Weekend Adventures; Take 3

Ciao!!

I figured I would blog now about my lovely weekend in Venice before my week gets hectic here in Paris! To put it in one word... Venice was amazing. Even before coming, it baffled my mind that a city could be built completely on water - but actually being there was something else. I especially loved how peaceful it was without the noisiness of cars driving around. All of the buildings were brightly colored and looked 100 years old.. laundry was out to air dry in-between streets, and gelato stores were at every corner. Don't even get me started on the food... I ate my weight in pasta and pizza. Here are the highlights!!

What the streets looked like :)

Laundry out to air dry - reminding me of the simplistic lifestyle that I envy 

There was a big stretch of pier facing the water and the other islands, that was gorgeous to walk along at the end of the night with the sunset in the background

Of course I had to get a gelato.. I ate it in like 2 min 

Me & kelly on our romantic gondola ride.. <3 

The view from the gondola!! 

I am still very confused/intrigued on how the men who operate the gondola's keep their balance and don't fall in the water 

Dinner - Pasta with tomatoes and basil :) soooo good 

Our drink of choice for this fine weekend... Prosecco :)

Overall, it was an amazing weekend with a lot of laughs and great food! Can't wait for Amsterdam next weekend!

Until next time, 

Gail 

Weekend Adventures Take 1 & 2

Hello!

Time is flying by so quickly... I can't believe it's already almost December! It's crazy that I'll be leaving this beautiful place in less than a month :( All of the Christmas lights are already up in Paris which is super exciting because I LOVE Christmas. My roommate and I actually just checked out the Christmas markets on Champs Elysees which were so beautiful... tons of crafts, food and music! I am all for celebrating Christmas early on, so it was perfect.
A lot has happened since I last blogged...! These past two weekends I have visited Belgium and Ireland with my friends, which was awesome! We saw a bunch of sites and ate some delicious, traditional food. Here are the highlights through photos from our trips:

                                                                 Brussels, Belgium

City square, which was the main attraction of the city 

Delirium Bar, which had 3 floors and over 2,000 different types of beer! Definitely my kinda bar.. my favorite beer was the Guinness Export, which was only served on the second floor. We met people from all over and everyone was super friendly & the music was great! 

Mussels in Brussels! A Belgian classic - even if you don't like seafood, I highly suggest this dish. Even the smell alone was delicious and yes.. I ate that whole pot full of food on my own.

Kind of hard to see but this is Manneken Pis, which is a famous statue of a boy peeing.. hahah. It was surprisingly very small, and dressed up in some weird costume. There was a really large crowd around him taking pictures, and pretty much all of the souvenir shops sold a statue of him.

This wouldn't be a proper blog post about Belgium without some Belgium waffles.. They were sold literally everywhere and you could put all sorts of toppings on them. They were absolutely delicious and all throughout the streets, it smelled like waffles.... yum. 

Bruges, Belgium

Soo pretty much Bruges is straight out of a fairytale... there are storybook houses everywhere, lining canals. They already had Christmas decorations up and the church bells rang every hour.. I was a very happy human while walking around the beautiful town. 

Me, Kelly & Renata on the boat in the Canal! Our instructor's accent was a riot - it was like Dutch, mixed with French.. we saw a lot of Bruges and crossed swans in our path! 

What the boats in the canals look like!

What most of the shops looked like.. there were homemade chocolate stores everywhere! 

Bruges was so beautiful and is definitely now one of the best places I've been to in my life!

Dublin, Ireland

Our first morning in Dublin, we tried a traditional Irish breakfast. The food was delicious and so was the Irish coffee! It was a little hard to drink early in the morning, considering 75% of it was Baileys.. 

For someone who loves beer (especially Guinness).. the Guinness factory was a must. 

The Guinness Academy - where we learned to pour the perfect pint of Guinness! We got a certificate afterwards with our names on it, which was really cool! 

& here I am again.. with more Guinness... 

We walked around at night, and Christmas lights were all up! It was beautiful & definitely got us in the Christmas spirit! :) The Christmas markets were all set up as well which was awesome, but unfortunately the lines were too long :(

Cliffs of Moher, Ireland 

Honestly, the most beautiful place I have been to in my life. Even though I am deathly afraid of heights and when I looked over the edge I saw myself plummeting to my death... I still was obsessed with this place and couldn't help but completely fall in love. 

Casual cow on the side of the cliffs.. there were cows everywhere and to the left of the cliffs were farms stretching out for miles. 

Me on the side of the cliff! (thinking in my head.. "I'm sitting on a couch, not an 800 ft. cliff...) 

Just another pic of this beautiful place :)

Off to Venice for the weekend!! Happy Friday!

Gail

Eating My Way Through Paris

Hiiiyaaaa.

It's been a bit since I last posted because I've been so busy with school & my family just visited! :) We saw all of the main sites, ate a ton of yummy food and drank great wine! I also showed them around the metro like a pro, which I am super proud of myself for (I'm extremely directionally challenged...) It was sad to see them go, but it was so great to see them! However, as much as I could talk about my weekend with the fam, I thought I would dedicate this blog to another thing I love in my life... and that is food.
 For those of you who don't know me that well, I'm guna let you in on a little secret... I am a huge foodie. I love all kinds of food - I have a huge appetite that resembles a sumo wrestler's, and I'm always down to try something new. My top three favorite foods are burritos, mashed potatoes and PIZZA. I could literally eat pizza for the rest of my life and be a happy human. So I figured that it was appropriate and necessary to dedicate a blog solely to food.
Paris has amazed me with its food - I knew it was going to be good, but not this good. From the baguettes, to the ham to the crepes, Paris has a great selection of food that rarely disappoints. While I was sitting in a cafe (on my second croissant mind you) I was wrapped up in the thought that there's all of this delicious/fattening food in Paris, yet everyone is the size of my pinky. How?? If I were to live here full time I would def need a fork lift to carry me around the streets of Paris.... just sayin. I guess people here have self control.. unlike me where I'm like two croissant and a baguette? sure (fat amy voice).

Soooo without further or do, here's my fav foods in Paris! If you ever plan on visiting, make sure to try some of these!

First & foremost... croissants & pain au chocolat (chocolate bread). These are a staple, and something I need to stop eating 500 a day of.. You can find these on any corner in Paris at a cafe or patisserie. They are the best when hot out of the oven :) 

Another important staple in Paris.. Sandwiches. These are everywhere & a great thing to have on the go. My favorite is ham & cheese with dijon mustard - I eat so much dijon that I get heartburn... 

This pic kinda makes it look gross but its so delicious & something I've grown to love here - French onion soup! The top layer is cheese and there's bread in it with an onion broth.. perfect on a rainy day in Paris! 

Another new fav, brought to you by lovely Paris. This is Croque Madame - Pretty much an inverted grilled cheese with ham and an egg on top. Super good if you're looking for a hearty lunch and something that tastes a bit like home :) The fries here are also extremely good... they put America's to shame...

Speaking of eggs.. they put them on everything essentially. Something I wasn't expecting, but have grown to LOVE. My favorite is a salad, with an egg on top.. it sounds kinda sketchy but it's delicious. This pic is a salad with ham, tomatoes, cheese, potatoes and an egg ... so good. Try it at home!

What Paris is known for.... Crepes. They literally melt in your mouth and are great for people with a sweet tooth. My favorite is nutella & whipped cream... super messy but so worth it. The smell alone is amazing.

.... the messy part I was talking about .....

One of my favorite foods in life that is luckily, amazing here. ICE CREAM. The top picture is a chain restaurant in paris that makes all of their ice cream look like a flower :0 

Something that I didn't even really like before I came here.. this is a tartine. It's simply a baguette with butter and jam.. all of a sudden I love it! Super simple but delicious & a great meal for breakfast! I'm definitely guna make this for myself back home!

This is breakfast from the famous macaroon shop in Paris - Laduree. It's the best breakfast I've had since being here, and I highly recommend it! A little bit of everything on this tray - what more could you ask for! It's like the restaurant ceiling opened up and angels flew in with this thing.

More macaroons.. a delicious treat that are everywhere in Paris!

I feel like this is what Paris is most known for.. Escargot, or in other words, snails. For those of you who might be sketched out or afraid to try them, they're actually wicked (my Boston coming in) good! They're extremely tasty and worth the risk. I was at dinner with my family and we got two plates of these and 3 minutes later, they were like "where did they all go?" & then looked at my plate which was unfortunately covered in a pile of annihilated snail shells... whoops. 

Last, but not least... a taste of America. Bagels are rare to find around here but luckily I have found a few places that have bagel sandwiches, which are a great thing to eat when I'm feeling a little homesick. Yum.

All of this food talk has made me starving.. so I'm guna go eat now. I'm headed to Belgium this weekend .. aka Belgium waffles to the face.

Until next time,

Gail.

A Weekend in Normandy

Bonjour!

It's been a bit since I last posted, so I figured I would fill you in on my lovely weekend in Normandy! Departing early Saturday morning, I didn't really know what to expect. I knew about the famous graveyard with the iconic white crosses, and also that I had self loathing because I have never seen Saving Private Ryan... I still need to see it!! However, I didn't know too much about the history and what it would be like. After a three hour bus ride, we arrived at the D-Day Museum, dedicated to peace in Normandy. It was nestled in the French countryside, which was refreshing to see after being in the city for two weeks. 

Outside of the museum was a massive statue of the famous black and white poster: 

These two people actually didn't know each other... it was the end of the war and he was so thankful for the nurses & their help, that he kissed her! Aw :)

We then went in the museum where we watched a thirty minute clip of the storming of D Day, that isn't accessible to the public, which was super cool! We also walked around the massive museum and viewed artifacts from the war, videos, and timelines that were fascinating and powerful to read. I particularly found the people's clothes and belongings from the Holocaust to be the most powerful - you read about this horrific, historic event growing up, and then to witness real artifacts from it was very surreal for me. We then ventured on to the Normandy American Cemetery & Memorial. Most of the graves had names on them, but there still remains a group of unknown soldiers in which they built a memorial for. Interesting fact: Out of the 9,400 soldiers buried, 4 of them are women. 

Iconic white head stones

Beautiful memorial for unknown soldiers

After the cemetery, we then traveled to Omaha Beach - the beach where the storming of D Day occurred. After viewing the video from the museum, it was hard to stand on such a serene and peaceful beach, imagining that something so dark had happened there. 

When I thought it could't get any more beautiful, we went to the cliffs overlooking the beaches, where the American soldiers scaled the rocks to seek coverage from the Germans. The view was breath taking, and made you step back and appreciate life, and those that fight for our freedom. 

A hole from bombs that were shot from American naval ships off shore.. they were everywhere! 

Me hangin' in a hole.. kind of inappropriate but hey, it was comfortable! 

We spent the night in the small town of St. Malo in Britanny. It's a tiny, old pirate town right on the coast that is protected by a massive wall - the bus had to drop us off outside of the town because the roads were too narrow! I immediately fell in love with the cobble stone streets, small boutiques and wonderful smell of seafood that floated throughout. 

View from our hotel room! 

We went to a bar that night, that instead of bar stools had swings, and instead of regular bar tap handles, had babies arms and legs.. The bar was covered in dolls. It was extremely creepy, yet really cool and different at the same time! Although, it was definitely awk to watch the bartender hold the babies leg while pouring me a drink... 

Our last stop consisted of my favorite place I have been in Europe thus far - Mont St. Michel! I remember dozing off in my high school French class staring at a poster of this place that looked too cool and magical to be real. I was like, "does this place actually exist...?"

Now you can see why I thought that... I feel like unicorns should be parading around this place.

View from the top... It was super foggy but all of those black dots are people! They are walking from and island four hours away... You have to walk with someone who knows what they're doing though, because of the tides and "quick sand." 

Me at the top! 

At the top of Mont St. Michel was an abbey equipped with a church and old rooms. Pretty cool that all of this exists on the top of a massive hill! 

A replica of an old wheel that prisoners would stand in and walk like a hamster to wheel up food & necessities.... peasants. 

It was sad to leave this beautiful place, but overall it was a great weekend!

Until next time!

Gail