Paris

i had preconceived notions of paris being dirty and gross so i had low expectations. however, it turned out to be my favorite stop on the trip and i would go back in a heartbeat. 

we arrived at our hostel on tuesday night after a quick stop in brussels. on wednesday morning we departed for our walking tour. during the tour we made a pit stop in starbucks where i dropped a whopping $7 on a pumpkin spice latte. yes $7. more expensive then my dinner the night before. anywho, after the tour we ran like giddy school children to get up close and personal with the eiffel tower. that thing is pretty darn cool. we then made our way to the avenue des champs-elysees where we shopped and stuff. or not shopped because study abroad students are flat out broke, you feel me? that night we headed to montmarte hill which has some pretty kick ass views of paris at night. we got croque-monsieurs at a little french cafe before booking it to catch the eiffel tower sparkle. the tower sparkles for 5 minutes at the top of each hour so when i saw we booked it i mean we literally ran off of the metro to see this thing. we all had tears streaming down our face (not really, but close) as we tried to take pictures through the trees. we got nutella crepes at a nearby stand for dessert. standing under a lit up eiffel tower at night with a crepe in your hand is seriously something straight out of a Disney movie. 

the next day we made the trek out to versailles. we were in a time crunch so we didn't have a ton of time to wander through the gardens like i was hoping to do. this means i'll just have to come back (mwahaha). however, we did get to see the hall of mirrors so i was good with that. the dark bed chambers mixed with thousands of tourists was the epitome of claustrophobia so i was ready to get the heck out of there. we went to a cafe for lunch to have crepes again. this time a raspberry crepe followed by a giant chocolate macaroon. i had never had macaroons before coming to paris and i'm sad i tried them because those things are so good. after lunch we got more macaroons (thank goodness) and wandered along the river to browse the various street shops. we made our way to the love lock bride and ended day at the notre dome. 

versailles

hall of mirrors

love lock bridge

inside notre dame

my taste buds..

as you can clearly tell from this post, my body is currently in a hating me mode from the lack of vegetables this week. i don't think that even made sense. anyway, i'm paying for it now with a heavy cold and a runny nose. i'll be eating my weight in frozen veggies for the next week or so to make up for it. just kidding. i'm completely ignoring the fact that i had a giant piece of dark chocolate cake for dessert last night (see below). okay i'm rambling. goodbye. 

turkish meal in berlin: minced lamb with veggies, bread, and rice

at the prater garden: meatballs and potatoes

curry wurst in berlin

beer with orange soda. it was so good!

nutella muffin in amsterdam

pancake with chocolate sauce and chocolate flakes

apple bacon pancakes

fries from brussels

waffles from brussels

croque monsieur in paris: grilled ham and cheese sandwich with cheese on top

giant chocolate macaroon

raspberry crepe

salted caramel macaroon

coffee flavored regligeuse in paris

shrimp and veggy empanada

churros with chocolate sauce

nutella cupcake in barcelona

coconut and kiwi smoothie from an outdoor market

tapas in barcelona: flat bread pizza, patatas bravas, ham, calamari

back in florence: pasta with veal ragu

goat cheese and veggies

blackberry croissant

dark chocolate cake with raspberries

Amsterdam and Brussels

amsteram

we took an overnight bus on saturday and arrived in amsterdam on sunday morning. we ditched our bags at the hotel and immediately found the nearest pancake house. after devouring our loaded pancakes we departed for our walking tour. our guide took us through dam square, the red light district, and the canals. it began to rain after the tour so we decided to hide in a cafe along the canal. (side note: coffeeshops do not mean the same thing as cafes in amsterdam. do you get where i'm going with this?) we decided to save our money for dinner and grab wok to walk. this place is so great i'm not sure why there are so few in the states. who doesn't love a box of noodles?! anyway, we heard that the best way to beat the lines at anne frank house was to go in the evening so we only waited for about a half hour. i am disappointed that i followed the rules of "no pictures" in the house as now i have none. zero. so here is a good ol' google image search for you all. you're welcome. 

on monday morning we walked over to the ever touristy "i amsterdam" sign. we took lots of pictures in letters with other tourists who were also trying to take pictures in the same letters. trust me, i've already tired photoshopping those puppies. we also got to tour the heineken experience which took us through the history of the beer and how it is made. it also included two free beers which is obviously really appealing to a group of 100 college students. after the tour we went to the famous carousel pancake house for some apple bacon pancakes. in the evening we hopped on another walking tour of the red light district. for good reason, i don't have any pictures of this. if you really want to type in "red light district amsterdam" into a google image search, be my guest. the tour went into great detail about the history and the ins and outs of the industry. its pretty interesting that its a totally normal thing for the people of amsterdam. after a two hour tour we had had enough of naked women.

brussels

we were only in brussels for about three hours so i decided to include it in this post. as soon as we got off the bus we began the hunt for waffles. we ended up finding a pretty well known place called maison dandoy. we all got different toppings including waffles with caramel sauce, chocolate sauce, strawberries, and ice cream. yum. we then walked up and down the streets and stepped into every single chocolate place imaginable. most shops even gave out free samples. yes, free samples. by the time we got back on the bus we all had stomach aches but it was the best three hours ever. 

the heineken experience

pancakes at the carousel 

waffles in belgium!

so much chocolate

Berlin

happy monday! i just got back from 10 days of traveling 5 different countries. i'm pretty beat and in need of some serious vegetables. i decided it would be pretty much impossible to do put the entriety of fall break into one post so LUCKY YOU. you now get a million and one posts about fall break. just kidding. probably only three. let's start, shall we?

berlin

i left florence on oct. 17 (wow that's a long time ago). after a sixteen hour bus ride (yay) we finally arrived at our hostel in berlin. we grabbed lunch and immediately got back on the bus to head to our walking tour. during the tour we saw the brandenburg gate, jewish memorial, hitler's bunker, checkpoint charlie, and the berlin wall. after the tour, we went straight to the obvious destination, starbucks. we then tried operating the confusing metro system of berlin and got lost several times (our tour guides were no help). we got dinner at a turkish restaurant and explored the city on the way back. we saw different parts of the light show reflected on the gate. we also got a chance to walk through the jewish memorial. walking through this memorial has different effects on everyone. i can definitely say that it makes you feel some serious feels, especially at night. 

on saturday we went to the east side gallery and explored the jewish museum. not only was it an eye opening museum but the overall design of this place was seriously cool and made the designer in me super giddy.just checkout that floor plan! sorry. we had dinner at the famous prater garden before heading back to the hostel. we left berlin on sunday night to head to amsterdam. more on that later!

at the gate

i was so happy to see some foliage! 

jewish memorial

berlin wall

checkpoint charlie (psa: that is not charlie)

berlin wall

east side gallery

jewish museum