TravelStream™ news feed for member jennil507 on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/jennil507 en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Wed, 04 Jun 2008 10:53:56 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennil507/1/1212587400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennil507/1/1212587400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennil507/1/1212587400/tpod.html Wed, 04 Jun 2008 10:53:56 -0400 Un Buon Viaggio in Italia, AKA Jen takes a long-awaited trip to the Boot in an attempt to "vivere bene", "mangiare bene", and above all "restare alla moda".

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Paris, Île-de-France, France

Well, this is it: my big Grand Finale trip to PARIS!

I think I picked a good place for my last trip because Paris is AMAZING! Way to go out with a bang! I can see now why so many people fall in love with the city and keep coming back. Not only is every single street corner more beautiful than the next, but the city is very modern and international, with great neighborhoods, millions of outdoor cafes full of Parisians people-watching and sipping cafe-au-lait, ample free WiFi, artists everywhere painting beautiful pictures of the scenery, and bikes on every corner you can rent by the hour simply by swiping your American Express. Despite the hoards of tourists, it's very livable, and very spirited.

Sam, Jess, and I stayed in a little (very French-looking) hostel by Monmartre, the part of Paris up on the hill. So, the first day we check out this cute (again, very French) area, including Sacre Coeur, the big white church on the top of the hill. The view from the top was great, you could see the whole city. Then we wandered by the real Moulin Rouge, where they still have can-can shows every night (very expensive to get a ticket, sadly). But it's also now in the middle of the modern Red Light district, so that's a little strange. But we still had a great afternoon/evening including french dinner including duck, rabbit, fois gras, and creme brulee - aka lots of things you can't get in Italy (There's basically no French food in Italy, because there's a huge rivalry between the French and Italians over who has the best cuisine in Europe).

The next day we walked along the Seine River until we got to the Eiffel Tower. While some tourist attractions in Europe tend to disappoint in person, the Eiffel Tower is even more impressive in real life. We made it all the way to the top, which has an amazing view and a lovely breeze. Ont he way up they tell you all about the history of the tower, which was interesting (did you know there's been everything there from regular radio/tv broadcasts, to races up the stairs on stilts, to and ice-skating rink underneath?). After that we laid in the park beside the tower to admire it's majesty (and rest from the long walk), and then got a lovely lunch of croque-monseiurs (grilled ham and cheese - very french) and Orangina (orange soda). Then we headed over to the Luxembourg gardens (gorgeous) and then to the Louvre in the evening. This is the biggest museum I've ever seen (except maybe the Vatican museums), there's no way you could see everything in a day. Highlights include Venus de Milo, Winged Victory, and of course, the Mona Lisa, which is about 18"x24", on a huge wall all by itself, and behind about 6 inches of glass. But impressive, none the less.

That night we went to a very chic club, Showcase, which was under a bridge on the Seine - it was very Euro and very cool - we had a great time!

The next day we saw the Pompidou center (Museum of Modern Art), Notre Dame Cathedral, tasted the best hot chocolate ever at Angelina's (it's pretty much melted chocolate with some milk mixed in...mmmmm), and then walked along the famous Champs Elysees while it was all lit up at night (City of Lights, indeed), all the way down to the Arc de Triomphe. Then we got a little bottle of champagne and sat in the park by the Eiffel Tower. It's packed with people at night, and every hour on the hour, all the lights sparkle! And everyone cheers and sings songs in French - it was so fun!

So, overall, Paris was an amazing experience, and I definitely would like to return one day. Maybe when the exchange rate isn't so bad, because as great as it is, it comes at a price! Worth every euro-penny, though.

And that's it, people, my last trip in Europe! I'll see you all stateside, VERY soon - Next week!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennil507/1/1211615040/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennil507/1/1211615040/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennil507/1/1211615040/tpod.html Sat, 24 May 2008 04:13:44 -0400 Un Buon Viaggio in Italia, AKA Jen takes a long-awaited trip to the Boot in an attempt to "vivere bene", "mangiare bene", and above all "restare alla moda".

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Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy

Classes are over and my time here in Italy is drawing to an end, and that means only one thing: It's FINALS season, and sometimes I need a study-break!

So, my friend Jess and I decided to take a little overnight trip to the Emilia-Romagna region (just south of Milan and Lombardy) to take in the atmosphere and especially the FOOD!

Emilia-Romagna is the home to a lot of dishes that we in America call "Italian food" - Lasagna, Spaghetti Bolognese (meat sauce), Tortellini, Prosciutto, Parmesan (Parmeggiano-Reggiano) cheese, and Balsamic vinegar, to name a few. So we set out to towns of Bologna, Modena, and Parma to try them all!

Our first stop was Bologna, the oldest university town in Europe - yep, it's home to the oldest university, which is still functioning and one of the best in the country. There's a lot of students in Bologna which gives the city a really young and hip feel. It's a very cool place. We also saw the famous towers in Bologna (one is leaning because of an earthquake, so they built another one next to it!), the duomo, and ate a good helping of Spaghetti Bolognese (of course).

The next morning we made a short stop in Modena, about 20 minutes north. This little picturesque town is home to Balsamic vinegar and Luciano Pavarotti - two great things, right? While walking around the town we came across a great outdoor food market (this is where you catch Italians in there element, GREAT people watching) and the local Military School graduation - the whole town was out for the big ceremony, it was really cool to witness!

Finally, we made it to Parma in time for lunch, which was HUGE. A whole plate of Prosciutto di Parma and Parmeggiano to start, followed by tortelloni, along with the local SanGiovese wine - DELICIOUS! Actually it was SO good, we didn't even stick around for dinner - we were too full!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennil507/1/1210711800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennil507/1/1210711800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennil507/1/1210711800/tpod.html Tue, 13 May 2008 17:09:56 -0400 Un Buon Viaggio in Italia, AKA Jen takes a long-awaited trip to the Boot in an attempt to "vivere bene", "mangiare bene", and above all "restare alla moda".

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Sorrento, Campania, Italy

So, it was my 21st birthday, and I think I gave myself a pretty good present: I took myself down south to the Amalfi Coast for 5 days. Nice birthday, right?

My actual birthday, May 7th, was a lovely Wednesday spent on a 9 hour train from Milan to Napoli, followed by a 1 hour local train to Sorrento. It was...not particularly festive. BUT after that, the fun began. Turns out the toilet in our hostel was broken, so we got moved to a four star hotel! Happy Birthday to me! It was really nice, with a great view of th Bay. We got a nice dinner of local wine and "Gnocchi alla Sorrentina" (Gnocchi baked with mozzarella), we got some sleep in preparation for a great long weekend.

The following day was an 80 degree Thursday in Campania, so we headed to the ancient city of Pompeii. Quick history lesson: When Mt. Vesuvius erupted in 80 BC the entire town of Pompeii was covered in ash is a split second, preserving it forever in a state of shock, until it was uncovered over 1600 years later. Apparently, it also sells more tickets than any museum, church, or cultural exhibit in Italy, and is the most popular archaeological site in the world. It really is an amazing sight to see. Besides the fact that there are no roofs on the buildings, the whole town is just exactly as it was - even some of the artwork on the walls is still there! There's a shopping quarter, residential district, park, stadium, theater - everything! And the coolest part of all: They have on display some of the actual bodies of the people trapped in Pompeii at the time of the eruption, mummified by the ash in the exact position they were in at the time. WAY cool.

We spent that evening in the town of Sorrento, which was a little kitschy and touristy, but absolutely beautiful. We sat on an outside deck and drank cocktails as the sun set - a great night.

The next day we made our way to Positano (not as easy as it sounds, thanks to yet another public transportation strike in Italy - of course), which is a great little town on the coast - probably one of the most beautiful places I've been so far. They call it the "vertical city" because all the buildings are build right into the sides of the mountains. And the best part of all was the BEACH! It was so gorgeous out those two days, that we spent morning till night on the beach, soaking up the sun (and getting just a little burnt in the process). But it was so relaxing and beautiful. I even bought myself a pair of handmade sandals from a little old Italian man who's been making them for probably 100 years - they're beautiful. The people in the area were SO nice, even if I couldn't understand half of what they said (the Naples accent is SO different!)

After navigating the Naples train station on Sunday while the CRAZY Napoli soccer fans ran around trying to get to the stadium for the AC Milan - Napoli match, we finally got on yet another 9 hour train home. It was a wonderful little vacation - the perfect birthday present!

Only 1 trip left!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennil507/1/1209917280/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennil507/1/1209917280/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennil507/1/1209917280/tpod.html Sun, 04 May 2008 12:42:45 -0400 Un Buon Viaggio in Italia, AKA Jen takes a long-awaited trip to the Boot in an attempt to "vivere bene", "mangiare bene", and above all "restare alla moda".

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Cinque Terre, Italian Riviera, Italy

This past Friday, I took a day trip with my study abroad program (expenses paid!) down to the Italian Riviera, a place called Cinque Terre. We left Milan on a bus practically at the crack of dawn, and after a 3 hr. bus ride, we arrived on the coast. It was a holiday weekend in Italy (Ascension Thursday), so it was packed!

Cinque Terre is a part of the Italian Riviera (near France) that actually consists of 5 small towns connected only by railroad or hiking trail - the cliffs are too steep for roads! We started off in Porto Venere and took a boat ride up the coast to Monterosso, the northern most of the 5 towns. The boat ride was beautiful - although it was about 75 degrees, there was a great breeze out at sea, and we could see every town. After a quick lunch/sit on the beach in Monterosso, we started on the hike!

Now, I've never been on a hike, and I'm not exactly the most outdoors-y girl, but I put on my non-athletic sneakers and gave it my best shot. The views from the top of the cliffs were beautiful, except I couldn't really stop to stare too often, because I had to keep all concentration on where I was stepping! The "trail" (if you can even call it that" was about 3 ft. wide at best, and the huge holiday crowd here headed in both directions. Very often I found myself clinging onto a complete stranger for dear life! Not to mention the fact that apparently the thing to do when hiking is bring your ski poles to use as walking sticks, which made it even harder to pass people. At one point the path was muddy, and I slipped, attempted to grab the wall for support, and sliced my finger. But I'm happy that that was my greatest injury. And the good news was that every so often there was an old Italian man selling lemons for €0.50, which you eat whole (my favorite!), and when you could stop to take a breather, the view was amazing.

When we arrived in the next town, Vernazza, sweaty and tired, and got a well-deserved gelato. After another nice rest on the beach (which, by the way, were crowded with sunbathers and swimmers - it must be summer!), we got the train back to La Spezia, and caught the bus home. And I slept like a baby that night, believe me. (Some people hike between all 5 towns, I only did two!)

Maybe I only did due of the cinque terre, but those I did see were really great.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennil507/1/1207675980/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennil507/1/1207675980/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennil507/1/1207675980/tpod.html Sat, 26 Apr 2008 19:08:07 -0400 Un Buon Viaggio in Italia, AKA Jen takes a long-awaited trip to the Boot in an attempt to "vivere bene", "mangiare bene", and above all "restare alla moda".

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Briosco, Italy

Lost in Lombardy:
A Tale of 11 Americanos in Northern Italy

**Disclaimer: Due to the epic nature of this trip, this is only a short preview of what I'm sure will evolve into a novella of sorts as time goes on and people add to it. Think of this as the trailer...**

Early in the morning of March 25th, 10 American travelers descended on Milan Malpensa Airport. They were soon met by their 11th member. There was a joyous meeting at the arrivals gate, and they quickly started out on their week-long trip in Northern Italy. The Cast of Characters were as follows:

- Fr. "Doctor" Moore: Amateur Travel Agent
- The Monsignor, Uncle Dickie
- Dr. Cheryl "I'm a Dentist" Branon
- "The Sistas":
- Corinne, aka "Gelato"
- Pat, aka "Rick Steve's BFF"
- Gail/TiTi, aka "Pissiano's favorite daughter"
- Bette, "DECAF, certo??"
- Gene, aka "Gennaro": The Chauffeur
- Nancy, aka "Linda": Native Italian Speaker/Master of Charades
- Jenni: The Interpreter
And there was someone else.... OH YEAH!
- Gracie "Silenzio" Amen

Right from the start the trip was an adventure. After the initial meeting, the travellers picked up their two shiny new rental cars. Everything was great until they realized that Italian cars are much smaller than American cars. And they tend to be manual. And there were 11 people. And 20 suitcases. And no one has driven stick in a few decades.

In a feat only matched by the clowns at the circus, they managed to fit the people AND the suitcases in the two tiny cars, and pull out. I could try to describe how this looked, but believe me, it needs to be seen. Let's just say that if someone had brought an extra pair of pajamas, it wouldn't have fit in the car.

After stalling only a few (re: 7 +) times in the parking lot, it became apparent that no one could get the van into reverse. But that's not a problem, right? After all, they were already out of the parking lot...

In the full length version you will hear such great stories as:

- Unable to get the van in reverse after making a wrong turn into the town of Monza, the travelers push the van backwards and then jump in, Little-Miss-Sunshine-Style.

- The travelers drive around the two roads of Briosco looking for their villa. They don't believe the several different locals that they ask, because the building they're all pointing to looks like an old run-down factory. Upon further inspection, this old factory was indeed the Villa. Once inside the walls, however, the villa turns out to be a gorgeous old estate once owned by the Medici's.

- The owner of the villa, Senora Giulini, henceforth referred to as the "Contessa", turns out to be an antique musical instrument collector. She, as well as the Villa's secretary, Paola, petition the travelers roughly 3 times a day to purchase the highly valued "concert". Supposedly this "concert" is held in the Villa on the antique organs and is quite the experience. It costs 1800 euro. The travelers all agree that it better be "quite the experience" if it costs that much.

- The travelers ride the funicolare in Lugano, Switzerland without buying tickets, a rare instance of "free fun". Several choruses of "funicoli funicola" were sung.

- After the lovely trip to Switzerland, the travelers get "lost". And "lost" is putting it lightly. During this 4 hour journey they discover many new facts such as: Italian road signs are NOT helpful or correct, no one (not even the people in the next town) know where Briosco is, highways only lead you North or South and it's almost impossible to travel East or West, there are entirely too many traffic circles in Italy, and Italians as a rule do not know or use street names/numbers when giving directions. Thank God for Adam, the catering manager back at the villa, who called numerous times attempting to give directions.

- A trip to Venice goes off almost without a hitch, not counting an all-day rain storm, and a long and tedious fight with a stubborn Italian who would not give up his seat on the train.

**AND find out answers to these burning questions.....**

- What do the travelers do on Sunday when northing's open?

- Exactly how many suitcases did they fit in the cars?

- Are the travelers interested in purchasing the Concert?

- Is it possible to get a gallon of gelato to-go? What if you bring along your own bowl?

- What happens when you use the Contessa's name to make reservations at a restaurant?

- Are there really slot parlors in Northern Italy? And if so, where?

- Which Italian waiter did the travelers like the best?

- Exactly how many pianos does the Contessa own?

- Bellagio, Menaggio, or Varenna: which is the best town on the lake?

- Have the travelers given any thought to the Concert?

- How mini is a mini pizza?

- Why isn't Lake Pusiano as famous as its sister to the north, Lake Como?

- Is it pronounced "PISSiano" or "PUSSiano"?

- Is George Cloony nice in real life?

- How many Americans does it take to figure out an Italian ATM?

- How many Americans does it take to figure out an Italian Slot Machine?

- Will Gracie ever shut up?

- Is the waiter absolutely sure that Sr. Bette got decaf?

And finally...

- ARE THEY INTERESTED IN THE CONCERT???????


All this and more, as you join the group and get Lost in Lombardy.....
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennil507/1/1208791920/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennil507/1/1208791920/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennil507/1/1208791920/tpod.html Tue, 22 Apr 2008 14:13:20 -0400 Un Buon Viaggio in Italia, AKA Jen takes a long-awaited trip to the Boot in an attempt to "vivere bene", "mangiare bene", and above all "restare alla moda".

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Rome, Italy

So, I've been in Italy for close to 4 months, and I finally made it around to Rome! They say if there's one place to go in Italy, Rome's it. I agree. While I've seen some amazing things in this country, beaches and mountains, quaint villages and beautiful art, there's simply nothing like Rome. There's SO much to see and do, it simply can't be missed!

If "Rome wasn't built in a day", it definitely can't be seen in a day. So we took four! We flew into Rome Ciampino airport (a 50 min. ride from Milan!) on Friday morning, and were settled into our hostel by 10:30!

Friday: "Ancient Rome" - Our first stop (after lunch, of course) were the ruins of the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. These are some honest-to-God Roman ruins here. I know it sounds trite, but the sheer fact you're staring at something so OLD is amazing! I mean, we saw everything from Augustus' house, to the Curia (Senate Building). It's was really cool to stand in the same building where Julius Caesar stood! We saw ancient baths, and ancient fountains, ancient columns, and ancient gardens. It was great! After wards, we headed over to the nearby Colosseum: wow. This is actually breathtaking to see in person. Can you imagine people almost 2000 years ago building something that could seat 50,000 people? And because the floor is torn up, you can see all the underground tunnels and chambers where gladiators/slaves/wild animals/etc. were kept. I felt like I was IN the movie Gladiator. Which is awesome, because I LOVE that movie!

Friday night, we found this GREAT wine bar ("enoteca") near Piazza Navona, Cul-de-Sac, which is apparently the oldest one in the city. It had millions of kinds of wine, and the food was great!

Saturday: "Viva la Papa" - On the second day, we left the country - to go to the Vatican, that is. (I still can't believe it's a country - I walked around the whole thing!) Yes, we waited 2 hours in the rain to get it, but it was so worth it. There are seemingly endless museums, which eventually lead to the Sistine Chapel. EVERYTHING is the Vatican is so ornate and BIG. Everything is decorated. The ceilings were my favorite part - they were all painted so beautifully! And speaking of painted ceilings, The Sistine Chapel is also breathtaking. Michelangelo: amazing guy. After lunch in Trastevere (cute part of Rome south of Vatican City) We went back to see St. Peter's Basilica. Which was BIG. and BEAUTIFUL. Every 5 feet you pass an amazing mosaic or the remains of a Pope, or a crazy relic. I mean, they have St. Peter's foot. And we even took the journey to the TOP of the dome! Yes, this costs extra, but it is way worth it. The walk up there is about a million steps, and not for the faint-hearted (or wide), but the views from the top are amazing. The weather cleared up by then, so it was great! Of course, the one time in my life when I go to Rome, the pope goes to DC, so I missed him. Figures, any other time I would have been in DC, but this week I happen to be in Rome. Switch-a-roo.

Saturday night we went on a Roman Pub Crawl! It was really fun - we got to see a few cool bars in Rome, meet some fellow Americans, and we even got a free T-shirt. "I came, I saw, I crawled".

Sunday "Park Day": After a short visit to the Pantheon, which in addition to being thousands of years old, houses the graves of some Italian greats such as Raphael, Vittorio Emmanuele II (first king of Italy), and Queen Margherita (who the pizza is named after), is now converted into a Catholic church, and has an awesome dome that no archaeologist can figure out how it was constructed so skillfully so many years ago, without any technology. Cool, huh? And after lunch, we spent the rest of Sunday as most Italians do (seeing as everything is closed): in the park. It was a great little nap under a real palm tree on a sunday afternoon: lovely. And on the way back, we paid homage to one of the greats, Roman Holiday, by stopping by the famous "Bocca della Verita'". Sadly you can't actually stick your hand in it like Gregory Peck, but I still got a picture.

Monday "Etc. Etc. Etc": We took our last day to finish up everything else: Trevi Fountain (fought the urge to jump in La-Dolce-Vita style), Spanish Steps, Chiesa delle Quattro Fontane, Santa Maria della Vittoria (home of famous statue "The Ecstasy of St. Theresa", among many others. So, I guess you can say we saw it all!

A great trip, overall. What a beautiful city, truly "eternal". I threw my penny in the fountain, which, they tell me means that I will "surely return to Rome". Here's hopin!

Arrivederci, Roma!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennil507/1/1207135740/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennil507/1/1207135740/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennil507/1/1207135740/tpod.html Wed, 02 Apr 2008 07:39:42 -0400 Un Buon Viaggio in Italia, AKA Jen takes a long-awaited trip to the Boot in an attempt to "vivere bene", "mangiare bene", and above all "restare alla moda".

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Nice, France

Easter in Nice: Belle!

Sam, Carol, and I spent two nights in Nice on the French Riviera in the South of France last weekend for Easter - it was absolutely beautiful! It was warm enough to sit on the beach (clothed, of course) - which is basically what we. I don't have too much to say about this trip because we really didn't do much more than SIT. We sat on the beach, we sat on benches in the park, we sat and admired the view. Not exactly the most cultural and enlightening trip, but I loved it! After all the touring, the museums, the art, the history, it's nice to just go somewhere and relax, enjoy the scenery. Luckily the weather was beautiful and we could do just that.

Again, I got to practice my French, we eat fish, ratatouille, baguettes, and cafe au laits in Vieux Ville ("Old City"), went to Easter mass in French, and watched cruise ships go by.

Overall, it was a lovely easy-going trip. Merci, Nice!

Sorry for the lack of pictures, my camera's batteries died the first day!

Stay tuned for the adventures of La Famiglia - next week's entry about my family's visit to Northern Italy - not to be missed!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennil507/1/1205603880/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennil507/1/1205603880/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennil507/1/1205603880/tpod.html Sat, 15 Mar 2008 14:33:41 -0400 Un Buon Viaggio in Italia, AKA Jen takes a long-awaited trip to the Boot in an attempt to "vivere bene", "mangiare bene", and above all "restare alla moda".

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Milan, Italy

Ciao tutti!

So I didn't go anywhere this weekend (finally! I get to relax!) but I thought I'd put up some pictures that my friends took. They're from everywhere I've been so far - enjoy!

Getting ready for a very special group to come visit me next week, you know who you are...

Can't wait!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennil507/1/1205271600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennil507/1/1205271600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennil507/1/1205271600/tpod.html Tue, 11 Mar 2008 18:09:19 -0400 Un Buon Viaggio in Italia, AKA Jen takes a long-awaited trip to the Boot in an attempt to "vivere bene", "mangiare bene", and above all "restare alla moda".

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Brussels, Belgium

Bonjour! Just got back from Brussels - what a great trip! Before this weekend I didn't know much about Brussels/Belgium at all, except that they seem to have sprouts and waffles named after them, respectively. But a few of my friends were going (Carol, Christine, and Sam - all seen in Dublin last week), so I decided to give it a shot. I'm SO glad I did because it really is a beautiful and interesting place.

Of course, the first thing I did when I got to Brussels was get a waffle. And then I got several more throughout my weekend trip - I couldn't resist, they were so delicious! They sell them just about everywhere, and even in the most tourist-y places, I couldn't seem to find a bad one. In fact, the whole city smells like waffles, which believe me, is lovely. You can get anything on it, from powdered sugar, to ice cream, to fruit, to chocolate syrup. mmmmmmm! And speaking of chocolate, it's the other food that Belgium does best. The hundreds of chocolate shops were decked out for Easter this weekend, with chocolate eggs and bunnies galore, which was really fun to see. And they don't taste half bad either! Chocolate, waffles, and beer: who wouldn't like this place?

Besides the waffles, Brussels is also known for its seafood (especially mussels. Brussels-Mussels - Ha!) which I got for dinner the first night. Belgian beer is also very celebrated in the city. There are over 300 breweries in the city, and some bars have over 2,000 different types of beer! They have a beer for every season, including all kinds of fruit flavors (raspberry, cherry, peach, etc.) which are great. Yes, I tried as many many Belgian beers - so I had a grand time, as you can imagine! :)

Although it was pretty cold and rainy, we still got to see a lot of the sites (excluding Mini-Europe, an amusement park where they have 1:25 scale models of all of Europe's great monuments - 10 ft. Leaning Tower? awesome! But it was closed for the winter, to our great disappointment): Including the Cathedral, the European Union Parliament Building (Brussels is the capital of the EU), The Grand Place (what Victor Hugo called "the most beautiful square in the world), the Botanical Gardens, and of course, the Mannekin Pis (the fountain-statue of the little boy peeing!).

Overall, Brussels was a great experience and a very relaxing weekend. I even got to break out some of the old high school French! (French and Flemish are the languages of Belgium) Even after being so submerged in Italian for the past 3 years, French came back surprisingly easy to me, especially after I heard people speaking it on the street/on TV. When I got back to Italy, however, I had a little trouble getting back into Italian-mode; I mixed up oui and si, and scusi and excusez-moi a few times, I'll admit! But it's nice to know I still got it!

Au Revoir de Bruxelles - A tout a l'heure!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennil507/1/1204565820/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennil507/1/1204565820/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jennil507/1/1204565820/tpod.html Tue, 04 Mar 2008 08:30:20 -0500 Un Buon Viaggio in Italia, AKA Jen takes a long-awaited trip to the Boot in an attempt to "vivere bene", "mangiare bene", and above all "restare alla moda".

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Dublin, Ireland

So I made it back from my first international trip in Europe! Dublin was amazing - I loved it!

From the moment I stepped off the plane, I knew this was going to be a great trip: people were speaking ENGLISH! It's been so long since I've heard English being spoken on the street - I was so excited that I talked to the immigration man who stamped my passport for about 10 minutes :)

We got into Ireland late in the evening, so we had to take a cab across the city to my friend from Georgetown (Christine)'s apartment, and the adventure began! Literally, the cab driver was blasting Irish music and spoke with the thickest Irish accent I've ever heard - it was the perfect way to start our trip!

Since this week is Spring Break at Georgetown, a lot of friends were visiting Dublin while we were there. Sam and I came from Milan, Carol came from Florence, 4 girls came from Georgetown, as well as Christine's other roommates friends and siblings - it was a packed house, to say the least! It was so great to be back together though, so we had a great time, even sleeping on the floor. Because of this was a reunion of sorts, a lot of time was spent sitting around and talking (which means less time for sightseeing), so this entry might be less detailed than others.

Dublin is a great place, very international, very young, and there's lots of things to do. On out first day we visited the Jameson Irish Whiskey Distillery, where we saw how whiskey is made, and even got a complementary glass of Ireland's finest. Carol and Christine were also picked to sample 5 different whiskeys is a taste-test!

That day we also walked around a lot of the city, and despite the clouds and rain, had a great time. In the next days we saw the Dublin Castle, Trinity College, St. Steven's Green, the Liffey River, and almost the whole city!

Finish it off with a trip to the pub (you literally can't go a block without passing one), and my Irish adventure was complete!

Enjoy the pictures - see you next week in Brussels!
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