Parigi Giorno Due....

On day two of our adventure in Paris we were able to do some sightseeing.

We first stopped at this little bakery on the way to our first destination. It was so delicious. I had a croissant (possibly the best croissant I have ever had). My grandmother had this little tiramisu type pastry. It was the cutest little shop ever.

After that we caught a taxi to Notre Dame. This tour of the city by taxi was beautiful. Just something from a movie. It was a cloudy fall day and a little chilly. The leaves were falling off the trees and there were tons of clouds in the sky. All the buildings mirrored each other as we drove down the swerving roads of Paris. we drove along the Seine River which was absolutely amazing.
We finally got to Notre Dame, and yes it is as beautiful as you would think, and yet again to my astonishment I couldn't believe my eyes. Growing up watching The Hunchback of Notre Dame, I had never thought the dream of seeing this church would come true. Let alone be able to take communion during the service that was going on that day.

The service was in French but it was beautiful. My mom was the one to notice when they started doing communion and the three of us then preceeded down towards the altar and all took communion peacfully. I don't think we were allowed to do this, but I now get to say I have taken communion is a very historically famous church.

After Notre Dame we finally encountered our first angry Parisian. We bought a couple of sandwhiches and crepes outside of a restaurant from this stand (which by the way, looked like it was connected to the restaurant) and then thought we would sit outside and people watch from the tables outside the restaurant. The waiter told us we could not sit there because we weren't eating there food, so my mom told him we would order drinks and then he got us menus. To our knowledge that indicated that we were okay to sit there. Then all of a sudden, the manager came out and started yelling at us in French and shooed us away from his restaurant. Very embarassed be walked away and gave someone else our money for drinks. Needless to say, I'm not very fond of the Parisians.

Our next adventure was to find the Louvre, which was a total fail. We searched everywhere, and we ended up finding the contemporary art museum which was huge and we decided not to go in because we had to get back to get ready for our great night ahead of us.

This night was the highlight of our trip. We took the leap of eating at the restaurant at the Eiffel Tower. To be completely honest I was not that impressed with the food, but it was still a great experience. we met there very lovely couple from England and they were so much to hang out with at dinner. We were dressed in our best and was able to go all the way to the top of the tower and see Paris from an amazing view. It was wonderful.

By the end of the night I was exhausted from the day. I was very happy to have a crepe at the end of the night and just go to bed. The next day was going to be very eventful and I needed a lot of sleep for it!




Ciao!

Chelsea Lynn

Parigi Giorno Uno....

So to end the lovely trip with my mother and grandmother we ventured out way to Paris for three days.

Let me tell you, what an adventure.

I will post this in day incraments because literally we did that much.

Our first day there we flew in early in the morning so that we could have a full day there after flying.

Our first obstacle was getting to our hotel. We wanted to take a taxi but thought it would be expensive and hoping there was a shuttle or something, but then ended up taking a taxi anyways. This is where the fun starts.

Around the time we arrived was Paris's rush hour. So the highway was backed up like crazy. I showed the driver the address to the hotel I booked and he looked at me funny and then said okay. As we truck along, and along, and along, I start to realise that there is something funny about where we are going, it just seemed to be taking way to long. So I asked our driver how much longer and he said another 45 minutes. I of course said that is not happening.

He ended up taking us to the Champs-Elyse to find a place with wifi so that I could book a different hotel closer to the center of Paris.

Thank god for the internet. So we fixed our situation and were able to find a hotel right down the street from the L'Arc De Triumph. It was amazing.

We then had our first FANTASTIC meal in Paris. I had French Onion soup, tons of bread and a crepe nutella. It was delicious.

After lunch we checked into our quaint little hotel and took a nap.

Later we got Paris fast food from this place called Quick and it was so good and cheap compared to what our meal was earlier that day.

After dinner we took a stroll leading us all the way to the Eiffel Tower. I couldn't believe my eyes. It was so surreal and beautiful lit up at night!

And of course, to top off such an eventful day, I relaxed with my mom and grandma and ate my SECOND crepe for the day :].

First view of Paris!

OMG DELICIOUS!

Eiffel Tower by Night!

Ciao!

Chelsea Lynn

To the top we go....

So I challenged my mother and grandmother to a climb tp the top of the Duomo...

In case you didn't know thats an over 460 stair challenge.

And they did it.

This was my second time climbing to the top, and let me tell you it is so much easier the second time.

I remember the first time I went with a group of students from my school and we were all dying. It was crazy. I couldn't believe I did it. Now I can't believe I conquered it twice, and now have done it a third time with a friend of mine!

I'm going to photocred my mom with the pictures I am posting, because to be honest...they were better than mine.

So Proud! Almost to the top!!

The View :]

Hanging out for a while.

Ciao!

Chelsea Lynn

Venezia!!

Instead of talking about my entire trip with my mom I am just going to go over the little trips we went on and the adventures we had in Florence....

One of the trips we went on was Venice (Italy) for the day.

It rained the ENTIRE TIME. Which of course doesn't help for Venice because it is sinking anyways.

Venice is made entirely of islands on the east coast of Italy, the main island of course being Venice and various other islands such as Murano.

Murano was the first place we ended up in while in Venice.

The only way to get around Venice is either walking or taking a boat down the grand canal. So we took a water taxi to Murano.

Murano is one of the most famous places for glass blowing. We got to see a demonstration, which was absolutely amazing. The guy made a glass horse within minutes right before our eyes.

After that we stayed on the island of Murano to eat some lunch. Venice is known for it's seafood so we had very delicious shrimp scampi in a quaint little restaurant.

I have never seen so much glass in my life, or bought that much! I loved it all, it was extremely beautiful.

After Murano, we headed back to the main island and took an adventure to find the gondolas in the Rialto.

Because of the rain it was not possible for us to take a ride in one. We were a little disappointed, but I think all we really wanted were pictures of them! So at least one wish was granted.

On the way back to the train station we got to pick up the famous masks of Venice. In the spring time Venice has a celebration called Carnivale and it is a giant festival where everyone wears the most magnificant masks. I bought two and they were absolutely beautiful.

To end our trip it was a nice train ride back to Florence. We took the fast train there and back and it was possibly the easiest thing I have ever done (transportation wise) in my entire life.

Glass Blowing Demonstration (thi inventually popped!)

The town of Venice

Hand Made Glass Chandelier

Soooo Yummy!

Ciao!

Chelsea Lynn

Chocolate Anyone?

A couple weeks ago I was able to experience the Chocolate Festival in Perugia (sound familiar, yes that is where Amanda Knox was studying).

I went with a couple of my roommates and I think we were drooling the whole time.

Let's just say, as a woman, I absolutely love chocolate.

We arrived in Perugia mid morning and headed straight the the festival. Once we got there we got our "choco cards" so that we would be able to have free tastings at different chocolate tents.

With our card, we got to try hot chocolate (which was more like hot pudding that is how thick it was), a chocolate yogurt milk that had a fruit flavoring (this was really interesting), different generic chocolates and were able to receive a picture frame made of chocolate (unfortunately it was dark chocolate so I gave it to my roommate who wasn't able to attend).

I have never bought so much chocolate in my entire life at one time. Let's just say it is almost all gone. I had the most delicious chocolate covered banana when I first got there.

While in Perugia we had a nice lunch at a hidden restaurant. It was a little pizzeria and it was so good. We all order pizza (of course) and realized when we got them we probably could have shared between the three of us. It was gigantic.

After that I went on a chocolate binge and bought tons of chocolate. My favorite was these little bars of milk chocolate with different dried fruits in them. I got banana, orange and strawberry (banana, arancia and fragola for translation). I liked the orange the best. I also got a giant bar of mint chocolate, and yes it is the color of mint you would think of. It is a beautiful green and I kind of don't want to eat it, but it is delicious :].

After being in a chocolate coma we headed back to Florence taking a nice long nap on the bus. Everyone was sleeping, out cold. So asleep that one of the guys had a great time taking pictures of everyone sleeping. Fun Times.

Yummmmy!

"Hot Chocolate"

LOADS AND LOADS OF CHOCOLATE!

Ciao!

Chelsea Lynn

Life on the Farm....

A couple of weeks ago I went on a field trip for my Food History class. We were taking to a "slow food" farm out in the country side.

This farm was absolutely organic. They made wine, honey, various breads, meats and different fruits and vegetables.

While at the farm we learned about all the animals that were raised there. They believe that the animal should live a great life and not have to suffer in order to be eaten. These animals had a luxurious way of living. They were able to run around in the fields of Tuscany and live with their families until it was time for them to go. The animals included pigs and cows.

Touring the farm and the wine cellars we were able to taste the experience we just had. We had a tasting of 4 different wines. Their fine olive oil, pancetta (bacon), salami, tomatoes and honey, all on their fresh made bread. It was absolutely delicious.

After going to the farm we were taken to a typical "slow food" restaurant.

Background: Slow Food is an organization promoting the production of a slower way to eat. It is the total opposite of fast food. They want to promote the way of cooking at a slow pace and from all organic and healthy raised animals, fruits and vegetables.

This food was amazing. I have never tasted anything like it. We first had an antipasti (appetizer) of various meats and pates to put on bread, for the primi piatti (first plate) we had penne with a meat sauce, and for dolce (dessert) we had apple crumble made with fresh apples, raisins and pie crust.

Little Piggy's

Yummy Pancetta and Salami

Red Wine All Around!

Ciao!

Chelsea Lynn

Oktoberfest: Betcha can't have just one beer....

This past weekend I ventured north to Germany for the one and only Oktoberfest. It was held in Munich and it was absolutely amazing.

The adventure went a little like this....

Thursday night we started off with some predeparture cocktails, which was possibly the best idea ever because we had a 9 hour bus ride a head of us. So we leave Florence around 11:30 p.m. I slept the ENTIRE way to Munich.

After arriving in Germany around 9 in the morning we went and settled in at our hostel and got ready for what was a head of us that day.

I don't think any of us really knew what we had gotten ourselves into. We finally got to Oktoberfest and the first thing we did was go to a beer tent, possibly the biggest one called Hofbrauhaus (HB). This one, according to our tour guide, is known to be the one where all the foreigners go for beer and a good time.

Each tent (a total of 10) has only one type of beer, being their own beer because each tent represents famous breweries in Germany.

In the HB tent we quickly found a table. We were there from about 10:30 till 2:00 hanging out and drinking beer. I am usually not a beer drinker but since I was there I had to try it. You were able to get a half beer and half lemonade which was actually quite good. I ended up drinking two beers each being one liter. After two beers I was definitely in my happy place. The beers themselves were 10 euro, but so worth it.

In the tent it was absolute craziness. Beer mugs clinking everywhere, a million different languages being spoken, drinking songs being sung, people standing on the tables and chugging while everyone would cheer them on, and of course there was not a soul who was having a bad time.

I really wish I could have bought an outfit to wear there. Everyone was dressed up. The girls would wear a Dirndl which is a dress that the German girls wear, the guys would wear lederhosen which are leather trousers, and everyone would have a Gingerbread hanging around their neck (also called a Lebkuchen) shaped like a heart with different sayings on them. I did buy a Gingerbread that said Oktoberfest and wore it around for a while.

I also had some of the best food there. I was able to have a bratwurst which they usually put on a hoagie roll, corn on the cob, crepes with nutella, and their potatoes were delicious. I was amazed at how good the food was. Definitely different than Italy, but reminded me more of home.

After our first day there we were extremely tired and ended up sleeping in the next day and then going back to Oktoberfest at night. This was the last weekend of Beerfest and so Saturday and Sunday are generally a lot busier. We were not able to get into a tent again, especially in the evening because people have reservations for lunch and dinner. At night it was beautiful. It is basically a huge carnival with rides and game booths and lights. I felt like a little kid. I was able to ride the Farris wheel and look down on the thousands of people that were attending Oktoberfest that evening. We ended up later being able to get into one of the beer gardens (which is like an outside tent) of the HB tent and met up with some people we had met from the day before. That is where I ended up getting my most prized souvenir, an HB beer mug. Let's just say I'm glad I brought my backpack :]

On our last day there, we got up early and headed to Dachau where the first concentration camp of Germany was. This camp was the first of all of the camps in Europe. It started as a prisoner camp for people who threatened the government when Hitler became chancellor.

This day had to have been the most eery day. When we got off the train in Dachau it was very foggy and dreary. We arrived at the camp and started walking around and it was just very creepy. I have been to a holocaust museum and it really doesn't compare to seeing some of the real things that went on there. We were able to go into a barrack where they slept, walk through a gas chamber and see the brick crematories where the dead bodies were burned. It was a very moving experience and definitely one of the things I have always wanted to do in my life. I have always been interest in the Holocaust and just trying to understand how anything like that could happen and this by far taught me a lot more than I had ever known.

So my trip to Germany was a complete success. I really did love it there and hope to go back again some day!

BEERS ALL AROUND!

Me with my cookie :]

Best Picture Ever

Great weekend!

Ciao!

Chelsea Lynn