Greetings from Dublin!! I visited Dublin the weekend of November 15th with my friend from home Emily. Dublin and Ireland were super cool and I'm so glad that I got to visit since they had been on my list for a while. Friday: We arrived in Dublin from London super late Friday night, so we took a cab from the airport straight to our airbnb. The airbnb was really just a room in a shared apartment, but was cheap and nice for sleeping nonetheless. It turns out the airbnb was also right next to a prison which is only bad when you think about it for a long time. We were driving by the prison when Emily asked what the pretty building was. The next thing I knew I saw a sign for that same pretty building that said prison. Much funnier looking back on it now!! Anyway, we checked in and went straight to sleep so we could have a full day of exploring on Saturday. Saturday: On Saturday, we got up early for a nice breakfast/brunch at a place called Brother Hubbard's. I had a delicious plate of Turkish Eggs Menemen and a cappuccino. The eggs were lightly scrambled with Turkish tomato cemen and roast pepers, whipped feta, olives, baby spinach, and toasted bread. I also got a side of bacon. So delicious. After breakfast, we walked over to the Dublin Castle which had a fairly underwhelming exterior as far as castles go. We did not pay to go inside so I can not speak to the interior. There was also a free glass blowing exhibit inside the garden which was fun to poke around in. Post Castle, we walked over to Saint Patrick's Cathedral. The Cathedral was lovely and had a nice memorial set up where you could write names impacted by war on a leaf to add. Once we were done at the Cathedral it was time for our Guinness Brewery Tour. Since I had already been to Heineken, the Guinness tour was not all that different in terms of learning how the beer was brewed, but it was still fun to get a flight of beer, pour and try a Guinness, look out over Dublin in their 360 view bar, and see the different famous advertisements. We spent about 4 hours at Guinness really enjoying each others company and the beers, so afterwards we walked over to the Temple Bar Area for dinner. We got dinner at The Hairy Lemon for an authentic Irish meal. The food was again so good. We hanged around the Temple Bar area for a little while longer after dinner before heading back to the airbnb since we had an early morning the next day to see the cliffs. Sunday: On Sunday, we took a day trip to the Cliffs of Moher with Paddywagon Tours. We could not have been luckier with the weather on the day of our trip. The skies were super clear and sunny and it was not that that cold. The tour stopped at Bunratty Castle, the Cliffs of Moher, Doolin, the Burren, and Kinvara. The tour also makes a morning coffee stop at "Barack Obama Plaza." The plaza is named after the president and has pictures and a statue of him around the rest stop. The bus stopped again fairly eary for a photo stop at Bunratty Castle. It was slightly underwhelming but nice to stretch and explore the shops. Then, the bus took us to the Cliffs where we had around 2 hours to hike and explore. The cliffs were fantastic. Breathtakingly beautiful. A definite must see. The wind was insane but it added to the experience honestly. Emily and I had so much fun walking around, absorbing the scenery, and taking pictures. After our time at the cliffs, the bus continued on, making a stop for lunch in Doolin and making a stop in the Burren area for a different type of scenery and the mini cliffs. It was golden hour when we got here so the views were spectacular. Our final stop was in Kinvara, a small fishing village. The village was super cute and we got to drink Irish Hot Chocolate. The bus then took us all the way back to Dublin where Emily and I got dinner and went out in the Temple Bar Area again. Monday:
Our flights were SUPER early on Monday morning so we could get back in time for our respective afternoon classes. Totally worth getting the full day in Dublin though. Best Moments: The Cliffs of Moher were truly so so unbelievably stunning to see in person. I loved getting to drive through Ireland, seeing all the different areas and towns. It was also so nice to spend the weekend with a long time friend from home.
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Greetings from London!! I visited London for one full day on November 15th to stay with my friend Emily (from home) before we headed to Dublin. I really loved London when I visited back in May with my Aunt so I am so glad that I was able to visit again so soon even if it was for such a short period of time. Thursday Night: I had a late flight out of Milan to London on Thursday so by the time I arrived in London and got to Emily's apartment it was super late. The day was pretty eventful since the night before I lost my Milan house keys. I managed to get back in to my apartment on Thursday afternoon though and made it to London for a nice day before heading to Dublin. Friday: Emily had her internship for most of the day Friday, so I went with her to get starbucks and breakfast before leaving each other for the day. After breakfast, I went over to Buckingham Palace since I did not get to see the changing of the guards the last time I was in London and wanted to experience it. It was still a fun ceremony even though they were in their coats and not the red uniforms. I then walked along the River Thames to get to the Tate Modern. Right outside the Tate Modern is also the Millennium Bridge which is seen being broken by Death Eaters in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. I became a fairly large fan girl when I realized it was that close and braved the cold for a while longer to take some pictures of the bridge. I went to the Tate Modern specifically for the Olafur Eliasson Exhibit they had on display, but the museum itself was expansive and very cool. The permanent collections are free, but the exhibits have priced and timed tickets. I was able to get a timed ticket for basically right after I bought it when I walked in however. I also got to pay 5 pounds for the exhibit because as a student I could sign up for Tate Collective for free. Definitely worth looking in to for all the London museums. The Eliasson Exhibit was awesome and well worth the trip to London. There was a lot of different pieces dealing with light, color, and how they interact with each other and you. One of the rooms had lots of lights shining against a wall so that your shadow would appear with them. Another of the rooms had a huge walkthrough kaleidoscope which I loved. If you are ever in a city where a museum is showing his work definitely check it out! After the Tate Modern, I walked along the Thames a little longer, seeing the Shakespeare Globe Theatre before heading to Camden Market. Camden Market was so cool, my only wish was that I was there during sunlight so it was easier to walk around and explore. I ate super tasty Chinese noodles and salted chicken for a late lunch / snack. I met Emily at a store she was raving about because it had super cheap and trendy clothes but the lines were insane so we didn't browse. Later we had korean food for dinner down the block from Emily's apartment with one of her friends from Elon also studying in London before heading to the airport for our flight to Dublin. Best Moments:
I love London. Walking around by myself all day was so lovely. Hearing all the english was such a refreshing break from my other travels that I definitely needed. I can't wait to go back and explore more of the city some day. Greetings form Pisa! I took a day trip to Pisa on November 10th with my same friend from the Management of Non Profit Organizations and Public Administration Class and one of our mutual friends. I did not think I could be in Italy for a semester without seeing the iconic leaning tower of Pisa so I am glad that I managed to make it to the city. Sunday: Sunday was another early morning spent at Milano Centrale for a train to Pisa Centrale. I was running late and almost missed the train since I was so tired from traveling to and from Trento the previous day, but luckily I made it! Not so luckily our train got delayed on the tracks about an hour in. We thought we were going to miss our connection, but luckily Trenitalia haults all connecting trains to ensure that there are no stranded passengers. We ended up arriving in Pisa only 15 minutes later than originally listed! Once in Pisa, we walked from the station towards the tower, meeting our friend at the river. We grabbed a nice sandwich lunch at L'Ostellino and ate it outside on a park bench. My panini had cured ham, tomatoes, and a beautiful truffle mayo spread. I'm not usually a cooked ham person, but this was super tasty. After lunch, we walked over to Pisa's main attraction, the Leaning Tower. We took pictures to our hearts content here. So funny story. While we were taking pictures I took my main fuzzy jacket off and put it on the ground to cover my bag. I was standing on a road blocker in heeled boots so I was not focused on it. I ended up leaving my bag at the first road blocker I stood on because it was not actually in my fuzzy jacket. We walked closer to the tower where I was standing on a blocker taking more pictures when an Italian father tried to get my attention. I finally acknowledged him (I don't usually listen to people who I don't know who are talking to me since 9 times out of 10 its a money solicitation) and he was holding my purse. Turns out I left it on the ground and his wife noticed it and recognized that me, the stupid american, had left it there. AND THEY RETURNED IT!!! I was graced with a miracle honestly. My passport, cash, portable charger, phone cord, and house keys were in there. They returned my bag with legit everything still in there. I was pretty shook not going to lie. After the tour, we walked around Pisa a little longer, getting gelato and sitting in a cute residential park. We got gelato at a place called Il Gelato di Toto and it was honestly one of the best gelato I've ever had. I had a small cone with caramel and hazelnut (I messed up and did a blurry photo of the flavor list so I can't write out the actual names but the image looks like these flavors). Later, we got food to go (I had pizza) to take on the train back to Milan for dinner. Best Moments:
Well, its hard to top the Italian family who saved my abroad experience, but yes, gelato does just that. Don't get me wrong, I am glad I got to see the leaning tower in person, but it is truly just a photo opt. Greetings from Trento! I took a day trip to Trento on Saturday November 9th with a friend from my Management of Non Profit Organizations and Public Administration Class. Trento is a super small town in the North of Italy near the Dolomites. It was definitely a change of pace from other trips I have been on and was cool to see a totally different area of Italy! Saturday: We took an early train from Milano Centrale to Trento, arriving in Trento at 12:30. From the train station we went straight to the Buonconsiglio Castle. The castle had such extensive history and a beautiful interior. There was also a wonderful view in the gardens out to the mountains. Within the Castle is the Torre Aquila, a tower filled with painted frescos illustrating the different months of the year within Trento. My two favorite sections were one in the Fall where they were harvesting, making, and drinking wine, and one in the Winter where they were having a snowball fight! After we were done walking around the castle, we headed into the main city center and the piazza del duomo. From there we found a lovely restaurant called Ai Vicoli for lunch. I had fish ravioli in a light oil sauce and local red wine. Post lunch it was getting later but we raced up to Ponte Alto Gorge. The gorge is a canyon with two waterfalls that were man made in the 16t century to prevent flooding from occuring in the Trento city center. The waterfalls are some of the earliest examples of hydraulic engineering!! After about a 45 minute guided walk around the gorge, we headed back to the city center. We got aperitivo where I tried a Hugo, a typical Trentino cocktail made with elderflower syrup, soda water, ad Prosecco. I also got gelato at Grom. I had a cono piccola con nocciola e caramello al sale which is a small cone with hazelnut and salted caramel gelato. Absolutely delicious!! After, we took the train back to Milano Centrale. Best Moments:
Trento was a super cute and so not touristy at all. I loved being out in nature and the fresh air. Seeing that area of Italy definitely makes me consider booking a day trip to see more of the Dolomites it was that beautiful! Also, that gelato was amazing. I'm a sucker for hazelnut and salted caramel. Greetings from Prague! I stayed in Prague for my second trip during my midterm break (I got 2 full weeks off from classes other than my two midterm tests at Bocconi) from October 31st through November 4th. Rachel Towe was my host this time around (shoutout to Rachel for always reading my posts!) and we were joined in our adventures by another Tulane friend Sarah. Prague had been on the top of my list (I would have considered studying there if the b school had an option), so I was super excited to see what all the hype was about. Simply, I see why my dad says its one of his favorite cities in Europe. Thursday: I arrived in Prague late on Thursday (Halloween day) after taking my second and last midterm. My flight had a transfer in Dusseldorf which I was slightly nervous about since I didn't want to be stranded there, but everything went smoothly! Once in Prague, I took public transport over to Rachel's apartment where we relaxed and I ate egg rolls for dinner before heading out. We went on the drunken monkey pub crawl which was pretty fun! The pub crawl included unlimited drinks for the first hour and then one shot at each of the stops once we left the starting bar. The crawl was pretty fun and a fairly good deal. We also got free drunken monkey headbands! The only downside was that it was extremely cold out on Halloween and we were running around without real jackets. After our last stop on the crawl, we got drunk food at burrito loco. Burrito loco is a Prague fast casual "Mexican" restaurant. It was honestly pretty terrible, but since we were drunk and I hadn't had "Mexican" food since being abroad it was wonderful. (I put Mexican in quotes because it was not really Mexican food other than the fact that it was a burrito. We then took an uber back to Rachel's apartment to sleep for the night before our Friday day trip. Friday: On Friday we took a day trip to Kutna Hora to see the famous bone church and explore a Czech town other than Prague. The train from Prague to Kutna Hora was an experience because there were little to no seats and the train company oversells tickets. Luckily, we managed to find seats since the ride wasn't that short. Once we arrived at the Kutna Hora station, we had to take a shuttle to the main town area. In the main town area, we went straight to St. Barbara's Cathedral. The cathedral was large and grand on a hill overlooking the rest of the town. While walking around the cathedral's interior, we ran into one of Rachel's professors. He was giving a tour in Czech so we couldn't join in, but it was super funny to see her professor out giving a tour. Once we explored the church interior, we went back outside and enjoyed mulled wine and a light pizza lunch on the hill overlooking Kutna Hora. The view was lovely and the wine warmed us up. We then walked back over to the bone church which was on the outskirts of the main area of Kutna Hora. The bone church was weird, underwhelming and overwhelming, and a perfect spooky experience for halloweekend. It's called the bone church because around 50,000 skeletons were used to create decorations and furnishings including a chandelier. The pictures below speak for itself. The experience was pretty wild. After the bone church we took the train back to Prague and relaxed at Rachel's for a bit before having dinner and going out for the night. Rachel had made reservations for all three of us at a bar called Anonymous Bar. Prague's night scene is a little different in that for most of the big bars you need reservations in order to get in. Anonymous Bar was a lot of fun and the different drinks all had different experiences that went with them. I took one for the team and got the drink that is served with the famous guy fawkes masks and polaroid photo. The drink was not something I normally would have ordered (it had scotch and I was not really a fan), but definitely worth it for the experience. Afterwards, I ordered the drink in a weird looking tiki glass that tasted much better. Another one of the drinks came with an anonymous bar post card that they mail for you. Overall a very fun and cool experience. Saturday: It was raining and kind of gross to start our Saturday so we went to the Museum of Communism to get out of the weather. The Museum was full of information and well done, but being abroad we were not prepared for the amount of reading and facts that there were. Honestly, it was exhausting. After the museum we walked towards the old town square and bought "grilled cheese" for lunch at the outdoor fall street markets. "Grilled cheese" is in quotes because it was quite literally a piece of cheese that was grilled then put on toast with a garlic butter spread. Delicious. Then we headed towards the old town square where we saw the astronomical clock before walking into the Jewish Quarter for trdelniks at Rachel's favorite place. If you don't know what a trdelknik is, its a roasted "chimney cake" that is coated in sugar and filled with either ice cream or other fillings. I had mine filled with nutella. The most amazing dessert that is not actually from Prague or Czech but is an abroad Prague staple. They are now popping up all over the world (I saw signs for them on instagram at the Bryant Park Christmas Market) and I HIGHLY recommend trying one. When fresh, they are the most wonderful treats ever. After our trdelniks, we crossed the Charles Bridge and czeched (lol) out the John Lennon Wall. Unfortunately, the wall was being revamped because the public ability to paint on it had gotten out of hand. The wall opened about two weeks after I visited and looks great though. I did see the trees that artists had painted in front of the blocked off wall which felt very fitting. After the wall, Rachel took us to a garden that she had wanted to visit. It was called Vrtbovska Zahrada and we ended up czeching (lol sorry) it out the last day of the season. The garden was very pretty and had a really beautiful view of Prague from the top of the hill. For dinner that night we had arepas at a place close to Rachel's apartment. They were very tasty! Sunday: Our Sunday started early with brunch at Sweet and Pepper Days. The restaurant was recommended to us by a local that Rachel worked with and it definitely did not disappoint! American esque Brunch was basically non existent in Milan, so I loved any chance I could get to eat tasty eggs. I had a pumpkin eggs benedict with bacon, spinach, and hummus. So good. I also had a pear mimosa which was very tasty and unlike any other mimosa I tried before. After brunch, we went over to the Prague Castle. We spent a while walking the grounds and enjoying the castle's scenery. The weather still was not that great, so after walking around outside at the Castle for a while, we decided to relax at a cat cafe. I was extremely animal deprived so I greatly enjoyed having some hot chocolate and cake while watching cats roam around. One of the cats even cuddled up on my lap for the period we were there. We then went back to Rachel's apartment since Sarah was leaving that night. Rachel and I enjoyed a quiet night afterwards, going to a pottery paint place across from her home and eating pho and eggrolls for dinner. Monday: I got up early on Monday with Rachel so we could go out for breakfast before her classes. For breakfast we went to Marthy's Kitchen which is a well known breakfast spot. I had an everything bagel (!!!!!) with grilled goat cheese. I missed bagels so so so much, but I decided to have a bagel with different toppings so I wouldn't be disappointed if it wasn't great. Spoiler, it was super tasty regardless. After breakfast, I left Rachel and headed towards the old town square. I had some time to kill before my free generation tours walking tour of the old town Prague area and the Jewish Quarter so I went to the Andy Warhol exhibit at an art museum in the town square. The museum was very enjoyable. I especially liked the items they displayed related to Warhol and his family in addition to his more famous prints. After I took the walking tour. The tour was pretty great considering it was free, but after the wonderful experience in Budapest, it came up a little short. It was a beautiful day, however, and I loved walking around Prague in the sun. After the tour, I went back to the Jewish Quarter myself since I wanted to learn more, see more, and actually go in to the Synagogues. The Jewish Museum is actually a combo ticket with access to 6 different sites. These sites are the Maisel Synagogue, the Pinkas Synagogue, the Old Jewish Cemetery, the Klausen Synagogue, the Ceremonial Hall, and the Spanish Synagogue. The Spanish Synagogue was being refurbished so I did not get to go inside, but the exterior was really lovely. The Pinkas Synagogue is where the Holocaust Memorial for Jewish Bohemia victims is located. The entire interior is filled with the names of those who perished from the area. It was incredibly somber, but affective in exemplifying the scope of what happened. I also went in to the Old-New Synagogue which is Europe's oldest active synagogue. It was super important to me to experience as much Jewish history in Europe as I could while abroad, so I am incredibly grateful that I got to explore the Prague Jewish quarter to end my trip. After I went through all the sites, I walked back to the old town square to see the view from the top of the astronomical clock tower as well as watch the clock tower go off. Lots of people consider the display of the clock tower disappointing, which its not a fireworks show, but honestly I enjoyed seeing it happen as well as seeing everyone look confused at the fact that "that was it." Afterwards, I got another trdelnik and walked across the Charles Bridge one last time before heading back to Rachel's to grab my stuff, say goodbye, and go to the airport. Best Moment:
My favorite moment would have to be exploring the Jewish Quarter on Monday. It was incredible to walk around Prague in the sunlight. Also bagels and trdelnik. Need I say more. Greetings from Budapest! Dani and my Central/Eastern European tour continued with a 3 day trip to Budapest from October 27th through the 29th. Budapest was on my list of must sees and it should definitely be on everyone's must see list. The city is hip and cool with SO MUCH history and the most wonderful food. I enjoyed my time there so much, hopefully I get to go back soon (wink wink family who were jealous of me wink wink) Sunday: On Sunday we had a super early bus ride from Vienna to Budapest. It was my first flix bus journey, and surprisingly, it ran smoothly. The ride was insanely foggy, so I did not get to see that much of the Austrian / Hungarian countryside but luckily the fog cleared as we made our way into Budapest. Budapest is actually two separate cities, Buda and Pest (a fact I did not know until after my friend Cally explained it post her semester abroad). After dropping off our luggage at a storage place, we started exploring on the Buda side. We walked Bartok Bela street (a trendy area on the Buda side) before finding a restaurant called Hadik for lunch. I had the freshest split pea soup with goat cheese and a Hungarian dish I can't remember the name of. It had bacon and onions and I think it was a "Sztrapacska." If that is right then it was curded ewe-chese noodles. But honestly I do not remember. Both dishes were super tasty though! After lunch we walked along the Buda side of the river to the Buda Castle and Castle Hill area. The area was beautiful and super crowded with tourists. It also had such amazing views of the river and Pest. Dani and I got confused by daylights savings time so we ended up walking around during golden hour right before sunset which only added to the area's beauty. Also in that area we saw Matthias Church and Fisherman's Bastion. We rode the funincular back down the hill and checked in to our airbnb before taking the subway to Szechenyi Thermal Baths. I'm not really sure what I expected from the baths, but it was both an incredibly fun and incredibly strange experience. Basically, its an outdoor heated pool. Since it was cold out, the water was incredibly enjoyable and we lost track of time sitting and catching up on our semesters. After the Baths, we went back to the airbnb to change and went out to dinner at Koloves. Koloves was recommended to us with the description of being a combination of Jewish and Hungarian food and let me tell you, the recommendation did not disappoint. Everything I ate was unbelievably delicious. I had a bowl of matzo ball soup with goose (!!) broth, shared a Vegetarian Tapas appetizer (Aubergine Croquettes, Smoked Qual Egg, Parsley Salad, Fried Pepper Cream, Cauliflower, Flennel, Aubergine with Tahini, Goat Cream Cheese), and for a main course had Goose Leg Confit with a mashed potato and steamed cabbage with dried fruits. One of my most favorite meals of abroad hands down. The matzo ball soup was homey and new. The goose broth was chicken broths more rich cousin that should be used in every matzo ball soup from now on. After dinner we walked to New York Cafe for coffee because of how grand a cafe it is. Its crazy how beautiful even cafes are in Europe compared to the US. After New York Cafe, we headed back to our airbnb for the night. Monday: On Monday, we woke up early again for a free guided tour of the Jewish Quarter located in the heart of Pest. The tour was run by generation tours and was the first free walking tour I took while abroad. Our guide was phenomenal. He shared so much knowledge and was extremely real and truthful about Hungary's role in WWII/the Holocaust as well. The tour walked us through the entire quarter with stops at the Rumbach Street Synagogue, the Carl Lutz Memorial, the Kazinczy Street Synagogue, and the Dohany Street Synagogue. Although its hard at times to hear and learn about the history of the European Jewish population, some of my most meaningful experiences have been walking around the areas of these cities. I am so grateful that I got to see and learn about such a beautiful and currently thriving section of Budapest (from an amazing free tour!!). After the tour, Dani and I went to Mazel Tov for lunch. The restaurant definitely lived up to the hype. We shared hummus with falafal, grilled cauliflower with tahini, almonds, and pomegranates, and I ate a grill plate with parsley beef kabobs and matbucha salad, beetroot, and more fresh pita. Post Mazel Tov, we walked back to the Dohany Street Synagogue, stopping in an artsy store called Judapest. Because of daylight savings, everything starts closing ridiculously early, so we bought tickets for the Jewish Museum housed in the Dohany Street Synagogue but opted to use them for the next morning. Instead, we walked along the Pest side of the river to see the Shoes on the Danube Bank Memorial and the House of Parliament. We got to the House of Parliament after dark so it was completely lit up and golden. Truly stunning. Even though it was super dark, it wasn't that late, so Dani and I spent some time in Szimpla Kert for a nice pre dinner drink. Szimpla Kert is one of the bars that make up the ruin bars in the Jewish Quarter of Pest. The space is wacky and fun with lots of different floors, rooms, and bars to enjoy. Easy to see why Budapest is such a happening city. After enjoying more time catching up and a drink, Dani and I went across the street to another Hungarian restaurant called Getto Gulyas. I have no memory of what I could have possibly eaten but the photos of it look tasty! Post dinner we went back to Szimpla Kert for some more ruin bars fun before heading back to the airbnb for the end of another wonderful day in Budapest! Tuesday: Surprise! Tuesday was another early morning. We checked out of the airbnb (which btw was the most amazing location, a block away from St. Stephens church right on the outside of the Jewish Quarter) and stored our luggage at the same luggage storage place before getting brunch at a place called Cirkusz. Dani had been recommended to try a lot of different restaurants, but we chose Cirkusz because of all the explanation points following its name on her list. The explanation points did not disappoint. I have a severe lack of brunch and eggs in Milan so the fact that I was able to eat eggs benedict with lox was amazing. It also helps when the food is perfectly prepared. Cirkusz itself was also super cute with fun circus and budapest themed paintings along the wall. After Cirkusz, we went back to Dohany Street Synagogue and the Jewish Museum. The museum was well done in explaining all about the Jewish culture and religion. The synagogue also has a cemetery honoring those killed in the ghetto as well as a Holocaust memorial called the tree of life. The memorial is a silver willow tree with each leave bearing the names of Hungarian Jews who perished in the shoah. A beautiful tribute. Also at the synagogue is a booth selling handmade Jewish goods. The artist is Lucy Braun, a Holocaust survivor. I bought a nice little bowl right from her! It brought tears to my eyes knowing that I got to support her and that her life will forever be remembered by the community. After we were done at the Synagogue, Dani and I went to the Central Market on a hunt for Langos (fried dough) and Hungarian paprika. We found both and decided to share a sweet langos with nutella, strawberries, and bananas. Delicious! Unfortunately, after the market it was time to head to the airport. Best Moments:
Budapest was such a beautiful, incredible city!!! Seeing the Fisherman's Bastion at golden hour and walking around the lively Jewish Quarter were probably my favorite moments if I had to choose but honestly the entire weekend was wonderful. Dani and I had such a great time exploring and catching up together. Budapest will easily remain one of my favorite places that I saw while abroad. Oh also, buying a bowl from the Holocaust survivor Lucy at the synagogue will be something that I remember and cherish forever. (Bubbe if you are reading this, hi!, and the bowl is a gift for you!) Greetings from Salzburg! Dani and I were conflicted about taking the day trip to Salzburg from Vienna for a while. We did not want to miss out on seeing Vienna, but we also really wanted to see Salzburg. Ultimately, our obsession with The Sound of Music won out and we spent Saturday October 26th exploring the city. Salzburg was the most beautiful city, so its safe to say that we were thrilled with our decision. Saturday: Our day started slightly early with a train from Vienna Westbahnhof to Salzburg at 9:43 am. The train was just over 2 hours long. For a while we were slightly nervous since it was super foggy, but as we made our way to Salzburg the fog let up, turning into a beautiful day. The Austrian countryside was absolutely beautiful. The trees were changing colors with rolling green farmland and the bluest of sky. I've turned into such a Fall person! Once we arrived in Salzburg, we walked around to see the sights of the city that were not going to be included on our Sound of Music Guided Tour. We also realized that Saturday October 26th is Austria National Day, so there were parades and lots of activity within the main town square. It was so awesome to stumble upon a celebration we were not expecting / aware of! For a snack, we bought Mozartkugel from Furst, a famous chocolate nougat. I enjoyed it, but Dani was not a fan. We headed towards the meeting point for the tour, stopping at a hamburger shop (of all things!) for a quick lunch. The hamburgers were actually extremely tasty and filled us for the entire 4 hour tour. The tour included stops at a lot of the sights where filming of the Sound of Music took place and even took us outside of Salzburg to the lake district and the town of Mondsee. The first stop was Leopoldskron Palace, which was used as the Von Trapp family home background and is where the children fall off the boat into the water when welcoming the Captain home. The views of the Palace across from the lake were beautiful. Afterwards, we drove through Salzburg passing the bridge shown during "Do Re Mi" on the way to Hellbrunn Palace, the sight of the "16 going on 17" Gazebo. We enjoyed twirling around in front of the Gazebo pretending that we were once again 16 going on 17. After Hellbrunn Palace, we boarded the tour bus again to drive by the real Nonnberg Abbey before leaving Salzburg for the mountains and lake district. The Nonnberg Abbey is still a working convent and actual nuns sang for the movie's soundtrack! While driving into the lake district, we found out some more fun Sound of Music facts and sang along to some of the songs. Once up in the mountains, we stopped for a scenic photo overlooking St. Gilgen and Lake Wolfgang. The Austrian countryside is so beautiful, it made Dani and I dream of being rich enough for an Austrian ski chalet (never mind that neither of us ski). The tour then took us to the town of Mondsee, which is where the church that Maria and Captain Von Trapp get married in the movie is. The inside of the church was as spectacular as the movie presents it and there was even a church choir/band practicing when we visited. We also ate more apple strudel at Cafe Braun, recommended by the tour guide. The strudel was tasty but not as good as the strudel in Vienna. From Mondsee, the tour took us back down the mountains back to Salzburg. Ofcourse, the final song we listened and sang along to was "So Long, Farewell." Our guide also took us off the bus and showed us the Mirabell Gardens which is where most of the memorable scenes from "Do Re Mi" are located. The sun sets so early now post day light savings that the gardens were pretty dark at 6 when we entered, but it was still fun to see them. I even took a funny pic replicating Julie Andrew's pose at the end of the song. After our tour and walking around Mirabell, Dani and I headed back to the train station to buy food to eat for dinner on our train back to Vienna. Our bus to Budapest was early the next morning, so we did not have much time for anything else once back in Vienna. Best Moments:
Salzburg was absolutely beautiful! I truly gained such an appreciation for Austria traveling from Vienna to Salzburg on the train and on the Sound of Music bus. For a while, my family thought we were part Austrian (still debatable, who knows, still waiting for ancestry dna to drop a bombshell to uncover why I'm ethnically ambiguous), so I greatly enjoyed seeing such a beautiful country. In terms of taking the Sound of Music tour, Dani and I had a great time and are definitely glad that we did it. BUT, if I were to go back to Salzburg and had more than a day trip there, I would definitely recommend seeing most of the sights yourself and maybe splurging on a smaller group tour. Don't get me wrong, I loved that we had a bus full of people who were as obsessed with the Sound of Music as us and I learned a lot about the movie and the actual Von Trapp family, but its a tour and you only have a certain amount of time at each place. I would also definitely want to spend more time out on the lakes and in the mountains. Truly truly thats how beautiful they are. If I'm ever rich and famous, I'm buying an Austrian mountain vacation home. I don't even ski so thats an emphasis to how beautiful it was there. Sound of Music is one of my all time favorites, Julie Andrews is a queen and we don't deserve her, and I am so glad Dani and I were impulsive and spent the day in Salzburg! Greetings from Vienna! I visited Vienna with my friend from Tulane Dani during our Fall/Midterm breaks. We were in Vienna from October 25th through the morning of the 27th, but we really only had one day in Vienna to explore since we took a day trip to Salzburg. But, for the sake of including more "greetings from" blog posts, I will be separating them in to two separate posts:) Friday: My flight from Milan to Vienna was early Friday morning. Dani was arriving a little more than an hour after me so I left the airport and checked in to our airbnb while I was waiting. Once Dani arrived and dropped of her stuff, we headed in to the city center to walk around and see as much of Vienna as possible during our only real day to explore the city. We hit most of the major sites within the city center including: St Stephan's Cathedral/Stephansdom, Hofburg Palace, Belvedere Palace, Rathaus/Town Hall, and the Museums Quartier. We happened to be in Austria the weekend of a holiday, Austrian National Day, so there was a huge military fair set up within a section of the city center. We had no clue that Saturday was a holiday, but it was cool to see all the different tents set up celebrating all things Austrian military. We got french fries as a snack at one of the stands since we had not eaten that much yet. After we walked around, we headed to the Jewish Quarter to walk around some more and eat lunch. We had lunch at a vegan/vegetarian bakery/cafe called Simply Raw Bakery which was such a refreshing change of pace from the food I eat in Milan. I had a stuffed avocado with quinoa and hummus and a smoothie. After lunch, we stopped by the square where the Jewish museum is and the Holocaust memorial which is located where the former synagogue stood. We then visited the Schonbrunn Palace and Gardens. This estate was absolutely stunning, amplified by the fact that it was golden hour. The whole area felt similar to Versaille with some clear differences. As ornate and over the top that Versaille is, Schonbrunn is the exact opposite. Instead, Schonbrunn is classy and grand. I loved walking around the outside of the Palace and the Garden area. My newfound appreciation for Fall also grew since the reds and yellows of the trees were stunning against the yellow palace and setting sun. After Schonbrunn, we visited the Naschmarket, a famous outdoor farmers market within Vienna. Honestly, it was a little underwhelming compared to other food markets I have seen, but we also were there around / right after sunset so it might be better during the day over the weekend. At this point, Dani and I were hungry again so we went back into the city center for dinner at a 400 year old restaurant called Zum Schwarzen Kameel (The Black Camel). At the recommendation of the older American couple sitting next to us and the waiter, I had Beef Tafelspitz, a famous Vienese boiled beef dish served with an apple horseradish. My dish also came with creamed spinach, potatoes, and a chive sauce. It was very delicious and I'm glad I was able to try a traditional dish other than schnitzel. After dinner, we went to Cafe Central for coffee and dessert. Cafe Central is a beautiful, historic Austrian cafe with live piano and the most insane architecture. We had the cafe's take on sachertorte and apple strudel. The sachertorte was a little dry for my personal chocolate cake taste, but still good since thats how the cake is supposed to be. The apple strudel was delicious though. Dani and I still want more of it. After dinner we went back to the Airbnb and fell asleep watching The Sound of Music in anticipation of our day trip to Salzburg the next day. Best Moments:
The whole city of Vienna was absolutely beautiful. The atmosphere is classy and grand so you can't help but feel classy walking around the streets. Schonbrunn is one of my favorite sites of abroad so far and seeing locals go for their jogs around the grounds made me miss Sands Point even though the grounds are incomparable. Our time in Vienna was short, but enough to make me love the city and want to go back. Greetings from Amsterdam! I visited Amsterdam with my two abroad friends Gaby and Dylan the weekend of October 11th through 13th. Amsterdam was an absolute dream and I already want to return. The three/technically two days just were not enough! Friday: Unfortunately my one class that takes attendance started having a few Friday sessions. We can miss up to four classes before becoming a non-attending student (which would not be fun in this class), but I already missed two since I booked Thursday flights before realizing this issue, so I flew out of Milan later on Friday. I got to Amsterdam around 8pm and took a cab to meet Gaby and Dylan at our airbnb in a cute town outside of Amsterdam called Hilversum. Hilversum could have been pulled straight out of a fairy tale. If you could bottle up a feeling of Fall, the bottle would be produced in Hilversum. For someone who hasn't had a real Fall in two years because of New Orleans, this was the best possible thing ever. I have never been a Fall person, but Hilversum and Amsterdam definitely sparked a newfound appreciation for this season and all its beauty. After I dropped my bag off and met up with Gaby and Dylan, we walked in to town for a late dinner. We ate at this bar/restaurant/club that was fairly popular with the locals. The menu was all over the place so I had asian inspired chicken wings and ribs. We also all had the same recommended cocktail. The drink was horrible and we probably should have known not to drink it since there was egg in it, but we were feeling adventurous. After dinner, we went back to the airbnb since we wanted to get to Amsterdam as early as possible on Saturday for a full day. Saturday: We woke up early on Saturday to travel from Hilversum and our airbnb to Amsterdam. Our first stop was the MOCO Museum which is a modern and contemporary art museum known for the amount of Banksy works displayed. A few of my favorites were Banksy's "Girl with a Balloon," "Love is in the Air," and the detained Gummy Bear statue. The whole museum was a lot of fun to walk through to start our morning. After MOCO, we walked through Amsterdam trying to find a place to stop and eat brunch. The brunch scene in Amsterdam is phenomenal, but since it was around 11 am on a Saturday, most of the places listed as "must try" were packed. We ended up at a place called Little Collins which was delicious. I had there take on eggs benedict, potato, gruyere and spring onion waffle with poached eggs, bacon, and hollandaise sauce and a cappuccino. At this point, I hadn't had a real brunch meal since being abroad, so I was beyond thrilled. While we were eating, a woman sat down at the table next to us and began talking to us. She was an American from Texas living in Amsterdam for work and was eager to convince us to work abroad during our lives. I don't normally talk to or initiate conversations with strangers like that, but it was a lot of fun to hear about this random woman's life and experiences. She totally just fell into her job by talking to a woman at a wedding. Crazy! She currently is trying to decide whether she should stay in Amsterdam or if her and her fiance should move back to Texas. Anyway, after brunch, we headed over to the A'dam Lookout which is this lookout tower/experience that also has a swing with views of the city. The experience itself is fairly "basic," but since there was no line and it was included in our Heineken tickets it was totally worth it. After A'dam lookout, we took a canal ride from the lookout to the Heineken Experience. We also met up with my friend Becky and her two abroad friends. The canal ride was pretty, but it would have been nice if there was a little commentary by our guide (who had a microphone and wanted tips) so we knew what we were looking at. After the ride, we arrived at Heineken and did the brewery experience. I am so totally not a beer person, but Oktoberfest and this experience have definitely made me enjoy beer more. The experience guides you through Heineken's history and the whole process of brewing the beer. It ends in a bar tasting area and includes two free beers (in addition to the one you try earlier in the tour). Dylan, Gaby, and I then went and got thai food for dinner. Post dinner, I had a ticket for the Anne Frank House at 8:45 that I booked with Becky, so Dylan and Gaby went with me and were going to wait around till I was done since they didn't book tickets in time. Luckily, the security and staff at the Anne Frank House were in a good mood and let Dylan and Gaby buy tickets for the museum day off. This rarely happens unless you arrive at an off time in an off season, so we were super grateful. Truthfully, I have never read the Diary of Anne Frank. I know, very out of character. It was never required for school and when I had the option of choosing a heavy book to read in 7th grade I read "Night" by Elie Weisel instead. Obviously, I know her story though. An audio tour guides you through the entire house explaining the war, the Holocaust, and Anne's story. Going through the house is not easy, but I felt a little better knowing my desire to see it allowed Gaby and Dylan to learn more about a part of history they both admitted they did not know as much about. We planned on going out after the Anne Frank House, but the weather had turned incredibly horrible while we were inside, so we decided to head back to the airbnb instead and watch Halloweentown. Sunday: We checked out of the airbnb early on Sunday and headed into Amsterdam to explore before our late flight back to Milan. We walked all along the inner canals and central area, enjoying the sunnier weather and the pretty buildings. For lunch we went to Foodhallen which is a giant food hall inside a warehouse space. It is pretty comparable to Smorgasburg or a much larger St. Roch Market. I wanted to try all the stands, but limited myself to "De Ballenbar" because I wanted to try local Dutch food. We each had different variations of Bitterballen, a sort of fried dutch meatball. I had two truffle bitterballen, two goat cheese bitterballen, and two original bitterballen. They were all delicious, but my favorite had to be truffle. After lunch, we continued to walk around, this time in search of another Dutch food poffertjes or little baby pancakes. I was not super hungry but still managed to eat my own order of poffertjes served traditionally with powder sugar and butter. Unfortunately, it was Sunday so we could not eat them fresh at the Albert Cuyp Markt, but the ones we had at Pancakes Amsterdam were tasty nonetheless! We then explored the outdoor flower market before going to the Amsterdam Icebar. We were kind of out of things to do at this point since we couldn't get tickets for the Van Gogh Museum which is how we ended up at the Icebar. It was a fun experience though. I was a little surprised because once you are actually in the freezing cold bar room the only drinks they serve is shots of flavored vodka or beer. After the icebar, we took a few more canal pictures before heading back to the central station to pick up our stored luggage. I also got to see my friend Emily Epstein who was also in Amsterdam that weekend traveling. Even though we only got to see each other for 5 minutes it was nice to catch up and we were able to plan a trip together to Dublin which I'm super excited about! Best Moments:
Amsterdam was such a beautiful city. It felt impossible not to immediately fall in love with it. Walking around the canals and just taking in all the cute buildings and flowers was probably my favorite part. I never wanted to leave! I also love Milan and Italian food so much, but the lack of a brunch scene or accessible "trendy" international food scene has been really getting to me. I probably could have spent all day in the Foodhallen or at brunch. Eggs benedict on savory waffles and truffle bitterballen. Need I say more. I don't think I want to live/work abroad (I'd miss my family and the US too much) but visiting Amsterdam definitely made me feel like it could be a possibility. Greetings from Milan! After spending two days in Cinque Terre, Rachel and I explored Milan on Sunday October 5th before she headed back to Prague. Thanks for being a tourist in my own city with me! Sunday: We got up fairly early on Sunday since Rachel was leaving for the airport around 5pm and we wanted to see as much of Milan as possible. Our first stop was the Duomo area where we saw the Starbucks Reserve Milano Roastery before having breakfast at a local chain, Panini Durini. We had capuccinos, a croissant with nutella, and a waffle with nutella. After breakfast, we had tickets to walk to the top of the Duomo and go inside the church. The views from the terrace were absolutely spectacular. Rachel was particularly happy walking around the roof since she took an intro to architecture class and was able to point out all the different details. Going to the terrace is definitely one of my must dos now for Milan. We didn't realize that Mass was going on when we entered the church's interior, but it was super cool to witness mass taking place in such a historic church. I'm definitely going to figure out whether I can be inside for Christmas Mass. There was also a downstairs museum area with artifacts they excavated that we did not explore for long, but was included with our ticket so we checked it out. Once we were done at the Duomo, we checked out the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II (the huge glass domed shopping plaza) and the pop up Louis Vuitton Time Capsule Experience. For lunch, we had pizza from Spontini (huge slice style fast casual pizza). We then went to Fondazione Prada, a modern art museum funded by Prada. I had never been, but a lot of people said that it was a must do experience. Rachel and I were both glad we went, but both wouldn't call it must see. The art was whack even for modern art, there was no descriptions of what we were looking at, there was a line to buy tickets that did not have to exist/was unclear, and it was a little pricy for the actual amount of art present in the facility. Despite all of that, there were some cool installations and we enjoyed our time laughing at all the different pieces. After Fondazione Prada we walked over to Navigli where we stumbled on a chocolate street festival (small but cute) and got more gelato. After gelato, it was already time to head back to my apartment, so Rachel could grab her bag and head to the airport. Best Moments:
Definitely the Duomo's rooftop / terrace area. Hands down. The views of the plaza and just of the Duomo's roof are breathtaking and worth the steps. There is also an elevator up but the stairs are not as crazy as other tall buildings. It was so nice spending the weekend traveling with Rachel and I can't wait till I visit her in Prague (for Halloween weekend!) |
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October 2019
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