The Shortest Tour of Europe Part 1

While it was hard to leave Florence, we made the adjustment a little bit easier on ourselves by planning a quick tour of Europe to end our adventure. Although these posts are very late, we wanted to wrap up our blog with one last update and some fun pictures, of course. We have now been home for a while, and we are both adjusting to the real world again. Every once in a while, we call each other to talk about how we probably should have stayed longer! :)

Barcelona
We spent the majority of our time in Barcelona checking out Gaudi's architecture and drinking (or should we say eating?) Spanish hot chocolate which is similar to warm chocolate pudding.

Madrid
In Madrid, we got a walking tour of the city from Jess' friends Anne and Javier, a native of Spain. Then we went out for tapas with Javier's wonderful and very fun family.

Paris
We both LOVED Paris!!! There was so much that we wanted to see so we decided to take a tour bus around the city so we could see it all. After that we enjoyed the most amazing steak and fries ever! We ended the trip by visiting the Eiffel Tower at night where we got to see the twinkling blue lights.

The Shortest Tour of Europe Part 2

Glasgow
Glasgow was such a treat as we got to spend time with Laura and her family. What wonderful people and hosts they are! They cooked amazing food, provided tasty wine, and danced to U2 until the wee hours of the night with us. Scottish people really know how to have a good time!

London
Katherine, Allie's old pen pal, was our hostess in London, and she totally hooked us up! After the standard sight-seeing was complete, she got us into London Fashion Week and took us out to the bar scene with her friends. It was so much fun!

Dublin
Our time in Dublin turned into a girls' weekend because Allie had the flu. Luckily, we were staying with Felicity and Shane who cooked for us and provided all kinds of fun movies to keep us busy. Unfortunately, we did not get to see all of Dublin, but we did enjoy a great lunch at an Irish pub.

Prague
Prague was our last stop on the shortest tour of Europe. We had the least time here, but we managed to check out all of the essential touristy spots including the famous clock. We also got upgraded to a suite in our hotel so we took advantage of the luxury during our stay.

Our Travels Begin...Part 2

Highlights of the French Riviera:
We took a quick trip to the French Riviera after Greece. We stayed in Cannes, but we also toured around Nice and Monte Carlo. Cannes was our favorite town because it had so much character. We enjoyed just walking around and people watching. It was in Cannes that we ate the best croissant that we have EVER had! The bakeries in France really are as good as people say. In Nice, we strolled around the city and then went to a hole-in-the-wall restaurant where we experienced the classic French cuisine. It was delicious! When we arrived in Monte Carlo, we felt like we stepped onto a movie set. There were exquisite buildings, beautiful people, and fancy cars everywhere! We checked out the famous casino and walked around a couple of upscale hotels before we headed back to the real world.

Highlights of Germany:
The last leg of our trip was in northern Germany, and we could not wait to get there! We stayed with Mari, one of our good friends from high school. She is living in Germany with her husband Rob who is a professional soccer player. We had sooo much fun with both of them! They are definitely competing for the "best hosts of the year" award! After spending almost a full day catching up on each others' lives, Mari and Rob showed us around the local towns. We went to some fabulous restaurants, neat shopping areas and a really fun disco. We also had a couple of fun girls' nights and a movie night too. We loved every minute of it, but the highlight of the trip was definitely attending Rob's soccer game. We both agreed that it was one of the coolest sporting events that we have ever seen. The fans are absolutely nuts! We got to sit in the VIP section where we enjoyed free food and drinks. His team won, AND he scored a goal! What more could you ask for! It was all such a treat!

Our Travels Begin...Part 1

Highlights of Southern Italy:
Our trip started in the Amalfi Coast in Italy, which is absolutely beautiful! It is full of steep cliffs with colorful houses built into them, and each small town that lines the coast is very charming. We arrived in Salerno, the city in which we were staying, and had no idea how to get to our hotel so we approached the local police station to get some help. This turned out to be a fabulous idea because we ended up making friends with a few of them. On our second night there, they took us out to dinner at a local restaurant and showed us around the town. It was so nice to get a local's perspective of this town. We also spent a day at the beach in Positano and had the most delicious seafood pasta at Chez Black, a restaurant right on the water there.

Highlights of Greece:
Greece was definitely one of our favorite places so far! After Southern Italy, we headed to Greece with almost no set plans. All we knew was that we were hoping to find a nice beach and some traditional food. With that in mind, we figured that we could just wing it. Luckily, on the ferry from Italy to Greece, we met three amazing people from Australia. We instantly hit it off with Chris, Mel and Xavier, and they invited us to join them in Corfu, an island off of northern Greece. We all found a reasonable hotel across the street from the ocean. We spent our days relaxing on the beach and our nights trying new restaurants. The food was so so so incredible, and the company was even better!

On our last day there, we headed over to the infamous Pink Palace, a legendary hostel for backpackers from around the world. This place is wild! It has every crazy activity that you could imagine, from four-wheeling to toga parties. It felt like we were on Spring Break 08! Here is where we met Aviad and Loyd, two guys from Boston. We had a great time with them just hanging out at the beach and checking out all of the ridiculousness that goes down at the Pink Palace! It was a quick trip, but it was still quite the experience!

The Most AMAZING Cooking Class

We have officially had our single best experience in Italy! Everyone who comes to Florence must take advantage of the cooking class at the Villa Monteoriolo! When we (Tim and Florann were with us!) arrived at the villa, we met Eleonora, our amazing hostess and teacher, who gave us a tour of the entire property. She showed us the inside of the villa, the vineyards, and her family's cellar where she stores her homemade olive oil. After spending some time relaxing by the pool, we made our way into the kitchen. We started the evening by learning how to make pasta noodles from scratch, and we made homemade ravioli with a delicious ricotta cheese and basil filling. These were covered with a tasty tomato sauce. We also made an incredible rub which we used to season pork tenderloin and roasted potatoes. As we were cooking, we had incredible white wine that was made from a local vineyard and pecorino cheese. We ate our freshly cooked food in the large candle-lit dining room in the villa. After dinner, we all went out onto the terrace and enjoyed our homemade peach tiramisu and some amazing dessert wine. It was such a treat! We fully intend to stay in contact with Eleonora, and we are hoping to take another class from her before we leave.

Our friend Kendall came into town for a couple of days, and she treated us to the best dinner we have had here yet! We enjoyed their famous balsamic and blueberry steaks. To die for!!! It is officially our new favorite restaurant! We made friends with the people at the table next to us, and we all went out together after dinner. It was a blast!

The traveling is officially beginning today! We are taking off for Southern Italy, Greece, the French Riviera and Germany. We could not be more excited! We are looking to do some exploring of these new places and then a lot of relaxing on the beach. To end the trip, we are going to visit our friend Mari in Germany. We will be out of touch for a while, but we will definitely have some fun updates when we return.

The Week of Dinner Parties

We had the "week of dinner parties" last week! It was so much fun to really experience the culture of life in Italy! It started with our bosses cooking us a traditional Lebanese meal, which was so fresh and incredible. It was also exciting for us to try something new and different. We know this sounds terrible, but we are in serious need of something other than Italian food (a bean and cheese burrito from Titos sounds unbelievable right about now!). We then returned the favor to our bosses by cooking a gourmet "American" meal for them. Jess made Cheryl's famous meatloaf, and then we put together mashed potatoes and a salad. They were so impressed by this! Towards the end of the week, it was back to pizza, pasta, and bread when a few of our local friends made us an amazing home-cooked Italian meal. It was mouthwatering! We never thought penne with bolognese sauce could taste so good. After dinner, we went straight into an impromptu dance session. So much fun! Our week ended with a seafood feast at a restaurant in Santo Spirito with our friend Carlos. We sat outside under the stars with a violinist playing in the background. It was beautiful!

Chris, Florann and Tim are in town. Allie has spent the last several days with them cruising through Verona, Venice, Rome, Siena, and Florence, of course. It has been quite the adventure, to say the least! They have gotten a nice taste of the Italian train system, and they have made a point of enjoying gelato at every opportunity they get. We have done our best to really show them what Italy is all about! Jess has been such a great sport about working by herself! She has done an incredible job of holding down the fort at the leather store while Allie played tour guide to her family.

Everyone has told us to prepare for extremely warm weather in August, and It seems to be getting hotter by the day! Also, a lot of Italian businesses close for the month of August, and people use this time for vacation and rest. We are expecting a quiet and relaxing month. Luckily, some of our friends will still be around, and we will do our best to keep this town alive. We are also going to use this month to figure out our traveling plans for October. At this point, we have a very extensive list of places in Europe to check out, but we are open to more suggestions. :) Ciao!

Girl Tour 2008: The Celebration of Us!

Having Cristina and Beth here was so much fun! Our first night consisted of making dinner and then having a long chat over wine. It was so fun to have time for a little "girl talk"! The following night we got lucky and stumbled upon Jess's favorite restaurant here, where we enjoyed some incredible veal and pasta. After our fun meal out, the four of us headed out to a bar where we all immediately made friends with a couple of local Italians. The people here are so friendly and hospitable! On the girls' last night here, we packed a picnic and hiked up to Piazza Michael Angelo where we enjoyed an incredible view of the entire city of Florence during the sunset. So romantic!!!

We had such a blast with the girls that we decided to extend our time with them by meeting in Cinque Terre for a night. These coastal towns are beautiful, and we both got a nice little taste of home when we caught our first glimpse of the ocean. We were especially surprised at how small these towns are. They are literally made up of about one road lined with shops and restaurants and then beach areas. After a nice little dinner over-looking the water and some really tasty wine, we headed back to our little hotel rooms where we hung out and took a bunch of pictures to savor the memories of our time there.

We love hearing from all of you. If you have a minute, feel free to leave a comment for us on here.

If we have learned anything from our Italian friends, it is that they stay really busy...doing a whole lot of nothing! Coming from the fast-paced life of Los Angeles, this has been a welcome change! Ciao!

The First Jobs

We never thought we would be able to say this, but our lives are BUSY here! The karma seems to be flowing our way because not only are we employed, but we now have TWO jobs. We could not be more excited and grateful for this!

We spent three days last week working in a high-end leather shop. It is a really fun job, and we spend most of our time talking to customers who are mainly from America or Australia. The owners eagerly invited us back to work more after we sold two leather coats, a purse and some belts. The best part of this gig is that we can try on all of the coats. They have everything in there, and the leather literally feels like butter.

Our second job includes writing copy for an English web site here. The most exciting part about this particular job is that we get paid two ways. Not only is the owner giving us an hourly wage, but he is also touring us around Italy for free. We really hit the jackpot with both of these jobs!!!

Other than that, we have continued to make friends. At the beginning of the week, we met Fadi, who we are going to give the title of new best friend! He has been so helpful in introducing us to people and helping us find work. He even treated us to an incredible sushi dinner, which we had been craving since we arrived in Italy. :) We were on top of the world after the delicious food when the night got even better! After dinner, we headed over to a wine shop, owned by our new friends Philippo and Matteo, and we had a private wine tasting with a small group of friends. Jess and I kept turning to each other and saying, "Can you believe this?! This is why we moved here!" It was quite the experience!

Cristina and Beth arrived yesterday, and the friendly faces from home were a very welcome site. We spent the afternoon walking around and exploring the city. Then Jess and I cooked a true Italian dinner for the four of us, and we had a long girly chat over a bottle of wine. It was so much fun telling stories and reminiscing about mutual friends we all have! We are really excited to have the girls here for the next few days, and we are sure that we will have more adventures to share later this week.

Hope everyone is doing well back home! Ciao!
xoxo

The First Supper

Up to this point, the highlights of the trip have been sharing dinner over iChat with Isabella (she enjoyed lunch while we enjoyed dinner), eating amazing gelatto every day, and having the luxury of Skype in our apartment while waiting for our baggage.

Ladies and Gentlemen, uncross those fingers and put the prayer books away. Allie has finally been reunited with her luggage! After spending the morning unpacking, we were thrilled to finally be able to leave the apartment and head to Piazza Beccaria to indulge in a croissant. Allie could not wipe the smile off of her face until, during the five-minute walk, she discovered that a bird crapped on her hair. What is her luck! It has become par for the course these days. We laughed it off and moved on with our day.

To celebrate our new-found freedom in Florence, we showered, got beautified, and decided to treat ourselves to a FABULOUS dinner! (Note: Anyone who comes to Florence NEEDS to try Il Latini.) After a 45-minute walk, we found ourselves in an air-conditioned room in the back of the restaurant with two bottles of wine and fresh bread. The chef, Lucciano, made his way to our table and asked if we would be interested in antipasti. Our English-speaking waiter, Alessandro, explained to us that we could take advantage of the full four-course meal or pick individual items that we wanted. We were starving so we decided to go all out and eat everything that the restaurant had to offer.

The antipasti consisted of salami, prosciutto, fresh cantaloupe, risotto salad, caprese, and chicken liver on crostinis. We thought this was a full meal in itself. Lucciano then came back to our table and asked what kind of pasta we liked, and we quickly answered with "everything, give us all that you got!" so he came back with three dishes. The pasta dishes were bow tie pasta with mushrooms in a marsala sauce, spinach and riccotta ravioli in a marinara sauce, and penne in an amazing bolognaise sauce.

At this point we were enjoying a bottle of wine and made friends with the people sitting next to us. Kelly and Andy are from Oregon, and they were excited to discover that we were also from America. We chatted for a while and even took pictures with each other's cameras.

Ok, here comes the next course. We had the choice of almost any meat that you could imagine. We were so full, but we could not resist trying the roast beef, which was phenomenal! We also ordered a side of fresh spinach to compliment our meat.

Now, what you have all been waiting for, the list of desserts was presented to us. Allie chose the ice cream sundae while I chose the profiteroles. Who could pass up cream puffs soaked in chocolate! As a gift, Alessandro and Lucciano brought over two glasses of a sparkling white dessert wine, which was very tasty. They also surprised us with shots of limoncello, which the four of us took to cheers our new friendship. The bill process was very interesting. A man came over and just told us how much we owed without seeing what we ate...we got a deal!

The walk home took us half the time, and after a birthday call to Krystal, we were ready for bed. Arrivederci!

The Kickoff - Day One, Two, Three

We have FINALLY arrived at our apartment in Florence, and we are not sure that we have EVER been so tired in our entire lives! We have basically been awake for the last 36 hours. What a trip this has been! After going to bed at 1:00am and waking up at 3:30am on Monday, we rushed to the airport only to get bumped off of the first two flights to Atlanta that we attempted to catch. When we saw that we were number 30 on the standby list for the third Atlanta flight, we were both wishing we had slept a little longer. Luckily, McDonald's came to the rescue with a gourmet breakfast, and we felt much better about the whole thing. Also, we came across a really nice lady who told us we should look into flights to New York. Little did we know, the flights to New York were wide open all morning! We quickly got the friendly Delta representatives at LAX to change our reservation, and the journey officially began to Italy.

The first flight was pretty easy as we both slept about half the time in an effort to make up for the lost sleep the night before we left. When we arrived in New York, we ended up sitting on the runway for over an hour because there were no open gates for our plane to park. This is when we nervously called Chel'sea (you are the best!) to make sure that we still had a good chance of making it on the flight to Rome. After getting off the plane and running to our next gate (and the bathroom!), we were pleasantly surprised to get seats in business class for the flight from New York to Rome. Let us tell you, we have never been so happy to be on a flight! We even talked about doing our best to avoid falling asleep so that we could enjoy our special seats. The experience started with the flight attendants offering us orange juice and champagne. They then brought us a three-course meal that was topped off with "bomb" ice cream sundaes. After dinner, we watched a movie and listened to our pre-selected playlists from the music on the plan. Finally, we gave in to our exhausted bodies and put the seats in the "sleep" position for the remaining three hours of the flight. We were awoken by the flight attendants for breakfast. What a life! We both agreed at the end of the trip that we wished the flight had lasted longer. Little did we know that we would feel that way even more as the day continued.

Unfortunately, upon our arrival in Rome, we discovered that our luggage did not make the trip with us. It did not seem like too big of a deal until we were informed that it would take three days (give or take a day) to receive our suitcases. We were wishing that we had taken our moms' and Chel'sea's advice to pack some additional clothes in our carry-on bags, but we did not do this so we are hanging out in Florence in 90 degree weather with black pants and fancy shirts that officially smell terrible. The scary part is that we will be sleeping in these clothes (that is right- neither of us have pajamas here) AND wearing these same charming outfits for the next several days. We decided to "think good thoughts" about our bags and just move on with the trip. We must have still been on a high from sitting in business class!

We found a few nice people in the Rome airport to direct us to the train station for our ride to Florence. We had an easy time finding the train to downtown Rome and then figured out where to go to catch a train to Florence. While at the train station, we were both very afraid of gypsies stealing our purses/wallets/passports, but we got lucky and only saw one woman who asked us for money. We both barked a quick "NO!" at her and moved on to our second-class train cabin (which was very nice, by the way). This is where we officially met Tom, our first Florence friend. Our seats were directly across from Tom, who was kind enough to switch seats with us so that Jess would not get "train-sick." This sparked up a conversation between the three of us, and we ended up talking to him the entire ride to Florence. He is from London, but he has lived in Florence for about four years so he had tons of pointers to share including vacation suggestions, restaurants recommendations, and ways to eat on a budget. Apparently, there are places here where you can buy one drink and then eat from a buffet for free. He even told us about a job opportunity at his school where we could "model" for people who are in painting classes. FYI, we confirmed that we would be wearing clothing for these "modeling" jobs. We will see where this takes us! We quickly latched onto the idea of making friends in our new town and took down Tom's information. We even made plans to get together with him for a soccer game at the end of July.

We were both feeling really great about the way things were starting! On our way to the new apartment, we needed to kill some time so we grabbed a panini at a nearby cafe. We even busted out the UNO cards to stay awake while we waited to meet the apartment lady. We were having such a fun time when the owner of the cafe came over, pointed to the cards, and then gave us a stern "NO!." Apparently, Italians are not fans of playing card games at empty cafe tables! We decided to brush off the rudeness because we were so excited to meet Barbara, the apartment lady.

When we arrived there, Barbara showed us around the place and gave us all of the information we needed. She also informed us that we could not pay our rent through Paypal as originally planned. She needed us to get cash tonight so she could pay the landlord in the morning. We tried to persuade her to accept Paypal, but she was not budging. She clearly wanted us to deal with the hassle and incur the bank charges. :) We made several calls to Bank of America (thank God for Skype!), and we traveled to two different ATMs in an attempt to accomplish this task. During our ATM travels, we went to Coop (a local grocery store) to get groceries, and there we upset the clerk because we did not weigh and price our fruit on our own. She was not a happy camper when she realized that she needed to do this for us. What can we say, no one told us about this little trick! Luckily, we had some really nice locals behind us in line, and they nicely smiled and waited patiently. They even gave us some directions to another ATM! After almost four hours of dealing with the rent debacle, we were able to get cash out of an ATM, and we finally headed off to dinner where we enjoyed a margherita pizza and some gnocchi. This was a welcome treat after dealing with the rent situation.

It is now after midnight, and the time we have been awake is really adding up. We are both beyond delirious! We are now off to bed and hope to get a good 10 hours in before we start tomorrow's adventures. This will be a challenging task since, as Jess put it perfectly, "it is 90 degrees outside and about 107 degrees in our apartment." Did we mention that the apartment does not have air conditioning?! We will report back soon. Maybe we will have news of employment by then. We miss all of you! xoxo.