i found an old blog from a europe trip from years ago....fun to reminisce

hey there everyone!
well i have been in berlin for 4 days and am leaving for paris tomorrow. i started in london, then rome, florence, venice and berlin. i am having a great experience and a lot of challenges. traveling alone and with another person has pros and cons. this trip, i am traveling with josh, who i am seeing. today i got lost in berlin...a few times. i ended up seeing more than i would have if i did what i had planned. that's the joy and the challenge.


basic rundown:
rome is huge and there is a lot to see. we did the Colosseum, the roman forum, the pantheon, trevi fountain, vatican, oh, some other stuff i don't remember...it's just so massive.
but florence is easily walkable, tangled webs of streets and beautiful quaint little wood working studios and boutique shops. i went to the same places i did on the last europe trip, and even stayed in the same hostel. i just love florence and wanted to return.
venice is an artist's paradise of inspiration. the buildings are very very old, ramshackle, colored, with shutters and potted flowers outside the windows, just like you see in the photos.. the waterways give away a bit of a stench but there are bridges all over and most of the walkways are narrow enough to touch with both hands outstretched. it's really easy to get lost in venice. the food in italy is soooooo good, but there is only so much pizza and paninis one can eat. i had to do steak (florentine style) one night. i have been trying to eat the local cuisine in each place but it's getting expensive.


so berlin is surprisingly modern. i mean, you think berlin and you think modern, but i think more about WW11 and those times...we went to checkpoint charlie, went through the museum that has replicas and original cars and gadgets people invented to get through the wall (smuggling kids in suitcases, hiding in trunks of cars, digging tunnels underground, flying over the wall in a hot air balloon, etc.) i have been using the metro like a champ, after getting lost a few times of course. i walked through this really old turkish community that has the meat of "real" germany. i had a doner kabab. it was so delicious. we saw the Reichstag, the Brandenburg gate and did a lot a lot a lot of walking .... not eating much of their food. truly, the best food in germany is not german. we went to this beer garden last night and josh ordered a veal brat and it came in a pot of hot water....just a brat in hot water...and it was white. no bun.... it's just different. i had something that looked like 3 really long red sausages, 3 pieces of an unidentifiable brown bread and half a plate of sauerkraut that looked like mashed potatoes. it was pretty damn good though once i put it all together with some mustard.


so that's all for now. i will send a link so you can see the photos.. sorry, no berlin photos yet.




hey there
well, we left berlin and flew to paris. the first metro stop we went to was the same one used in the movie amelie! i was really excited about that. they actually have an amelie tour but i skipped it...i figured there were other things to do. but, we stayed in montmartre, where some of my favorite artists were doing their thing around the turn of the century...toulouse-lautrec in particular. we explored montmartre a little on foot and saw a nice view of the city from the sacre coeur. we saw the eiffel tower but didn't go up...it was too late. we ended up having to take a cab back cause the metro was closed. our cab driver was like a character in a disney movie...."bon soir, bon soir..." all animated, old, hunched over, dark rimmed glasses and gnawing on his gums. so cute. anyway the tower is really beautiful at night because the lights are all twinkling like a firework spectacle. paris is a wonderful city like everyone says. i can't say much for the people but the food is good and the intimacy of the streets take you out of that big city feel (like you get in new york) and make each neighborhood more intimate with its own character. we didn't spend enough time in paris. we gave ourselves 5 days but we really need a couple weeks. i went to the louvre, which is overwhelming and contains lots of renaissance paintings....i just had to go since i was in paris. but what i am more passionate about was the orsay museum, which holds an impressive collection of pre, impressionist and post-impressionist art. i saw van gogh, lautrec, gauguin, monet, manet, renoir, poussin, etc. that was really where the excitement was. you know, you can only see so many flying naked babies and jesus paintings. what a relief when people finally started painting what they wanted!


so now i am in madrid, and i will be here for a couple days. i have been here before...it's kind of just a starting off point for lisbon. we ate mexican food last night and it cost 10 euros ($13) for 3 enchiladas!!! they don't really know mexican food here in spain. in paris, you get that international mix, like if you want to eat lebonese food, you can find it....that's how san francisco is. but in cities like madrid where the people are deeply engrained in their culture (been here for generations) you don't find as many options. actually, one of the best meals i had was a royal with cheese meal at macdonald's in paris!! tres american!


i don't know if i mentioned it in other emails ,but carnival keeps following us everywhere we go. in venice, we caught the first night of it. in paris, it was just beginning. in madrid, it's just beginning. today, tapas and beer is on the menu. i'm going to find me some good eats and they're everywhere! people eat so late here. i don't know if i can wait til ten at night!