Susannah and I had a lovely time arguing (and drinking) our way through Italy. We made a personal vow to ourselves that, no matter what should happen, we would eat gelato at least once a day. I had also made a personal vow to myself that I would drink at least once a day throughout my entire trip (though I think we managed to outdo ourselves at least a couple times). I am happy to report that I haven't gotten horrendously sick or hungover and am still enjoying sampling the local beverages of each country I visit!
Rome was historical, warm, and best of all, full of food and fun. Despite the many amazing sights and loads of fountains we saw, one of the best parts was cooking dinner in the tiny hostel with our international friends (until I beat Susannnah over the head with a frying pan- photo to follow shortly). Boxed table wine for a euro, chicken piccata, limoncello, and Francis making us curry and chai at midnight make for a very memorable evening. While in Rome, San made the mistake of asking me if we had reached the Sistine Chapel yet (as we were winding through endless hallways). So far we have reached at least 17 Sistine Chapels and she'll never live this one down. We have a plethora of ridiculous photos of ourselves desecrating ancient monuments and "taking the piss out of" (as our Brit friends would say) various historical attractions.
Florence was also historical, and even warmer! I think I can never spend another winter in NYC. Throughout my trip, I have decided to move to at least 3 different European countries and now I'm entirely confused! Luckily, I no longer care about the age-old bother of "what to do with my life" and am instead trying to figure out where I want to live next and how to go about doing it. Anyhow, back to Florence. Despite the four year gap, most of my local sense of direction returned and amazingly, almost all of my "old haunts" were still around. I had a great time leading San around to various places, both touristy and not, and she had a great time making fun of the fact that almost every time I pointed out something I recognized, it was somehow related to wine or drinking in general (except when it had to do with food). "Oh, that's where I used to run out for a cheap bottle of wine... I loved that bar! Once I drank in this piazza."
It was lovely remembering these excursions, seeing my old apartment building, and trying to speak Italian again (though even more poorly than before). We made friends with an Aussie named Jessica, and briefly, with two Americans who were living in Rome. Our giant dinner at Trattoria Za Za was amazing, until about 10 hours later when I was regretting eating so much (mirroring the great guacamole incident that many of you have heard about). However, the next night we were feeling better and Susannah and I had a romantic dinner for two at my favorite Florentine restaurant, Aqua al Due, and we both voted it "better than sex." Better than sex?! Yes, better than sex.
We're now on day 4 of a 7 day jaunt through Spain, so more about Priya's sweet flat, Ramon's jamon, and the healing powers of paella and sangria in Valencia soon.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Europe is the new Spring Break
As it turns out, the rest of Ireland was pretty delightful. The next stop after Dublin was Galway, which is a very cute little city but also pretty much a college town. When I arrived, Sunday night was pretty slow- my first order of business was to find some fish and chips, and while doing so I met a juggler. The juggler (whose real business is teaching kids circus tricks, thus the juggling) took me to a very authentic Irish pub where I proceeded to down a couple Guinnesses (Guinni?) before the juggler and I exchanged an earring for a used Metrocard. I then moved on to another pub with live traditional music, which was lovely, and met a couple students who asked me how the crack was in Dublin. Considering I saw a girl doing a line of coke off the windowsill of my hostel a couple days before, but since I also try to stay away from (most) drugs, I was a little hard pressed to answer this question. They laughingly explained that "craic" (pronounced crack) is an Irish word for fun. Who knew?
The next couple of days were spent sightseeing in the Irish countryside. The Cliffs of Moher are breathtaking- as are the Aran Islands. After taking the ferry to Inis Mor, the largest of the 3 islands, I rented a bike and rode around seeing ruins and cliffs and ocean views for about 4 hours. It was amazing- and the Irish breakfast and coffee with Bailey's wasn't so bad either :)
Upon returning to Galway on Monday evening, I found that the city was in full swing of an Irish phenomenon known as "rag week" (I didn't go into what americans use rag to refer to...). Basically, rag week is a cross between Mardi Gras and spring break, under the guise of a fundraiser. Apparently students drink for a week straight and pull pranks (no idea what kind of pranks, as all I witnessed were drunken antics) to raise money for a designated charity. The city was insane, but in the midst of it all I found a vaguely-sober 21 year old who claimed to be a "boy racer," referring to The Fast and the Furious. I managed to convince him to teach me to drive a manual car, which I have always wanted to learn, and he did! By the sea! I was pretty sure that if he tried to pull anything shady I could take him- he probably weighed about half what I do. He did tell me that American girls are known to "kiss with class" in Ireland... he may have just been angling for some action, but I took it as a compliment to our great nation.
I returned to Dublin for one night before flying to meet Susannah in Italy, and a very cute boy who worked in my hostel took me out to a couple pubs- which was a very nice end to my time in Ireland :) After seeing amazing sights, being taught to pour a shamrock into a proper pint of Guinness, learning such grand drinking games as Fives and Wiggly Worm, and jumping on beds to Vampire Weekend (who is really popular in Ireland for some reason, yay!), I might just have to come back here real soon.
Next up- adventures in Italy with Susannah and Bonnie! Stay tuned for stories such as how we found the Trevi fountain, cooking curry in the middle of the night with Francis, and cheeky little buggers.
The next couple of days were spent sightseeing in the Irish countryside. The Cliffs of Moher are breathtaking- as are the Aran Islands. After taking the ferry to Inis Mor, the largest of the 3 islands, I rented a bike and rode around seeing ruins and cliffs and ocean views for about 4 hours. It was amazing- and the Irish breakfast and coffee with Bailey's wasn't so bad either :)
Upon returning to Galway on Monday evening, I found that the city was in full swing of an Irish phenomenon known as "rag week" (I didn't go into what americans use rag to refer to...). Basically, rag week is a cross between Mardi Gras and spring break, under the guise of a fundraiser. Apparently students drink for a week straight and pull pranks (no idea what kind of pranks, as all I witnessed were drunken antics) to raise money for a designated charity. The city was insane, but in the midst of it all I found a vaguely-sober 21 year old who claimed to be a "boy racer," referring to The Fast and the Furious. I managed to convince him to teach me to drive a manual car, which I have always wanted to learn, and he did! By the sea! I was pretty sure that if he tried to pull anything shady I could take him- he probably weighed about half what I do. He did tell me that American girls are known to "kiss with class" in Ireland... he may have just been angling for some action, but I took it as a compliment to our great nation.
I returned to Dublin for one night before flying to meet Susannah in Italy, and a very cute boy who worked in my hostel took me out to a couple pubs- which was a very nice end to my time in Ireland :) After seeing amazing sights, being taught to pour a shamrock into a proper pint of Guinness, learning such grand drinking games as Fives and Wiggly Worm, and jumping on beds to Vampire Weekend (who is really popular in Ireland for some reason, yay!), I might just have to come back here real soon.
Next up- adventures in Italy with Susannah and Bonnie! Stay tuned for stories such as how we found the Trevi fountain, cooking curry in the middle of the night with Francis, and cheeky little buggers.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
On The Cheap NYC Goes to Europe
If anyone actually reads this rag, I'm sure you've noticed I've been on quite a hiatus. Sadly (for you, not me) I've been traveling on and off for the past couple of months (holidays, NC, Sundance Film Fest, now Europe- some more interesting than others) but I'm happy to report I'm back! As you read (or rather, I type), I'm in a hostel in Rome and I'm rather unhappy to report that this keyboard sucks and is quite difficult to get the hang of. Regardless, I'll proceed to report on the happenings so far.
First of all, let me be the first to inform you that Europe is not cheap. However, I am writing in this blog because the others I write for have even less to do with traveling, and I'm not about to create yet another blog *sigh* for just the purpose of a month of adventures. I will try to put some cheapo advice in here for you travel fiends, though.
I started in Dublin, after a brief layover in Amsterdam (might end up staying there at the end of the trip, but we'll see how far my bank account carries me, ok?). Here is the very first entry in my travel journal... enjoy!
16 Feb 2008
This morning, my first in Ireland, I woke up in a flat in southeast Dublin sandwiched between an Irish guy and his Scottish friend. Fully clothed, thank-you-very-much! But fun nonetheless. From what I remember, we all drank way too much and stayed out way too late and I couldn't quite bring myself to make it back to my hostel across town. I remember playing drinking games (and losing miserably) in a pub white a live band sang old school Oasis and Travis (yay!), and wandering around town drunkenly getting piggyback rides and switching jackets, and dancing crazily in a nightclub, and being told my nose piercing is in the wrong nostril by a sketchy Indian man, and taking stupid pictures, and getting denied entry to another club becasue somehow a stolen pint glass ended up in my bag, and listening to the boys play a less-than-stellar (though very enthusiastic) guitar at 5 am, and lots of snoring. And that's about all I remember. This morning, I caught a taxi back to the hostel and my older Irish cabbie was hilarious- read the situation perfectly (my not so shameful walk o f shame) and provided some comical commentary. I told him it was a night to write home abou (as I am finally doing, now!), and he replied "or not, as the case may be"- we both had a good cackle. He left me with the hope that I will have many more fun nights where I can't remember much (as if I haven't had enough already) and I left him with a nice tip. So far, I am quite fond of Ireland!
The End.
I have so much more to tell, but I must return to my sister, my cheap-ass box of Italian Merlot, and the other awesomely drunken hostel-stayers. Tomorrow- promising an update of both the rest of Ireland (think learning to drive a manual on the other side of the road, hot Irish hostel desk-boy, and much more Guinness) and Roma, which has proved to be highly entertaining, as Susannah and I cackle through the Vatican and city in general.
Cheers! Miss you all- will see you when my money runs out :)
loves, Bon
First of all, let me be the first to inform you that Europe is not cheap. However, I am writing in this blog because the others I write for have even less to do with traveling, and I'm not about to create yet another blog *sigh* for just the purpose of a month of adventures. I will try to put some cheapo advice in here for you travel fiends, though.
I started in Dublin, after a brief layover in Amsterdam (might end up staying there at the end of the trip, but we'll see how far my bank account carries me, ok?). Here is the very first entry in my travel journal... enjoy!
16 Feb 2008
This morning, my first in Ireland, I woke up in a flat in southeast Dublin sandwiched between an Irish guy and his Scottish friend. Fully clothed, thank-you-very-much! But fun nonetheless. From what I remember, we all drank way too much and stayed out way too late and I couldn't quite bring myself to make it back to my hostel across town. I remember playing drinking games (and losing miserably) in a pub white a live band sang old school Oasis and Travis (yay!), and wandering around town drunkenly getting piggyback rides and switching jackets, and dancing crazily in a nightclub, and being told my nose piercing is in the wrong nostril by a sketchy Indian man, and taking stupid pictures, and getting denied entry to another club becasue somehow a stolen pint glass ended up in my bag, and listening to the boys play a less-than-stellar (though very enthusiastic) guitar at 5 am, and lots of snoring. And that's about all I remember. This morning, I caught a taxi back to the hostel and my older Irish cabbie was hilarious- read the situation perfectly (my not so shameful walk o f shame) and provided some comical commentary. I told him it was a night to write home abou (as I am finally doing, now!), and he replied "or not, as the case may be"- we both had a good cackle. He left me with the hope that I will have many more fun nights where I can't remember much (as if I haven't had enough already) and I left him with a nice tip. So far, I am quite fond of Ireland!
The End.
I have so much more to tell, but I must return to my sister, my cheap-ass box of Italian Merlot, and the other awesomely drunken hostel-stayers. Tomorrow- promising an update of both the rest of Ireland (think learning to drive a manual on the other side of the road, hot Irish hostel desk-boy, and much more Guinness) and Roma, which has proved to be highly entertaining, as Susannah and I cackle through the Vatican and city in general.
Cheers! Miss you all- will see you when my money runs out :)
loves, Bon
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