København! And the glorious Danish.

Hello dear friends!  It feels like a haven't posted in quite a while, although in all reality it has not been that long.  I just got back on Sunday evening from a quick jaunt to Copenhagen to meet up with three other CCers:  Hildy, Andrew and Katie.  We picked Copenhagen because it was (kind of) in the middle of all of us (Barcelona, Sweden, London, and of course Paris), and it was a really lucky decision because Copenhagen is seriously so cool.  I loved the city so much and would love to travel more around Scandinavia.  My flight got in later at night so I just went straight to bed upon arrival.  It was, however, gloriously, a very clean bed and room (unlike many other hostels) and did not have industrial light bulbs (which for some reason really bother me, and unfortunately for me, many hostels have them).  Anywhoo, The next morn we got up and started a walking tour of the city, thanks to good ole Frommer's online.  Ahh, the man has helped me so much with all of my travels here.  We found a fika shortly as well (which is coffee break in Swedish, and also my new favorite word).  Frommer's took us to a statue of Hans Christian Anderson, and the beautiful town hall square.  He also took us down this entirely pedestrian street, called Stroget, that has tons of shopping, and really stylish Danes as well.  While I'm mentioning stylish Danes, I might as well really give you a picture of what they're like because its incredible.  Here is what many of the girls wore when we were there:  awesome leather lace-up shoes (kind of like those men's J Crew suede ones if you know what I'm talking about), skinny jeans, the coolest wool cape/jacket you have ever seen, and a huge scarf.  Basically, it was just really good simple style.  Simple but every piece is perfect.  Man, those Danes.  If they didn't have a 25% sales tax I would have tried to buy all their clothes while I was there.

Froms (as I like to call him) then led us to a very cool old church.  He told us to take a break there at a little restaurant inside the church, but alas it was closed.  However, inside the church there was some sort of really weird art exhibit that involved laying down on beds, at least that's what we got out of the strange Danish video in the entry way.  We almost went into the exhibit and then decided we needed to find food.

After food, we went to Nyhavn, which is a really cool little street along the water that has all these antique boats moored there.  It also has a ton of cute restaurants on the water, which we saw more of the next day when we returned and it was sunny.

Nyhavn

Then we went to the castle and witnessed the changing of the guards.  We also saw one guard blatantly moving, so we went to go take a picture with him:

Friendly(ish) Guard

Then I had told everbody (at this point it was just Hildy and Andrew, as Katie arrived later in the day) that I really wanted to go to a design museum, and we were really close to one, so we decided to go.  After we had paid we realized it wasn't the one we were looking for, and that Copenhagen has a bunch of design museums because it is kind of a design center.  It was still a sweet museum--I enjoyed the art nouveau, old posters of Copenhagen, crazily designed chairs, and a bizarre porcelain cat that looked like Hildy.  The museum had a really cool courtyard as well that we explored, with these crazy clipped trees and statues.

Design Center Courtyard

We then passed by the national theater, and saw some posters for My Fair Lady, which we decided we would look into, as well as another very cool church.

Another Cool Church

Outside the church were these awesome stone chickens that we had a great time playing on.  Best kids toy ever.  We were heading to lunch and passed an entry way from which Dirty Projectors (best band everrrr) were blasting so we decided to check out the store, which was upstairs.  It was an awesome store because not only were they playing the album in its entirety , but they had the coolest designed stuff.   It was a bit like the MOMA store, if you've been there, but even cooler.  They had chairs and couches and cups and decorations.  I would love to work there.  Or to just live in Copenhagen and go to design school.  That night we had falafel for dinner and it was good, but not near as good as the Parisian falafel from the Marais.  Mmm...

The next day with everyone having arrived, we got an awesome breakfast that was a sampler plate of fruit, granola, yogurt, pancakes, mini quiche, cheese, eggs, and bread at an awesome bookstore/cafe.  Then we explored the star-shaped castle (mostly walking around the outside and looking out on the water) and saw the little mermaid, which is a rather small statue of a mermaid by the water that is a huge attraction in Copenhagen.  Hildy and I found out that tickets for My Fair Lady were half price the day of, so we went to the ticket booth to make sure and ask if it was in English.  We got tickets and then realized that when we had asked the ticket lady, I had thought she said English and Hildy had thought she had said Danish (she had a rather thick accent)...  We decided it would be a great cultural experience, and would find out the language when it started.  It was, in the end, in Danish, but the musical was amazing!!  Definitely one of my favorite parts of the trip.  I know the songs pretty well, so we knew what was happening most of the time.  Also, all the curse words were in English, so that helped.  It also had the most amazing costumes!  In the scene at the horse races, all the women had various gigantic tea cups on their heads, and Eliza had a giant spoon on her head that she kept (intentionally) almost hitting people with.  I was so glad that we ended up going.

Amazing costumes of My Fair Lady!

That night we went to a cool bar called the Living Room that Emmy recommended that had tons of little rooms with couches and a cool vibe.  Then we went to a bar with some sweet live music later on.

The next day we explored Christiania, which is across the river and a crazy hippie town.  It used to be army barracks that homeless people just took over, and now they just don't really have laws there and the government doesn't intervene.  Also, they don't pay the tax so it is much cheaper.  There were playgrounds, and food stands, and tables selling all kinds of things everywhere.  Everything was painted in bright colors.  Andrew and Hildy left at various times during the day, and after Christiania, Katie and I explored the meat packing district, which I had read was cool in a magazine.  It was very fun and a different vibe from other places we had been.  There were a bunch of old warehouse buildings that are now filled with cool restaurants and vintage shops.  We also went to a very surreal park that looked like a Dali painting.  It had a pagoda in it, a palace, and these crazy stumpy trees.

Frederiksberg Have (park)

  Then we took some public transport to the airport, ate an amazing Domino's pizza at the food court, and said 'farvel' to København!  Can't wait until I get to see you again.

Hildy à Paris!

This past weekend Hildy came to visit and we had a simply marvelous time.  We walked around St. Germain des Pres and went to Laduree, the best chocolaterie/patisserie in all of Paris (well at least for macaroons).   She had caramel and I had lemon and they were bothe equally wonderful in their own way.  We visited Notre Dame and St. Chapelle (how can there be so much stained glass in one building??).  And, we went with to an awesome forest.  Yes, I said that correctly.  There is a forest in Paris.  It is, however in disguise as a park.  It is ginormous and awesome.  It would be a perf place to go for a long bike ride.  We walked around part of it and found a sweet waterfall which had a cave that we walked through to get behind it.  We also explored a bit of the Marais (the Jewish/gay quarter with little boutiques, vintage shops, ect.  Probably my favorite area of Paris) and got wonderful falafel from the place next to the world famous falafel stand (I swear this one was better than the time I went to the "world famous" one...  Largely because this one had fried eggplant that was the best thing ever).  We went to a very cool market in the Marais that sold everything from scissors to fruit to bizarre meat to clothes.  H. and I heartily enjoyed smelling soaps.  We also did a bunch of bar hopping, as Paris is the perfect place to do it.  Here are a few of our hopping highlights (keep in mind this  was not all in one night):


Le Piano Vache


This is a crazy awesome bar in the latin quarter that has posters covering every inch of the walls, and live music sometimes.  We got a beer here and really enjoyed the atmosphere.  Fun fact:  its Johnny Depp's fave bar in Paris.  They had some sweet tunes playing when we got there and there were some nice Parisian hipsters.  


Le Kitch


This one has the most random stuff ever on the walls.   Its pretty small and cute though.  They have one Shrek mask, and naturally because of this their signature drink is called a Shrek (sort of like a blended mojito-->a.k.a. awesome).  There was a guy there who showed us this really weird painting and told us his friend painted it, and that the heart on the stuffed animal/person in the painting (yeah, it was a really weird painting) was his heart.  I didn't really know how to respond so I just said it was beautiful.  Go French skills!


La Belle Hortense


This is a bookstore/bar that is supah cool.  It has all these wooden built-in shelfs filled floor to ceiling with books.  It was mostly an older crowd, but the place was so cool.  They were playing Arcade Fire, which made me automatically fall in love with the place.  Hildy and I also got our first martini's ever, and they were bomb.com.  It's always good to find another enjoyable drink.  


L'Alimentation Generale


This was my favorite of all (and that's saying a lot).  We looked up some places with live music and this band seemed cool, so we decided to try it.  The band had two female singers and a bunch of stringed instruments.  They sang in French, Spanish and English, and played swing and swing-esque music.  During the band's break, the bar played original swing music and tons of people started dancing swing!  Everybody was having a ball and there were some really impressive dancers. 

Pr-A HA!

I just got back a few hours ago from my class trip to Prague!  It was tons of fun, but very different from the other trips I’ve taken thus far.  It was amazing to have a professor take you around and show you the sights because they are so knowledgeable.  My professor for this class had spent his life studying Kafka, so every time we walked around, he had a wonderful anecdote to tell about Kafka’s life.  We arrived Thursday evening, and after settling into our hotel, we went to dinner in a restaurant called Café Louvre, which is a very old restaurant with traditional Czech food.  It is on the second storey of a building and has these wonderful long dining rooms with pink walls and gold accents.  I had some great potatoe and cheese dumplings, along with some sort of Czech beer that was really dark and awesome.  Then we walked a bit around the Old Town and back towards our hotel.  Many of the buildings were lit up at night and gave the city a magical feeling.

view of Praha!

The next day we headed out to the Jewish museum for a tour with the curator.  She was very friendly and extremely knowledgeable and ending up taking us on a two and a half hour tour of all the sections of the museum, which included an amazing graveyard where some very important Czech historical figures were buried, and three synagogues.  

Cemetery as part of the Jewish Museum

One of the synagogues is the oldest in the city, and another is brightly decorated in all sorts of patterns.  The most moving part of the museum was all these drawings done by children in the 1940s.  They were from this town where the children were kept before being sent to concentration camps.  The drawings were very creative, and colorful, and while looking at them you see so much into how those kids must have felt.  

The Old Town Square

Later in the day we explored the Old Town further, and saw the amazing clock tower.  Every hour the bell chimes and these little saints rotate through windows.  

The Clock Tower

All the buildings have been relatively recently touched up and painted in pastel colors, which makes them so charming.  The city reminded me a bit of Lisbon because of the colorful buildings, the patterned cobblestones, and the tram system.  In the evening we went to an orchestra concert that blew us away.  It was in a very old snazzy theatre and the orchestra consisted of three sections of French music.  There was an incredible harpist who had a crazy dress that looked like zebra cake (swirls of black and white) and sparkly shoes.  Only in Czech Republic...?  The last section was the best though (Maestoso from Saint Saëns Sympony No. 3 in C Minor, in case you were wondering because it was bomb).  You might recognize it from Babe.  Yes, Babe the Disney movie about the pig.  It is the song the farmer sings to Babe while the other animals watch.  This is what I recognized the tune from!!  I was super pumped when I did because a) Babe is an awesome movie and b) when the farmer sings the song is the best part! The other sweet part about the opera was the conductor.  He had a striking resemblance to Mufasa (yes, another Disney reference…) and had the most expressive hands and quaffed hair of any single person I’ve ever seen. 

On the third day we explored the castle area (Hradcany) and went to St. Vitus’ Cathedral, which contains a stained glass by Mucha (an art nouveau artist from the Czech Republic) that is mind-blowing.  It has the most amazing colors you could imagine.

Mucha's stained glass

The grounds of the castle are amazing with these huge stone plazas and buildings.  In the evening we were supposed to meet the author of a book we read called Of Kids and Parents (I highly highly recommend it if you’re in need of a good book!), but unfortunately he was ill.  We did however meet up with the translator of the book, who was a complete character and got much too drunk.  Later that evening we went to a party in a bar for a Czech art magazine.  It was a very cool scene and we got some crazy iron-on canvas bags with the logos of the magazine.  The bar was downstairs by the river, and was filled with Czech hipsters.  We had a ton of fun and met one of our professor’s friends who speaks thousands of bizarre Eastern European languages and was fascinating to listen to. 

On Sunday, we went to the Mucha Museum, which was small but interesting, and the to Kafka’s grave.  Then we headed back to the airport!  It was too short of a trip for such a cool city, but I’ll be glad to have a few weeks in which I stay in Paris.  Man, all this world traveling can wear. you. out.

  * Note: Praha = Prague in Czech.  And Prague = an A HA! moment --> Pr- A HA! 

Spring Break: Part Trois

The view from our hostel

Sintra was amazing and one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to.  We took a train there from Lisbon and walked up the winding road to the center of town, passing tiny colored buildings along the way.  We first checked into our hostel, which was brand new and was refreshingly clean, and then walked into the center of town.  Sintra is known for its many castles, and we wanted to hit two that day.  We took a bus to the first castle--called the Moorish Castle.  It was originally an army fort, and it had these amazing stone walls that you could walk along across several hills.  Then we took the bus to another castle.  This one was called the Pena Castle, and it is what Disney modeled their castles after, which totally makes sense to me after seeing it.  The outside is the coolest part with the multicolored pastels.  Well, the view's pretty awesome too.

Moorish Castle

The view from the Moorish Castle

Pena Castle

View from Pena Castle (the Moorish Castle is on the top of the hill to the right!)

Then we came back into the little town and went out to dinner at a spot recommended by the guy at the desk of our hostel.  It was one of the best dinners I have had in Europe so far.  We had some kind of fish/potato mix with a lot of really good sangria.  We gave our waiter a 10% tip at the end of our meal, and he was so shocked that he told us that we must take shots of ginja (this cherry liqueur that is big in Portugal) with him.  So, along with the other waiters in the restaurant as well, took mini shots!  It was tons of fun.  Then we got back to the hostel and watched Chocolat in our comforters on the couch (the perfect way to  end an evening...).  

The next day we headed off to Barcelona to meet up with Hildy (from CC) and a bunch of other people from AUP.  The highlights of Barcelona were walking around the oldest part of the city (Barrio Gotico)  which has these irregular pedestrian streets.  We went to some very cool markets that sold everything imaginable.  We went to Barcelona's Arc de Triomphe and to a very cool park with an amazing concrete mastodon statue, of which Hildy and I had a very difficult time trying to climb the trunk...  We went to the Olympic Park and walked around the futuristic plaza.  We also saw a bunch of Gaudi--we went to Park Guell and Sagrada Familia (the cathedral).  The cathedral was amazing and had these huge tree-like columns and wonderful stained glass.  He built it so it would have to be worked on for several generations to come, so it won't even be finished for many years!  The last night, we went to one of Hildy's favorite restaurants and had some Spanish food that was amazing.  My favorite was a Spanish tart, which was kind of like a quiche.  Then we went to a cool bar, with what was supposed to be live music but ended up being a dj.  We still had lots of fun because the venue was sweet.  Then we went to a club on the beach for a bit and danced.  All in all it was a wonderful trip!  We saw and did so much cool stuff, although I am happy to be back in Paris now for a bit...

one of the markets!

Barrio Gotico

The view from the Gaudi park--Park Guell

The inside of Sagrada Familia Cathedral

Spring Break: Part Deux

The Alfama

Sunday we explored an area called the Alfama that is the oldest part of the city.  Its fairly hilly and filled with colorful apartments and restaurants.  There's also a medieval castle on the hill that we walked around, and some very cool churches.  I also happened to see my DREAM CAR on the way.  It was even in the right color.  Can't wait until I have enough money to buy it and convert it into a hybrid.  Chyess!  That evening we returned to Barrio Alto with some Quebeçois who stayed in the same room as us.
Monday, we started out the day with some waffles with gelato on top we had been eyeing at a street cart for the past few days.  It was a bit disappointing, as the waffle wasn't warm, but still totally worth it.  Then, we went to Belem, yet another area in Lisbon.  It is where the river meets the sea, and its main attractions are a huge carved monastery, and a medieval tower built to guard the entrance to the city.  It is pretty much in the water, and also unfortunately closed on Mondays, so we couldn't go in.  We walked around the area and went to a little restaurant recommended by the hostel for their wonderful custard tarts (a Belem specialty!).  We each had two--it was some of the best custard I've ever had!  In the evening, we went to a cute tiny sushi restaurant, and then to a silly chick flick (to catch up on our intake of bad American films clearly...).
More on Sintra soon!

Dream Car!

Our fave bar with the bartender sisters! (Barrio Alto)

Tower of Belem

From Portugal:

Close to our hostel

"We have had a wonderful time here thus far--its been great to have a longer amount of time in one city. We got here Friday evening and walked around our area. We are in the centro area of the city by some cool plazas with fountains.  We're also really close to the river (well, its almost the ocean as it goes into the ocean just where our hostel is).  We ate dinner at this amazing cheap buffet with traditional Portuguese food.  Unfortunately, we ate a bit too much and had to walk it off, but it was great beans and rice, cooked veggies, and tons of different kinds of salads (some with lettuce and some without).

The bridge!

Saturday, we woke up and it was raining cats and dogs.  We decided it would be a perfect day to go to the Oceanarium, which was highly recommended on various top-notch websites.  It held up to all expectations, and had tons of huge tanks representing four oceans, with sharks, tropical fish, penguins, and sea otters.  It confirmed Jenna's and my childhood dream of becoming marine biologists.  When we left the building, the rain had miraculously stopped, and we wandered around the area near the museum.  It had a bunch of interesting modern architecture including one of the longest bridges ever (one and one half miles!).  That evening we happened upon a packed Indian restaurant that was perfection.  We then went to this area close to our hostel called Barrio Alto.  To get there, you have to climb up these tiny stairs on cobblestone streets, and when you arrive, its just one bar and restaurant after another.  We read online that Barrio Alto is the biggest bar crawl in Europe, but of course we didn't believe that before going there.  There were the most people I have ever seen in one place not gathered for a concert or game or something!  To walk through the street, you had to push through people standing and sitting!  We found an amazing bar that had some of the best mojitos ever.  It was run by these four Portuguese sisters, who were having a grad old time greeting friends, and mixing one drink for a customer and a second for themselves."

This was one of the least crowded streets we found!

I have to run to the airport now to head off to Prague with my class, but more info on spring break (Sintra and Barcelona!), and of course Prague too, when I return!  Au revoir for now!

Spring Break!

So I am off to Portugal and Spain tomorrow! I'm heading out with one friend from AUP, and our first stop is Lisbon, Portugal. From there we're doing a one-night jaunt to a nearby town, Sintra. Both of these places look amazing--red roofs and cream-colored buildings on the water! What could be better? Then we head to Barcelona, Spain and we'll meet up with a bunch of other friends from our school and my friend from CC as well. SO PUMPED! Many details, anecdotes, ect. upon return! Have an utterly splendid week!