48 hours in Rome

Walking the streets of Rome
with my "Barbie" suitcase!

A bunch of girls in my sorority are studying abroad, and a group of us planned to meet last weekend in Rome! Everyone had gotten in early Friday morning, but I flew in at night because I could not miss class.  I headed straight to dinner from the airport (luggage and all!) to meet up with the girls. After an hour of going in circles and dealing with a horrible driver, I made it to the restaurant and was able to finally relax. I had my first bowl of pasta for the weekend, some white wine, and was able to catch up with the girls about their abroad experiences. The restaurant was situated in what had previously been a synagogue (they said it was 150 years older than the Colosseum, but I am not sure if I believe that!) and the owner even brought us downstairs to see the wine cellar which is still the original brick.  After finishing up dinner we headed back to get a good nights sleep and prepare for the next day of full force touring.

Lady and the Tramp imitation!

Saturday morning we headed to the Colosseum/Forum.  Since I had already seen it, I chose not to go on the three hour tour, and save my 20 euro for something more important....which, in my world, is usually food!   I have found that the best way to get to know a city is to just wander around with a map, so instead of the tour I decided to take a walk and explore Rome.  By the time the girls were done with their tour of the Colosseum and Forum, I knew where everything was, and was able to direct the group to each of our destinations. We went to lunch at a place that was said to have the best pizza in Italy - and I have to say it didn't disappoint, and was much different from my horrible Italian pizza experience in 6th grade. The place was completely packed and we were definitely the only tourists in the there, which turned out to be kind of intimidating! After lunch we visited Piazza Navona, the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish Steps. We also went to a gelato place that had over 100 flavors and we were all in heaven - although I had a tough time deciding which flavors I wanted and was mad that I couldn't try them all!!! After some more walking, and finally hunting down a street vendor who allowed me to buy a single roasted chestnut (as opposed to buying 15 or 20 at a time), we went back to our rooms for an hour or two to relax after a full day of walking, and then headed out to dinner.  


Sunday morning some of the girls had early flights so after saying our goodbyes I headed to lunch with the two other girls, Lianna and Ally, who had later flights. Ally is allergic to gluten (which is especially unfortunate in a country like Italy) so we hunted down a pizza place that makes gluten free pizza, and then brought it to Colline Emiliane which is a restaurant I had been to the out first night in Rome when I was with my parents. I had the most unbelieveable spinach and ricotta ravioli there, and have been dreaming about it ever since...so I knew I couldn't leave Italy without having them again. Lianna and I decided to split the spinach ravioli and the tagliatelli with porcini mushrooms - and both dishes were amazing and just as good as I had remembered.  Hopefully I won't have to wait another 9 years to have them again! Afterwards we went back to the gelatto place with tons of flavors, and then walked around the Jewish ghetto and some other areas we hadn't explored the day before, before leaving to catch our flights home.  It was only 48 hours in Rome, but we covered alot and made the best of it!

J'Adore Paris

I can't believe that after months of telling people about my study abroad program, and how I travel to France for a week with my class, the trip is already over! Saturday night was the beginning of our adventure, and we boarded the bus to drive to France....yes, I said drive! We took a ferry over to Germany, and then continued on our way, over night, to Verdun.  Luckily I brought a pillow, and since there are only 22 kids in my class, we each got our own two seats of the bus - across which I attempted to sleep in the fetal position.  Surprisingly, I slept for almost 8 hours...although I did wake up frequently, as different body parts went numb from lack of blood flow, to switch positions.  In the morning we made a stop to get breakfast and I attempted to order egg whites.  The woman looked at me as if I were insane and then just walked a way.  Lesson learned: Don't order egg whites in 

Fort Douaumont in Verdun.

foreign countries...they just don’t get it. The rest of the day was spent visiting the battlefields and forts in Verdun.  It was very interesting learn about, but after sleeping on a bus the night before, I (along with my entire class) was not the most alert person around.  Having a bed that night was greatly appreciated, although I did make the mistake of ordering a dessert with crushed coffee beans in it, and ended up wide awake in bed until 3AM

Reims Cathedral

Monday morning we left early and headed to Reims.  We first visited the Reims Cathedral, which is absolutely beautiful, and then were given time to walk around the city.  There was a street market going on, and it was fun seeing all the stands and getting free food samples! We then went to lunch with our class and to the St Remi Basilica.  After a short visit there, we headed to the Taittinger Champagne caves, where we got a tour of the underground caves and learned the whole champagne-making process which is actually quite complex.

Early Tuesday morning we headed to Paris; I fell asleep for the ride there and woke up as we were driving along the Seine! It was rainy out, but seeing all the cafes and beauty of the city (even with the rain) made me immediately fall in love before even stepping off the bus.  We dropped our bags off at our hotel and a group of us headed to lunch.  Afterwards we met our class at the Musee d’Orsay and were given time to walk around the museum.  We then took the RER to the Eiffel Tower and went all the way to the top.  Unfortunately, it was still a bit rainy/foggy out, but was a cool perspective nonetheless.  We then saw the Parisian Arcades, which are covered streets with different shops and restaurants, that years ago used to be the place “to see and be seen”.  When we were done with the day's planned activities, I rushed back to my room to change and meet Margot (who is studying abroad in Paris), and the two of us went out for dinner together.

Gardens at Versailles.

Wednesday morning my class took a tour of Paris on our bus, along with a tour guide who explained to us the history of everything we saw.  It was a great way to be able to see the many areas of Paris, and after tons of walking the day before, I was glad to be sitting in a comfy seat.  We then headed straight to Versailles and had a tour of the inside and were given time to explore the gardens. That night I met with Margot again for dinner and we got nutella-banana crepes afterwards!

Thursday morning we went to the Marais, which is the Jewish area of Paris and definitely my favorite area to walk around.  It has tons of cafes and boutiques and there is always tons of people. We went to the Jewish Museum first, and then on a short walking tour of the Marais.  I had heard about a place called L’as du Falafel, and knew I had to get it for lunch.  Upon mentioning I wanted to go, a bunch of other people had also heard of it, and we all made a bee line for the place.  After getting my huge falafel sandwich, a few of us headed to Place des Vosges, which is a park in the Marais, and we enjoyed our food sitting outside.  Afterwards we met up with our class to go to the Shoah Memorial which is a Holocaust Museum.  That evening we went on a dinner cruise along the Seine with our whole class! It was so much fun, the food was great, and the wine was continuously refilled.

Sacre Coeur

I had chosen to extend my trip and fly home Sunday, but Friday was the last day with my class.  We headed to Montmartre in the morning and walked around the streets of this hilly area in Paris.  The streets almost reminded me of San Francisco because of how steep some of them were.  We then went to lunch and to see Sacre Coure.  It was around 3PM when we finished our activities.  I had planned to meet Louiza (who is studying abroad outside of Paris) at the Louvre at 4:30, and since she did not have a Blackberry, we had to stick to our plan just like in the “olden days” as I call it.  I will admit, this really gave me an appreciation for cellphones because making plans without one was not easy!  I had some time to kill before meeting up with her, so I decided to climb to the top of Sacre Coeur to see the view and then walk around the streets of Montmartre. There was a fair going on and tons of wine and cheese stands with samples, so I was having fun looking at each stand and getting tasters.  Then I took the metro and got off at the Tuilerie Gardens, to take a walk through them on my way to the Louvre.  Louiza and I found one another much more easily than I had expected, and we walked around different areas of Paris catching up, with stops for icecream, postcard browsing, and espresso.  Then we went to her friends little apartment where we stayed over for the night.  

My brunch in Tuilerie Gardens

I woke up early in the morning and wanted to take advantage of the day.  I walked around trying to find the perfect cafe for breakfast and then remembered the cafes I had seen the day before in the Tuilerie Gardens.  I made my way there, and ordered a spinach, feta, and tomato quiche.  It was the perfect breakfast just like I had imagined, and was fun to people watch in such  beautiful surroundings.  I then headed inside the Louvre for the obligatory visit to see The Winged Victory, Venus di Milo, and The Mona Lisa.  I also wandered the countless halls and rooms of paintings, and finally called it quits after 3 hours. Afterwards, I headed to Notre Dame and waited in line for about an hour to climb to the top, but it was totally worth it! The view was amazing, and much better than from the Eiffel Tower, since Notre Dame is more centrally located.  After I got back down my legs were shaking from all the walking...I hadn’t sat down in almost 7 hours! After taking a short break I then headed to Pierre Hermé, which is a patisserie known for their 

macarons, to get some treats for Margot’s birthday.  The line was going around the corner, but now that I have tried their macarons, I can understand why! Afterwards I headed to Margot’s homestay and got ready for her birthday dinner, which was at a restaurant in Montmartre where we had cheese fondue, and drank wine from baby bottles!

I slept over Margot’s and Sunday we both got little quiche tarts from a patisserie near the Luxembourg Gardens, and sat in the sun near the fountain while enjoying our brunch.  I brought the Pierre Hermé macarons, and we split each one in half so that we could both try each flavor! Afterwards we walked up rue Bonaparte and passed by Ladurée which is the other patisserie known for their macarons, and decided a taste test was necessary! 

Taste test results: Pierre Hermé definitely wins for overall ratio of cookie to filling, and I loved the chocolate, creme brulee, and hazelnut flavors. Ladurée has more filling, and the macarons aren’t as delicate, but the raspberry flavor was delicious! So I would have to say that if you want fruity, go to Ladurée, and if you want anything else (including very exotic flavors) go to Pierre Hermé.

After our break for dessert (x2) we went to see the stained glass windows at Sainte Chapelle and then walked around for the hour or two we had left before I had to leave for the airport, which was an experience in itself! I first had to walk to the metro station, and take 2 metros.  Margot was nice enough to come with me for that leg of the trip to help carry my bag up and down the steps.  After saying goodbye, I took the RER, a coach bus, and an airport shuttle, and then finished it off with a sprint through the airport to check in with 5 minutes to spare! I also had to argue with a security guard who wanted to throw away my Nalgene bottle that I had forgotten to pour the water out of...and ended up reaching in the garbage for an empty bottle to pour the water into.  It was a relief to board the plane, and hearing everyone speak Danish once again made me feel very at home.  Paris is an unbelievable city, and I hope to be back sometime soon!

"Life itself is the most wonderful fairytale."

Last weekend was my first weekend staying in Copenhagen in a month! At first I was a little bit disappointed that I was not traveling anywhere, but I definitely needed a weekend to catch up on work and just relax.  My first week here, I had gone to a cultural immersion fair and put my name on the Chabad email list, not fully understanding what Chabad was. But from what I understand, Chabad serves as a central place for Jewish activities to occur, in cities all across the world.  The Chabad of Denmark welcomes Jews to come for any Shabbat or holiday meals, and being as I have not been the most observant Jew during the holidays these past few weeks, I thought that Friday would be a good opportunity for me to go.  Upon arriving I had no idea what to expect, but Sarina had been to other Chabad Houses before.  It also happened to be Sukkot, so we shook the lulav and etrog in the sukkah and then headed into services (because we accidentally came an hour earlier than when dinner was). After the service we headed into the huge sukkah they had set up for dinner.  To start there was hummus, a tomato/cucumber salad, a beet salad, a cole slaw type salad, some type of zucchini/tomato tapenade, salmon with mixed greens, and of course challah.  I was enjoying it so much I could have just had it as my entire meal! Then they brought out chicken noodle soup which  I could have done without, and then they brought out rice with a mix of carrots, stringbeans, onions, and meat which was actually good....but salmon and different salads were my favorite part of the meal! For dessert they had soy icecream (no mixing dairy and meat in the same meal) which was really good as well.  Afterwards we hung out with other kids from Copenhagen, Israel, and Australia, as well as two other DIS kids.  I talked to a girl who was working at a pastry shop in Copenhagen, and I got her recommendations for pastry shops in all different countries!  She recommended Pierre Hermes in Paris, so I will definitely make sure to go there!!!

Christiania's huge birthday cake!

Sunday was the 39th anniversary of Christiania, which is a hippy town in Copenhagen.  They had bands performing, free birthday cake and hot chocolate (which was amazing), and a ton of people-watching taking place...on my part at least! The town is also known for selling weed openly in the streets (which I found to be the strangest sight ever), so the people that the town attracts are very interesting to say the least, and watching them can be a lot of fun.  I had also read an article from New York Magazine that recommended a vegetarian restaurant there called Morgenstedet (translates to "The Morning Place").  I went with my friend Macy for lunch and it was delicious!! I liked it so much that I have already been planning when my next visit to the restaurant will be. Then we waited in a long line for free hot chocolate and traditional Danish birthday cake ...which is layer cake with chocolate shavings, and  fresh bananas, strawberries and peaches in between.  The quality of the ingredients in the cake was amazing, especially for the amount of people they were serving, and was exactly what I needed to round out my perfect lunch. Afterwards we watched a few bands and dance groups perform and then hung out in a hygge little cafe that had live music.  I have really been loving how Danes make all the cafes and restaurants seem so cozy and warm even when its cold and dark outside, so I will definitely have to bring some candles back to Chicago with me!

The Princess and the Pea

On Monday night a popular Danish radio station, Voice 10, was hosting a concert at Tivoli.  I had updated my gym playlist with songs by Danish artists last week, before finding out about the concert, so when I recognized the names of 3 of the artists performing, I was very excited, and of course bought a ticket!  Sarina and I went to a stir fry restaurant called Wagamama for dinner right before the concert started, so by the time we headed to see the stage it was packed!! Luckily our ticket included the entrance to Tivoli, the concert, and full access to all of the rides, so we decided to scope them out instead.

Walking around Tivoli!

We wanted to go on the spinning swings but the line was extremely long and moving slowly, so we opted for the flying Trunk ride with Hans Christian Andersen's 32 different fairytales.  The ride was similar to It's a Small World in Disney World, and each fairytale had little characters depicting scenes from stories. I didn't realize just how many stories H.C. Andersen had written that I know, including The Little Mermaid, Thumbalina, The Princess and the Pea, The Emperor's New Clothes, and The Ugly Duckling.  (The ride ended with the quote that is the title of this post.) Afterwards we went on a rollercoaster, got icecream, and walked around Tivoli to see the different restaurants and areas.  We then decided to go back to the concert area and somehow managed to sneak into a VIP area and we got pretty close to the stage....or at least MUCH closer than we were when we first arrived.  We stayed for a few different artists, and I got to sing along (or mumble along, while pretending I know Danish) to a song by Medina that is on my iPod! We left around 10:30 because we were getting tired and cold, but it was a really fun night and I was so glad I went!