Interlaken

on the lookout on top of harder kulm

i'm not sure i could sum up the beauty that is interlaken in one blog post. or ever really. 

 we got to interlaken on friday morning around 5:00am. i hopped off the bus sans jacket and immediately began shaking from the cold. with florence still in the high 60s everyday, i forgot what cold feels like! we checked into our cozy hostel, balmers, and went right to sleep.

we didn't book any activities for the weekend so we were excited to get up and explore. we wandered in and out of chocolate shops and stopped in a cafe for some hot chocolate. we also walked down to the shore of Lake Thun. it was a gorgeous walk along the bright blue river that opened up to the most gorgeous view of lake thun. it was amazing. we got chocolate for lunch (naturally) and hung out at the hostel before getting fondue for dinner. 

on saturday morning we woke up and hiked to the top of Harder Kulm which was way harder then expected (har har). there is usually a funicular train that takes you to the top but we decided to walk hike  struggle to the summit. i'm blaming it on our lack of hiking gear. anyway, the views at the top were completely worth it. there was a lookout that spanned over the side of the mountain, allowing for amazing views of both lakes. the tip of that thing was a little scary when the wind picked up and it was bouncing all over the place. after the hike we stopped in utopia for some hot chocolate with caramel baileys amazingness. (we just went to the grocery store so we could make this stuff. currently drinking as we speak) utopia is owned by a cute woman from new jersey who now lives in interlaken with her husband and kids. after we warmed up and showered we went to a chocolate show at schuh. a woman showed us where coco beans come from and how they get turned into chocolate and finally truffles. i was was more concerned with the free samples. the ticket for the show also came with a voucher to spend in their chocolate store. 

i was terribly sad to leave the mountains but the drive home was so pretty it was almost worth it. almost. until next time, interlaken. 

so many cows!

look at that water!

on the shore of lake thun

on top of harder kulm

straight ahead is Jungfraujoch, the highest point in europe

my taste buds..

1. giant hazelnut pretzel at the international food festival

2. i actually have no idea what this is an don't remember eating it

3. celery veloute with glazed artichokes, pine nuts and roast meat sauce

4. honey-glazed baby rooster with thyme-flavored baby potatoes

5. risotto with burrata cheese, sunchoke and truffle scent

6. lime-scented macaroon

7. chocolate hazelnut coffee mousse cake

8. also not sure what this was

9. pesto pasta

10. stuffed red onion

11. wurstel from the international food festival

12. some sort of chocolate cake

13. glazed lamb

14. also some sort of chocolate cake

15. true european "hot chocolate" from hemingway's

16. finally made it to gusta pizza!

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