I really cannot believe that I am already writing a blog
post about spring break and that it is APRIL! Time is flying very quickly, and
we somehow survived our midterms and our traveling extravaganza of 6 countries
in 3 weeks! We had the most incredible time over our 10-day break, and I can’t
wait to tell you about it. Since
my normal blog posts are already too long and those are usually just about ONE
country, I am going to do my best to make this the brief version so you can all
stay awake while you read it! Here’s how we did Spring Break:
Firs stop? LONDON
BABY!
Finally,
the trip we have been talking about and planning for months was here. We got to go to LONDON to visit our friends
from Michigan, Sam, Amy, and Pam - PLUS Emily Zussman made a guest appearance
all the way from Jerusalem! It was so nice to all be together again for the
weekend, and even though London was FREEZING…we absolutely loved it.
We had a little bit of a rocky start to our journey when
both Staci and I, plus our friends Josh and Kevin (who were visiting Florence
for the week and coming with us to London) missed our bus to the Pisa airport
and had to take 2 different trains to get there (shout out to Josh Langer who
saved the day and ran our heavy bags up a huge flight of stairs so we would
make the bus). But, after a long
and eventful morning. we somehow made our flight. I guess we forgot to bring the sun with us though,
because we were greeted with a Markley-style “wind tunnel” leading up to the
building where Amy and Sam live (doesn’t Staci looks so happy?!!!)…but against
all odds, we finally made it to our destination.
My favorite part of London? Two Words: High Tea. Can there
possibly be anything better than a endless pot of tea paired with a 3-tiered
tower of finger sandwiches, scones (with clotted cream and jam, of course) and
pastries? I don’t think so. We all loved high tea so much that we had to do it
twice during our three days there!
 |
| So we hated it... |
During our trip to London, we let ourselves become the
typical tourists (slash basically just re-enacted the Friends episode where
they go to London). Here were some
highlights:
Buckingham Palace! (even though they cancelled the changing
of the guard ceremony because of the rain, it was still very cool!)
Classic Telephone Booth Shot…
Big Ben, Parliament and The London Eye
Westminster Abbey:
We of course had to get the Abbey Road picture (which turns
out to be MUCH harder than it seems…who knew that Abbey Road was a real road
with fast moving traffic?!)
Our first double-decker bus ride!:
British Food: Fish n’ chips!
British Museum: Rosetta Stone:
Picadilly Circle: AKA the Times Square of London
Market Hopping: besides high tea, my other favorite activity
in London! Sam took us to one of her favorite areas in London called Brick Lane and we walked around a bunch of different food
markets with all kinds of delicious cuisines, and were also filled with
clothes, jewelry, and accessories.
The area is also known for the graffiti that covers the streets, which
was very cool to look at.
We wouldn’t even dream of leaving London without taking a
quick trip to Hogwarts from Platform 9 and ¾ (this one is for all of my Harry
Potter obsessed friends from home…), and then we were off to phase 2 of our
journey: Amsterdam!
Amsterdam!
I
wasn’t exactly sure what to expect from Amsterdam, but I was very pleasantly
surprised. After walking around for only a few minutes, Staci and I both
immediately fell in love with it.
Between the adorable cobblestone streets surrounded by water and bridges,
the shops and bakeries, and all of the people riding their bikes, Amsterdam was
beautiful.
After meeting our friends Jenna and Leah at our Hotel, we
started off our first day there with a trip to the Anne Frank house. Even
though we had to wait in a hour long line, it was absolutely worth it. Seeing the secret annex where Anne and
her family lived for two years and actually getting to stand in the rooms and
see it with my own eyes was an absolutely incredible and unforgettable
experience.
Next we headed over to the infamous Pancake Bakery for lunch, and I had a delicious nutella and banana
pancake.
We of course had to make a stop at the I AMSTERDAM sign to take the typical abroad photo shoot. And after I was peer pressured into it,
I somehow managed to climb (very slowly, I might add…) on top of the M for a
picture...Go Blue!
Next we made our way to the Heineken Museum and got to see how Heineken beer was made! It
tasted a lot different than the Guinness beer from Dublin…since when have we
become such beer connoisseurs?
On our way back to the hotel, we couldn’t resist trying the
famous Amsterdam delicacy: French fries
in a cone. I know it doesn’t
sound like much, but they were delicious!
Next was probably the most interesting part of our trip…an
Orthodox Passover Seder! Our friend Jenna was nice enough to
arrange for the four of us to go to a Passover Seder at the Chabad house of the
University of Amsterdam. The Seder
was held at the Chabad Rabbi’s apartment, and there were about 15 other people
there (including several students on the board of the Chabad, the Rabbi’s wife,
and their adorable 6-month year old baby, Rachel). We met some very interesting people, and we couldn’t believe
that we were sitting in the middle of Holland having a Passover Seder. The Rabbi and his wife couldn’t have
been more welcoming to us. The
craziest part was that aside from a few minor details (the costumes, Passover
play, and Egyptian Idol from the Seder at my house…), the structure of the
Seder was exactly the same as what we are used to! And even though the food was
good, it was not even close to comparable to the food at our seder (Mema- I am going to need some brisket
and matzah ball soup over the summer!!).
Oh, and I forgot to mention…the seder was 6 hours long! We arrived
around 7:30 PM and didn’t leave until 1:30 AM!
On our last day in Amsterdam, we went to check out the Van Gogh Museum…The “No Photo” rule in
museums has now become our favorite game…
Next stop...city of lights!
Bonjour Paris!
For the past few weeks whenever
things got really crazy with traveling and when we were too exhausted to move,
Staci and I just kept looking at each other and saying: Paris. We have been thinking and dreaming
about going to Paris since day one.
With all of this hype, we were a little nervous that it wouldn’t live up
to our expectations, but it was even better than we could have imagined.
Our friend Pam (Paaaaammmy) met
Staci and I at the train station in Paris on Wednesday night and the three of
us began our honeymoon. I was in
PARIS with two of my best friends in the world…seriously not sure that life can
get any better than this. We were
lucky enough to be staying with my good family friends, the Cojots, who live in
Paris. They have a beautiful home
just a 5 minute walk from the Eiffel Tower (….still not over it) and as you can
imagine, some pretty nice views.
The Cojots could not have been more welcoming to us – they showed us
around the city, made us delicious meals, we took real hot showers with actual
pressure for the first time since we’ve been abroad and we got to sleep in a
big comfy bed every night. So we
weren’t exactly roughing it in Paris…
It didn’t take very long for us to fall in love with the
City. The people, the streets, the
cafes, the food…I can’t even tell you how many times we said “ugh, I LOVE
PARIS” this week. Since we packed
a lot into our visit, I’ll give you the highlights!:
First stop? Eiffel
Tower, of course! Since we
knew how much we’d be eating, we opted to take the stairs up to the top…674
stairs to be exact…But it was worth it for the beautiful view!
Le Marais: we
walked around Le Marais, the Jewish quarter (which was very appropriate since
it was Passover!), and of course had to try the famous falafel (not so
appropriate for Passover…) and it was delicious! All of the shops and Jewish
delis were adorable as well.
Pompidou Museum: This
is the modern art museum – the building itself is very cool and we saw some
amazing pieces of art inside. We
also loved the famous fountains outside!
La Mussee D’Orsay: This
was definitely my favorite museum that we went to. We spent most of our time on the top floor where all of the
impressionist artwork is. The building is also in an old train station. It was
all very beautiful, or as Pam would
say, “this is like a feast for your eyes”…Pammy loves impressionism.
The Love Lock
Bridge: It wouldn’t be our
honeymoon without a trip to the love lock bridge! The tradition started about
two years ago when couples began locking a lock with their initials on it and
throwing away the key!
The Louvre: We obviously had to take the
typical Louvre picture…and we said hi to Mona, the Winged Victory, and Venus de
Milo.
Angelina’s: We
couldn’t leave Paris without making a stop at Angelina’s for the richest, most
delicious hot chocolate I have ever tasted.
Tuilerie Gardens and
Champs Eylysse: After Angelina’s, we took a walk through the beautiful
Tuilerie Gardens and then made our way onto the Champs Elysse for some window
shopping…and of course, Lauderee!
St. Germain: Hands
down my favorite part of Paris. We
walked around the St. Germain area on our first day there and became so
obsessed with it that we ended up going back there every day! It has the most
adorable streets with the best cafes, patisseries, and chocolate shops
everywhere you walk. We couldn’t
walk more than two steps without wanting to go into every store we passed! We
got delicious mini quiches for lunch, and ended up just sitting outside in a
café drinking café au laits for hours while listening to a band play on the
street and people watching! We
even ended up “café hopping” a few times and sat outside for hours drinking
coffee and wine all afternoon. So
Parisian, I know.
Crepes on Crepes on
Crepes: So. Many. Crepes. All
I have to say is, banana nutella.
Versailles: We
took a quick trip up to Versailles one morning to see the palace! We somehow
managed to cut what seemed to be a 4-hour line, and walked right in without
waiting for more than 3 minutes…are you proud, Dad? The palace was beautiful, filled with huge chandeliers and
extravagant decorations and paintings.
You knew it was coming…FRENCH
FOOD!: At least it’s a change of pace from Italian food, right? The food here was ridiculous. One morning we went to an open food
market right near the Cojot’s house that was incredible. There was an endless supply of breads,
pastries, CHEESES, fruits, vegetables, crepes, etc.
We couldn’t resist and had to buy an almond croissant for breakfast (this was the most perfect
melt-in-your-mouth croissant you could possibly have imagined. Pam
almost cried when she bit into it, and referred to it as “a work of art”). We were also feeling very Parisian and
made the impromptu decision to buy a baguette and a wedge of brie for
lunch…walking around with the baguette under my arm was definitely one of the
highlights of my trip…
One of the best meals we had was at L’entrecote for dinner on Saturday night. This is a classic Paris restaurant and we had to wait almost
an hour outside in the cold for a table! But it was well worth it. There is no menu here, and the waitress
simply asks you “how do you like your meat?”. She then brings you a plate of perfectly cooked steak,
French fries, and their delicious “secret sauce”. Just when you think it can’t
get better, about 10 minutes later she comes back and refills your entire plate
with more food! We also tried the creme brulee and profiteroles for dessert,
and they were both exceptional.
When in Paris, right?
Notre Dame on Easter: Now this was a sight to see. There were thousands of people surrounding
the Cathedral to celebrate Easter, it was insane! Definitely something we will
never forget. We also took a walk
over the bridge to Ile St. Louis and walked around the cute stores and streets. We couldn’t leave without trying the
famous Bertillon ice cream!
We also of course ended almost every night just sitting
outside in a café drinking coffee watching the Eifel Tower light up and
enjoying the beautiful views.
I could not have asked for a better way to end our Spring break.
Even though we were very sad to leave Paris, we were very
excited to get back to Florence! We forgot how much we missed it. We spent almost our entire day back
laying in the sun in Santa Croce, and ended up taking a nap on the bench
outside while listening to our favorite street band play! It’s good to be back.
