Saturday, July 5, 2008

Day 32 June 28 The Mystical Colors of Cala Gonone

Sardinia - Cala Gonone



Top 5
1. Hiking two hours to Cala Luna
2. Caught up on well-deserved sleep and rested from the sun
3. Traveled to the gorgeous beaches of Sardinia via dingy boat
4. Becca woke up at 5 am to watch the sunrise from the East
5. Finding Becca a new pink coral bracelet

Getting excited to go back and see our friends in Portugal!

Day 27 June 23 We Played Water Polo in the Ligurian Sea

Cinque Terre
Overall we're obsessed with Cinque Terre. We love it, met great friends and maybe you'll meet them in November when they come to visit (fingers crossed). We delayed our day of birthday shopping in Milan to have the best seafood pasta and real focacia with our new friends!

Top 5
1. Meeting up with Adam - "who needs stairmaster, we have Cinque Terre" / seeing James again
2. Water polo with our friends from Vernazza
3. Boat trips with locals to waterfalls and sunsets
What's Italy known for? "mozzarella, pizza and well, the mafia"
4. Best mojitos of our life
5. La mia nonna..."but this is my grandmother" (Italian accent necessary)

Rome. to be cont.



Day 22 June 18 We Need to Stop Eating Desserts...Next City Please

Sicily - Taormina, Catania, Syracuse

Top 5
1. Yoga on the terrace
2. Taormina Film Festival
Cocktail hour and film at the Globe Theatre
3. The best gelato in all of Italy
4. Sicilian cannolis
5. The best tiramisu at a restaurant called Tiramisu

Day 19 June 15 We Learned How to Cook in Firenze. Call Us For a Good Meal.





Top 5 (we ate REALLY well here)
1. Cooking class (round 2 for Gretchen)
Menu: Espresso
Fresh mozzarella pizza with fresh tomatoes
Crepes with asparagus and ricotta cheese
Potato gnocchi with pesto sauce
Pork sausage, ham, pistachio, cheese and caramelized onions
Panna cotta with strawberry sauce
2. Gretchen's favorite restaurant while abroad: La Giostra
3. Jewelery
4. Drinking wine in front of the Duomo
5. Becca's pashmina purchase

Day 17 June 13 Milano




First time in Milan - sucked
Due to hectic activities such as losing Gretchen, going to the dentist and Vodafone troubles...we didn't see much of MIlano. However, we did what every good Italian does in Milan - shop, eat and dance the night away!

Second trip to Milan
Delayed flights, unbearable heat and Nicco's heartbreak after Holland's loss left us unsatisfied...one more chance left.

Final trip to Milan
Gretchen's Birthday

Our top 5 for Milan:
1. Franz Schleimer Junior VII
2. Karma and the night we couldn't get a cab due to the monsoon
3. Experiencing Apertivo at La Banque
4. Gretchen's birthday celebration
5. Study abroad friends

Friday, July 4, 2008

Day 15 June 11 Lagosh.


Lagos. Top 5.
1. Within two minutes of our arrival, we were enticed to partake in a "hour of power".. . the photo above shows how powerful it was
2. Greeting each morning with Mamma Maria's Crepes
3. Surfing at a remote beach
4. Kayaking and eating dinner with our new friend, Glen
5. Running into my friends Natalia and Isaac from home while we were at the hour of power

6. Turning the corner of the hostel and seeing our friend Adam from Lisbon!

Day 12 June 8 Leaving Lisboa


The top 5 Lisboa
1. Daytrip to Sintra (seeing the western most point of Europe-Cabo da Roca) and Night Tour with Paulo (and Paulo calling Lisa a moooody ba bay)
2. Pastre de Sintra
3. Pub Crawl with our new friends from the hostel
4. Our Hostel-Traveller's House
5. Cascais Bike Ride

Headed to Lagosh, where they say you never leave. .. ..

Day 9 June 5 Belem Should Phonetically Be Spelled Belang



Lo and Lisa met us today. We all took a daytrip to Belem and had the famous Belem pastry. After agreeing that the pastry was the highlight of our day, we headed back to our hostel and took a night tour of the city. The tour started with a glass of wine overlooking the glorious colors of Lisboa. . . ...

Day 8 June 6 Bicycle Riding in Cascais



We arrived in Lisboa safely and decided to traveling just north of the city for a daytrip. We rented free bikes and road up the coast. Besides finding a beautiful color palette, endless cliffs, and no tourists in site, we found probably a one of a kind--hot dog stand with solar panels. I don't know which I was more excited about. .. .

After an hour, we decided to stop and just relax. Gretchen napped, I did a little yoga. Overall, Portugal has not disappointed us yet.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Day 6 June 2 Let the Eiffle Tower Sparkle



Espresso (thank god I have a friend like Gretchen to keep correcting me so I do not look like an idiot in front of the Europeans) has become our new best friend. The 5 Euros that Josh gave me for espresso came in handy when jetlag set in, and the sun started to go down in Paris. We ran into Sara Winters and Meg Wright - which definately made our trip more exciting. Out of all the fun we had in Paris. .. .


Top 5

1. photo exhibit outside of gates of luxenborg gardens
2. 1st expresso of pari with brown sugar cubes at the javel stop
3. le ciel de pari-champagne with friends from home
4. falafel in the jewish quarter at chez marianne
5. mustard. oh the mustard.

Day 3 May 3 Leaving London


Leaving London . .. . we need relief from the pound.


Top 5 things in London:

1. British Library
2. Portobella Road
3. Jenna's co-workers at Thomas Reuters
4. Tate Modern
5. Jenna's Apartment

Friday, May 30, 2008

Day 3 May 30 Who knew libraries could be such fun. .. .

We decided to take on the day over a hot bowl of porridge. Ran into STA travel hoping to quickly (quickly being the key word) buy tickets to Pari, however, the agent informed us that it would cost us 175 pounds. I immediately thought I was not going to be able to eat for a week due to the high costs, while Gretchen turned into our own travel agent and booked a flight for 75 pounds (still expensive, but we were not about to pay 175).


Afterwards, we headed to a market, but it started raining, so we opted for something indoors. The British Library is a well kept secret of tourists. Not busy, extremely interesting, and beautiful design. We saw the original magna carta, Beatles' scratch pad of notes, the original Beowulf, and journals of "greats" like James Cook ---- not to mention Shakespeare, Chopin, Bach, Mozart.

Then headed to what we thought was a traditional happy hour with Jennas' co-workers, but was really their definition of dinner (drinks drinks and more drinks ((starting with a glass of wine and immediately followed by a shot of tequila, the British love American Girls)) ).

Cheers!

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

May 27: Day 1 London Complete



After a short overseas flight, we arrived in Heathrow where everyone -- not just the airline stewardesses spoke in the Mary Poppins accent we most dearly love. We were warmly welcomed by blackberry messages (bbm for short) from Gretchen's friend, Jenna, who kindly is allowing us to hang out with her while we are in town. Her apartment (which I have already told her numerous times) is beautiful and we are lucky to have a great place to crash. Gretchen and I dropped out luggage and decided to venture out to take the 3 mile waking tour of London, but, well, we obvious got lost, and made our own tour of the day. After downing two expresso drinks, we saw the London Tower, London Bridge, Tate Modern, and dropped in to see a glimpse of a performance at the Globe Theatre.

Jenna arranged for us to eat some sushi and then had reserved tickets for the premiere of Sex and City the Movie (definitely worth seeing). Taking it easy tonight and stomping some more London Ground tomorrow.

signing off
Becca