe that place exists!
Sunday
-Sunday morning we slept a little later and went right to the Pancake Bakery, which is a famous pancake house in Amsterdam. We of course got 4 different items and shared. We got the banana Nutella pancake (everyone yelled at us to get it), an apple and cheese pancake (I know it sounds gross but it was amazing), a winter poffertje (small pancakes with cinnamon ice cream, something peach and chocolate and whipped cream ... amazing) and an omelet. Everything was so delicious!... literally amazing
-After this we just walked around Amsterdam and explored more. It was rainy and gross out so we didn't really do much but we did go to a handbag museum. It was really cool to see the history of bags as well as really cool modern bags.
After exploring some more we went to the airport and headed back to Florence. We LOVED Amsterdam. One thing I did not realize about Amsterdam was that there were so many canals (similar to venice). It was such an adorable little city with many clogs, tulips and windmills everywhere. (Only one person said something to Gabi about her last name [Hollander] being so close to Holland!) It was a great weekend, and it was also great to get back to Florence! Now looking forward to our next trip ... LONDON!
Friday
-We left Florence Friday at approximately 5:30 am! (people were still coming home from clubs). We have been loving traveling out of Florence, it is so convenient and small! They did make us check our bags, and we got in a little bit of a fight because they let us on the week before without a problem. But once we got to Amsterdam everything was easy! We went right to the hotel to drop our bags off and start exploring! We stayed at Hotel Vondel, which was a very cute boutiquey hotel. We had a "family room" because there were four of us on this trip. The room was ADORABLE! it looked like a little tree house. Although one thing we did notice is that the steps in Amsterdam were really small (barely fit our feet) and very steep! It's a miracle I did not wipe out(I fall on just about every other surface ever created!) But somehow we survived. We loved our hotel and room, it was in a great location and we had two beds! (Probably the first and one of the last times that will happen!)
-We arrived and went right to bulldogs, a famous coffee house. It took us a little while to find the right one (apparently there are a bunch and some are for different things) but we eventually found the right one! The idea of coffee shop is crazy to me! Although I knew what to expect I was still shocked when i saw it!
-After we left bulldogs we went to the pancake corner, which is a pancake restaurant right next to bulldogs. (We hadn't eaten all day, left at 5:30 and it was about 1 or 2 at this point) Me and Gavi shared mini-panakes which are called Poffertjes, and an omelet. The omelet was decent but the pancakes were very good! After this we walked around the main shopping street (at least thats what it seemed like) and went into a bunch of really cool shops! One of which was called Henri Willig Cheese and More. This was a big cheese shop, but the best part about it was they had tasters of each cheese and stroopwaffles! (A stroopwaffle is made from two thin layers of batter with caramel-syrup filling in the middle. (It's really really yummy!) We had so much fun trying all the cheeses and ended up buying a pesto cheese and a two year aged cheese to bring back to Florence with us!
-After this we went back to our hotel to relax for a little before the rest of our night. (It was a LONG day!) Once we got up (about 30 minutes later...) we went to the Heineken experience. I was more interested in this because I was thinking about my dad the whole time (hey daddy) but it was very cool! The museum/experience tour was very well done and interesting. We did get two different answers on why Heineken does not have any breweries in North America though. Answer number 1 was that out of the 4 ingredients (Barley, Hops, Water and Yeast) the Barley quality is not as good in North America. The second answer was that they wanted to keep their status as an "imported" (not local) beer in America. Which one is true, I am not really sure but I think the first one sounds better so we'll go with that one! The tour took us through the history, how they make the beer and ended in a tasting! They even had a whole section on horses (in reference to horse power-with real horses! I wanted to play but they kind of smelt bad, and playing with the horses was not really part of the tour =[ ) music, and a club type place! It was very fun and different!
-After the Heineken experience we went to dinner at a restaurant called Dubbel, which was close to our hotel. It was adorable and best of all they had FISH! Quite a foreign concept for us in Florence. The food was very good and we were very happy with our day!
Saturday
-We woke up Saturday morning and went right to our 9 am reservation at the Anne Frank house! This was absolutely amazing and I really loved it. It is crazy to imagine what the world was like, being at the museum truly put a lot in perspective. I thought it was very well done and was very moved. It is amazing that the original bookshelf used to hide the annex is still there. It was truly amazing. In the house they had videos of her friends, a woman who helped them hide as well as her father and boyfriend. It was truly an amazing experience.
-After the Anne Frank house we walked around for a little and then went to lunch at Barney's. Since Barney's is famous for their hamburgers (and none of us eat meat) we tried the vegeburger, which was amazing! Even more amazing was the french fries (which apparently are a "thing" in Amsterdam) ... french fries and pancakes, pretty good food choices for a country! We all loved our lunch. Except when we started walking around more, it randomly started hailing, literally hailing. So we ran into a small restaurant to take cover for a little while during the weird weather. Within about 20 minutes is was all over and we continued on our journey!
-The Van Gogh museum was closed for renovations but the artwork was moved to another museum so we went there to look at it. I really loved this exhibit and thought it was really amazing. We did find it quite funny how literal the names of the pieces were. So much so that we made a game in which we didn't look at the name and tried to guess. (We got it right about 98% of the time. The other 2% were random words thrown into the name we had guessed .. were just art experts!) But really, it was all so beautiful and very cool to look at!
-On the way back to the hotel to go relax before dinner, we stopped at a fruit stand to try some exotic fruits. We just got a bunch of cool things we had never seen before and hoped for the best! Luckily it worked out well and found a few really cool fruits that we liked (not that we know the name of any of them or can get them anywhere else) Although there was one that Gabi tried that apparently wasn't very good because she freaked out for about 20 minutes after eating it... and then tried to convince us to try it.
-After relaxing for approximately 5 minutes (not kidding) we headed to dinner. It was a great thai restaurant (we were very thankful for anything that wasn't italian). We got a bunch of different dishes and shared (i know very different than what we usually do). It was an amazing meal in an adorable restaurant! We all loved it!
-We then went to "boom chicago" which is a comedy show. It was an improv show and was HILARIOUS. There were literally points that we did not think we would stop laughing. A highlight was when they asked a few questions from the audience and then made fun of their answers. Of course they asked a question to Gavi and made fun of her for a full five minutes. We literally could not stop laughing! Another highlight was when they asked the audience for things mothers say to their children. An audience member shouted out (in some sort of accent) "I made you I kill you." The cast members had a field day with that and we could not stop laughing! One final highlight was when they asked the audience for a random statement to which someone shouted out "I want a pomelo," no one had any idea what it was but they had to make a skit around it and it was very funny!
-After the show we went to find the red light district. Although I knew what it was, I was still in shock when I saw it. The women literally just stand in windows in lingerie and try to get men to come in. It was so crazy! There were also "live sex shows" and such, it is just unreal! I still can not believe that place exists!
Sunday
-Sunday morning we slept a little later and went right to the Pancake Bakery, which is a famous pancake house in Amsterdam. We of course got 4 different items and shared. We got the banana Nutella pancake (everyone yelled at us to get it), an apple and cheese pancake (I know it sounds gross but it was amazing), a winter poffertje (small pancakes with cinnamon ice cream, something peach and chocolate and whipped cream ... amazing) and an omelet. Everything was so delicious!... literally amazing
-After this we just walked around Amsterdam and explored more. It was rainy and gross out so we didn't really do much but we did go to a handbag museum. It was really cool to see the history of bags as well as really cool modern bags.
After exploring some more we went to the airport and headed back to Florence. We LOVED Amsterdam. One thing I did not realize about Amsterdam was that there were so many canals (similar to venice). It was such an adorable little city with many clogs, tulips and windmills everywhere. (Only one person said something to Gabi about her last name [Hollander] being so close to Holland!) It was a great weekend, and it was also great to get back to Florence! Now looking forward to our next trip ... LONDON!
Wien and Weiners
(More Pictures to come I promise! )
Hallo! (the one word of German I picked up, maybe because it's so close to English) Well as I said on the main page I am back from Vienna and safely in Florence. We had SO much fun on our first trip outside of Italy and I can not wait to write all about it! Unfortunately my card reader will be arriving tomorrow with my friend coming to Florence so most of my pictures will be uploaded in the upcoming days. But I do have a few for now!
We arrived in Vienna Friday afternoon. We loved flying out of the Florence airport because it was so small and convenient! Once we got to Vienna we took the CAT (city airport train) to the city center. (we had already booked our tickets) The train was so nice and beautiful and modern. We did not yet know that this would be our impression of all of Vienna! When we got out of the CAT the whole city seemed to be so new and beautiful! We were all blown away by how modern it was, partially because it was such a big contrast from Florence. The first thing we saw when we got out of the train was a starbucks and I'm pretty sure all of us were in shock. It was a really hard internal conflict between getting starbucks (3 weeks is a long time without starbucks people!) and sticking to Viennese coffee. Everyone should be VERY proud that I held out until right before we left to get some starbucks... i mean I couldn't leave without it. But I'm getting ahead of myself ....
Hotel and Haus der Musik
We stayed at the Hotel Das Triest. It was nice, very small and kind of felt like we were on a cruise ship (circle windows and all) but it was fine for the small amount of time we spent in the hotel! As soon as we got there, me and Gavi went out exploring. Our first stop was to the Haus der Musik. This is the famous music museum in Vienna. Vienna is famous for their impact on classical music with people like Beethoven and Mozart. This museum was SO cool! The first floor described the philharmonic. Although interesting, I know nothing about this so we moved through it rather quickly. The next floor was about the mechanics of sound and hearing. There was one room which showed you what it is like to be in a womb. With vibrations noises and all. It was very cool.Then there were interactive sessions in which we learned about the ears, sound, pitch, tone, frequency and more! It was really cool! There was even a section in which you cold learn about the mechanics of your own voice, so of course Gavi began singling. (I love the girl to death but she does not have a future in the music industry. Then on the final floor we learned about classic musicians. They had this amazing audio guide in which you rubbed a pen on a logo in front of different pieces of the room and it would tell you the background of the musician and the object. For example the fact that Beethoven was deaf and he had many lovers all of which not "suitable" for him (he liked more sophisticated women) The museum was extremely interactive and intriguing.
After this museum me and Gavi just walked around the city center. The whole city is beautiful and really clean and cool! It was also cool that there was a fifth avenue type street with so many luxury stores about 10 steps from each other. The only way I could have been happier is if I actually purchased something from one of these stores (I guess my will power was really tested this trip! I haven't been using it on food so I guess I need to put it to work somehow!) We walked past St. Stephens cathedral, the Hofburg Imperial palace and more! We fell in love with Vienna right there! Eventually we ended up back at our apartment to get ready for dinner. Because Viennese food is very heavy on boiled beef and intense meats, we decided to try a restaurant which was a little lighter for the first night to ease us into the viennese culture. We chose a place called Tian. Everything we got was delicious but the highlights were a risotto and a cheese crepe. Many more people speak English in Vienna than they do in Italy, but that might be because German is a VERY difficult language. We couldn't even pronounce street names!
Saturday
Saturday was our real adventure day! Me and Gavi woke up at 8 and left to explore! We had a small breakfast at the hotel to keep us going! (Lots of coffee!) Then we set out for the Museum Quarter. In Vienna, most of the main tourist attractions are very close together! This is very new and was just built like this in the early 2000's but it makes it a lot easier, especially when it is as cold as it was! There are many museums in Vienna and they are all quite big, so we picked the two in a Modern Art package. These two were the Leopold Museum and MUMOK.
Museums
The Leopold Museum happened to have a nude male exhibit which took up about 3 floors of the museum. I am very interested in both classic and modern art, and love learning about art history. However, this was just too funny for me (and Gav). There were a few pieces, in the midst of my laughing, in which I took a step back to admire the beauty of the art work. Butttt there just were some pieces, like a photograph of three soccer players standing butt naked which was just too funny for me to handle. Also a hanging pair of testicles (literally they were just hanging from the ceiling) and a photo of a man alone in a room with his pants around his ankles (please infer from here) that Gavi and I had a very difficult time keeping our composure. We did have a lot of fun though! After this museum we went a few buildings down to go to the MUMOK in which there was a light installation exhibit and other pieces of modern art. We got into a discussion about what art is to different people (I know I am a HUGE dork) but we had a lot of fun!
Spanish Riding School
From here we walked around the museum quarter and headed to the Hofburg Imperial Palace! We walked around the palace and looked at a bunch of different areas and then went into the Spanish Riding School. This is one of the oldest schools for classical horseback riding in the world. The school is named after the types of horses that are ridden at the school (we were confused why a riding school in Vienna has Spanish in the name). It was amazing, you walk into this ornate white room with intricate sculptures and architecture and there are horses being ridden around. All of the students were in traditional riding gear and although they were learning looked as if they were putting on a performance. It was really beautiful.
Churches
After we left the Spanish Riding School we walked towards St. Stephens Cathedral again. But this time we went inside. The outside is so beautiful with chevron tiling and gothic architecture, that we were so excited to see how the inside was. When we walked inside it was not only beautiful but there was actually a service going on! Of course the service was in German so I understood nothing but it was very cool to be there! After this we went to St. Peters church. it did not look like much from the outside so we were not sure what to expect. However, the inside had the most ornate decorations I have ever seen. It was stunning!
Lunch
We left the churches to go to meet Gabi for lunch at Cafe Central. We heard that this was a typical Viennese cafe so of course we had to try! We ordered as many "typical viennese dishes" as we could without killing our stomachs (no boiled beef for me thank you!) We definitely didn't love the food, but the restaurant was beautiful and we loved being in a typical Viennese restaurant. The best part of course were the desserts. Everyone told us we had to try the satchertorte (typical viennese cake) which was amazing! We also had this hazelnut chocolate dessert which was delicious and a typical viennese iced coffee which had ice cream and some other things were not sure of but it was very good!
Schonbrunn Palace
After lunch, we took a cab (about 15 minutes from the city center) to Schonbrunn palace. We weren't sure when planning our day if we wanted to take the whole afternoon for this adventure, especially in the snow, but we were thrilled that we did! The palace first of all is absolutely beautiful, but besides that we had a great audio tour in which we punched in the number of each room and it told us about what happened in the room and the people that lived there. It was so informative and each room was more beautiful the next. We also learned so much about Viennese history. For example, we learned about Maria Theresa, the only female ruler of the Habsburg Family. She and her husband had sixteen children all of whom (except for one, her favorite) were married off for political reasons. One of these children is the very well known Marie Antoinette! After the tour of the inside of the house we made our way out to the gardens. Although covered in snow, it was still amazing the vast amount of land in the palace. (and the snow was beautiful as well ... although really cold! I know this is so surprising!) We ended up hiking towards the Gloriette. (a 200 foot hike) It was originally designed to glorify the power that the Habsburg family had, which it certainly did. From this point you could see not only the whole palace but all of Vienna. It was absolutely stunning!
After a long hike outwards (we just wanted to explore) we ended up taking the 90 minute walk back to the hotel. (I don't know how Viennese people eat that food and not walk for hours each day!) Although there is a possibility my hands froze off and are somewhere around Austria, we had a really nice walk back talking about our trip!
Dinner at Entler
After talking to a few people about finding a happy medium between food that would not take us to an early grave and sticking with Viennese culture, we landed on a restaurant named Entler. It was a really cool restaurant with a great menu! We all got pumpkin soup because we heard it was good (which it was!) and then also got a goat cheese appetizer, Skrei (a cod like fish only served in Vienna in January and February) over a fruity risotto and a salad. Everything was delicious!
Sunday
Sunday we just had a small breakfast and walked around a little more. We all absolutely LOVED Vienna and it was so different than we expected. The high-tech look and feel of the city was a nice contrast to both the cathedrals in Vienna as well as most of our life back in Florence. It was a bit comforting to come back to Florence and feel at home. But now that we started traveling we can't wait to keep exploring more places!
Auf Wiedersehen ... okay I may know what that means from the end of project runway and not being in Vienna, but it still counts as German! <3
We arrived in Vienna Friday afternoon. We loved flying out of the Florence airport because it was so small and convenient! Once we got to Vienna we took the CAT (city airport train) to the city center. (we had already booked our tickets) The train was so nice and beautiful and modern. We did not yet know that this would be our impression of all of Vienna! When we got out of the CAT the whole city seemed to be so new and beautiful! We were all blown away by how modern it was, partially because it was such a big contrast from Florence. The first thing we saw when we got out of the train was a starbucks and I'm pretty sure all of us were in shock. It was a really hard internal conflict between getting starbucks (3 weeks is a long time without starbucks people!) and sticking to Viennese coffee. Everyone should be VERY proud that I held out until right before we left to get some starbucks... i mean I couldn't leave without it. But I'm getting ahead of myself ....
Hotel and Haus der Musik
We stayed at the Hotel Das Triest. It was nice, very small and kind of felt like we were on a cruise ship (circle windows and all) but it was fine for the small amount of time we spent in the hotel! As soon as we got there, me and Gavi went out exploring. Our first stop was to the Haus der Musik. This is the famous music museum in Vienna. Vienna is famous for their impact on classical music with people like Beethoven and Mozart. This museum was SO cool! The first floor described the philharmonic. Although interesting, I know nothing about this so we moved through it rather quickly. The next floor was about the mechanics of sound and hearing. There was one room which showed you what it is like to be in a womb. With vibrations noises and all. It was very cool.Then there were interactive sessions in which we learned about the ears, sound, pitch, tone, frequency and more! It was really cool! There was even a section in which you cold learn about the mechanics of your own voice, so of course Gavi began singling. (I love the girl to death but she does not have a future in the music industry. Then on the final floor we learned about classic musicians. They had this amazing audio guide in which you rubbed a pen on a logo in front of different pieces of the room and it would tell you the background of the musician and the object. For example the fact that Beethoven was deaf and he had many lovers all of which not "suitable" for him (he liked more sophisticated women) The museum was extremely interactive and intriguing.
After this museum me and Gavi just walked around the city center. The whole city is beautiful and really clean and cool! It was also cool that there was a fifth avenue type street with so many luxury stores about 10 steps from each other. The only way I could have been happier is if I actually purchased something from one of these stores (I guess my will power was really tested this trip! I haven't been using it on food so I guess I need to put it to work somehow!) We walked past St. Stephens cathedral, the Hofburg Imperial palace and more! We fell in love with Vienna right there! Eventually we ended up back at our apartment to get ready for dinner. Because Viennese food is very heavy on boiled beef and intense meats, we decided to try a restaurant which was a little lighter for the first night to ease us into the viennese culture. We chose a place called Tian. Everything we got was delicious but the highlights were a risotto and a cheese crepe. Many more people speak English in Vienna than they do in Italy, but that might be because German is a VERY difficult language. We couldn't even pronounce street names!
Saturday
Saturday was our real adventure day! Me and Gavi woke up at 8 and left to explore! We had a small breakfast at the hotel to keep us going! (Lots of coffee!) Then we set out for the Museum Quarter. In Vienna, most of the main tourist attractions are very close together! This is very new and was just built like this in the early 2000's but it makes it a lot easier, especially when it is as cold as it was! There are many museums in Vienna and they are all quite big, so we picked the two in a Modern Art package. These two were the Leopold Museum and MUMOK.
Museums
The Leopold Museum happened to have a nude male exhibit which took up about 3 floors of the museum. I am very interested in both classic and modern art, and love learning about art history. However, this was just too funny for me (and Gav). There were a few pieces, in the midst of my laughing, in which I took a step back to admire the beauty of the art work. Butttt there just were some pieces, like a photograph of three soccer players standing butt naked which was just too funny for me to handle. Also a hanging pair of testicles (literally they were just hanging from the ceiling) and a photo of a man alone in a room with his pants around his ankles (please infer from here) that Gavi and I had a very difficult time keeping our composure. We did have a lot of fun though! After this museum we went a few buildings down to go to the MUMOK in which there was a light installation exhibit and other pieces of modern art. We got into a discussion about what art is to different people (I know I am a HUGE dork) but we had a lot of fun!
Spanish Riding School
From here we walked around the museum quarter and headed to the Hofburg Imperial Palace! We walked around the palace and looked at a bunch of different areas and then went into the Spanish Riding School. This is one of the oldest schools for classical horseback riding in the world. The school is named after the types of horses that are ridden at the school (we were confused why a riding school in Vienna has Spanish in the name). It was amazing, you walk into this ornate white room with intricate sculptures and architecture and there are horses being ridden around. All of the students were in traditional riding gear and although they were learning looked as if they were putting on a performance. It was really beautiful.
Churches
After we left the Spanish Riding School we walked towards St. Stephens Cathedral again. But this time we went inside. The outside is so beautiful with chevron tiling and gothic architecture, that we were so excited to see how the inside was. When we walked inside it was not only beautiful but there was actually a service going on! Of course the service was in German so I understood nothing but it was very cool to be there! After this we went to St. Peters church. it did not look like much from the outside so we were not sure what to expect. However, the inside had the most ornate decorations I have ever seen. It was stunning!
Lunch
We left the churches to go to meet Gabi for lunch at Cafe Central. We heard that this was a typical Viennese cafe so of course we had to try! We ordered as many "typical viennese dishes" as we could without killing our stomachs (no boiled beef for me thank you!) We definitely didn't love the food, but the restaurant was beautiful and we loved being in a typical Viennese restaurant. The best part of course were the desserts. Everyone told us we had to try the satchertorte (typical viennese cake) which was amazing! We also had this hazelnut chocolate dessert which was delicious and a typical viennese iced coffee which had ice cream and some other things were not sure of but it was very good!
Schonbrunn Palace
After lunch, we took a cab (about 15 minutes from the city center) to Schonbrunn palace. We weren't sure when planning our day if we wanted to take the whole afternoon for this adventure, especially in the snow, but we were thrilled that we did! The palace first of all is absolutely beautiful, but besides that we had a great audio tour in which we punched in the number of each room and it told us about what happened in the room and the people that lived there. It was so informative and each room was more beautiful the next. We also learned so much about Viennese history. For example, we learned about Maria Theresa, the only female ruler of the Habsburg Family. She and her husband had sixteen children all of whom (except for one, her favorite) were married off for political reasons. One of these children is the very well known Marie Antoinette! After the tour of the inside of the house we made our way out to the gardens. Although covered in snow, it was still amazing the vast amount of land in the palace. (and the snow was beautiful as well ... although really cold! I know this is so surprising!) We ended up hiking towards the Gloriette. (a 200 foot hike) It was originally designed to glorify the power that the Habsburg family had, which it certainly did. From this point you could see not only the whole palace but all of Vienna. It was absolutely stunning!
After a long hike outwards (we just wanted to explore) we ended up taking the 90 minute walk back to the hotel. (I don't know how Viennese people eat that food and not walk for hours each day!) Although there is a possibility my hands froze off and are somewhere around Austria, we had a really nice walk back talking about our trip!
Dinner at Entler
After talking to a few people about finding a happy medium between food that would not take us to an early grave and sticking with Viennese culture, we landed on a restaurant named Entler. It was a really cool restaurant with a great menu! We all got pumpkin soup because we heard it was good (which it was!) and then also got a goat cheese appetizer, Skrei (a cod like fish only served in Vienna in January and February) over a fruity risotto and a salad. Everything was delicious!
Sunday
Sunday we just had a small breakfast and walked around a little more. We all absolutely LOVED Vienna and it was so different than we expected. The high-tech look and feel of the city was a nice contrast to both the cathedrals in Vienna as well as most of our life back in Florence. It was a bit comforting to come back to Florence and feel at home. But now that we started traveling we can't wait to keep exploring more places!
Auf Wiedersehen ... okay I may know what that means from the end of project runway and not being in Vienna, but it still counts as German! <3