Eating my way through Europe

1st meal in Paris


One of my favorite parts of being in Europe is getting to try so many different foods. I love sampling whatever food the area is famous for, whether is waffles in Belgium or pasta in Italy (although the tricky part is not gaining 1000 pounds in the process). I'm already looking forward to hitting up the local restaurants in the next place I visit :).


Belgian waffle


Pistachio gelato near the Colosseum


Italian pizza


Pastries in Rome


Mussels in Paris


Crepes by the Eiffel Tower


What have been some of your favorite foods abroad??

The Louvre

For those of you who aren't familiar with the Louvre, it's absolutely massive. In fact, it's so big it needed its own post :). Agnesse and I were there for close to two hours and saw less than a third of it. We did out best to hit up the most famous pieces, but by the end we were so tired that we barely even looked at what we were passing by. I'm not joking when I say we actually got lost inside for about 15 minutes. Here are a few of my favorite things at the museum:


Venus de Milo


The Code of Hammurabi


The Mona Lisa


Egyptian Sphinx


Outside by the pyramids


What about you? What would you want to see at the Louvre?

Paris

Two weeks ago I got the chance to visit Paris with a friend for the weekend. Unfortunately we didn't have the best weather, but we still had a great time running around the city and trying to see as much as possible in 36 hours. Although I loved seeing the Eiffel tower and the Arc De Triomphe, my favorite site was definitely Notre Dame. I loved how beautiful and serene it was, both inside and out.

A few things we learned in France:
- The closer you get to the Eiffel Tower, the cheaper the souvenirs are (at least the ones sold illegally). I was so mad I paid a euro for 3 keychains when I could've gotten 6 if I waited.
- The Arc De Triomphe is a lot farther from the Louvre than it looks.
- Agnesse (the girl I went with) and I have a very bad sense of direction.



View of the river



In front of Notre Dame



Candles inside the cathedral



Arc de Triomphe

30 second post

I have been sooo busy the last week and a half, I haven't had a chance to update the blog. I can't believe I went to Paris almost 2 weeks ago and STILL haven't posted about it, not to mention my trip to Tuscany and Rome last weekend. Since I'm supposed to be working right now and am headed to Germany this weekend, I don't know when I'll have the time for a full post. In the meantime though, here are a few pics of what I've been up to....

Manneken Pis

For those of you who don't already know, one of Brussels' most famous landmarks is the Manneken Pis - a statue of a little boy peeing. It's on almost all the post cards, and they sell little Manneken Pis souvenirs in the gift shops, from bottle openers to miniature versions of the statue. I'm really not sure what it says about a country when one of your biggest symbols is a peeing boy. However, I do think it's funny, albeit a little weird. Of course I had to go and see for myself, so last week I went in search of this little boy. It's right next to the main tourist part of town, but it still took me a little while to find it. Once I did though, there was quite a crowd gathered around it. Also, they apparently put clothes on him periodically. Has anyone else seen something funny like this abroad?

Happy Valentine's Day

Today happens to be Valentine's Day, a day that there are definitely mixed feeling about. I've heard it called everything from "commercialized" to "single awareness day." However, whatever the day's faults, I have a hard time not liking a day that encourages you to celebrate love, whether its love for your family, friends, or a significant other. Even though I'm more than 4,000 miles away from everyone I love, they're definitely all on my mind, especially David. This is our 5th Valentine's Day together, so I thought I'd post just a few pics from our relationship. Happy Valentine's Day everyone <3

Antwerp

Okay, so I'm wayyyy behind on posting this haha, but hopefully I'll be able to catch up on posts soon!

Last Saturday I decided to take the train to Antwerp for the day since it's one of the biggest cities in Belgium after Brussels. Despite the bad weather, I LOVED the city. I thought it was clean and beautiful, with lots of friendly people who, luckily for me, spoke English. I also had my first experience with CouchSurfers. Have you heard of it?? You meet up with random people in different cities and sometimes spend the night on their couch rather than pay for a hotel. I ended up meeting a guy for dinner/drinks before I went back to Brussels that night. It was so fun to hear about Antwerp from one of its locals! I really liked the city, and hopefully get to go back sometime soon!