What Florence Taught Me, 8 Months Later

My SOUL does not belong in the United States.

All birthdays need to be this happy.

Olive oil is good for the body. And the taste buds.

Salad is meant to be filled with surprises.

Decorate however you like. Make a space your own. There is no judgement here.

Miss the womyn you learned it all with. A lot.

What Florence Taught Me

 

Never underestimate the power of mother nature.

You don’t have to wear makeup to look beautiful.

Appreciate each moment with your best friend. Remember what you’ve overcome together.

Never pass up an adventure. Even if it means cliff jumping into the Mediterranean from 65 feet.

Wear a bathing suit as often as possible. It’s freeing.

 

(photo courtesty of Chelsea)

Eat pizza – and don’t skimp on the cheese.

 Find a Starbucks, even if that means traveling to Spain.

Appreciate time with your family – especially when they come to visit you in Florence. (And of course, miss your brother and sister, because they would LOVE it here.)

Just let yourself BE.

It’s Been Awhile…

I’M STILL HERE!

Sorry for the lapse in posting, but I will be back ASAP with a recap on my trip, plus a few other updates!

 

Namaste~Erika

This Post Will Make You Hungry

Welcome to Perugia, Italy’s

EUROCHOCOLATE FESTIVAL

My roomates and I hopped on a tain to Perugia on Friday, to visit the major chocolate festival taking place. We bought a 5 Euro Choco-card, which allowed us several free samples. Check it out!

Free hot chocolate sample…..thick as pudding!

Lunch: Pita with sauteed vegetables and cheese

Chocolate covered banana!

Chocolate covered cookie bar

Annie and I taking a rest in between tasting

There was chocolate EVERYWHERE. I purched a large chocolate covered orange peel and fig, which were eaten immediately. We were also lucky enough to get 2 free chocolate bars and a Lindt truffle.

Views of Perugia

So, are you hungry yet? Go get yourself some chocolate!

Bonjour, French Riviera!

CIAO!

Last weekend I enjoyed two days in the French Riviera, and LOVED it. Check out my journey!

Monte Carlo, Monaco

Lunch was enjoyed at a little creperie

Crepe with cheese and mixed vegetables

Dessert crepe with sugar

Monaco was a beautiful little country, with a 0% unemployment rate and virtually no crime. This is where Princess Kelly is also buried. We were lucky to witness the changing of the guards where the Prince lives.

Later in the afternoon, we headed to France.

Nice, France

We wandered narrow streets, filled with bakeries, candy stories, meat stands, and spice markets.

When we passed this bakery, we couldn’t resist stopping by.

I enjoyed 2 macaroons – coconut and strawberry.

After some more exploring, we headed back to the hotel for a much-needed nap, and later enjoyed a traditional French dinner.

Niquois Salad with tuna and hard-boiled eggs

My vegetarian request 😉 Pasta with olive oil and mixed vegetables

“Glace” – ice cream

After some delicious local wine and a full meal, we headed out for some dancing. It was such a great night, but we had to get to bed at a decent time for an early wake up call.

St. Paul Vence, Cannes, and Ez

We did a lot of shopping, jam and mustard tasting, and picture-taking.

Cannes – home of the film festival. We saw ‘handprints’ of  many stars, such as Julie Andrews and Bruce Willis.

Lunch in Cannes: Panini on a LONG french baguette with goat cheese, mozzarella, tomatoes, and pesto.

Our last stop was Ez, where we toured a perfume factory. Look at the homemade duck soap!

The trip was FABULOUS. I loved France, and would love to go back!

Check in again soon for some more pictures!

Ciao~

OKTOBERFEST RECAP!

CIAO!

As promised, I have quite a post for you on last weekends trip to Munich for Oktoberfest. But truth be told, I think the pictures need to do most of the talking.

After an 8 hour overnight busride, we dropped our bags at the hotel, swiped some makeup on our faces, and headed to the beer tents at 10 am.

We didn’t waste any time ordering steins of beer (10 euro each) and large pretzels (4.50 euro).

Of course, a sweet pickle was devoured.

View from inside the Hofbrau House – it holds over 6,000 people.

After about 4 hours and 2 steins of beer (one regular, one mixed with lemonade!) we headed outside to scope out the food and rides.

Delicious crepes with cinnamon and sugar.

View from the ferris wheel.

We headed back to our hostel around 3pm, took a 3 hour nap, and grabbed dinner on the street.

Apparently we had to have Italian food in Germany.

The second day we woke up at 6am and headed to the beer tents at 8:30 am. We were literally herded  like cattle into the tents with thousands of other people.

Somehow made it in, smiling.

After a beer and some more pretzels and pickels, we decided some order some traditional German food.

Potatoes in gravy. These were interesting – they had a gelatonous texture,
but tasted like a mixture of potatoes and cornmeal.

Of course, another crepe was enjoyed.

At around 3pm, we tried to leave Oktoberfest, but it took us almost an hour to get out. There were so many people! Thankfully we made it home for a nap, and got ready for a night out in Munich!

6 of us at the Hardrock Cafe in Munich!

Veggie Burger!

Free birthday dessert for my roomate’s 21st!

Our 3rd and last day, we woke up to take the train to Dacau, one of Germany’s biggest concentration camps.

 

What a sad, eye-opening experience. We were allowed to walk through the bunk beds, gas chambers, and work rooms.

Later in the afternoon, we explored Munich.

Of course I found chestnuts.

And live music.

The bus ride home was less-than-desireable….8 1/2 hours later we arrived safe and sound back in Florence. The past few days we’ve been in full school-mode, as we prepare for an upcoming weekend in the French Rivera!

P.S! You don’t think I left Munich without this, do you?

1 of 3 Starbucks. YES.

 CIAO FOR NOW!

Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye

Photo Credit

The title of this post is in German 🙂 I’m leaving in a few hours for Munich to celebrate the last weekend of Oktoberfest. Though I’m not a beer fan, I’m going to get myself a large stein of (light) german beer and enjoy it! Although I hear they have one mixed with lemonade 😉

I will be back on Sunday with a full recap!

~Erika

Embracing Our Inner Tourist

Gelato of the Day

Pistacio

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We bought the Firenze sweatshirts…

We snapped shots of all the buildings…

We’ve enjoyed free wine tastings…

We’ve climbed to the top of the Duomo…

We’ve sipped plenty of cappuccinos

We’ve eaten gelato just about everyday – sometimes twice…

We’ve I’ve tried the coconut on the street…

And we’ve made several purchases from the leather markets….

Now we can speak a little Italian, we stand much closer when we walk/talk to others, and we avoid the restaurants that advertise in English. But truth be told, we will always embrace our inner tourist.

Switzerland and Como Lake

Gelato of the Day

Cookies!

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Ciao!

I just returned home from a (short) weekend trip to Switzerland and Como Lake. Although the views of the Alps and the lake were awesome, there was wayyy too much bus travel involved. Regardless, I snapped some great shots!

Day 1: Switzerland (St. Moritz)

We arrived in Switzerland in the afternoon by the Bernina Express – a train with high windows that runs through the Alps. The ride was about 2 hours, and covered the most beautiful landscape.

We saw SO MUCH snow! It was actually very cold in Switzerland – we had jackets and gloves on, which was quite a change from our 80 degree weather in Florence.

After we settled into our hotel, we hit the nearest chocolate shop.

 

I came out with 3 LARGE bars (dark, milk, hazelnut) and several truffles. They were delicious! One of my favorites was stuffed with coconut.

We snapped a few pictures near the mountains….

…then headed back to the hotel around 7 for a traditional Swiss dinner.

Pasta with mushroom cream sauce

This was originally turkey w/gravy and french friends. My request for a vegetarian meal? An entire plate of french fries.

Dessert: chocolate mousse!

Day 2: Como Lake, Italy

We woke up bright and early in the morning, and enjoyed an INCREDIBLE breakfast, full of swiss muesli, meats and cheeses, oatmeal, yogurts, etc.

Swiss muesli, blueberry yogurt, nutella, and hardboiled eggs (plus coffee with fresh steamed milk)

After breakfast we made the trek to Como Lake. We had to take a ferry to 2 different islands, which was overall a LOT of traveling. But the views were beautiful!

We enjoyed lunch in the city of Como

The best 10 euro I spent: grilled summer vegetables w/olive oil

We walked around the city for a couple hours, and made the long trek back home. Now it’s back to school until Thursday, then off to Munich, Germany for Oktoberfest!

Ciao for now!

Packing for Snow

Gelato of the Day

Matcha (Green Tea!)

What’s even better – this small cone was one 1 euro 😉

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The title says it all – I am currently packing my bags for snowy/rainy weather. It’s still 80 and sunny here in Florence, but tomorrow I will be leaving for a weekend trip to Switzerland and Como Lake. Apparently it’s much colder 1500 ft up in the mountains 😉

Today I wandered around the leather markets, and ended up stopping in the Central Market for some last-minute snacks. I grabbed a few apples and some bulk items (dates, figs, and walnuts) for the trip. My friends and I also ordered a sandwich for tomorrows lunch – I stuffed mine with brie, lettuce, peppers, and cucs 🙂

Checklist:

Northface
Gloves
Hat
Boots
Longsleeve Shirt
Jeans
CHECK!

I will be back Sunday with a full recap and hopefully a box of chocolates!

Ciao!