London's Calling

This past weekend the girls and I went to London, England to visit our friend Chelsea and have her show us around. London seemed familiar to me due to watching movies like Love Actually, Notting Hill, Harry Potter, and Bridget Jones Diary countless times. Despite my movie education on the city I was eager to see the sights in person. 

Day 1 began with catching up with Chelsea before hitting Spitalfields for dinner. Spitalfields was an area right by where Chelsea lives filled with markets, shops, and restaurants. We ended up at Wagamama for dinner, an Asian stirfry type of place, which was a nice change of pace from all the Italian food. 

Spitalfields Market

Later that night Chelsea showed Aly and I the London nightlife taking us to a "posh" club off of Oxford street called Jalouse. The night scene is varied in London filled with clubs, pubs, bars, and hipster hangouts, allowing everyone to find their niche. We sampled a bit of each, but the first night's location was definitely my favorite! 

Jalouse

The next morning we started off with the ceremonial changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. The area was packed with people all trying to catch a glimpse of the spectacle. Unfortunately the crowd along with the palace's high gates prevented us from seeing much. If I go back, I will definitely try to get to the palace earlier to get a better spot!

The Changing of the Guards

Next we were off to all the big sights-Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and the London Eye. Unfortunately at this time the weather wasn't too kind, ruining some of the better photo opportunities. 

    

Afterwards we hit Covent Market, one of my favorite places while I was in London. The streets are packed with all sorts of stores, bakeries, cafes, and restaurants, and was a place full of activity. 

Of course we had to make a fro-yo stop!

Our last day in London was packed. Chelsea was an excellent tour guide, accommodating us all and left no major site unvisited. First stop was Borough Market for some breakfast. For all you food lovers, Borough Market is paradise. In my opinion it is a quainter version of Chelsea Market in NYC. The market is filled with tons of different food vendors, giving out free samples, in the hopes you buy their wares. We ate our way through the market sampling cheeses, exotic jams, caramel sea salt fudge, paella, and all other sorts of homemade goodies. A soy cappuccino, a box of blueberries, and a raspberry flax bar later, I regretfully left the market. 

Next we went to see the famous Globe Theatre, the Millennium Bridge, and the London Bridge, followed by the Tower of London. At the Tower of London we visited the Crown Jewel Exhibit and the torture exhibit (I was a bigger fan of the jewelry). Next we raced to Notting Hill, a popular area of London filled with markets and food vendors. It was cool to see some of the areas that were filmed in the movie. After some walking around we took a break for high tea. We were served scones, jelly, finger sandwiches, macaroons, and an assortment of pastries (and tea of course). It was definitely a tradition I could see myself falling into. After tea we went to Harrod's the famous department store where we had fun window shopping. Our day ended with a trip to King's Cross train station to make our way to platform 9 3/4. 

Hogwards Express anyone?

Harrod's window display

It was an amazing trip to London and I cannot wait to be back!

La Vie Parisienne

Last weekend I traveled to Paris, France to meet up with the wonderful Evyn Staley and get to see Paris through her eyes. Having been to Paris before, I wanted an insider's look at this beautiful city as opposed to seeing all the typical tourist spots.

Upon arrival, we grabbed lunch at Les Deux Magots, a cafe made famous through clientele such as Ernest Hemingway. Being in Paris made me realize how much I missed my breakfast and lunch foods. While I adore Rome's Italian food, the Italians seem to have a very different perspective on breakfast and lunch, believing that pizza and pasta are acceptable meals for any time of the day (not that I'm complaining!). We followed up lunch with a walking tour of the city, through the Louvre gardens, Notre Dame, Lover's Locks Bridge, and of course Ladurée.

Lover's Locks Bridge

Salted Caramel, Raspberry, Coffee, Chocolate Coconut, Pistachio, and Hazelnut Macaroons

(The pistachio were my favorite!)

The Louvre

We finished up the day with a typical parisian home cooked meal of roasted eggplant, zucchini, and brussel sprouts, a fresh baguette from the bakery down the street, various cheeses, apples and pears, and plenty of wine. I will definitely attempt to recreate this meal back in Rome!

Repetto's famous ballet flats

Friday, Evyn took me to Le Marais, a young trendy area of Paris that strongly reminded me of New York City's Soho. Le Marais is a great area for shopping, eating, and people watching. Though the stores were a tad pricy, it was still fun to window shop.









Saturday we began our day with brunch at Brasserie Lipp, a famous French brasserie, known for their French cuisine. It was a beautiful sunny day, so after brunch we made our way to the Luxembourg Gardens. One of the cultural differences that I have noticed between the Europeans and Americans is the Americans lack of appreciation for parks. Europe is filled with beautiful parks where tons of people can be spotted reading, running, and relaxing. Due to the weather, Luxembourg was filled with tourists and parisians alike, sunbathing, strolling, and sailing toy sailboats in the pond.

After sunbathing, Evyn insisted that I try Angelina's famous le chocolat chaud a l'ancienne l'African (or to us Americans, old fashion hot chocolate called, "The African"). Conveniently for us, there was an Angelina's right in the Luxembourg Gardens. We ordered the hot chocolate along with Evyn's favorite dessert, the mont blanc. Now for those of you who do not like sweets or chocolate, this is not the drink for you. "The African" was basically melted chocolate with a hearty dollop of whipped cream. It was by far the richest hot chocolate I have ever had, and I highly recommend it for all chocolate lovers.

French Onion Soup

Later that evening Evyn took me to a cafe known for amazing french onion soup, a must try when in France. We also ordered vin chaud, a hot spiced red wine mixed with cinnamon, sugar, and oranges. Both were amazing. Vin chaud seemed to be the French's version of sangria, and was the perfect thing to warm you up on a chilly night. 

The perfect view

My last day was bittersweet. I loved Paris-the food, fashion, people watching...So we made the last day memorable with a walk to see the Eiffel tower followed by tea at Ladurée. Paris is a beautiful city with so much to see and do, I can't wait to be back!

Istanbul, Turkey

Turkish Delights

Istanbul is a place like no other in Europe that I've visited. Turkey was an exotic, beautiful, historic place filled with surprises. Our trip was jam-packed with mosques, spices, and palaces (definitely a change from my average weekends!) 

In front of the Blue Mosque

Our first day began with a walking tour throughout Istanbul. We began at the Blue Mosque which was an impressive way to start our trip. The Blue Mosque is a gorgeous mosque filled with mosaics and high arches. It was also an unique cultural experience, having to cover our hair as a sign of respect.







Later we visited the famous spice market and the bazaar to stock up on fresh turkish delights and haggle for souvenirs.

Turkish Delight

The tour continued with a trip to the Basilica Cistern to see the statues of Medusa. The underground sanctuary was an amazing sight with the pillars lit up and koi swimming right beneath you. Afterwards we saw the Hagia Sophia, another famous mosque which was equally impressive. We finished the night with a visit to the Turkish baths, were we got a very traditional Turkish experience complete with massages.

The Basilica Cistern

Hagia Sophia

Day two consisted of a boat tour through the Bosphorus straight with a tour of a Turkish Palace right on the water. The palace was gorgeous and opulent, but unfortunately they didn't allow any photos inside. A fun side trip of our boat tour was the stop in Asia! The boat took us to a small fishing village in Asia where we got to explore for a bit. The night finished up with a traditional turkish dinner, shisha, and fireblowing!

The Palace Gardens

Traditional Turkish Dinner

Turkish bread

Fire breathing