Amsterdam

Have you ever visited a place and just thought.. wow, I could really live here.

That’s exactly how I felt about Amsterdam. Everything from the architecture to the cheese, I was in love. My visit to Amsterdam was on for the books. The city itself is not only beautiful but it was so full of life- that also could have been influenced by the gay pride festival going on all weekend. Let’s just say I clearly picked the right weekend to visit! There was so much going on in the city and it  was unlike anything I have ever experienced! My highlights from this trip included touring the infamous red light district, walking beside the canals in the neighborhood of Jordaan, popping into a few coffeeshops, browsing through the floating flower market and participating in all of the gay pride festivities going on throughout the city.

Amsterdam definitely made my top 3 favorite places ever list. I will definitely be making my way back to the Netherlands sometime soon. Afscheid Amsterdam 🙂

{Dam Square}{I want to ride my bicycle!}{Hanging flowers}{Flowers at the Floating Flower Market}{Cheese tasting was definitely on the agenda}{LOVED Amsterdam’s architecture}{The Floating Flower Market}{Wishing I would’ve picked up a pair of these 😉 }{The Floating Flower Market}{Gorgeous blooms}{A highlight of my trip was walking beside the beautiful canals}{Popped into a sex museum for some entertainment}{A beautiful hidden neighborhood we stumbled upon}{Taking a break with some Dutch brews}{Fleurs}{Canal chillin’}{Rasta flavored lolly pop}{Walking around the Red Light District}{The Red Light District}{Red Light District’s Canal}{Here you can see some red lights *prostitutes not pictured*}{Amsterdam’s largest coffeeshop chain}{A music festival for gay pride weekend}{so.much.cheese!}{Found love}{A parade floating down the canal}{Gay pride festivities!}{Gay pride festivities!}
{Christy, Taylor and I}{View from the water on our canal tour}
{The neighborhood of Jordaan}{Walking around the neighborhood of Jordaan}{Picture perfect}{Iconic signage- I[AMSTERDAM]}
{Celebrating Taylor’s 21st in our posh Airbnb apartment}{Toasting to a fantastic weekend}

Weekly Highlights

{The only perk of having a flight scheduled at 6 am is getting to watch the sun rise}

Forgive me for posting last week’s, Weekly Highlights so late! The lack of  wifi in Italy/ everywhere in Europe is really affecting the time I get to spend working on this blog!  Also I was in Munich, Germany this past weekend.. so that might have something to do with it too 😉 I can’t wait to share my pictures from Germany with you! But in the meantime here are some highlights from the third week of July. I can’t believe the month is almost over! Summer, slow down please!

{Amazing Louis Vuitton scarf!}{What to do?// Installation at the Gallery of Modern Art}{All you can eat sushi!}{A fishy pedicure in Budapest}{Making Tiramisu in my Italian Cuisine class }

Budapest

If you would have asked me at the beginning of the summer what cities I wanted to visit when I studied abroad, Budapest probably wouldn’t have been first on my list. But after three full days exploring the city I quickly discovered how beautiful, friendly, cultured, and not to mention inexpensive Budapest was! How did we decide to go to Budapest? Truthfully, it was the cheapest flight we could get at the last minute. We flew out Thursday morning and about an hour later we were in Hungary!

Me, my roommate Taylor and our friend Becky spent our first two days in Budapest walking miles around the city, checking out the famous sites and learning all about Budapest’s rich history. We joined a free walking tour where we were taken to sites around the city like the Chain Bridge, Castle Hill, and St. Stephen’s Basilica. After our tour we were given us a whole list of sites to see on our own, bars to go out to and restaurants to eat at in Budapest. I loved having the local suggestions! We took our guide up on one of her suggestions, and went out with a big group of people from our hostel to the 3^rd best bar in the world, Szimpla Kert! According to which list I am not sure, but I believe them. The bar was huge and kind of reminded me of Madison Bear Garden in Chico, California because of all the random objects hanging from the ceilings and walls.

Our last and final day in Budapest was my favorite. We spent all day lounging around the Széchenyi Thermal Baths. It felt like a luxury resort! A day full of rest and relaxation was the perfect way to end an action packed weekend.

Until next time Budapest!

{Climbing up Gellert Hill}
{View of Castle Hill}{Lions guarding the Chain Bridge}{A traditional Hungarian dish: Goulash}{Our hostel- which I would recommend to anyone traveling to Budapest!}{Suite Hostel}{Buda Castle}{A random Ferris Wheel}{St. Stephen’s Basilica from a distance} {The Chain Bridge}{Overlooking the Pest side of the city}{Castle Hill}{Armed guards guarding the President’s office}{Matthias Church}{Yet another picture of the Chain Bridge, I couldn’t just pick one! 🙂 }{Budapest sunset}{Hungarian Parliament Building} {BUDAPEST}{Inside Szimpla Kert..”3rd best bar in the world!”}{We leave Italy and we still get croissants and cappuccinos for breakfast 😉 }{Heroe’s Square}{The Széchenyi Thermal Baths!}{Embracing my inner mermaid!}{The Széchenyi Thermal Baths}

Milan In A Day

{“Milan, Fashion Capital of the world!” –Tyra Banks}

Sunday afternoon me, my roommate Taylor and her three European friends who had came to visit, embarked on a fulfilling day trip to the fashion capital of the world: MILANO! It was such a fun day! Michelle, Manchester and LA had rented a car to get from San Tropez to Torino, so we stuffed 5 people into our 4 person clown car, a red Fiat 500, and began our journey! It took us a little over an hour and thirty minutes to get from Torino to Milan on the motorway. When we arrived we stopped to check out all the top fashion houses and payed a visit to the infamous Duomo di Milano. We even decided to be “fancy” like the fashionable citizens of Milan and buy overpriced coffees (4.50 Euros for Cappuccino?! Absolutely outrageous, but only in Milan would I pay that much to be fashionable). It was a successful day! We saw everything we wanted to see and made it back to Torino in one piece. My favorite part of the day though was spending time with Taylor’s European friends and learning more about their country, culture, and the funny words they use. They were a fun “crack!” (aka a fun time in Irish).

Thanks for reading  🙂 Ciao!

{Navigating the streets of Italy} {Duomo di Milano}{The entrance to the Galeria Vittorio Emanuel II}{Wanderlust}
{Galeria Vittorio Emanuel II}{Galeria Vittorio Emanuel II}{My 4 euro cappuccino}{Window shopping at all the top fashion houses}{Another pretty arch}{Bank of Milan} {Taylor, Manchester, Michelle, LA, and me!}{Until next time, Milano!}

Layover In Paris, Part Deux.

 

{Bonjour Paris}

I know I say this about every city I visit but I’m serious this time, Paris is my new favorite city! These long layovers really don’t do the city justice. We arrived in Paris around 9:30am and had about six hours to spare before we needed to be back at the airport for our flight to Torino. Nicole and I, being pros at Paris’ public transportation by now, hopped on the metro  and began exploring at the Notre Dame de Pairs metro stop. Lucky for us, that stop had a lot of sights that were located very close in vicinity to one another. We visited the Notre Dane Catherderal, the love lock bridge also known as Pont de l’Archeveche, and the outside area of the Louvre Museum. From our layover in Paris I have definitely decided that I want to come back within the next couple weeks to truly experience the city. Until next time Paris, for now I am going home to my cot and tiny apartment in Torino. Ciao xx.

{Notre Dame de Pairs} {I spy the Eiffel Tower!}{Paris Graffiti}{Pont de l’Archeveche}{I spy the Eiffel Tower!}{Gorgeous apartments along the river}{I have a thing for colored doors in foreign countries}{The Louvre Museum}

Exploring Florence

{The view of the Duomo from the top of the bell tower)

Exploring Florence was amazing.. Do I need to say more?

Our first full day in Florence was spent wandering around, discovering the San Lorenzo leather market, and eating gelato before our guided tour of the Tuscany region. We had a blast at the leather market! They had a huge selection of leather purses, wallets and accessories for great prices! My favorite part of my trip was practicing my bartering skills. The key is to act like you really don’t care for it at all and just when you’re about to leave they will offer you a price you can’t refuse! That’s how I snatched up some of my best items: I bought a great black leather bag with the Florentine symbol and a grey floppy hat, which I haven’t taken off since!

Saturday afternoon we bought tickets for the “Taste of Tuscany Tour.” It was a tour that had great reviews on Trip Advisor and it was a wonderful experience! We visited 2 different towns inside the Tuscan region with about 14 other travelers from all around the world. We endured beautiful, yet an insanely scary car ride from the medieval town of Monteriggioni to a winery in the Chianti region to the quaint town of Siena. We stopped at each city, learned a little bit about the history and were free to explore! We ended our tour with a home cooked meal by an Italian named Johnny. It was incredible! It might have been the best pasta I have had on this trip 🙂

Our final day in Florence was spent visiting the David. It is mind-blowing to me that Michelangelo carved the David sculpture from ONE piece of marble. Seriously amazing. Afterwards we climbed to the top of the Duomo (one of the most important churches in Florence) where I have about a hundred photos overlooking the whole city! We spent the rest of the day wandering the city, enjoying the food, and seeing all of the main attractions Florence had to offer.

Side Note: Session 1 of my summer abroad has officially ended! I cannot believe 5 weeks flew by so fast! I am so grateful to have met so many amazing people from all over the world and have had the opportunity to travel and grow with them these past weeks. I will miss my Session 1 family so much, but like everything else in life, it’s not a goodbye, it’s an ”I’ll see you later.” (A trip to Las Vegas is already in the works! J) Tomorrow morning I leave for 5 days in Ireland with my close friend, and roommate Nicole for a weeklong adventure. Ariverdeci 🙂

{Views of Florence from the bell tower!}{The front of the Florence Cathedral}{Exploring the medieval town of Monteriggioni} {Chianti Classico}{Barrels on Barrels on Barrels!}{Welcome to Siena!}{Siena has a flag for everything- births, deaths, regions,  you name it}{Dinner at Johnny’s}{Side note: Johnny also makes homemade Limoncello!}{Still dreaming of this mountain of spaghetti}{The infamous David!}{Don’t let the signs fool you- selfies with David are totally allowed!}{Inside the Galleria dell’Accademia}{Me, Nicole and Kelly}{Ponte Vecchio}{Basilica of Santa Croce}{Pasta for lunch again..  How am I not 500 pounds yet!?}{I don’t think I will ever get tired of Gelato}{Firenze at night}

Walk Like An Egyptian

{Visiting the Egyptian Museum Torino }

This past weekend weekend, a group of us decided to stay in Torino since our next 4 weekends here are booked solid with trips! We decided to spend our day visiting a couple of museums. Our first stop was the Museo Egizio Di Torino (The Egyptian Museum of Torino). It is the second largest Egyptian museum in the world! It had three different exhibits we could explore. The three exhibits consisted of a large collection of artifacts founded by the Museums’ excavators in the early 1900’s. The first exhibit we toured was “The Arts and Knowledge of the Ancients Egyptians.” We walked through the assorted displays where they showcased various Egyptian sculptures, tablets, artwork, and daily-life items like bowls and sandals. There was even a pair of kneecaps on display (EW).

At the end of the first exhibit, we walked down a hallway and found mummy’s on display!! It was so cool! (If you are into mummified dead people I mean). One of the Mummy’s still had hair on his head! It was crazy to think that this little guy’s body has been perfectly preserved for century’s long. Next, we headed up a flight of stairs to the  “Development of Funerary Equipment’s” room. This area was filled with tombs and items that were found at the burial sights when they were excavated. I loved taking the time to read and learn about each piece. We finished up the second exhibit, and walked past another room which lead us to the ground floor and we ended our tour at the last exhibits: The “Statuario”. The Statuario was a giant room full with life sized statues.. Like the kind you would find in a royal palace! It was my favorite exhibit to explore of the day.

Next, we walked to the National Cinema Museum of Torino, which was amazing! The museum is located inside the Mole Antonelliana, which can be seen for miles and miles wherever you are in Torino. The Cinema Museum had a vast collection of old cameras, screenplays, pictures and movie props. The set up of the museum was amazing, just when we thought the tour was done and then we walked in a huge room three stories tall of more exhibits to look at. The museum was also hosting a “Best Actress” exhibition which was filled with  pictures and short bios of each academy award winning actress since 1929!  They even had Oscar dresses on display- like Julia Roberts black Valentino gown. AHH it so gorgeous!

Afterwards, we waited in line to take a ride on the panoramic lift, which gives you a bird’s eye view of Torino! The glass lift took us up 85 meters high to the top of the Mole. At the top you get to experience spectacular 360-degree views of the city. It was a clear day so we could even see the Swiss Alps in the distance! We could see the city go on for mile and miles, complete with red roofed buildings, piazzas and parks. This experience has made me fall in love with Torino even more. ❤

{Museo Egizio Di Torino}{Ancient Egyptian Sculpture Art}{This guy was my favorite!} {Gold burial tomb}
{The Statuario}{Me, Anna, Lauren, Amanda, & Aimee}{Julia Robert’s Valentino Gown!!}{Original sketch of Cate Blanchett’s Armani Prive Oscar gown}{Love this photograph of Audrey Hepurn} {Top of the Mole Antonelliana}{360 degree views of the city}

Exploring The Piazzas

{Zeus welcoming you into the Piazza San Carlos}

Sunday Morning we woke up early and went to the Cattedrale Di Torino to see the Turin Shroude on display. The Shroude is the burial cloth in which Jesus was wrapped in after he was taken down from the cross. The display at the Cattedrale was so beautiful and I am very lucky I got to see it in person and learn more about the history of this artifact. The Cattedrale Di Torino is located in the downtown area so after we explored the Piazza Castello and Piazza San Carlos (the two main squares in the city). Both Piazza’s are filled with statues, beautiful architecture, churches, shops and restaurants. We grabbed some Geltato and sat on a ledge of the old Parliament building and people watched.

{Cattedrale Di Torino}

{People Watching}

{The old Parliament building}{The church for the “rich” Piazza San Carlos}{Exploring Downtown}