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st. nicholas day & hangin’ in nuremberg
from what i can recall from my travels around germany in 2007, nuremberg (nürnberg) had the king of christmas markets; topping many a list. not only is the setting gorgeous and the stalls seemingly unending, but they are famous for both their glühwein and their lebkuchen (gingerbread). i knew alex had to see this! i mean, germany is soooo close… and yet, so far. although it would take about one hour by car (or less) if one drove directly west of budějovice to get to eastern bavaria, the public transport connections usually straight up suck. even after twenty five years since the fall of the iron curtain, the infrastructure and…
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how to enjoy versailles like royalty
i’m not a palace person. i’d much rather see how the peasantry or the middle-class live. real stuff, not rich peoples’ houses. but after urging from my friend monica (you need to go!) i figured on this, my third time in paris, i was ready to see the grandiose palaces of versailles. i decided to watch sofia coppola’s marie antoinette, which i had been meaning to see forever, and i fell in love. it quickly moved up the ranks to one of my favorite films that i know i can watch again and again. initially, the movie was panned for having too many costumes and not enough substance, but i…
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sublime paris + my airbnb open experience
on my fourth full day in paris, it was my mother’s birthday, so we had to go shopping in the opera district to spend two hours in the monki store and to stop by galeries lafayette to see their stunningly beautiful noel tree centerpiece. “i’ve spent four days here and still haven’t seen the eiffel tower yet!”, she told me, as we were riding the escalator to the terrace on the top floor level. “well….. look, there it is!” we didn’t have pre-sale tickets for the eiffel tower that afternoon (hot tip: buy your eiffel tower tickets as far in advance as you can! not a couple weeks, even in the off-season) but i…
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moments in paris, pt. I
the past week has not been an easy one. coming home from a dream holiday is always tough, but tougher has been coming to terms with the events of last week. however, now that the shock has started to subside, i have found solace in focusing on all of the wonderful parts of spending a glorious, warm november week in paris. #parisisaboutlife, after all, and you would be hard-pressed to find another city that is as vibrant as the city of light. i took a trip with my mother to celebrate her milestone birthday in a place she has always wanted to visit, but as i arrived first, i had…
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returning from paris
hello friends. if you’ve been following along on instagram, you will know that i was just in paris for the past week on a holiday… i opted not to blog during this time (i barely even answered emails the whole time) and to really be in the moment there. i am back safely to the czech republic, but something has really been on my mind and i can’t exactly talk about paris without referring to what happened there on friday night. before spending the past week in paris, the city to me was one of a handful of my favorites in europe, a city that i knew i would probably…
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sweating to the oldies: athens
athens in july would be fine, i thought. it will be fun, i thought. alright, actually no, that’s a lie. every piece of travel information i have ever received actually says “avoid athens in high summer”. but it’s tough to pass through an exciting european capital without wanting to spend a few days there getting to know it. we took the blue star ferry from santorini to athens, which is an eight hour journey. i chose the ferry because we had flown in, and the price of flights, by the time i actually went to go buy them, had sky-rocketed. (buyearlybuyearly) but also, what’s not to like about the idea…
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at summer’s end
so, it’s time to face the cold hard facts that my whirlwind summer of wonder has come to a close. and oddly, i’m pretty okay with it. it has been the hottest and longest feeling summer of my life, and earliest as i technically count it starting when we flew to the united states in late may, for upon our arrival, it was the warmest, most delicious purple evening on fidalgo island and the marine breezes blew in and i was all, “ahhhhhhh, i’m home”. of course, after months of heatwave and knowing all too well what it feels like for sweat to drip down your back (yuk), i am…
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this must be just like living in (czech) paradise
you know that song, by david lee roth? about a year ago, alex and i heard this song playing loudly on one of those perfect warm early june evenings at dusk and, feeling pretty high on life, we changed the words to “czech paradise”. now we sing it early and often, so it seemed only appropriate to title this post this as we have just recently returned from a relaxing end of summer hoorah in the real czech paradise or český ráj, a national reserve located smack in the center of northern czech republic, just over an hour northeast of prague.the journey took what seemed like no time at all,…
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how i travel often (on a teacher’s budget)
it’s not a secret that ESL (english as a second language) teachers in europe aren’t the wealthiest lot (although i have heard a different story about asia– that’s where you can really rake in the $$). no, for us here on the european continent, the job is a labor of love, but one that puts us very near many intriguing and interesting new places to visit. my travel list is always a mile long and it never ends. a day after returning from a trip, i am already thinking of the next destination! in my three years abroad (yep, i just hit big three! hooray!), besides getting acclimated, settled, and…
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santorini, pt. III
the last two days spent in santorini were my favorite; a complete dream. picture lazy pool-side mornings after a delicious breakfast and sipping iced lemonades. sailing around the island on the bow of a catamaran with a cold greek beer in hand. a permanent smile plastered on my face. jumping off the stern and checking out the “warm” spring. a veritable greek thanksgiving-style feast of shrimp saganaki, salads, and grilled calamari. yes… i was on a mission to eat as much seafood as possible– there is no such thing as too much! the final full day, we were our own explorers on a quest to discover the south side of…
