The Best Day Trip from Prague: Cesky Krumlov

The one place on this trip that I had absolutely zero expectations about was Cesky Krumlov. To be honest, I didn't even know what country it was in. At best, I figured it would be a pleasant surprise like my day trip to Girona on my Barcelona trip, and at worst, I figured it was only a quick stop on our way to the next big city on our trip. 

I won't bury the lead here - Cesky Krumlov was by far the most magical stop of our trip. Magical meaning it gave me ~feels~ like I got in Stockholm - like this was a place I would be content to stay forever. It wasn't just the quaint cobblestone streets or the beautiful castle or the winding Vltava River that seemed to be giving the city a hug - it was also a feeling of perfect contentedness - of slowing down and not feeling like there were 23842 "must see" things and specific "must eat" dishes. All we had to do for 24 hours was appreciate this incredible little town in the Czech Republic - and appreciate it I did! I wandered its streets when all the day trippers had left, napped in a sun-filled log cabin and hiked to the top of a grassy hill overlooking the picturesque city. 

But let's start at the beginning! 

We had two cabs waiting for us when we got off the train and they took us to the Krumlov House - a hostel situated super close to the center of the city. After stepping through the elaborate wooden dragon door we were greeted by an American who checked us in and let us know that we would have the hostel to ourselves for the night. Once we got up to our second floor suite, I think it sunk in just how unique this hostel was. Dad had been raving about how much he loved this hostel - and that he was so glad we were getting to go there. And it was immediately clear why he had been so excited. Everything was handmade from wood and it had the most incredible light streaming in. It was so tranquil. 

We didn't have too much time at that moment to get comfortable though, because we all headed to the grocery store up the street to buy some snacks for a picnic in a park next to the river. Sitting on a shady bench looking up at the castle I was incredibly zen.

David had set up a tour for us with one of the locals who he promised we would absolutely love. As we walked to the center of town to meet her, David told us stories about different townspeople, stores, restaurants, etc. I loved the small town feel of Cesky and the fact that David was passing people he recognized on the streets. He popped into a restaurant whose owner he knew so we could use the bathroom before the tour started and knew the artist who had made some of the metal-work outside of a bar. 

It felt a little bit like we were walking through the "Little Town" scene in "Beauty in the Beast."

Our tour guide was so lovely - she was such an upbeat, happy person and Allison and I loved chatting with her as she showed us around town and promised us that later in the day, things would clear out and we would have the place to ourselves. A lot of day trips come through but leave around 3 or 4. 

Everywhere we turned there was cool artwork or beautiful views. There were so many little things that she pointed out to us , like these little paint tube fingers that I loved for some reason. 

As we wound through the cobblestone streets, down to the river and up to the castle, we marveled at her ability to conduct the tour wearing wedges. 

The views from the top of the castle were stunning and we could have stayed there taking pictures all day. The one thing I didn't love was that there's a bear in the moat of the castle and while there used to be more than one, now he's all alone down there and it made me really sad. 

When the tour was finished, Allison and I wandered around a little longer through the streets before heading back to our beautiful hostel. At this point in the trip, everyone other than me was feeling under the weather, and there couldn't have been a more peaceful place to take a nap. 

I wasn’t quite ready for go inside though, so I chatted with the woman working at our hostel and asked her what her suggestion was for a short run/hike. She knew exactly where to send me- I went for a nice little loop and when I finished that, I started the hike up to the church. It was a good incline that got my heart rate going (as did the dog that started running at me at one point). I felt totally alone, which was nice after constantly being with people for days on end. At the top, I found a relatively flat area of grass and did a deck of cards workout before heading back to the hostel.

I made myself some tea, an orange, and granola and just sat in the kitchen soaking in the incredible sunlight coming through the windows and making all of the wood work look golden. The woman working at the hostel started chatting with me and it turns out she was from California and had been visiting the Czech Republic when she stumbled upon the hostel in Cesky Krumlov - while she was staying, one of the employees had quit. She was offered the job and took it - and had been there ever since! Talking to her didn’t make it seem so crazy…

I went back up to the room eventually and dozed for a little bit before it was time to get ready and go with the group to dinner at a place Dad promised we would love - for a full “Bohemian feast” at Krčma U dwau Maryí . We stopped for many photo opportunities along the way - it was my favorite time of night, SUNSET TIME.

We were thrilled when they seated us at an outside table along the river. We ordered the chicken version of the feast which comes out for the whole table - it had chicken, smoked meat, millet, potato dumplings, potato cake, potato and vegetables. I didn’t really know what I was eating, but it was good! It was very traditional food from the days of feudalism.

Also traditional to the Czech culture is mead - so I figured sitting outside along the river on a crisp April evening would be a good time to give the warm, alcoholic drink a try. Sadly - I was not a fan of the mead. It was soo strong. It reminded me of back in the day when I hated the taste of every alcoholic drink that I tried because it burned my throat.

At least now I know to never order mead again!

We were definitely full after dinner, so it was nice to walk around and look at the castle and town all lit up. We seemed to be the only ones left in town!

I woke up earlyyy the next morning so that I could get a picture from a wonderful viewpoint as the sun rose and it was a nice, quiet moment but also sad, because Cesky looked so so beautiful and I didn’t want to leave!

But alas, “Vienna Waits for You…..”

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6 Countries in 17 Days: Prague

While I was sad to say goodbye to pierogies - so many people had told me that they loved Prague, and we were excited to see what was next in the Czech Republic!

The highlight of the journey from Krakow to Prague was definitely the salad we had picked up the night before from Krakow's Fitagain Cafe. 

For the 17 days we explored Central Europe (they don't like being referred to as Eastern Europe!) I ate a lot of bread, a lot of meat and a lot of cheese. I truly cherished every vegetable I consumed. 

And this salad from Fitagain wasn't just your average salad - it had all my favorite things like apples and chickpeas and sweet potatoes and sunflower seeds. 

When we arrived at the train station in Prague, David took us down the platform to take a look at a statue. It was of two kids with their father and a suitcase, and the story he told about what the statue represents was amazing! It's a tribute to Sir Nicholas Winton, who helped 669 Jewish children in Prague find foster families in Britain to save them during the Holocaust. 

Winton never told anyone about the lives he had saved until nearly 50 years afterwards. David showed us an incredible video of Winton unknowingly surrounded by the people he had saved that you should definitely watch if you feel like getting emotional!

That quick little detour upon our arrival in Prague is just one example of why David was the best tour leader ever! 

After our stop at the statue, David helped me get some money exchanged for a fair price before leading us out to walk through a park to the tram. We waited awhile in the sun before loading all of our things onto the car. I'm sure locals cringed whenever they saw our group coming - especially Allison and I with our massive suitcases. 

After a quick ride, we walked the rest of the way to get the keys to the apartments we would be staying in. I'm so sad I can't remember the woman's name, but a precious little lady walked Allison and I a little further into the center of town and taught us how to get into the apartment - it included the unlocking and re-locking of approximately 80 doors before loading into the world's most terrifying elevator (we screamed 9/10 times we rode it over the weekend). 

We didn't realize we would be sharing the apartment with her - so that was a little weird to realize at first - but we very much had our own private space with a bedroom, living room and bathroom. We shared the kitchen and 1/2 bath with our host (and her dog - which was a little annoying since Allison is allergic and they never asked if anyone had allergies). 

She had us lock and unlock the door a bunch of times until we figured it out and let us know in her very limited English that if we had to go "ka-ka" we should use the 1/2 bath in the kitchen. Personally, I was trying very hard not to laugh during this entire thing. We were also both reallllly hoping she would speed it up on her whole spiel because we were desperate to eat and get ready before meeting up with the group. (Josh and Heidi were staying in another apartment just a ways down the street). 

Finally she left and Allison and I started getting ready. 

We met up with everyone back at the rental office and from there, walked into Old Town Square. We were staying SO CLOSE - that was one of the things I loved about this trip and the way it was planned. We were always steps from the center of town which saved so much time as opposed to constantly having to get on subways and buses every time we wanted to get somewhere. We could almost always walk to the biggest/most popular sights. 

Prague's Old Town Square was still done up for Easter with lots of stalls and vendors selling all different kinds of foods - entire turkey legs, spiraled potatoes on a stick, candy, etc. Dad gave us some warnings about buying anything from these stalls - they tend to really jack up the prices or do things like weighing the turkey leg and charging per ounce.  

You could tell that Dad loved Prague, because he spent a looong time on our orientation tour. He was disappointed that some of his favorite stops were closed on the weekend, and also to find that the Astronomical Clock, one of Prague's most popular tourist stops, was under construction. 

Despite that, we still saw quite a lot, including lots of art by contemporary Czech artist David Černý. I've come to realize that I absolutely love contemporary art - and my favorite part of Prague was definitely all of the hidden art throughout the city. I loved stopping and seeing all of the odd little pieces by Cerny and others. 

We stopped for awhile to observe his piece "Head of Franz Kafka." This is a giant sculpture made of steel with rotating panels that move around and eventually come back together to create a face. It's mesmerizing to watch!

Of course walked along the water so that David could point out the incredibly famous, and photogenic, Charles Bridge - though it was the prime time of day for the bridge to be overrun by tourists. So we just looked at it from afar and David encouraged us to wake up early the next morning to enjoy the bridge with fewer people. He also told a funny story about a couple in one of his tour groups who got engaged on what they thought was the Charles Bridge - only to find out they were one bridge over, on the Mánes Bridge (a mistake Allison and I also almost made the following morning). 

We continued our walk and on the way to Wenceslas Square made a quick stop to see the Cubist Lamp Post and passed the Velvet Revolution Memorial.  Wenceslas Square was bustling and seemed to be the Times Square of Prague - it was a little too touristy and crowded for me - at one point we passed a window where people were sitting and having their toes eaten by fish ("fish pedicures") - 10/10 would not recommend. I was fine with never coming back to this part of town. 

Our last stop was to see another one of Cerny's pieces - Statue of King Wenceslas Riding an Upside-Down Dead Horse. It hangs from the ceiling in the Art Nouveau Lucerna Palace (Lucerna is also a big dance club where they play 80's/90's music and music videos on Friday and Saturday nights!) 

With that, our orientation tour was done and we were left to do our own thing around town. I had been told to get a drink at the rooftop bar of the Hotel U Prince for stunning views of Old Town Square and while we had to wait about 10 minutes to be allowed up, it was well worth it for the classy vibes, good drinks, and beautiful views. We seemed to have arrived at just the right time, because once we sat down in the hotel lobby to wait, the hostess started sending everyone away! There was such a steady stream of people - this is absolutely a very popular spot and I would recommend making a reservation for lunch or dinner if you definitely want to get in. 

We enjoyed a cheese plate and drinks and shamelessly took tons of pictures until we had the perfect Instagram shot. This is the kind of place that just begs to be 'grammed. 

When we felt we had outstayed our welcome on the roof, we headed out in search of my first doughnut of the trip at a place called Donuterie. When we arrived, there was ONE DONUT LEFT in this adorable little shop which she gave us at a discount and we all enjoyed a few tasty bites of. I honestly don't remember what it was - but it was fruity/citrusy and I was very content. 

Next stop was the Prague Beer Museum which was...an experience. The museum itself seemed like it was a joke - first of all, it was empty. Second of all, it was dingy and everything looked like it hadn't been touched in 100 years. We sped through the laughable exhibits in the dark, musty basement in the hopes that the entrance fee would be worth it when we got our free samples of beer. Turns out, it was - we got 4 free beers and were seated in the most bizarre drinking environment ever - we dubbed it the "Communist Bar" as there was propaganda playing on the television screens and mannequins wearing uniforms. I think the picture below accurately portrays the room. We were sharing the space with a bachelor party from Germany which made for a funny hour or so while we drank our beers. I wouldn't necessarily recommend this as a must-do in Prague (OK, I definitely wouldn't) but it didn't end up being as horrible as we originally thought when we first stepped into the museum. 

On our walk back to the apartment we realized just how many bachelor parties were walking around Prague - the streets were just filled with European men and Allison and I committed to going out having fun. But first - we needed dinner. 

We ended up going to a vegetarian restaurant around the block from us that was pretty good - but the quiet, tranquil vibe of the restaurant left us struggling to find that "Let's go seize the night" attitude we had had an hour ago. Maitrea was a much needed break from meat, potatoes, bread and cheese.

After, we mustered up the energy to go to a bar that David had pointed out during our tour - saying that it would be filled with hockey-loving locals. Sadly - when we got there it smelled like chicken wings and all we saw were other women...so we halfheartedly looked around for a more poppin' spot only to decide bed sounded like the best option. 

It was a good decision - because the next morning we were up at the crack of dawn - literally, it was still dark out when we set out for our own private exploration of Prague and it was the best decision ever! 

Old Town Square was completely deserted, the air was crispy and cool, the moon was still hanging in the sky, and we were one of only a few people when we reached the Charles Bridge.

The sun was starting to rise and we decided we would sit on the bridge and watch for awhile. It was slow, and we got a little antsy, but everything turned the most amazing golden color. People were lined up across the bridge taking pictures - but it was still so much emptier than any other part of the day.

After enjoying the sunrise, we crossed over the bridge to Malá Strana ("Little Side of the River") where we wound our way up look around at the churches and castles (and saw the Starbucks with the world's most impressive view). It was so crazy how empty it was up there - it was us and the guards! 

We walked back down and along the river for a picture of The Dancing House ("Fred & Ginger") which I was really excited to see. It was designed by an American-Canadian and Croatian-Czech architect duo. It would have looked better in the sunshine, but I still really liked it! 

We also loved the colorful buildings along the Vltava River. 

We walked back through Wenceslas Square and Old Town Square, where it was still very quiet and stumbled upon a cubism-themed restaurant called "Černá Madona" where we enjoyed a delicious breakfast. I was overjoyed by a yogurt parfait with granola, honey and fruit after days of bread, cheese and meat for breakfast (I will never get used to a ham and cheese sandwich being breakfast). Ah, the simple things. 

Afterwards, we went to see the Jewish Quarter ("Josefov") and the Old Jewish Cemetery - there were really long lines but we were able to peer through the fence to see the headstones dating back to as early as 1439. Jews living in Prague were given so little space, that the cemetery holds 100,000 bodies - some piled up to 12 deep. Insane. 

On the walk back to the apartment we stumbled upon a sculpture that I loved by Jaroslav Rona - it supposedly depicts beloved Czech author Franz Kafka. 

By now it was 11 AM - and we had been walking around for HOURS. Part of the deal I'd made with Allison for getting out of bed at 5 AM was nap-time! So we got comfortable at our apartment and passed out for a few hours. I love naps. I am also GREAT at naps. 

Eventually we got ourselves up and walked around in search of some lunch/dinner to bring back and eat while we got ready for our drinking tour. 

We stumbled upon Country Life Restaurant which had a salad bar that I thoroughly enjoyed. We ate and got ready and set out in search of the Prague Riverside Party we had signed up for - with a quick stop to take a picture of Heidi on her princess balcony! We had a lot of trouble locating the actual start of the tour - a fratty, dark, dank basement bar called the "Recovery Room." 

The Prague Riverside Party had come recommended to me by a friend and I have mixed feelings about it. Overall, I like it and would recommend it - but I would only recommend it after letting people know what they're in for. The premise is that you get a tour from a bunch of foul-mouthed/comedian type "tour guides" while drinking free alcohol. The guides are your typical bar-crawl leading/hostel working types - you're not sure if they're homeless and you're not sure why they're acting like 16 year old's when they're clearly approaching 30 but at the same time you kind of wish you could live their carefree, travel the world life. We called ours drunk Jesus. 

The Recovery Room bar where we started smelled like mold. I was fairly certain we were all going to leave with a disease. The "free alcohol" was really really bad beer, or really really sweet/poisonous "sangria." We sat down and were immediately greeted by a man who stumbled out from some back room and was fifty shades of fucked up. He let us know he had been out sine the previous night, which was 100% believable. Soon, he was joined by his girlfriend and they proceeded to make out and tell us about all the sex they had been having. Heidi, Allison and I laughed along with them but inside we were all cringing and couldn't wait for them to retreat to their back room. 

Eventually Drunk Jesus started the night by explaining to us that we would be using Exacto knives to create stencils of whatever our hearts desired. He was definitely under the impression that saying "fuck" 3 times per sentence made whatever he said hysterical, and most of the people in the room seemed to agree with him. 

We made our stencils and handed them in and soon were lead outside to start the tour. I was very happy to be out of the Recovery Room and into the fresh air. At that point the tour got better - we stopped at the glowing embryo on the side of a building (Cerny, of course!), and the Rudolfinum where our tour guide told us the plot of Weil’s Mendelssohn Is on the Roof as if it were fact and not a novel. 

All the while, guys biked behind us with carts filled with endless supplies of shitty beer and sangria which we happily sipped on because #FREE (well, we paid for it, really). 

Another stop was the Winged Lion Memorial before walking across the Charles Bridge where we learned that many of the statues are not, in fact, the originals. The originals were taken down to preserve them and replicas were put up - after attempting to make them look aged and worn out. 

At this point in the night we were desperate for a restroom - and luckily when we got to the other side of the bridge they let us into a restaurant that the group clearly has some sort of agreement with. After that, it to the pleasantly named "Piss Statue" - literally a statue, complete with running water, or two men facing each other and pissing. We were all encouraged to take inappropriate photos with the statue which many people were more than happy to do.

The pack of us continued along the streets, probably irritating everyone we encountered as more and more beer and sangria was consumed. We got to a bridge and sat down under it and were served our meat pies - no joke - dinner is included in the tour and dinner is homemade meat pies that honestly were out of this world good. Even our Aussie friend agreed. While we ate we finally took some time to talk to other people on the tour - including two guys from Canada who knew people killed in the tragic Humboldt crash that had happened that day. 

The grand finale of the tour was getting to spray paint our stencils on the John Lennon Wall - which was honestly pretty damn cool! The wall is owned by Malta, and it's pretty awesome that they have kept it open to the public for spray painting all these years! 

Afterwards, we took a group picture and were invited back to the Recovery Room where for a small fee of 10 euro or something, you could drink for another hour before starting a bar and club crawl. The thought of having to ingest any more horrible beer and having to breathe in more of the mold from the Recovery Room was enough for me to vote hell no on that proposition.  

Instead, Heidi, Allison and I slowly made our way back to our apartments - eyes peeled for some place that pulled us in for another drink. But, as often happened to us, our bed's seemed to call the loudest! 

Overall, Prague didn't do it for me. I'm not sure what exactly it was. Just how I felt! It was the weekend, it was crowded, it was touristy - by far my favorite part was getting to walk around in the early morning hours before the streets were filled! But there will always be some great Prague memories - communist bars, a twerking T-Rex, our host barging in while I had no pants on, and proudly looking at the Islanders logo spray painted on the Lennon Wall. 

We didn’t have to arrange for our accommodations for this portion of the trip, since Geckos (now Intrepid Travel) set everything up for us - but here’s an article with some of the best hostels in Prague! One of the spots on their list, “Hostel One” Prague, is the same chain that I stayed at in Barcelona and absolutely LOVED.

Next up, Cesky Krumlov! 

6 Countries in 17 Days: Krakow

We began the first of many journeys by train from one country to another – and this is where it was extremely helpful that the group was only the five of us. It was a lot easier to stay together while navigating crowded train stations and subway cars with our luggage than it would have been with a larger group.

Despite having a suitcase that weighed 50 pounds and a wonky wheel – I think I did a pretty good job managing it the entire trip (although I’ll be happy to never carry it up a flight of stairs again if I can help it). The only time I really needed help with it was loading it on and off some steep train stairs.

To get from Berlin to Krakow we first took a train to a small town on the border of Germany and Poland. Usually, a tour group would have about 15 minutes to catch the overnight train to Krakow but the way that our trip was scheduled, we had a few hours to enjoy the town of Szczecin. 

After getting off the train we had a chance to exchange money (going from the Euro to the Polish zloty) and store our luggage in lockers at the train station before heading out to explore. We did a nice walk around the center of town and were all excited to find that we had the place to ourselves AND that it smelled overwhelmingly of chocolate. We couldn't figure out why it smelled so richly of chocolate but when I got home I looked it up and there's a chocolate factory in Szczecin and the streets' smell of chocolate is a well-known fact. 

Once we felt we had seen the sights that Szczecin had to offer, we stopped into a local brewery for drinks and dinner since we would be spending the next 10 hours or so on an overnight train ride.

The interior of Wyszak Family Brewery was beautiful and while I didn’t order any food – I did eat plenty of bread and butter and ordered a flight of their three beers (which were giant). I really liked them all – even though none of them were my typical beer preference. I even liked the dark one!

It was a really nice night and I feel like we could have sat there all night drinking and talking but soon it was time to get back to the train station and continue our journey to Krakow.

I’ve always wanted to take an overnight sleeper car train and now it’s officially crossed off the bucket list. The cabins were not luxurious in any way – no mahogany paneling and red velvet headboards. This was not the Hogwarts Express. Instead, each sleeping cabin had a small closet, a little sink in the corner, and three beds stacked one on top of the other. If I were claustrophobic, I would not have done well on this train.

We had kind of assumed there would be a place to sit before we were ready to get into bed – but nope. As soon as you board, you’re in that tiny room in a bed that you can’t sit up in. Yikes.

Thankfully, it was Allison, Heidi and I and we all knew each other. But I can’t imagine how awkward the experience would be had I been in a cabin with strangers. There’s no privacy and I would have felt even more trapped in my bed.

We sat on our suitcases, perched on the sink, in the window frame – anywhere we could to feel like we were still up. David and Josh stood in our doorway and we drank wine and the conversations got more and more interesting as the night wore on. I think it was one of my favorite nights with the group – lots of laughs and interesting perspectives but unfortunately, at a certain point the conductor told us that it was time to be quiet and close our doors.

Of course, that didn’t mean that three girls who just drank a bottle of wine were able to immediately settle down and fall asleep. We were definitely the conductors’ least favorite cabin. At one point, he tried OPENING the door on us – yelling in Polish while we all screamed back in fear.

Once I was laying down, the movement of the train started to rock me to sleep but damn it was LOUD. Luckily, I can sleep through anything, especially on moving vehicles, so I got a decent amount of sleep that night. But I continually woke up because of the banging and train whistles and train station announcements every time we stopped.

We could have closed the window to help with the noise, but then it would have been stiflingly hot in our cabin.

Around 8 AM or so I finally got up for real even though we still had 2-3 hours left. We managed to figure out how to flip the top two beds up into the wall so we were left with a bottom couch we could sit on. I will admit that this part of the trip dragged a little, especially when David came to tell us that we were running 45 minutes behind schedule. But eventually we pulled into the station and walking off that train felt a little bit like walking out of prison (I’m exaggerating – I actually kind of liked the experience).

We had made it to Krakow! And I was so excited to be in the land of my ancestors and more importantly the land of PIEROGIES. 

We were able to walk from the train station to our hostel – which couldn’t have been any closer to the Main Square (Rynek Glowny). Our hostel (Heynow Hostel) was very dated, but the fact that we were able to check in and get a shower upon arrival made them winners in my book.

Within 20 minutes Allison and I had both showered and changed (this was a trip of approximately zero down time) and met the group downstairs to walk over to Stary Kleparz. Stary Kleparz is an 800 year old food market.

Read it again. 800 years.

It was by far the most authentic food market we visited during the trip with the most variety. I wandered around for a little while before buying a loaf of grainy, seedy bread that reminded me of Swedish bread (I couldn’t communicate that I just wanted a few slices so – loaf of bread it was!) and the most incredible tapenade I’ve ever eaten (sorry, Dad!) from a vendor selling all different hummus and dips. He was incredibly nice despite the clear language barrier.

We took our food on the go with us and headed back towards our hostel and the Main Square to meet David’s friend who was a tour guide and had agreed to give us our own private tour (with the understanding that we would tip him at the end).

It was a great tour and we stopped at a lot of places that had been on my to-do list.

Rynek Glowny is the main square of Krakow and has two “centerpieces” – the Cloth Hall and St. Mary’s Basilica. Both are beautiful – especially lit up at night!

Our tour guide started off by having us guess how many churches are in Krakow and the answer is nuts – 120! Poland is still one of the more religious countries in Europe.

He then told us about the story behind St. Mary’s Basilica – two brothers were each tasked with building a tower on top of the church and when the younger brother realized his brother’s tower was taller, he murdered him. Later, he was so filled with guilt, that he stabbed himself with the same knife and fell from the tower into the square below.

According to our tour guide, the silver knife hanging in the doorway of the Cloth Market is the very knife that the younger brother used. Throughout our tour, he told us stories that are legends but in a way that made us question whether they were fact – he was extremely sarcastic which I personally loved but I think some people were like, “Wait – can you actually tell us the truth? You had to take most things he said with a grain of salt.

Another fun part of St. Mary’s Basilica is the trumpeter that plays a song from the highest tower to signal every hour. The song is called “Hejnal” (pronounced “Hey Now” – the name of our hostel!) He plays it once from each corner of the tower. There are many legends surrounding the Hejnal – including a tale of invaders shooting the trumpeter with an arrow – lending to the abrupt-sounding ending of the tune.

Another building of note in Rynek Glowny was St. Adalbert’s Church. While it appears to be sunken – it was once on ground level which shows how much the surface of the square has risen over the centuries. (Layers and layers of garbage…)

Cloth Hall was basically just filled with touristy stalls -  the best part of walking through was trying to pronounce all of the Polish town names that line the halls. The Polish language has additional letters and difficult pronunciations – for example “ł” sounds like “w” and they don’t use q, v or x!

Our next stop was to the Collegium Maius – just the college building where Copernicus studied, no big deal! We happened to arrive right in time for the courtyard clock to go off (every two hours) and a crowd gathered to listen to the song and watch the wooden figures circle around. Thrilling stuff.

David pointed out his favorite little souvenir shop filled with a local artists’ clever comics where I later picked up a deck of playing cards and a postcard. As we walked, I loved this little corner behind the city walls that was filled with beautiful hand painted canvases and made a mental note that there was a 24-hour pierogi place.

A stop on our tour included Piwnica Pod Baranami – a bar that’s been around since the 1950s when it was used as a literary cabaret! (Shows still happen every Saturday night at 9 PM). It was a really cool place to look around at all the old relics, strange art, and random knickknacks covering every inch of the space. It didn’t hurt that the unfiltered beer we had was ice cold and delicious!

Our tour continued up to Wawel Castle which was gorgeous and includes a gold dome on one of the chapels.

As we looked out at the Vistula River below the castle, our tour guide told us about the dragon statue which has lots of folklore and legend surrounding it – he also mentioned that there’s no way of knowing when, but every so often the statue will breathe fire. To our delight, we go there at “the perfect time” as fire burst out of the dragon’s mouth…

Yeah it breathes fire every couple of minutes. We were that gullible.

The next day when I was out for a run I passed the dragon statue for a closer view – 7 heads and all. In the summer, a small cave behind the statue is opened as the “dragon’s cave.”

After our tour wrapped up, Allison and Heidi and I walked through the church before heading our separate ways. Allison and I walked back towards the main square and sat down at the tour-guide recommended Café Camelot for a coffee (some Amaretto might have found its way in into my cappuccino) and to rest our feet.

We shopped our way back towards the hostel (I needed one of those canvases, obviously) and made a stop at Jama Michalika – an extremely historic café filled with old art that you can just pop in to take a look at. By the time we got back to the hostel, we had just a few minutes before meeting the group for dinner and drinks.

We walked to the Jewish Quarter (Kazimierz) to get a traditional Polish street food – Zapiekanka! If I had to describe it in three words it would be loaded Texas Toast. It’s like a cross between in open faced baguette sandwich and pizza and you can load it with tons of different toppings – but all of it has melted cheese! The bread was airy and crispy and while I would never crave this again – I’m glad I got to try it! 

The stand was in the middle of “New Square” with a bunch of other street food vendors and I believe it was called “Mr. and Mrs. Zapiekanka.”

After we finished eating in the street, we went to a bar right across the square called Alchemia. They had an extensive list of cocktails, but I stuck with wine. We found a table in the smoking section – which required us walking through a wardrobe modeled after the Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. We settled into Narnia and enjoyed our drinks on the quirky furniture. I really liked the vibe!

Our final stop of the night was to a bar filled with old Singer sewing machines – aptly named Singer Bar. Our tour guide from earlier in the day had joined us for the night out and said we all needed to try a shot of vodka flavored with Orzech Laskowy (Hazlenut) to close out the night. Dad (tour leader David) said, “Well, I was supposed to buy you guys an obwarzanek – but would you rather a shot instead?” to which we all said SOUNDS LIKE A DEAL.

I was really not excited to take a vodka shot but with the hazelnut flavoring it was actually pretty tasty! Never did get to try obwarzanek though…

The next morning, I woke up early to go to the 24-hour pierogi restaurant – we were scheduled to take a tour of Auschwitz and Birkenau and we’d need food for the 6-hour excursion.

I walked in the crisp spring air to the nearby restaurant and wasn’t surprised that I was more or less alone in the streets and most definitely alone in Przypiecek. I got two different variety orders – the traditional fillings (meat, cabbage & mushroom and “Russian” which is what I grew up eating – potato & cheese!) and a mix of “fancy” pierogies (broccoli, more Russian, and spinach). I really loved the meat pierogies but still, nothing beat the classic potato and cheese!

I had to laugh – when my pierogies they came out on a real plate - as if I were going to sit down and house two dozen pierogies at 7 AM. I was luckily able to communicate that I wanted them in a to-go box! 

Of course, I had to have some with my free hostel breakfast…breakfast of champions right there.

Allison and I set off to walk to where we were getting picked up for our tour – but we were running behind schedule thanks to a stop at Starbucks and were panicking that we were going to miss it. We had set the pick-up location before we knew where we were staying, and luckily once we arrived our driver came up to us and asked if we were part of the tour. It was a small van with about 8 of us – much smaller than I had been expecting which was nice (I booked through Viator!)

It was about an hour and a half drive to Auschwitz, and though I had a full nights’ sleep the night before, I found myself dozing off in the front seat. I slept the entire journey. Something about moving vehicles just knocks me out!

When we arrived we had some time before our tour was scheduled to depart so we used the bathroom (you have to pay – like most places in Europe) and waited around. The weather was a little chilly and gray which seemed fitting for the occasion.

There were tons of people, but Auschwitz is very organized in terms of when they allow tour groups to depart/how many groups at a time/etc.

When it was our turn we met our tour guide and another van of people and went through security where we got a headset. I really liked that as we walked, our tour guide just spoke quietly into his microphone and everyone in our group could hear it in our headsets. There were so many other groups as we made our way through the different sections that it never would have worked if they were all competing to be heard over one another.

The tour was very well done – our tour guide was soft spoken, solemn, and factual without a lot of superfluous language. Honestly, being at Auschwitz and walking through a former concentration camp really speaks for itself.

For me, all of the museum-like displays weren’t as powerful or impactful as just being there. Of course, seeing artifacts that were taken from prisoners as they entered was disturbing – but I had seen a lot of those things at the museum in Washington D.C. already. Plus, it’s hard to even comprehend when you’re looking at hundreds of thousands of pairs of shoes that they only represent a small portion of the lives that were lost.

What stood out the most to me was walking down a long hallway filled with pictures of prisoners with the date that they were taken away from their homes and the date that they died. So many of them were a shockingly short period of time – sometimes, just one day.

I think a lot of the time we hear the amazing stories of survival. Survivors can tell us how horrible life in a concentration camp was, but their stories have somewhat happy endings because they made it out. But walking down that hallway was a really striking reminder that those stories we hear from survivors are the vast vast minority. It was hard to find even a handful of people on that wall who lived more than a year from their imprisonment, let alone until the end of the war.

Another part that was shocking was seeing one of the prison blocks where they punished misbehaving prisoners – as if it was possible to be punished more than they already were. They would be forced to stand in miniscule cells for days on end – it was impossible to sit down or really even move at all. Sometimes there would even be more than one prisoner placed in these standing cells. Seeing it in person sent shivers down my spine.

Outside of that block was the “shooting wall” where prisoners were killed. That was another part of the tour that made me stand still and just stare in disbelief and shock.

Moving through the blocks was a little frustrating at times because it was sooo slow moving and packed with people. But the tour ends going into Crematorium 1 and at that point I felt like our group was pretty much on its own.

As we approached, I saw people standing outside looking shocked and sad and I took a deep breath before walking in.

But nothing could have prepared me for the feeling that overcame me while I was standing there. I had remained stoic throughout the tour, all things considered, but the second I was inside Crematorium 1 tears just started pouring down my face.

It was like nothing I’ve ever experience before – there were barely even any thoughts in my head I just knew I felt so sad and shocked and there were tears coming out of my eyes and my chest was tight and my throat burned and it didn’t even feel real. I tried to take in the gravity of where I was standing. All the books and diaries I’ve read about World War II. The class I took in college with a Holocaust survivor. The documentaries and movies. And I was standing where it happened.

I couldn’t stay in there for very long – but it was even more moving than I could have imagined it would be.

That was where the Auschwitz portion of the tour ended, and we walked back in relative silence to the van to drive over to Birkenau for the second part.

Walking into Birkenau was another surreal experience because it’s such an iconic picture – we walked down the train tracks where cars full of prisoners were “sorted” – the vast majority being sent straight to the gas chambers while those that were capable of work were sent to the camps.

A lot of Birkenau is just remains, as the Nazi’s destroyed much of it before liberation. We walked around, saw the remains of one of the Crematorium which is now a big monument/memorial, and then finished the tour by going into one of the barracks where it hit me for the first time just how cramped the quarters were for prisoners. Sometimes there were 3-4 people in a “bed” and the ones on the bottom were so tight that you had to slide into them on your side. People couldn’t sit up in them in the slightest. It was horrifying to see.

I'm so grateful that I had the chance to tour Auschwitz and Birkenau. It sounds like a weird bucket-list item, but it's always something I've felt I needed to do and it was absolutely worth the time, emotional discomfort, money, etc. It was actually one of the reasons I found this tour group - I knew I wanted to go to Berlin and Budapest but it seemed like a waste to be so close to so many historically relevant Eastern European cities and not get to them. I started researching a trip to Auschwitz from Berlin or Budapest, and eventually found this trip that was all planned out for me.  

The van ride back to Krakow was a somber one, and I smelled up the whole van with pierogies. And slept, per usual. 

We got dropped off closer to our hostel than we had been picked up which was nice. And I almost immediately changed into sneakers and headed out for a run. I needed to work through all the thoughts and emotions of the day and what better way to do that than a run? Moving meditation. 

I loved running in Krakow - there is a park that surrounds the entire old city (Planty Park). It's just crazy to me how rarely you see people exercising outside in some of these European cities. I only passed two other runner's the entire time. 

I set out at half past the hour for my run, and just planned on running around the old city until the Hejnal played signaling that I'd been running for 30 minutes. I finished at the door of the hostel just as the trumpeter started! It was the perfect little run.

It's crazy how a few solitary minutes running around, discovering a new city always end up being some of my favorite memories from different destinations. You can ask me "How do you like Nashville" and I'll vividly remember my early morning run down Broadway and the smell of BBQ at 6 AM. You can ask me, "How was Barcelona?" and I can tell you about the farmer's market I passed on the run or that there were tons of other runner's out along the water. 

After my run, Allison and I went to a bar/cafe I had read about called Bunkier Cafe in the middle of the Planty Gardens. They have a huge outdoor area and it was nice to sit outside in the beautiful park with a cold beer! We also ordered flavored syrups which you pour in your beer - I got passionfruit! It was delicious - and it reminded me of college when I would use Mio to flavor my cheap beer. I was really just doing the European thing. 

Afterwards, we stopped at a cute salad shop I had passed on my run and got ourselves something that we could eat on the following days' train ride (we got the most amazing salads from Fitagain Cafe and they were everything that I ever wanted!). On the walk back to the hostel, we couldn't refuse a photo shoot in the square since it was the perfect pre-sunset lighting. 

For dinner, we met back up with David ("Dad") and Heidi to the somewhat hidden Kuchnia U Babci Maliny which had been on my "to eat" list. You need to go through a courtyard and library to get into it, and once inside its a quirky little place. You order at the counter and then they'll call your number and ring a bell when it's ready. 

At Dad's recommendation, I ordered the beet soup and OMG IT WAS SO GOOD. Actually, every time I ordered soup this entire trip I was obsessed with it. But this one might have been the winner. 

For my main dish I ordered the pork with oatmeal porridge - the meat was amazing but I had been looking forward to "oatmeal porridge" and it was dry and bland and pretty disappointing. 

After dinner, we couldn't get the energy to go out, so we bought a bottle of wine and went back to the hostel where we realized a) we apparently weren't supposed to drink and b) we didn't have a bottle opener. 

This resulted in us struggling to open the bottle of wine with a knife which turned into push the cork through into the bottle and the red wine resembling a volcano science project all over the kitchen. 

Once we cleaned up...we played a few rounds of cards as we drank the wine and eventually headed to bed. 

The next morning was another early one but our trip was done in style - a van was waiting for us outside with a driver dressed in a suit! He drove u to the train station where we would catch a train to our next destination: Prague! 

PS: My favorite fun fact is that in Polish, one common insult translates to calling someone "potato face." 

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6 Countries In 17 Days: Amsterdam Layover

I recently went on a whirlwind vacation with my best friend - visiting 6 Countries in 17 days. These are the stories, the must-sees, the must-eats, the tips, and the things I don't want to forget about a once in a lifetime trip.

AMSTERDAM

The first part of my trip was a flight to Amsterdam, where I would have an 8 hour layover. Because the airport is such a quick train ride from the city center of Amsterdam, I had plenty of time to get out and explore a bit of the city. 

My first interaction with a Dutchman was the customs agent whose line of questioning ended with, "Are you meeting a boyfriend?" My response was, "No, just a friend" but I probably should have added, "When is your shift over?" 

Getting onto the train was a breeze - I had pre-purchased my ticket but it definitely would have been just as easy to buy it when I landed. After a pleasant 15 minute ride (where I marveled at each seats' personal mini trash can on the wall), I was at the city center, making my way out into the chilly, rainy streets. Yes - the smell of weed hit me almost instantly. 

I was immediately greeted by a canal but the further I wandered the more quaint and charming the canals became. Passing a church on my way to find a cafe (I had slept a little on the plane, but also watched Greatest Showman and listened to some podcasts), it dawned on me that it was Easter morning! 

It was strange being in a foreign city by myself on a holiday when I'd normally be at home surrounded by family...but what was even stranger was that as I opened my phone to write myself a quick note about the chiming of church bells and the sound of rain drop on my umbrella I looked up and spotted my first Amsterdam prostitute in a window. 9 AM on Easter Sunday morning. What a sight. 

As I walked through the still sleepy streets of the Red Light District, I noticed a few places that we have in NYC including Le Pain Quotidian and Van Leeuwan's - the beloved vegan ice cream shop! I passed by De Koffieschenkerij - a gorgeous little cafe with outdoor seating but the rain made the garden a little less inviting. Instead, I settled in at De Koffiesalon - which satisfied my needs of WiFi, a bathroom, and caffeine. An added bonus was the fact that it was pretty and bright inside. 

Outside of the coffee shop, I noticed some stalls being set up and wandered through some absolutely gorgeous art! I'm kicking myself now that I didn't purchase anything. 

My next stop was for a cookie from the famous Van Stapele Koekmakerij. They hand make one kind of cookie and one cookie only - chocolate stuffed with white chocolate. Walking into the small storefront, the sweet smell of chocolate was absolutely heavenly. My cookie was placed in a sleeve and sealed with a silver sticker - a nice touch, but did they really think I was planning on saving it for later?

Despite being 10 AM - a Van Stapele cookie begs to be devoured immediately upon purchase because they're STILL WARM. Not only are they fresh out of the oven, but you can see the women rolling the next batch as you pay. 

Van Stapele is open every day from 10 AM - 6 PM, but consider this your warning: they sometimes run out by 4 PM. 

I continued to meander my way through Dam Square and various canals until it was time for my 12 PM ticket to the Anne Frank House. This was by far the most important thing on my list of things to accomplish while in Amsterdam and I was happy to take my time walking through the museum. 

TIP: As of April 2018 - you MUST pre-book a specific date and time for entrance to the Anne Frank Museum!

When you enter you receive headphones and a small remote that's activated when you get to each new room. It was quite crowded, but still surreal to be in such a historical place. Anne Frank and Anne Frank's diary were both fascinating to me as a kid and I loved that this exhibit/memorial to Anne Frank and her family and friends who hid in the secret annex of Prinsengracht 263 had so many personal touches that made you feel like you were really getting to know them. 

The part where it really hit me was stepping through the false book case, which you have to bend down to get through. Once inside the secret annex, it was sad to see the blacked out windows and realize that this family was unable to see the light of day for their entire time in hiding (two years). 

Small details like the growth chart etched on the wall and the pictures that Anne hung in an effort to make the place feel like home were the most moving part of the exhibit. I felt a kinship with Anne Frank when I read about her great desire to be a journalist, when I saw the picture of chimpanzees having a tea party that she taped on her wall, and when I saw the notebook where she copied down her favorite quotes from books.  

The saddest part was hearing about their eventual discovery. I cannot imagine being found and seeing other people and knowing that they want to kill you - even though you have done nothing wrong, have never even met them before. 

What's even worse is the realization that the Frank's and the others they were hiding with were on the final transport to Auschwitz. 

After finishing the tour at the Anne Frank house, I stood in the lobby using the museum's free WiFi to figure out where to eat lunch. I was determined not to pay $10 a day to activate Travel Pass on my phone if it wasn't necessary. Usually my attitude is, "Eh, it's $10 for piece of mind" but this was 17 days and $170 isn't chump change. 

I would have loved to explore the "bohemian" De Pijp neighborhood, which I'm fairly certain I would have loved, but it was just a little too far of a walk considering I had a flight to catch. 

Instead, I found a place called Vegabond that was absolutely perfect and right around the corner. You order from a counter and sit on couches in front of a big street-facing window. Vegabond is also a health-food shop with a large communal table in the back that I imagine would be perfect for people who work remotely (or blog!) 

I ordered the acai bowl and it was picture perfect, and tasted even better! 

After lunch I slowly started to make my way back to the train station, stopping in stores along the way and taking my time. At one point, I passed three guys on a side street laughing as their friend stripped down to his boxers. It was so random, and we were the only people on the street, making blatant eye contact, that I had to comment. "A little cold for that, no?" They just cracked up. 

At this point the streets were coming more alive, and as I got closer to the train station I started to feel a gritty/seediness that I hadn't detected at 8 AM. I must say, I preferred having the streets to myself! 

I felt that I needed to do something, "Amsterdam" and since I wasn't about to gawk at women in windows or light up a blunt, I stopped into a super sketchy "casino" with 5 slot machines and 5 video poker machines and threw away $5. 

Back at the train station, I was FLOORED by the sheer number of bikes parked. I guess everyone in Amsterdam really DOES use their bike as the main mode of transportation. Just look at this madness!

Inside, I went to use the bathroom before remembering I was in Europe - and public restrooms are not free. Seeing as I didn't have any coins/change yet, that was a no-go. This is something we would huff and puff about the entire trip

The journey back to the airport was again super easy and smooth and the only thing of note from my trip from Amsterdam to Berlin was the pat-down I received while going through security! WOW! the TSA agent full-on pulled up and snapped the front of my bra and stuck her hands DOWN the front of my pants. Very thorough. 

If you have more time in Amsterdam than I did, here are a few more ideas! 

Heineken Experience

Duh.

Avocado Show

I'm fairly certain this was the OG avo-only restaurant!

Those Dam Boat Guys

(REALLY sad I didn't get to do this. After my incredible experience with Hey Captain in Copenhagen  I know I really would have enjoyed a ride down the canals with a smaller boat company run by personable people!)

Rocycle

English-speaking spin classes in a foreign country! If you're anything like me - that's a JACKPOT. 

Next Up: BERLIN! 

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10 Reasons to Visit Stockholm

Spending over 2 weeks in Stockholm this year was unexpected in many ways. 

First, that I got to go for work was an incredible opportunity to be there longer than I normally would have.

True, it meant a lot of time spent working and not as much time exploring and sightseeing - but I liked the chance to feel as if I were actually living there as opposed to vacationing. 

It also gave me the opportunity to experience this modern, beautiful city in  both summer (August) and the start of the colder, darker winter months (November). 

I fell totally in love with Stockholm - and what was surprising was that I loved it just as much in November as I did in August. 

On my first day there in November I called my parents, smiling from ear to ear and told them that I just had this incredible feeling of being exactly where I was supposed to be the entire day I had been walking around. 

It's a feeling I sometimes get when I'm home in NYC - I'll be walking down a particularly cute side street in the West Village with the sun hitting the brick buildings just right and I think to myself, "I LOVE IT HERE." But I had never experienced that same feeling of "rightness" anywhere else - until Stockholm. 

I've struggled to write about Stockholm because my "list of things to do and see and eat" really isn't very long. My favorite part about my time in Stockholm were the days where I just wandered around the streets for hours. Everywhere you look there's another beautiful building, aesthetically pleasing home goods shop, cozy looking cafe or new waterfront view. Not to mention the people watching is on point - I swear everyone who lives in Stockholm is straight-up-model-status. 

I could keep going about how the city made me ~feel~ but I really think you should book a flight to the capital of Sweden and experience it for yourself by walking around and getting lost. Stockholm is seen as expensive and cold and for those reasons it's probably not at the top of your travel list. I thought all of those things before I got there too. But I promise you, it's magical! Here are a few of my favorite things. 

1.  Wandering Stockholm's Unique Neighborhoods

I know this is annoying and you're looking for a list of places to go, things to do, restaurants to eat at. But seriously - walking around the different neighborhoods is an absolute MUST when you're in Stockholm. They're all totally different!

Gamla Stan 

"Gamla Stan" or "Old Town" is the most charming, iconic place in Stockholm. It is filled with stores, restaurants, cafes and bars - set in a scene straight out of history books. Cobblestone streets, winding alleyways and beautiful buildings that are filled with history. 

This is one of the oldest medieval city centers left in Europe and it's where Stockholm was founded in 1252. I'm just going to let you think about that number for a minute. 

It's definitely a popular area, but I never felt like I was in Times Square while walking around. The main streets of Västerlånggatan and Österlånggatan tend to be the most crowded and most filled with souvenir shops - so make sure to explore some places further off the beaten path. 

Don't leave Gamla Stan without stopping for a picture in the iconic Stortoget - the oldest square in Stockholm (there's a Christmas market in the winter that I missed by just a week! I can imagine that it's crowded, but incredibly worth it.) 

Södermalm

I absolutely loved my walk through Sodermalm or "Soder" (South). It's filled with trendy stores, fun restaurants and green spaces. During my walk, I found myself passing through a cemetery and suddenly the most gorgeous, golden church appeared. With the fall leaves scattered all around, it was picture perfect. Turns out, this was Katarina Kyrka. 

While in Sodermalm, you should also walk down Hornsgatan, a super bustling, popular street that's also really pretty! It was while walking down this main thoroughfare that I decided to make a detour and found myself climbing up to the scenic overlook of Skinnarviksberget. Say that 10 times fast (or just try to say it once...) 

After scrambling my way up some rocks, I was rewarded with an absolutely stunning view. Who knew that I had happened to find the highest natural point in Stockholm? 

If you're headed back towards Gamla Stan or Norrmalm, walk on along Söder Mälarstrand - scenic and along the water, you'll see some adorable boats that double as restaurants and bed & breakfasts. 

This walk gives you view across to Kungsholmen - where the iconic Stockholm City Hall building resides.

Once you're on the Kungsholmenside of the water, you can look across to Sodermalm for one of my favorite views I found the entire trip:

Norrmalm 

This is considered the "City Center" and it's where I stayed during my time in Stockholm. The main train station is here, along with tons of shopping. 

Drottninggatan is a pedestrian street jam packed with tourists and stores. 

Östermalm

This is where the rich people live - and walking along Strandvagen, you can tell! The buildings, facing the water, are absolutely beautiful. 

In August, there were tons of floating docks that were bars - and sitting out at one, sipping a glass of rose, was a definite highlight of the trip. 

Because of the long winters, dark days, and cold weather - the people of Stockholm really know how to embrace their summers! 

Djurgården

This island is a popular spot because many attractions like the Vasa Museum, Gröna Lund amusement park (my one regret is not getting to go here!), the Abba museum and Skansen - but it's also just a very beautiful place to walk around! 

2. Embracing Your Sweet Tooth

Candy

If you had asked me before my trip to Sweden what my favorite candy was - my answer surely would have been something chocolate. 

But while in Sweden, my appreciation for sweet, fruity and sour candies SKYROCKETED. They really love their candy in Sweden - in fact, they import and consume more candy than anywhere else in the world! 

In August, we stopped at a stall on the side of Strandvagen for a piece of "licorice" and I was instantly hooked. It wasn't the black licorice flavored stuff you think of - it's soft, sweet, and comes in hundreds of flavors! 

I really cannot describe the texture of Swedish licorice - but I can promise you that it's nothing you can come close to getting in the US! 

Licorice was my gateway drug to the Swedish candy craze - but when I landed on October 31 I found myself shoveling a bagful of Halloween sweets from the corner store in what would become an increasingly consistent habit! 

I'm sure there are a TON of amazing candy shops in Stockholm, but my two go-twos were Jam Jam and Karamellaffären.

Another fun candy story from Stockholm? My coworkers' and I got a kick out of the chocolate bar named, "Plopp." 

Be on the lookout for Marabou chocolate bars! I was SHOCKED at how many different flavors/fillings they have! Everything from Oreo to coconut to toffee. Bring some of these bad boys home as a quick, cheap, delicious gift for the fam. 

Chokladbollar

It's words like this that had me convinced I could easily pick up and move to Sweden and somehow get by. Chokladbollar - chocolate ball! (Kind of like when I looked at a map that said Du ar harr and exclaimed, "YOU ARE HERE! I SPEAK SWEDISH!") 

These desserts are EVERYWHERE in Stockholm and good lord are they incredible. Rich, chocolatey, melt-in-your-mouth decadence. They are unbaked - which makes them super moist (I know, I know - it's a gross word). 

It took me awhile to realize that these are made with OATS so they're basically an energy ball/practically HEALTH FOOD. 

As such, eat them often on your trip. 

Snacks

Other odd delicacies you can pick up at these shops are Dill chips and Wasa Sandwiches (crispbreads sandwiched together with things like hummus, sour cream & chive, and peanut butter in between!)

I was pleasantly surprised by both! 

3. Swedish Spa Days 

Sweden caught on to the spa and health resort craze over 300 years ago - such trendsetters!

Sweden is synonymous with sauna - and while I'm not one to sit around luxuriating all day - I'm way too antsy for that - if there's ever a place to treat yo self to some steam rooms and cold showers it's in Sweden! 

I was spoiled rotten by the fact that I got to spend a day at the Grand Hotel's spa - it was truly a "somebody pinch me" afternoon. 

This five star hotel opened in 1874 and is absolutely stunning. I got to stay here in August, and then in November we were treated to our day at the spa. Unreal. 

They even gave us the Nordic Bathe de Luxe package which came with some fancy products and a free glass of champagne or a smoothie from their cafe. 

The Nordic bathing ritual (which we enjoyed post-gym - ahhhh) involved dry brushing, a nourishing hair mask, a shower, sitting in the sauna, and plunging into a cold pool. I was proud of myself for repeatedly managing to switch between the toasty warm sauna and the painfully cold pool.

We met the nicest woman ever in the sauna - she was originally from Texas, grew up in Michigan, but had lived and taught in Sweden for over 20 years! Talk about a hard to decipher accent...

There are many more affordable saunas and spas around Sweden, and it's a very Scandinavian experience that I highly recommend indulging in!

4. Not Your Average Museums

If I haven't mentioned it enough in my travel recaps - I'm not a big museum person. Or maybe I'm just not a fan of museums when I'm walking around with other people. Then I feel like I can't spend as much time on some things as I'd like, and that I have to spend more time on other things than I want to. 

The two museums I visited in Stockholm, however, I adored. 

Vasa Museum 

Fun fact - my goal is to write a non-fiction book that reads like a novel. A la Boys in the Boat and Seabiscuit. 

The entire time I was walking about the Vasa Museum, I was thinking that it might be the perfect topic for my future book. 

The Vasa museum tells the story of a warship that capsized and sank in Stockholm in 1628. It remained underwater until 333 - when it was brought to the surface and has been meticulously preserved. 

It's incredible that 98% of this ship is ORIGINAL! Original, from 1628! The water preserved much of what was on board when the vessel went down. Including bones, women's purses, and more. Archaeologists worked tirelessly to get Vasa in the condition it's in today - and they continue to work on its preservation. 

I was fascinated with the Vasa story and no trip to Stockholm is complete without a visit to this piece of history. 

Fotografiska

The photography museum in Stockholm was wonderful - and I think I enjoyed it so much because I was on my own and able to amble through at my own speed. Skipping what didn' interest me, and lingering to read every last word about the pieces that moved me. 

During my visit there was a large display by a photojournalist, an exhibit that chronicled "Last Night in Sweden" after Trump's now infamous remark, and a gallery of photograph contest winners. 

I loved every single exhibit that was at the museum when I visited. The photojournalists images and accompanying accounts were raw and moving and difficult to get through. "Last Night in Sweden" offered a multifaceted look at the nation I was visiting. And the final exhibit was full of different pieces. 

With constantly changing exhibits and incredible hours (Sunday - Wednesday 9 AM - 11 PM and Thursday - Saturday 9 AM - 1 AM!) - Fotografiska is a museum you can come back to time and time again. I'm so glad someone suggested it! (A friend of the couple who rescued us in Copenhagen!)

5. Eating. Obviously.

Duh, I visited many restaurants in Stockholm. However, I found one of Bill Bryson's quotes from "Neither Here Nor There" to be all too true - 

“Eating in Sweden is really just a series of heartbreaks.”

— Bill Bryson, Neither Here Nor There

The food wasn't atrocious - but it was, overall, a disappointment. Or just not my cup of tea. No matter how many times I gave pickled herring a chance - or tried to be OK with the amount of mayonnaise used in Swedish cuisine - I couldn't get behind it. 

No matter what I ordered, it didn't come out the way I had anticipated - maybe it was lost in translation, maybe that was me just not being open minded enough (though I think I am very open minded when it comes to food!)

That being said - the Swedes really kill the mashed potato game.  I think the ratio must have been something like 1 stick of butter and 1 cup of cream for each potato.  

I did have a few standout meals though - so here are my restaurant recommendations!

Pom & Flora

Looking for a brunch spot with healthy options, bright colors, and a made-for-Instagram aesthetic? (I mean, that's what I typically look for...) Pom & Flora is for sure your spot.  We waited a bit for a table, but I knew that I needed to eat here. 

Everything was fresh and delicious - I ordered the banana split and avocado toast while my coworker had a delicious bowl of oatmeal. 

Sally Voltaire & Sisters (Sally Voltaire & Systrar)

I came here to pick up lunch one day and was pleasantly surprised by the bright colors, fresh ingredients, and healthy options. 

There are little shrimps everywhere in Stockholm! 

Sturehof

This is a trendy, seafood heavy restaurant that was one of my favorites, no doubt. It's one of those places where you instantly feel cooler just by dining there. It's in the Stureplan area - aka clubbing central. And the menu was top notch! 

Rolfs Kök 

Another super cute interior, an open kitchen, and "Modern Nordic Cuisine." I absolutely cannot tell you what I ordered here - but it looks like it was tasty!

Falafelbaren

Take a look at this picture and you'll surely fall just as in love with Falafelbaren as I did. 

Had this been closer to work or my hotel, I definitely would have eaten here every day of the week. And I'm not the only one who loves it - it's definitely one of the more popular spots in Stockholm! 

Riche

Another hip spot, this was one of the most frequently recommended restaurants. I'm sensing a trend where if the interior of the restaurant had a good vibe and was aesthetically pleasing - I could forego the fact that I didn't love Swedish cuisine! 

Riche was gorgey (hello, giant chandeliers) and had a great mix of classic and modern dishes.

My coworker ordered the Biff Rydberg - which was a dish I learned about too late in the game to ever order out, unfortunately. 

Diced and fried tenderloin with potatoes, onions, grated fresh horseradish and egg yolk - it's basically steak and eggs for dinner. 

Den Gyldene Freden

I recommend coming here mainly for the ambiance! Nestled in Gamla Stan, the downstairs of this restaurant is like a beautiful cave - if that makes any sense? It's been serving food since 1722 and is filled with different rooms and an antique vibe that really brings you back. 

This was one of our nicer dinners out - the staff were wonderful, the bar upstairs had a lovely bartender while we waited for our table, and the food was delicious (if still not particularly my style). 

The Opera Bar / Operabaren

Operakalleren is one of the most famous, fine dining experiences in Stockholm. But they also have The Opera Bar, next to Cafe Opera (a nightclub) that serves more traditional Swedish meals.

We were lucky enough to snag a table at The Opera Bar one night in August. The stained glass ceiling made for a beautiful backdrop to a standout meal! 

Restaurant B.A.R.

I loved the concept behind this restaurant - where you walk up to the counter and pick out your piece of fish or meat, then head back to the table to order your small plates and accouterments! 

This was a really fun place for a group - and again, super hip inside, friendly service (everyone in Sweden is friendly) and fresh food! Definitely recommend. 

Taverna Brillo

You guessed it - hip, trendy (though possibly the one waiter of note on the entire trip who seemed entirely uninterested in serving us) and good food. 

The standout dish was one that my coworker ordered - Ox Cheeks! I was so proud, and also very impressed with the dish! 

And to answer your question - yes, I ate Swedish meatballs and yes, they were delicious - but I can't say that the restaurant I ordered them at was anything to write home about. And my Gran still makes the best Swedish meatballs - it's a nostalgia thing. 

6. The Subway is Gorgeous 

The subways in Stockholm have been called the largest art museum in the world. That's because each station really is like a giant art installation/work of art. 

You could spend a whole rainy afternoon riding the subway, getting off at different stops, and taking pictures of each unique station.

One morning, when we got to the subway - the floor had SOAP BUBBLES on it. As in, THEY CLEANED THE SUBWAY FLOOR. 

7. Hotel Breakfast Buffets 

It sounds strange, but if you want to live like a local, do it up BIG at a hotel breakfast buffet. According to the friend we made at the sauna, Swedes usually go once a year and pay for a hotel buffet. 

I was spoiled rotten at both the Sheraton Stockholm and the Grand Hotel - eating at a breakfast buffet every morning is what we call, "Living My Best Life." Heaven absolutely has a breakfast buffet. 

And that breakfast buffet most definitely has cream of wheat with all the accouterments + croissants and jam and giant blocks of brie. 

8. Fika 

Fika is the Swedish cultural tradition of a "coffee break" but it's more-so the concept of taking a moment out of your day to sit and relax at a comfy, cozy cafe. 

While I was working with American coworkers and we didn't necessarily make fika part of our daily routines while in Stockholm - it's definitely something you should do on your visit. Like a siesta when you're in Spain!

There are endless cute coffee shops in Stockholm - with incredible pastries I might add! Stop for a snack and some caffeine and don't take it to go! (Like I did, from Joe & The Juice, repeatedly. This place employs only the hottest male models, I swear). 

9. Homeland of IKEA & All The Aesthetically Pleasing Shopping

There is something about Scandinavian design that is so modern, so clean, so clever, so useful, so beautiful, so hip - you're going to have a really hard time not buying everything you see. 

Like me, coming home with a roll of doughnut wrapping paper. 

My favorite shopping story is that I bought myself a little vase in August and when I got home, realized that the copper stem, which made it cute in the first place, was missing. 

I happened to pass the store again in November, stopped in, told the woman working my story - and she took the piece off of the display vase and gave it to me! 

This epitomizes the Swedish people that I met. 

This is also shows how easy it is to communicate in Sweden - most people speak better English than Americans. 

10. A Fun Nightlife 

Enjoy the nightlife in this city - I've heard the clubbing is great. Sadly, I was there for work, people! 

We stuck to casual bars and I highly suggest The Liffey if you're looking for a casual Irish Pub that has live music and trivia nights!

Another night we got classy cocktails at Vau De Ville - which was bumping!

I didn't like the food at Yuc, or the cocktail I ordered necessarily, but if you're looking for cocktails and guacamole, check it out! Hands down the coolest ice cube I've ever received. 

So there you have it - my Stockholm guide. I didn't think I would have nearly this much to write, but turns out this post made me fall in love with the city all over again. 

I leave you with some more pictures - in case you weren't already convinced that it's absolutely beautiful. 

No one you know wants to go to Sweden? It's probably the easiest place to travel on your own. Everyone speaks English. I even took a Barry's Bootcamp class in English! And the public transportation is a BREEZE. 

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LISBOA - DEFINITELY COOL (DAY 3)

Day three in Portugal was another jam-packed day in terms of the itinerary. To say I had been ambitious while planning this trip is an understatement - and the fact that my mom was game for absolutely all of it was amazing.  

I had been a little nervous that she would want more down time than I had built into the schedule - but we are pretty similar in the fact that we can't sit around doing nothing for too long. 

1. Alfama Exploring

We "slept in" after our night out on Pink Street and headed to the bus stop to journey to the Alfama neighborhood of Lisbon. 

It seems to be that most European cities with a lot of history have an "Old Town" area where tourists are instructed to, "just get lost in the winding streets." In Barcelona it's the Gothic Quarter, in Stockholm it's Gamla Stan. And in Lisbon, it's Alfama. 

The bus ride to the top of the Alfama neighborhood was scarier than any roller coaster ride I've ever been on. The twists and turns we took seemed to defy all laws of nature as we went up and up on increasingly narrow and bumpy roads. I think my mom and I were very happy to disembark at the foot of the Castelo de Sao Jorge.  

After wandering around a bit, we decided that we didn't feel the need to wait in line for entry into the castle grounds and instead, set out on our own Alfama exploration. This was mainly guided by the need to find a restroom almost immediately upon our arrival. 

Turns out, the homes and buildings in this area of Lisbon are so old, that many of them do not even have running water. There are public restrooms that you pay for with euro coins - and some locals even have to use them! 

I loved exploring this neighborhood - we found so many fun spots for photos - including some incredible overlooks. It was a beautiful, sunny morning and the fact that I was walking around in a sun dress at the end of October was not lost on me. 

2. National Tile Museum ("National Azulejo Museum")

While I'm not a huge museum person - I was intrigued by the National Tile Museum - considering half of the trip I was stopping to take pictures of the tile work on buildings in Lisbon. 

The museum was enjoyable, but eventually, like most museums for me, it got old. It was a bit out of our way to get there, and we spent awhile waiting for the bus/figuring out where we were going - and I'm not sure my mom or I felt it was entirely worth it.

I more so enjoyed viewing the tiles in their natural habitat - snapping pictures as I walked down the street. The fascinating part about the tiles is how they all come together on the facades of massive buildings - seeing just a few tiles together in a display case wasn't quite the same. 

The church, the choir and the chapels of Saint Anthony and Queen Leonor are also part of the tile museum, and they were very pretty!

3. Time Out Market Lisboa for Lunch 

No trip to a city is complete without checking out their FOOD MARKET. 

It seems like every major city has one now - whether it's New York's Smorgasburg or Chelsea Market, Copenhagen's Paper Island or Lisbon's Time Out Market.  

Lisbon's market was a little sterile for me - more mall food court than the unique, hipster, food-wonderland that was Copenhagen's Paper Island. But as usual when I find myself in a food market- I was completely overwhelmed by the sheer number of options. I mean, there is an entire stall dedicated to tartares! 

My mom and I did a big loop, scoping out all of the stalls, before deciding on a salmon dish from the Sea Me stall. 

What first drew me to this particular restaurant was the fact that they served an octopus hot dog! I had to give them some props for that one. Our salmon was served with a fried egg on top and delicious mushrooms. It wasn't anything out of this world, but it was tasty. 

I had also been dying to try the traditional Portuguese dish of "Caldo Verde" - a kale soup. 

I bought a bowl from Creme de la Creme and thought it was very tasty! While I was waiting for my soup, I also decided to try out one more pasteis de bacalhau-  one that looked more traditional than the one we had sampled at Bairro do Avillez. 

I wish we had left it at Chef Avillez' interpretation. Neither of us were a fan of the pasteis de bacalhau from Time Out Market at all. 

Typically, the other half of the Time Out Market is a big food market similar to La Boqueria in Barcelona - more so a farmer's market with fresh foods for purchase than a food court. But unfortunately, we were there after it had closed.  

We (OK, I) couldn't leave the Time Out Market without sampling the second most popular spot for pasteis de nata - Manteigaria. I was still head over heels in love with pasteis de nata in general- though I can't say that it was better than that first one in Belem. Nothing beats your first time, ya know? 

4. Drink at Ribeira das Naus

This little kiosk on the waterfront promenade is the perfect spot to grab a drink and sit out watching the water. Ribeira das Naus is known as an urban beach - a pretty spot right in the middle of the city and right on the Tagus river where locals run, walk, bike, read, and more. 

It's also the spot I was reunited with a MASSIVE cup of Somersby Cider. 

5. Ride the Ascensor da Bica

It was a complete mistake that we ended up boarding the Ascensor da Bica to reach our next destination - but a really great one! This is one of the older funicular railways still operating in Lisbon - it's history dating back to 1888. 

We waited a decent amount of time to board - it doesn't run as frequently as you might think considering there's just two stops! But once we did it was a unique experience - it's SO STEEP and SO NARROW! 

I'm definitely glad that we got to ride one of these historic funiculars! 

When we disembarked we picked up some supplies for a picnic at a corner grocery store and made our way to the days' final stop. 

6. Sunset at Miradouro De Santa Catarina

Other than eating donuts in every city I go to (or, in Lisbon's case, pasteis de nata) - the number one thing I need to get on my itinerary is catching a sunset. 

In a city like Lisbon, with countless river overlooks, I knew this was going to be a showstopper.

By all the accounts I had read online, I knew that Miradoura De Santa Catarina was where I wanted to go for a sunset picnic - it was the spot where locals and tourists alike sat out, played guitars, played cards, smoke, drank, and enjoyed the views.  

When we arrived, it was already pretty crowded but we perched on a rock and took in the sights. Pretty quickly, my mom started doubting whether she could sit out in the marijuana clouds on a dusty rock with no bathroom drinking wine until the sun set in 2 hours. 

Fair enough. 

So she walked down a bit and found Noobai - a restaurant and bar with a perfect little patio that we somehow managed to snag a table on. It had a stunning view, and we ordered a bottle of wine and weren't nagged for the entire two hours that we sat, sipped, and sunsetted. 

It was probably one of my favorite parts of the entire trip - and if there's one thing you take away from my Lisbon blogging it's that you should get to Noobai for a sunset. 

7. Wine & Cheese & Bread 

Since we hadn't been able to eat our picnic supplies at Noobai, we took the tram back (very crowded, very ~authentic~) to the apartment and feasted on grapes and wine and cheese and bread and dark chocolate and wine before ending with a night cap in our favorite Carmo Square. There were even fire breathers! 

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LISBOA - DEFINITELY COOL (DAY 2)

My mom and I are both somewhat early risers, so we were up and ready to go explore Belem on Day 2 in Portugal. 

First, I tried finding some caffeine - but everywhere that I stopped informed me that they didn't offer coffee to go. I'm all about the European belief in taking a minute to stop and enjoy your coffee - but I really just wanted something to sip on during our trip!

I was proud of the fact that we took the bus instead of relying on a taxi. 

1. Bananacafe

Stop number one in Belem when we disembarked our bus was for the coffee I had failed to get earlier that morning (I'm being dramatic - it was a 20 minute bus ride). 

This cafe is an adorable converted tram painted bright yellow with outdoor seating right where the bus stops. I was shocked that it wasn't overrun with people - though we did arrive fairly early. 

I thoroughly enjoyed my coffee here! I believe they have multiple locations, light food options and supposedly stellar sangria as well. 

2. Jerónimos Monastery

We walked around this impressive building and to be honest, I hadn't done much research about which areas to visit, tour, buy a ticket to, etc. We joined a line and paid to enter one of the areas and spent some time walking around, reading about some statues, and taking in the intricate details. I believe where we ended up was the South Portal of the monastery. 

I wish I was one of those history buffs who gets really into looking at impressive old churches, but I have to admit I'm really not. I do appreciate their history and beauty, though. And show me some stained glass and I'm thrilled.  

3. Berardo Collection Museum

We ended up here purely because we were in search of a public restroom. Turns out, entry to this modern and contemporary art museum was free on Saturday's! 

The entire Centro Cultural de Belém was a beautiful place to walk around. The grounds were architecturally unique with lots of pretty landscaping and places to sit out on green grass. I'm glad we happened to stroll through! 

I was shocked at how much I enjoyed the Berardo Collection! Similarly, I loved the Dikeau Collection in Denver - which has me coming to the realization that maybe I'm into contemporary art? 

4. Padrão dos Descobrimentos

This is a large monument next to the Tagus River that celebrates that Age of Discovery in Portugal. You know the guys - you read all about them in 8th grade history class. Vasco da Gama, Bartolomeu Dias, Ferdinand Magellan...yep, all Portuguese!  

From atop the  Centro Cultural de Belém we had a pretty good view of the monument - and didn't feel that it required a separate stop, though it's definitely an impressive structure. You can pay for a ticket to go into the structure, but I have read that the view isn't anything incredible. 

5. Torre de Belém 

We walked from the museum over to the Torre de Belem (passing this amazing piece of art along the way!)

From a distance, it looked just like a raccoon. The closer you got to the wall, the more you realized it was just a bunch of random odds and ends! So cool. 

The Belem Tower is one of the main reasons that people visiting Lisbon make the journey to Belem. Though I had read that it wasn't necessarily worth the wait and ticket price to go up inside, we did walk along the water until we reached the tower. The tower once stood on an island in the middle of the river. The Tagus River has since been redirected and the tower now sits right on the shore. 

We snapped some pictures in the touristy area and I thoroughly enjoyed the adorable "Wine With A View" cart parked in the lot. We passed some similar carts with delicious looking IPAs. 

6. Pasteis de Belém

You KNOW I wasn't about to pass up sampling Portugal's most famous pastry! Though it wasn't a donut, I was still excited to compare some of the cities most popular pasteis de nata. These crispy, custard-y sweets are to Portugal what croissants are to France. And according to many, the pasteis of Pasteis de Belem are the best you can get. 

This shop has been around since 1837 - and the website claims that the recipe hasn't been altered since the time it was created at the monastery next door.  

While the line outside snakes down the sidewalk, I had read that there is a ton of seating inside (along with restrooms - which we were always on the hunt for!) 

We walked inside and were astonished to see how much it opened up inside (and that despite the huge number of tables, it was still packed!) We took a seat and ordered coffee and a pastry for each of us. Service was a little stressful in the chaotic restaurant, but it was well worth it when we were presented with two beautiful pasteis de Belem - along with our own containers of powdered sugar and cinnamon for sprinkling!  

I decided to take my first bite topping-free for a true taste test. On the count of three my mom and I both took a  bite of our still-hot delicacies and stared wide eyed at each other as the initial crispy crunch of the crust gave way to creamy, sweet, rich custard.  

My one complaint about pasteis de Belem is that they are NOT BIG ENOUGH (am I American or what)? We truly savored each and every delicious bite of our pastries and were both hesitant to finish off that last precious bite. 

7. Walk from Belem to LX Factory 

This was around a 30-35 minute walk, but it was worth it for all the pictures I got to take of beautiful tiled buildings. 

8. LX Factory

Located in the Alcantara neighborhood, LXFactory was once the site of a massive fabric company in the 1860's. Now, it's a hip, trendy area filled with quirky shops, delicious restaurants, and fun bars. 

Some of the stores were strange - they seemed to have 10 items that were super expensive and we wondered a) who shopped there and b) how they stayed in business. But there were also some nice stores with good souvenirs (and a pair of shoes I fell in love with but didn't quite fit). 

There's also tons of cool street art to check out at the LXFactory. 

9. Lunch at Rio Maravilha

After walking up and down the streets multiple times, we finally settled on a restaurant for our lunch - Rio Maravilha. It was such a cool setting - the interior was filled with unique furniture, a beautiful bar, a rooftop with lawn chairs, and the space where we ate which was an enclosed, bright patio with windows all the way around looking out over the Tejo River. The space was extremely colorful which I loved. You could tell this would be a trendy place for a night out. 

My mom and I ordered some wine and a bunch of small plates to share. I've spent about 20 minutes trying to recall what exactly we ordered - all I have is this picture of what I'm thinking is some sort of pork dish. And I know we ordered the crispy rice with tomato chutney which were fried rice balls and pretty tasty! 

After lunch, we wandered around shopping for awhile and searching for a local IPA. We kind of struck out, but eventually found a bar that served an Oitava Colina beer Urraca Vendaval -from "8th Hill" brewery (8A). It wasn't my favorite, but it was nice to sit outside and drink it in the sunshine. 

10. Ginginha do Carmo 

After some relaxing (and a little nap on my part) back at our apartment, we started our walk to dinner. But first, we had to stop for a shot of "ginginja" - a Portuguese tradition.

Ginginja (ginginha or ginja) is a cherry liquor that's only found in Portugal. There are tons of small windows that you can walk up to for a cheap shot of this super sweet substance - it's not super high in alcohol content, and it's also not usually taken as a shot by locals. Sometimes, the shot glass comes with a soaked sour cherry in the bottom. 

At Ginginha do Carmo, which was right near our apartment, there's also the option to drink your ginginha out of a chocolate shot glass! 

My mom and I sipped ours on the sidewalk - I wasn't a huge fan since it reminded me a lot of port wine. But glad we could check it off the Lisbon bucket list (ginginha is very prominent in Lisbon, but not as popular in places like Porto). 

11. Dinner at BASTARDO

This was our big night out - eating at the New York Times reviewed Bastardo in the Internacional Design Hotel. 

Though they had lost our reservation when we arrived, we sat down at the bar while we waited and ordered a cocktail. The tequila drink that I had high hopes for was a total flop. Despite the elaborate presentation (pineapple, pepper, bacon) it didn't taste like there was any alcohol in it at all and it took about 20 minutes for us to be served! 

Eventually, we sat at the table where we waited about another 20-30 minutes for anyone to acknowledge our existence. 

Despite the very poor service, we were entertained by the pop-art inspired atmosphere, the placements that proclaimed "On This Magic Placemat Calories Don't Count. You're Welcome. Enjoy." and the bread baskets made out of Legos. 

The menu sections are titled "Ready" "Set" and "Go" which I also cracked a smile at. 

I can't say I remember anything in particular that we ate at Bastardo - the food honestly wasn't that memorable, the service wasn't great, and it was a bit of a disappointment all around. The concept and design was interesting - but also a little over the top. 

My mom's comment as we washed our hands in the bathroom sink filled with rocks was one of my favorite quotes of the night, "What do they think they are, Tao or something?" 

12. Night out on Pink Street

Pink Street is actually part of  Rua Nova do Carvalho - and it is, as the kids say, LIT. 

During the day it's a pretty pink street but at night it transforms into party city. Think Broadway in Nashville or 6th Street in Austin - plus the unique night club atmosphere of European cities like Barcelona. 

My mom was adamant that I wasn't dragging her into a night club for dancing - but I did get her to go join me at a wine bar with live music (I think we were subconsciously drawn into this bar because the guitarist was singing all American songs!)

The bar we had wandered in to was Pink Wine Point and it was lively (though every bar on the block seemed to be) and I fell in love with the bartender (the bartender was not aware that I existed, other than to pour me more wine). 

Note: Negronis, Aperol Spritz and gin drinks are huge in Lisbon! It seemed to be all anyone ordered all night. Another drink that was everywhere? SOMERSBY! The cider I had fallen in love with in Copenhagen! 

Post-vacation I looked up Pink Wine Point and it turns out it's very popular, with great reviews, on Yelp and TripAdvisor! Go us! 

We walked back to our apartment where we fell into bed and sang a wonderful rendition of La Vie Boheme  (complete with choreographed foot motions). 

Day 3 coming up next!

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Lisboa - Definitely Cool (Day 1)

It took me a really long time to figure out where I was going to stopover on my way to Sweden in October. I was getting stressed as the date crept up and I still hadn't booked any flights. 

I could chase the Northern lights in Finland, I could go see a show in the West End in London - and then I found the one flight that connected through Portugal and I knew that was the spot.

Culture, history, cobblestone streets, seafood, wine and WARMTH - I was sold. And so was my mom. While I'd been trying to convince her to join me in Stockholm, the wet and rainy forecast (plus a travel companion who would be working 14 hours days) didn't appeal to her as much as the seaside city of Lisbon. 

So we booked flights - and set off for our first mother/daughter trip, and my mom's first visit to Europe! 

After picking my mom up in a cab from Penn Station, we arrived at Newark Airport for our flight to Lisbon.

We had a delay of an hour or so which naturally led to a glass of wine before we boarded the plane and settled in for the 6 and a half hour (ish) flight on TAP airlines.

Aside from someone being in my seat when I first tried to sit down and having to wait for a new seat assignment – all went well. TAP wasn’t overwhelmingly comfortable – but it wasn’t uncomfortable and I was able to sleep on and off and watch movies to pass the time.

Before I get into the details of this trip I would like to put out a disclaimer. I might claim something was my “favorite” part of the trip or my “favorite” meal but without a doubt my #1 favorite part of this entire trip was the opportunity to spend 4 days straight with my mom. The hardest part about leaving on the last morning was not knowing when I’ll have that chance again – just the two of us. It was the best thing – everyone go plan a trip with your mom!

DAY ONE

When we landed in Lisbon it was very early in the morning. We went through customs and hopped in a cab to our Airbnb. As we drove, I marveled at the sunrise which was absolutely stunning – the kind of sunrise that hurts to look at because it’s so bright and blinding.

We tried orienting ourselves as we drove but by the time we approached our Airbnb, we had taken so many twisty, turny, hilly cobblestone streets that looked more like sidewalks that we had absolutely no idea where we were anymore.

Our host greeted us outside and offered to take our bags up the stairs – no elevator in this building! We were in the middle of a real neighborhood – old buildings and all. Plus, we would learn, most of Portugal is still very old. There aren’t many modern buildings and skyscrapers, and that’s all part of the charm.

I felt awful as Mario struggled to lug my 50+ pound suitcase up the narrow, steep staircase. He had to take a break at one point and I was afraid I was going to be responsible for our host pulling out his back.

Once we were inside, my mom and took some time peeking around, marveling at some of the clever ways the space was utilized. Since this was my mom’s first time in Europe, there were some things that she was a little surprised by! She was especially surprised when she went to open the cabinet for a glass and the entire door fell off! Thankfully it didn’t hit either of us.

I took a quick shower since traveling always makes me feel pretty gross. In true European fashion – the shower was itty bitty and only had a hand-held showerhead. Traveling a lot the past year has made me learn to appreciate that there are many different ways of doing things – and that there isn’t necessarily a “right” way. That being said, I will never understand showers without a hands-free showerhead. Never.

After settling in we set out to explore – of course I had a full itinerary of things to accomplish in the first day.

Our first stop was for some sustenance - and caffeine! There is just something about drinking a coffee in Europe that is so much better than anywhere else in the world.  

We walked around the streets surrounding our apartment and strolled into one of the first bakeries we saw. It was complete chaos inside and we couldn’t understand one word. It was somewhat obvious that there was a “to stay” counter and a “to go” counter but it was beyond our comprehension which was which. We took a number, but then we had no idea what number was being called. We awkwardly stood and looked around with pleading “help me” looks on our faces until we somehow managed to communicate that we wanted some sort of caffeine and pointed at a pastry that looked delicious.

We sat outside enjoying our coffee, pastry and people watching, hoping that all our interactions in Lisbon wouldn’t be as much of a struggle. Luckily, I think we managed better from that point forward.

We followed my map somewhat – which was broken down into walking routes of each of Lisbon’s different neighborhoods.

1. Conserveira de Lisboa

Part store, part museum – Conserveira de Lisboa specializes in all types of canned fish. Yes, you read that correctly. Canned anchovies, cod, tuna and even octopus. We had to stop in to pick up a can for my dad as a souvenir – and I also enjoyed looking at all the different colorful containers.

2.  Comercio Square (“Praca do Comercio”)

This is the big, wide open square in Lisbon that’s part of the “Baixa” downtown area. Not as charming as some of the other areas in the city, but certainly worth a walk through!

While we were over here, we wandered into “Lisbon Shop” – a very nice spot to pick up some souvenirs! We had only been there a few hours, so we didn’t want to commit to anything yet, but we did pick up a postcard to send home (and successfully navigated the letter sending process at the nearby post office!)

3. Rua Augusta Arch

If you walk through this arch, you’ll find yourself on Rua Augusta – a pedestrian street like you’ll find in many European cities – filled with tourists, shops, restaurants, bars, etc. Again, it’s touristy, but certainly wouldn’t be a complete trip without briefly checking it out.

4. Praca da Figuiera

Another main square in the downtown area of Lisbon, this one was filled with a market that we enjoyed strolling through one afternoon. Everything from bags, wallets, scarves and jewelry to meats, cheese, breads and fresh vegetables.

5. Praca Rossio (Pedro IV Square)

We really liked the wavy tile work in this square. It’s been one of the city’s main squares since the Middle Ages. No big deal.

6. Ascensor da Gloria

After passing Praca Rossio, we found ourselves walking up, and up & up. A common occurrence in Lisbon. Unknowingly, we had started our way up the Ascensor da Gloria funicular line – on foot, instead of on-board a funicular. Despite the screaming calves, it was great getting to take some pictures of the cars and to view some of the graffiti/street art along the way!

7. Miradouro de Sao Pedro de Alcantara

If you’re in Lisbon and you see a sign for “Miradouro” – follow it. This was advice I read many times while researching my Portugal trip and it served me well! A miradouro is a lookout in Portugese – and the city is filled with incredible views since it’s so incredibly hilly! This was our first glimpse of the city form above – and it felt very well deserved after our trek up Calcada da Gloria!

8. Lunch at The Decadente

Part of a hostel, The Decadente was a gorgeous spot for our first meal - after all, the building used to be the Swiss ambassador's residence! 

We were seated outside in a pretty garden area and couldn't have been happier with the warm air! The ambiance was great - and I was glad I had done my research to know that often, you have to turn down the bread basket that comes to your table unless you want to be charged for it! 

We passed on the bread and instead ordered an appetizer of camaroes - sautéed prawns with homemade hot sauce and garlic.

I highly suggest a side of paprika potato wedges to soak up the extra sauce! A wonderful move on my part if I do say so myself. 

For a main dish, my mom ordered the cod (a dish you can't really go wrong with in Portugal!) and I went with the seabass ceviche which was fresh and light. There was a sweet potato and pumpkin puree with crispy pieces of corn that I really loved! 

9. Solar do Vinho do Porto

With full stomachs, we walked the short distance to Solar do Vinho do Porto - a tasting room for port wine that's overseen by the government's port wine agency. We walked in and were a little taken aback by the silence in the space - it felt like we were in a library!

While my mom enjoyed the port wine - I was less than thrilled by it. Luckily, we had some great wine on the trip (in fact, ever since, I've been drinking 10X more wine than ever before) but wine of the port variety was not for me! 

I wouldn't suggest a trip here unless you're really into wine. It wasn't a very fun vibe! 

10. Church of Sao Roque

We stopped in this church and although nothing very memorable stands out- all of the churches in Portugal obviously have a ton of history and beautiful architectural details. 

It was a very pretty square, with the typical Portuguese tiled buildings all around!

11. Lottery Ticket Seller Statue 

In the square of Sao Roque church, there's a statue I had read about of a lottery ticket seller. On the corner, you can buy your own scratch off lottery ticket and the statue is supposed to give you good luck! 

Despite my mom's eye rolls, I made her take the photo opportunity of us scratching tickets. We won $2! So I bought another ticket. And then we lost. 

12. Cervejaria trindade 

"The oldest beer hall in Lisbon" was our next stop - and it was really awesome to sip a brewski in a place whose story begins in 1294 (when it was the site of a monastery). The current building has been around since Manuel Moreira Garcia built the Trindade Brewery in 1836.  

While I didn't love my beer, it was cool to look around! 

13. convento do carmo 

The Carmo Convent was just up the hill from our Airbnb and we enjoyed most nights in the square (Praca Largo Do Carmo). Though we never paid the entry fee to go into the convent, we did follow the advice I had read to find a lane with trolley tracks just past the convent - which lead to a great lookout from the top of the Elevador de Santa Justa.  

This view was one of my absolute favorites from the trip - both in the daylight and at night. We took note of the restaurant/bar at the top and filed it away for later. 

14. dinner at bairro do avillez 

On our walk to dinner we came to a sidewalk dining area that made us stop in our tracks. For me, this was the moment when Lisbon's charm really won me over. I think it was a similar moment for my mom as well - when we realized that steps from our apartment was this picture-perfect cobblestone street with dinner tables overlooking the city and tourists and locals alike mingling in the streets. It was a total, "Oh, right, we are in Europe and it's magical" moment. 

After some pictures, we continued on to dinner at Bairro do Avillez. I chose this for our dinner because José Avillez is kind of a big-deal chef in Portugal. He has many restaurants, but we ate at the casual Taberna within Bairro do Avillez - a building that houses many different Avillez restaurants. 

The octopus was incredibly well done, as were the next-level Pasteis de Bacalhau. Pasteis de bacalhau is a traditional dish in Portugal hat it essentially a deep fried cod fritter. While we eventually tried a more traditional one at the Time Out Market, these were by far the better version. 

15. wine in the square 

This was the way we ended every night in Lisbon -

A half bottle of wine (shared - they had these really cute 1/2 bottles for like $4)

A piece of dark chocolate

Live music or fire juggling or people watching

In Carmo Square

They have cute little bars that are just a small kiosk with cheap drinks and it seems like the whole neighborhood is out!

Stay  tuned for days 2, 3 and 4! 

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Beautiful Banff: Where You Need To Go

It feels like a long long time ago that I spent 8 blissful days in Banff and Jasper with my best friends. I know I rave about all the amazing trips I've gotten to take - but this one was different. 

This trip was the ideal vacation  not only because the landscape was otherworldly and beautiful, but because my travel companions were perfect. There are very few people I would want to hike and run and drive and eat and sleep with for 8 days straight, but Abby and Callie are definitely two of those people.  

I had bought a small notebook to write about the trip in, but failed after about a day. Day One's recap comes directly from my journal - the rest of the trip is from memory. 

Day One 

We arrived at our hostel in Banff on Tunnel Mountain very late on Thursday night (we stayed at HI Banff Alpine Centre). Note to self: arriving at hostels in the middle of the night is not ideal because your room is pitch black and you need to struggle to be quiet because there are three other girls already sound asleep. 

We were up at 8 the next morning and had a huge and satisfying breakfast at Cougar Pete's - the onsite restaurant. We were shocked at how legit it was. We all split the yogurt parfait, egg sandwich and omelette. Maybe the best part was slathering peanut butter on the buttered toast. 

It was so nice feeling a chill in the air and cupping our hands around our hot mugs of coffee.

Sulpher Mountain Hike

6.5 Miles 

Our first stop was Sulpher Mountain, back where I stayed at the Rimrock Resort when I went for a work trip in August. The parking lot was still fairly empty and we walked up to the hot springs only to decide we weren't in the mood - but that we'd rather get right to the hike! 

The Sulpher Mountain hike was a lot more legit than I thought it would be - there were some switchbacks but for the most part we just walked up and up and up. 

Before this trip I had worried a little about whether or not I would enjoy hiking - I haven't exactly been on many multi-hour hikes recently (or ever). I thought I might get bored and be thinking, "That's it - we just walk?" But there's something exciting about not knowing what is going to be around each corner - and the Canadian Rockies are a place where each hike offers truly amazing pay-off when you reach your destination and has made me love hiking and find it far from boring. 

The trails were a lot more challenging that I anticipated and a 6.5 mile round trip hike has certainly felt much harder to me than a six mile run would! I was so sore everywhere this entire trip. 

I also knew that even had I been bored by the actual hiking - I was with 2 of my best friends and the conversations, jokes, laughter and singing alone made the miles and hours fly by. 

On our way up Sulphur Mountain we marveled at all of the people who were somehow managing to RUN up, as we very clearly could only manage a brisk walk. We also rolled our eyes at the group of girls in their black Lulu leggings and black sports bras. 

Eventually we made it to the top for some pretty spectacular views of Banff town below. The temperature really dropped once we were up there and we also noticed that it was packed with people who had taken the gondola up. 

Honestly, half the reason the view for this particular hike was so awesome was knowing we had walked 2,000 feet up to earn it and I can't imagine having paid to take a gondola to the top. 

There was a coffee shop and museum which we ambled through before walking to the to Cosmic Ray Station to finish the trail. There were a lot of people around and we were happy to get back on the trail to some degree of solitude for the walk down. 

Our legs were feeling the effects of the climb and we were so happy we had saved the hot springs for post-hike. 

One the way down (and up) we occasionally held our hands up over our heads to try to combat the fact that our blood was pooling in our fingers and making them super swollen and puffy. Gross. 

I also forgot how dry the air is in Banff - combined with the fact there were were crazy wildfires burning in the area (sometimes making the views a little hazy) - I used a lot of chapstick during this trip. 

Banff Upper Hot Springs

We got our things from the car (#1 piece of advice if you plan a trip to the Canadian Rockies is to rent a car!) and went back to the Banff Upper Hot Springs. 

The smell of sulphur  was pretty strong - 3 days later we swore we still smelled like it. 

The prices were very fair ($7.30 in USD) and we made a game time decision to rent "historic" swimsuits for $1.90 instead of wearing our own. They. were. awesome. I don't know why romper bathing suits aren't a real thing. Swompers.  

They are SO much more flattering. We felt like a bunch of Marilyn Monroes. We used our "looney" ($1 coin in Canada) to lock up our things and walked into the hot springs - which were a balmy 102 degrees that day. 

Eventually I came up with the genius idea of laying on the ledge separating the real pool from the kidding pool and floating with my arms on the surface - keeping me just the right temperature. With the mountains in the background - I was soo content and felt like I could have fallen asleep or stayed for hours. But hunger struck us all so we left our historic suits behind (although we could have purchased one for $95) and headed into town to find some food. 

Picnic & Drive to Lake Minnewanka

What I thought were really cool parking lots that tell you how many spaces are left were actually #FakeNews. First we went to Nestor's market for carrots and hummus and long run fuel (GoMacro bars, bananas and rice cakes) and then wandered into Wild Flour because we only eat at restaurants whose names are puns. 

Johnson Lake

We chose a bunch of things to split, as usual, and headed to Johnson Lake for a picnic. When I was in Banff for work I had stopped at Johnson Lake and thought, "Wow - my itinerary for Banff is too packed - I need to make more time for relaxing and sitting still and enjoying these views." 

I loved that Johnson Lake and the other spots along the drive to Lake Minnewanka were so empty and seemed to be lacking tourists. It was so great to be back with Abby and Callie doing just what I had imagined - sitting down for a picnic at Johnson Lake where we were probably the most touristy people there. 

The food from Wild Flour was so good - lentil/chickpea/sweet potato Moroccan-y stew, "meat" foccacia and a really good brie/apple sandwich. Oh, and a kale salad with raisins, sweet potatoes and a maple Dijon vinaigrette. An oatmeal Chai and triple chocolate cookie for dessert (not a crumb remained). 

We wished the water wasn't absolutely freezing, otherwise we would have taken a dip. "It's so cold my arms are burning," was a quote from one man who braved the glacier-fed waters. 

After our relaxing picnic lunch we took the ride up to Lake Minnewanka with stops at Two Jack Lake and Cascade Ponds back at the bottom. 

Two Jack Lake looked different than the last time I was there somehow - are there tides in lakes? I ventured down to a little sand bar for a photo op and felt so surrounded by beauty it was unreal. 

Tunnel Mountain Sunset Hike

1.5 Miles 

After our drive we went back to the hostel and I definitely took a very needed nap. We woke up in time for a sunset hike up Tunnel Mountain, which I knew from last time was quick but offered great sunset views. It didn't dissapoint. 

The clouds had beautiful sun rays breaking through them and all of Banff town was sprawled out below us. I voiced my belief that clouds are what make a sunset pretty - my metaphor for life being beautiful because of the challenges and dark splotches, not in spite of them. 

We sat on the log I had found last time and took some self-timer pictures with my new selfie stick/tripod but of course my GoPro was failing me. I still was able to use my phone for a pretty average time lapse. 

We looked around the backside of the mountain but the lighting wasn't as cool as the last time I was up there so we pretty quickly made the trek back down to our car for dinner #1. 

Sushi House Banff 

304 Caribou Street

A local had told me about "Sushi Train" on my last trip and I was dying for my first conveyor belt sushi experience. The place was packed when we got there but it's a genius strategy for getting people in and our quickly so we didn't wait long at all. 

We sat down and immediately could start grabbing plates. They also gave us a menu so we could make requests of the chefs who were rolling away right in front of us. 

We had edamame, yam roll, tuna roll, dumplings, shrimp purses, shrimp tempura roll - everything was really good. By the time the eel started going around we were too full, but it looked amazing. 

At the end, they add up how many of each colored plate you have to determine what you owe. Our jaws dropped when the total came to under $15 per person for a sushi dinner. Ah, the joys of getting awesome insider scoops from locals! 

Karaoke at Storm Cellar 

Back at the hostel it was karaoke night and I had made it very clear that the three of us would be performing. It was really nice having a bar onsite at the hostel. It was pretty crowded and eventually we got the nerve to submit our names for We Didn't Start the Fire. This was my first official karaoke performance. At the end, Abby had the thought of, "Oh shit - was that really insensitive since we are not very far away from forest fires?" Oops. 

Day One Total Mileage: 8 Miles

Day Two 

Long Run at Vermillion Lakes

10 Miles

Saturday morning we were up at 7/7:30 to get ready for Abby's long run - I give her so much credit for being so flexible and stress-free about fitting in her runs. Definitely one of my goals if I ever have another marathon training cycle is to go with the flow more. 

From last trip, I knew a great spot for a long run that wasn't very busy, was paved, and was fairly flat. We parked at the Fenland Trail head and started our run past the beautiful Vermillion Lakes. 

Breathing was not easy, but for the most part my legs felt pretty good - just sore hips and glutes from Friday's hikes. 

Once Abby said she was only going to do 10 miles, I said I would stay with her even though my original plan was no more than 9. By the end we got in a comfortable rhythm and it felt great to finish 10 miles for the first time in a long time. 

Afterwards, we did some planking - Abby came up with some torturous tabata-plank routine. 

Then we got in the car and drove back for some pictures at Vermillion Lakes - so so pretty. 

Breakfast at Tooloulou's 

204 Caribou Street 

After showering and packing up our things at the hostel, we drove into town for brunch be. We waited a decent amount of time for a table at Tooloulou's for brunch, but it was definitely worth it. 

• Chicken & Waffles
• Western Omelette with biscuit
• Sufferin' Succotash (two fried eggs, corned beef hash, skillet potatoes, pancake & toast)
• Fruit Salad

When the food first arrived at our table, we thought that our eyes had been bigger than our stomachs. But at some point, we realized that we were making a big dent on the copious amounts of food. We decided the challenge was on - we were going to finish everything and we were going to own it when the waitress came back and was shocked by our clean plates. 

I think we each used two cups of maple syrup - by the end we were dipping everything in it. 

It was a little out of hand, yet also a very proud moment for the three of us. We left Toulooloo's and wandered into a fudge shop. Our appetites truly know no bounds. 

Johnston Canyon to Ink Pots Hike 

6.3 Miles 

We waved goodbye to Banff town and got in our rental car to drive to Johnston Canyon for a hike before checking into our next hotel. 

I had no idea that Johnston Canyon was going to be so filled with tourists. The first part of our hike, from the parking lot to the two main waterfalls, wasn't all that enjoyable. It was beautiful, but it felt like we were in line for a ride at Disney World - trying to make our way around throngs of tourists who were clearly not there to hike. 

While we walked this part of the trail, I was on the lookout for a cave I had seen posted on Instagram many times during my research - and I was determined to find it. I read and reread the directions, tips and hints I had found online in the hopes that we wouldn't accidentally pass it. We succeeded in finding it - along with tons of other people. The secret about this spot is certainly out of the bag, but it was great to go off the beaten path for some pictures nonetheless. 

After this detour we continued to the upper falls and beyond that the crowd finally dispersed as we continued on to the Ink Pots portion of the hike. 

We ran into an extremely friendly couple who let us know that there's also a parking lot that would have gotten us right onto the Ink Pots trail (Moose Meadows Trailhead) and avoided all of the madness. 

The hike from the falls to the ink pots was challenging but absolutely beautiful - we couldn't believe how high up we were. And almost on our own for all of it. 

It was unintentionally great timing as the Ink Pots tend to be less crowded towards the end of the day. When we made it to the end of the trail, we had the ink pots almost to ourselves. There were just 2 or 3 other groups of people there! 

The Ink Pots are mineral springs that fill up with water at a different rate, causing different colors and cool rings that you can see on the bottom of the super clear pools of water. We took tons of pictures up here and sat out for awhile on the benches - discussing how amazing it would have been if we had a tent and could have spent the night there. 

storm mountain lodge

Our planned sleeping arrangements were a little less rustic than a tent - but we were still eager to drive to Storm Mountain Lodge for two nights in our very own log cabin. We retraced our steps back past the Upper and Lower Falls of Johnston Canyon, speed walking past slow moving tourists like true New Yorkers. 

While passing a crying little girl we commented, "Don't cry, you have ice cream!" only to see an entire scoop lying on the trail a few feet away. Oops - you may proceed little girl - dropped ice cream is definitely worth crying over. 

This lead to a very philosophical conversation about cup people vs. cone people and before we new it we were hitting the open road. We checked into Storm Mountain Lodge and as soon as we pulled into the parking lot we were in love. The main lodge had a massive fire place, restaurant, games, bar and the coziest vibes. 

We made a quick stop at a local market for some supplies (snacks and adult beverages including my favorite Copenhagen discovery, Somersby!) before placing an order for a charcuterie board at the Storm Mountain Lodge front desk. 

While we waited for our food, we asked if we could possibly get some carrots - and were overjoyed when carrots were delivered.

We retired to our little cabin in the woods where we MORE than enjoyed the food. Each meal it got harder and harder to pick a favorite! 

sunrise at lake louise 

There's nothing I love more than a good sunrise or sunset - and I knew that the only time we could guarantee some semblance of solitude at the wildly popular Lake Louise was to get there bright and early. 

Luckily, my travel companions are equally as down for an early wake up call. We only wish we had found coffee prior to arriving at Lake Louise! 

Of course we weren't the only ones there to enjoy the sunrise, but it was very quiet, peaceful, and not at all like the crowded scene we would encounter on our way back later that day. 

I made a time lapse, we chatted with a nice woman (while enviously eyeing her Starbucks cup), and marveled at the milky-pen-like pearly, turquoise water.

lake agnes tea house hike

Once the sun was up, we set off for the Lake Agnes Tea House - a hike that I thought would be fairly fast and easy since so many people recommend it.  It was neither fast nor easy - but it was breathtaking as the sun continued to rise. And again, we were fairly alone on the trail. 

We stopped for some pictures at mirror lake before arriving at the Lake Agnes Tea House. It was full of people already, but we were able to snag a table as we salivated over the carb-heavy menu. 

The Lake Agnes Tea House is incredible - it's been serving tea at 7.005 feet since 1905 and today, fresh ingredients are still hiked up twice weekly to the tea house's kitchen. They receive bulk ingredients by air once a year. And employees hike down all the garbage on their backs! 

We were desperately in need of coffee - but they don't call this a tea house for nothin'. We settled for Chai tea lattes and we are STILL talking about them.  

We are also still talking about the peanut butter sandwich. It was the classic "mouth is sticking together from PB" sandwich. Plus an energy ball and scones with jam. 

Keep in mind that the tea house is cash only (US dollars and Canadian). Abby helped out a cashless couple by giving them some USDs and they Venmo'd her. 

The air was soo crisp up at the tea house and we were loving it. We were also loving this beautiful view of Lake Agnes. So much so that we decided we needed to continue hiking in the area. 

big beehive hike

We decided to tackle the Big Beehive Hike which would turn out to be my absolute favorite of the trip. But at first - it was slightly scary. It got steep REAL quick - and I was panicking a little bit about how we were going to get down! 

But after walking straight up (and up and up) we made it to the top and were asked by a couple from Montana if we worked in the park! They said most people couldn't keep up with them - and seemed a little surprised to learn that we were from Manhattan, concrete jungle where hikers aren't typically made. 

For whatever reason, we took a turn to our left to wander the top of the peak and all of a sudden I audibly GASPED as many people would during our time atop Big Beehive. Suddenly, the sparkling blue of Lake Louise could be spotted down below and it was magic. 

We perched on a rock ledge where we sat for a good long while taking in the views, in awe of this spot we had stumbled on. While we sat, many groups of people passed by, and almost all of them had a similar reaction of, "OH MY GOD! Wait until you see this..." 

We decided to go back to Lake Louise a different way than we had come - which made me happy since the steepness had freaked me out. More importantly - it provided entirely new scenery for the return trip, which was great (and inspired some beautiful renditions of "The Sound of Music"). 

The return trail had us end up on the opposite end of Lake Louise from the hotel and parking lot which worked out wonderfully - we got to walk the entire perimeter of the lake and take in views away from the people who just jump out of their car for a few pictures. 

Round trip, the Lake Agnes Tea House and Big Beehive hike was 6.4 miles. 

Lake moraine 

We had spent so much time on our hike at Lake Louise, that we just ended up dropping by Lake Moraine so we could say we saw it - it's a short drive from Lake Louise. 

It was the peak time of day - so it took a lot of driving around the parking lot in circles until we found a parking spot. 

At Lake Moraine, we were those people who park, take a picture, and are on their way. So it definitely wasn't one of the most memorable parts of the trip. 

There are many hikes that you can take around Lake Moraine, though, and a lot of people say it's less busy than Lake Louise. 

lake louise town 

By this point we were famished and we drove into Lake Louise "town" to find lunch. What we found was a strip mall - though it had everything you could need! 

We split our usual smorgasbord of food - soups, sandwiches, etc. and then stocked up on postcards which we sat down to write and send at the post office. I also picked up a notebook for my one day of successful journal-ing of the trip. 

fancy dinner at storm mountain lodge 

We made our way back to Storm Mountain Lodge, listening to the newest Taylor Swift song which we were determined to make ourselves love.  (Spoiler alert: by the end of that night, we were all about "Ready For It?") 

We showered, made ourselves look the most presentable we had all trip, and headed out to the main cabin with beers and books in hand. We read, wrote, drank and hammocked for an hour or so and while it was very peaceful, it should be noted that Storm Mountain Lodge is situated off of a very busy road. 

Eventually we went inside to the main lodge where we played a few fun rounds of Scattergories (my favorite board game) in front of the fire while waiting for our reservation. 

Dinner was absolutely delicious. 

Heirloom Tomato Salad

Roasted shallots, lodge-made ricotta, compressed strawberries, puffed quinoa, confit garlic and preserved lemon vinaigrette

Ewenique Farms Lamb Chop

Cherry reduction, yellow beet puree, buttermilk steal cut oats, roasted baby beets, butter poached carrots, peppermint tea and vanilla gel

Lodge Fireplace Smoked Eggplant

Glazed apple, orecchiette pasta, organic spaghetti squash, aged goat gouda mornay sauce, locally sourced farmer's vegetables, apple & butternut puree

Ocean Wise Rockfish

Fermented zuchhini, broccoli puree, roasted broccoli, pepper chutney, carrot syrup, aigre-doux pearl onions

Not to mention, the French 75 cocktails were WOW. 

We also got dessert, of course - though now it's hard to remember what it was. 

That night we went to bed full and happy - but really, that wasn't any different than every other night of the trip. 

Part II will cover our journey to Jasper! So stay tuned. 

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A City Guide to Copenhagen

So far, I have been excelling at my resolution to embrace all of the traveling I do for work and on my own. In August, I found myself in Banff, Pittsburgh, Copenhagen, Stockholm and Annapolis - not to mention a weekend trip to Montauk! It hasn't left a whole lot of time for blogging. 

I didn't have the typical summer of laying out at the beach - but when the chance to explore Scandinavia came along, you better believe I was going to make the most of it. 

I have to confess, Scandinavian countries were never at the top of my list in terms of vacation destinations but now that I've spent time in Denmark and Sweden, I'm fascinated by these two countries and their fellow Scandinavian societies - Finland, Norway and Iceland. 

But enough exposition - let's jump into the things I suggest doing if you find yourself in the wonderful city of Copenhagen! I enjoyed 3 nights and 4 days in this city and can say with absolute confidence that we jam-packed our days full of activities! 

Walk / Bike Everywhere 

I went back and forth on buying the Copenhagen Card - which grants you unlimited rides on public transportation and free access to many of the cities most popular tourist attractions. I crunched the numbers a bunch of times, and ultimately decided that even though we were going to be paying for tickets to a lot of the places included with the card - it wasn't worth it for us because we wouldn't be paying for a lot of public transportation. 

I knew the ladies I was going with were fine walking - and walk we did! Each day of our trip we walked over 10 miles according to Christine's activity tracker and 2 days we hit the half marathon mark!  

Before we arrived, I anticipated renting bikes or using the ones included with our Airbnb to easily get around - considering Copenhagen is one of the most bike-able cities in the world. But we ended up only biking once because walking was just so easy!

On our last day, Christine and I rented Copenhagen's version of Citi bikes (Bycyklen) and went for a quick ride. Their bikes are electric, and you can even pre-select guided tours or use the screen to put in your destination. Very fancy (but also, very very heavy!) 

As easy as walking and biking is in Copenhagen, we also used public transportation multiple times during our trip and found it to be easy and efficient. Definitely download the apps Rejseplanen and DSB on your phone - they'll make it very easy to figure out your best route. 

Explore Jægersborggade

The Coffee Collective

Upon arriving at our Airbnb, we immediately headed out to one of Copenhagen's most beloved coffee shops - The Coffee Collective - on one of Copenhagen's trendiest streets - Jægersborggade (in the Nørrebro neighborhood). 

This cafe easily could have been in SoHo, but the latte was better than any latte I've ever had before. We thoroughly savored the (expensive) caffeine. 

Grød

After Coffee Collective we got food at Grød, another trendy spot that specializes in...porridge. I accidentally ordered a chia seed pudding instead of oatmeal, but it was heaped with peanut butter, granola and fruit so I was extremely content. 

Jægersborggade is known as being very trendy and "hip" - with art galleries, jewelry shops, wine bars and organic produce shops. I loved walking around here and couldn't have been happier that this was the neighborhood our Airbnb was located in. 

Drink! 

Perhaps my favorite part of Copenhagen were all of the bar/restaurants right out on the canals. Or maybe it was the karaoke bar. No, maybe the brewery? Needless to say, we imbibed at many an establishment while in Copenhagen. These were some of my favorites; 

Kayakbar: 

Børskaj 12, 1221

Kayak bar is attached to a kayak rental shop and is located right on the water. With a floating dock, sand, and beach chairs, it was the perfect spot to sit down with a cold beer and beautiful cheese plate. Until it started raining. 

Luckily, there was a large covered area as well, with picnic tables and live music! I loved the laid back vibe of this spot. 

Christianshavns Bådudlejning og Café:

Overgaden Neden Vandet 29

Drinking on the water is just better than drinking anywhere else. Sam spotted this cute little floating dock/bar situation on her canal boat ride and led us back to it for drinks on our first night. 

We even got serenaded (mocked?) by a passing boat whose captain jumped out and onto our table! Pics or it didn't happen, you say? Please see below for photo evidence. 

Sam's Bar

Østergade 17-19, 1100 

This karaoke/sing along bar full of locals was quite the experience. 

Danish bars are very smokey. Locals didn't seem to love us being there, but once we managed to get drinks and get settled at a table, I ignored the nicotine I was inhaling and focused on belting YMCA and Dancing Queen as loud as I could and it was a pretty grand time. 

Expect to pay a cover, to leave smelling like smoke, to wait forever for a drink - but to leave feeling like you've just had an experience. 

Mikkeller & Friends

Stefansgade No. 35 KLD

Mikkeller is a very popular brewer in Copenhagen, which has been making it's way to the US as well. With 14 different locations in Copenhagen (including popular restaurants like Warpigs and a bottle shop at the Glass Market), we were bound to have one close to our Airbnb in the Nørrebro neighborhood.  

We stopped by after dinner one night to find the place packed, and enjoyed one of their IPAs. I also got really excited when I noticed they carried a Two Roads beer on tap - Connecticut, represent! 

Carlsberg Brewery Tour

Gamle Carlsberg Vej 11

A convenient free shuttle bus from the Radisson Blu hotel near Central Station took us from the city center to the Carlsberg Brewery, about a 15 minute ride. 

We had pre-purchased our tickets, which saved some time as everyone got off the bus and lined up. There are multiple options on the Visit Carlsberg site, but we opted for the standard entry ticket which included access to the museum and 2 free drinks (or 1 drink + 1 "gift" - a pin). 

Other options included a guided tour or beer tasting. 

We wandered the museum, checked out the stables (Clydesdales!) and gawked at the world's largest beer bottle collection.  

But the best part was definitely sitting outside on a gorgeous, sunny day - surrounded by architecture from the 1800s, and sipping multiple drinks. We started at the outdoor bar where we sampled some standard Carlsberg brews before we headed to the indoor tasting room for flights. 

Then it was back outside for the most refreshing, delicious drink of the trip - Somersby ciders. We were obsessed - and depressed to find out that it's not sold in the US. The flavors were amazing - Elderflower lime? Red rhubarb? Blackberry? I'm pretty sure we ended up sampling them all. 

Cruise the Canals

Hey Captain

My biggest piece of advice in this entire blog post is to book a canal cruise with Hey Captain. 

It was one of the greatest "tours" I've ever paid for. Seeing Copenhagen from a boat is a "must do" and there are certainly many tourist boats leaving from Nyhavn that you could choose. But you'll be on board with 100s of other people and you'll be listening to a tour guide talk over a microphone.

Hey Captain are small boats for up to 12 people - meaning you'll be having a conversation with your captain instead of getting a lecture. Other perks? Complimentary wine and beer and the ability to bring your own food and drink on board too! Complete with a table with built-in cooler.

On our tour, Christine and I were lucky enough to be the only two on board with our captain, Mathias. It was the highlight of our trip. Not only was it beautiful, but we learned a TON and had a genuine conversation with a local. We even ironed out some international beer pong policy changes. 

Did you know Lukas Graham grew up in Freetown Christiania? And that Copenhagen's waste plant will soon have a ski slope? Or what about the fact that there's a statue under water? Or an apartment complex that used to be a torpedo hall? 

The tours last about an hour, they run all year long, and for $32, it was an absolute bargain!

Get High 

Church of Our Saviour

Skt. Annæ Gade 29

No, not that kind of high (though there is a small part of Freetown Christiania that sells plenty of marijuana - just don't take any pictures!)

Trekking up the Church of Our Saviour's stairs is definitely worth the view at the top - especially considering it only costs $7 (or FREE if you have a Copenhagen Card). 

While we also paid to walk up the Round Tower as well, I can say without a doubt that the Church of Our Saviour is the better option. 

It was crowded and narrow and a little treacherous - but walking up a spiral staircase outside of a church's spire was pretty epic. 

We got incredibly lucky - on our way up it started down pouring on us out of nowhere (it did this nearly every day we were in Copenhagen), and by the time we got down, the church had been closed! It must have been good karma that we made our way to the top - because Sam and Christine helped calm a girl having a complete nervous breakdown!

The view from the top was pretty damn great - seeing all of the canals from that high up was beautiful, along with all of the colors of the buildings in Copenhagen. And since the church had been closed due to the rain, our trip down was super easy and uncrowded. 

Eat, A Lot

It goes without saying that one of the best parts of any vacation is discovering the local food scene. While I already mentioned the delicious porridge at Grod and the incredible latte from Coffee Collective, we had a number of other wonderful meals during our stay. 

Gorilla

Flæsketorvet 63

This may have been our favorite dinner of the trip. Not only was the restaurant really nice inside and the food delicious, but we loved walking around the Meatpacking District which was a mix of "Where are we going, are we going to die?" and "Wow, this is super trendy and unique!" 

Torvehallerne

 Frederiksborggade 21

This is a massive market with over 60 different stands - selling everything from fresh fish to flowers to beer to pre-made meals and grab and go items. 

We didn't eat here, but it was fun to shop around - I especially loved the Mikkeller bottle shop - those can designs are like artwork!

Torvehallerne, the "Glass Market," reminds me a lot of places like Chelsea Market in New York City. There are tons of articles online about some of the best food finds at Torvehallerne.

Papirøen "Paper Island" / Copenhagen Street Food

Papirøen, Trangravsvej 14, hal 7 & 8

If you've ever been to Smorgasburg in New York,  you'll understand the concept behind Paper Island - where some of Copenhagen's best food vendors come together under one roof to serve food from all over the world. No joke - you can get everything from fish & chips to pizza to tacos to ramen and everything in between. 

Paper Island is wildly popular with locals and tourists alike, so expect crowds. But it's definitely worth it to see this unique space complete with bars, a disco cow, and more food and drinks than you can imagine. Some stands even have free samples. 

We did solid work on Paper Island - enjoying pizza from Madenitaly, gin cocktails from Drueta, smoked salmon smorrebrod from Handmade, gourmet & organic hot dogs from PØLSE KOMPAGNIET, and a sinfully sweet Nutella crepe from The Pancake Cottage! 

 I even got a free sample of the much-raved about duck fat fries at Duck It!

Cafe Norden

Østergade 61

The award for best breakfast goes to Cafe Norden, though when we first looked at the menu I don't think any of us were too excited. Somehow it seemed like the menu was lacking options - which explains why we all opted for the avocado toast. 

Good thing the avocado toast was some of the best I've EVER had. And I'm a twenty-something who brunches regularly in New York. I know my damn avocado toast. 

The fact that this was served on Danish rye bread (rugbrød) was probably what made it so spectacular. I've since bought Whole Foods' version of this bread in an attempt to recreate this spectacular breakfast. 

We also enjoyed it outside in the sun, in one of Copenhagen's most crowded squares (Amagertorv) which allowed for great people watching. 

Pro-tip: get one of their flavored lemonades - so refreshing!

Meyers Bageri

Multiple Locations 

Please, do yourself a favor and make sure you stop for some pastries from Meyers while you're in Copenhagen. Apparently, you can find them in NY too - but it's probably going to go better with your Coffee Collective latte. Promise. 

I ordered a Blueberry Roll and a Tebirke - which is a Danish poppy seed roll.  It was perfectly flaky and crispy and buttery and amazing. 

Chef Claus Meyer is the man behind the New Nordic cuisine that is kind of a big deal (hi, Copenhagen is home to the World's Best Restaurant) and while we didn't eat at any of his many many restaurants - this bakery was certainly worth the visit. 

Shop

Strøget 

Copenhagen is home to one of Europe's longest pedestrian streets - and if you're looking to shop til you drop, Støget provides 1.1 kilometers of temptation. 

Even if shopping isn't your thing, it's worth a stroll down Strøget, though it is quite touristy. 

Flying Tiger

Multiple Locations 

I insist that you visit a Flying Tiger while you're in it's homeland! This store is now all over the world - in fact, I first discovered it in Barcelona - but it's so fun to walk through! They have everything - useful things, things you'd never need in a million years, things you don't need but what, and things that are just plain fun. 

The best part, everything is super cute and super cheap!

It's hard to explain - just go, seriously! 

Act Like A Kid! 

Sidewalk Trampolines 

Multiple people told me before I left for Copenhagen that I had to find the sidewalk with trampolines - and miraculously enough, without even looking or Googling, we stumbled upon them on our first afternoon! 

I was shocked at how hysterical with laughter we were - they seriously had us acting like the 5 year olds jumping beside us. 

Very fun, very unique, very Copenhagen! 

Tivoli Gardens

Vesterbrogade 3

I was not a big amusement park person - ever. We didn't really go as kids (other than to Disney World) and I've still never been to a Six Flags. 

But ever since my trip to Denver and the Lakeside Amusement Park, I've kind of been fascinated by old amusement parks. 

It just so happens that Copenhagen is home to the second oldest operating amusement park in the world - Tivoli Gardens! 

Tivoli opened in 1843 and served as the inspiration for Walt Disney! We paid for entry and an unlimited ride wristband (around $60) and spent the night walking around the grounds. 

I was really happy that we decided to show up just before sunset so we were able to see the park both in the daylight and at night - it's so gorgeous and it was really evident how Disney has its roots in some aspects of Tivoli. 

We rode a few rides, took lots of pictures, enjoyed the live music, shopped - Tivoli has got it all (including some highly rated restaurants!) and is definitely more than just a place with rides. 

Again luck was on our side as we were the last people to board "The Roller Coaster" - one of the worlds oldest wooden roller coasters (built in 1914). 

The night ended with one of the best fireworks displays I've ever seen - choreographed to music with lasers! While enjoying pistachio and banana gelato. 

No trip to Copenhagen is complete with a visit to Tivoli!

See the Sights 

There are quite a few tourist destinations in Copenhagen that are more "sightseeing" than "experiencing." While some of them were worth a visit, there were a few that I wouldn't necessarily include on an itinerary. 

The great thing about Copenhagen is that just by walking around, you'll pass a number of these iconic buildings- for me, it's always worth a stop to look, acknowledge, read a plaque if there is one, take a picture - and move on. Most of these places offer admittance and tours, but unless it's a topic I'm really interested in, museums and tours aren't my jam. 

The Little Mermaid Statue 

Christine and I knew we had little to no interested in actually seeing this statue - which is widely talked about as one of the most underwhelming tourist destinations in Europe. The only reason we ended up seeing it at all was because we passed it on a nice walk along the water. 

Amalienborg Castle 

Definitely worth a walk past this massive castle, which still serves as the queens "Winter Palace," though we didn't stop for a tour. 

While we were in Copenhagen, we're pretty sure the queen was actually at the castle, since there were guards outside and the Royal Yacht Dannebrog was docked!

Kastellet

A star-shaped fortress that was really interesting to walk around - I wish I had read about it more before we found ourselves wandering the grounds! But regardless, it was very pretty! 

Rosenborg Castle 

I really enjoyed walking around the Rosenborg Castle as Sam read to us some history from her guide book. The grounds were beautiful - especially the rose garden! 

Assistens Cemetery

We walked through this cemetery near our Airbnb almost every day - and far from being creepy, it was always filled with people walking, biking, or running through. 

One our first traipse through the cemetery, we followed signs to find Hans Christian Anderson's gravestone. Imagine our surprise when we realized it was the anniversary of his death on that very day!

Nyhavn 

This is the iconic picture of Copenhagen - and it certainly is beautiful - though swarming with tourists. One side along the canal is entirely dedicated to bars and restaurants with outdoor seating, but we steered clear of them since they don't have the best reputation for authenticity. 

We did make sure to stop outside the window of one of Hans Christian Anderson's apartments as we walked down the canal! 

Freetown Christiania 

There are plenty of places where you can learn more about this squatter-society within Copenhagen (it's really quite fascinating). They've created their own schools, doctors, etc. and as I mentioned earlier, there's a section that openly sells marijuana in the streets! They don't pay taxes, but are left pretty much alone. 

While it was cool to see this hippie commune - it definitely wasn't a place I felt compelled to hang around for too long. I did like some of the graffiti though - it reminded me of Austin! 

Børsen

We passed the former stock exchange on our canal cruise - an impressive building with a spire that's supposed to be four dragons' tails intertwined. 

Happy Travels!

This is by no means an exhaustive list of the things to see and do in Copenhagen. It surpassed my expectations as a city overall. I highly recommend Copenhagen if you're looking to go to Europe for a shorter trip. Everyone there was incredibly friendly, the city is clean, easy to navigate, and full of history! 

Barcelona: Day Six

My last day in Barcelona I managed to again lace up my sneakers and head out the door for a run. I had high hopes of doing another deck of cards workout too– maybe some push-ups, burpees – an intense workout to close out the trip!

Buttttt instead I moseyed my way around the harbor and eventually found my way to Barceloneta Beach where I plopped myself down and looked out at the water.

That’s when the need for a day at the beach hit me. I texted Jon and Emily, “Hey guys – out on my run and it’s GORGEOUS out. We should go to La Boqueria and buy food then spend the day at the beach!”

Then I got up and made my way back towards the hostel, with a quick stop in a little dirt patch area for an easy deck of cards workouts – jumping jacks, high knees, butt kicks, etc.

Once my endorphins got everyone moving, we headed to La Boqueria. Jon and Emily let me do my thing – following me as I loaded up on tons of stuff (I somehow managed to spend like $60!)

Here’s what I got:

Fresh Mango – They sell SO MUCH fresh fruit – precut and ready to eat with a little plastic fork. We also got a mixed fruit cup and Emily got papaya.

Vegetable Chips – OMG veggie chips. But not just any veggie chips. The most amazing veggie chips with carrots and sweet potato and taro and green beans – so crispy, so perfectly salty – so amazing. The last time I got a bag of these was from the market in Toronto and I really can’t be trusted – the entire bag was demolished by the end of the day.

Hummus – Because nothing goes better with veggie chips and baguette than hummus!

Dried Fruit Kabob – I remembered Brynn telling me that the dried fruit was delicious so I got a skewer with assorted dried fruits on it. The mango was my favorite!

Baguette – For only 1 euro, an entire fresh baked, still warm baguette can be yours at La Boqueria!

Cheese – MANCHEGO, to be exact. I have a newfound obsession with this cheese and it just so happens to be a Spanish cheese! (Made in La Mancha, to be precise).

Meat – We got a variety pack of sliced meats.

Barnacles – Yes, you read that correctly. During our tour before the cooking class, Angel had told us all about barnacles being a delicacy in Barcelona – they are only found in a few places around the world, and difficult to harvest. They’re called percebes (Goose barnacles) and are pretty expensive! When we were walking around La Boqueria, I came across a stand that was selling already steamed percebes for 5 euro and knew I had to try them!

When I finished taking a million years at the market putting together the perfect picnic, we wove our way through the streets of the Gothic Quarter and made our way to the beach. I feel like we were pretty distracted the entire way – stopping for sunglasses for Jon, into a souvenir store for me, another store to find a towel, a pharmacy for water bottles, and to haggle with a street vendor for tapestries (my round one is going to be great for picnic’s in Central Park). We finally made it to the beach and I had us plop down in the first patch of open sand that I saw.

Barceloneta is a very crowded, very touristy beach and we were pestered by vendors the entire time we were there. If you’re looking to soak up the sun while you’re in Barcelona, there are beautiful beaches a quick 30 minute train ride away – but we just wanted nearby and easy. That meant constantly hearing vendors hawking mojitos, massages, and even DONUTS up and down the beach.

A word of advice – don’t leave anything unattended on these beach! It WILL go walking.

A dug into my barnacles and eventually got the hang of eating them – it’s definitely not attractive and they definitely look a little phallic- I would not recommend barnacles as a first date meal. Every time I twisted them open, I got a nice face full of salt water. But they were surprisingly meaty and tasted great with a lemon spritz. Angel had described them as tasting like oysters with the consistency of crab meat – and I’d say that was pretty accurate!

Jon went to play some beach volleyball while Emily and I snacked and eventually fell asleep in the sun. Is there any better feeling than dozing off in the sand? Nope. Pretty sure there’s not.

When we woke up and Jon got back, Emily and I went down by the water to feel how cold it was – it was pretty chilly, yet there were a few brave souls swimming around!

I instantly spotted some seaglass by the water’s edge and got really excited and nostalgic. When I was growing up, my dad and I would walk at my beach collecting seaglass – finding a blue piece was like hitting the jackpot! I associate the rocky North Shore beaches of Long Island with seaglass, so I was pleasantly surprised to see that Barcelona’s beaches were very similar! I spend awhile sifting through the sand and even found some blue pieces which I hope my dad will make into jewelry for me.

Eventually, I roused everyone from their peaceful lounging because it was time to check two more things off my checklist.

The first thing being – EAT GELATO.

We walked along the main road by the beach scouting out gelato shops until we found one we agreed look legit. How does a gelato place look legit? Not sure, but this one did. We ended up stopping at Dino Gelato Italiano and within a minute of us getting in line…about 20 other people queued up behind us. Such trendsetters.

I got a small with Catalan Cream and a flavor with peanut butter in the description – the first time I had seen mention of my favorite food in all of Barcelona!

We sat on a bench and enjoyed our gelato despite the busy street and cars zooming past. While Jon said, “This is going to take me forever to eat,” I looked down at my empty cup and said, “This was the tiniest thing of ice cream I’ve ever eaten. It was like 2 spoonfuls.” Story of my life!

The last place I was dragging everyone was a bar that my friend Kaitlin, who studied abroad in Barcelona in college, said we needed to check out. After reading the reviews online – I knew she was right. Everything I read about La_Xampanyeria made it seem like it was more than just a bar - it was an experience. And the way people talked about everyone making friends and no one being sad made me think of the Boardy Barn (the happiest place on earth).

La Xampanyeria was founded in 1969 (the real name is Can Paixano but everyone calls it La Xampanyeria – The Champaneria)– so it’s got history! When you walk in you’ll notice that there are no tables or chairs. You find a spot and you stand – which means mingling and bumping into people and, hopefully, making friends!

We managed to snag a spot right up at the bar and tried to figure out, “What next?” Luckily, I had read up on how things worked at La Xampanyeria so I wasn’t completely thrown off by the fact that almost everything was written in Catalan only.

You can buy either glasses of champagne or, until 5 pm, entire bottles (for like 6 euro!) If you buy an entire bottle, you’re required to buy two tapas – this is how they prevent people from getting hammered (I mean, people still get hammered!)

We got a bottle + MORE cheese and ham – cause we hadn’t eaten enough of that on the beach earlier…

The bartender seemed so over everyone at the bar – yet in a way that we thought was entertaining, not obnoxious.  He looked SO irritated at a customer who kept waving his hand I his face to get his attention.

Before we knew it we had finished our bottle and were feeling nice and giggly. It was like Emily at the cooking class all over again! La Xampanyeria is CASH ONLY so we literally scrounged in our bags and wallets enough money for another bottle and two more tapas and were so excited that we had enough!

This time around we got the same bottle but croquettes (still not sure what was in them) and the most delicious chorizo because that’s what the bartender recommended. 

Somehow, the woman standing behind us caught sight of Emily and I using the dog filter on Snapchat and LOST HER SHIT. She was HOWLING with laughter – and before I knew it the cava + the atmosphere + the mission of making a friend at La Xampanyeria had me swiping through all of the Snapchat filters with this woman who spoke not a word of English and was absolutely hammered. It was one of those times that you laugh so hard your stomach hurts and you feel like you just did 1000 crunches.

It was the hardest I had laughed in AWHILE (probably since seeing this video). 

When we finished our second bottle we sadly departed because we were out of cash entirely. (Our new friend tried buying us more, but she was having some issues communicating with the bartender so we said thank you and left!)

We left this place in the best mood – as evidenced by these pictures of Emily and I. I highly recommend a stop to La Xampanyeria if you’re in Barcelona!

We started heading back to the hostel but didn’t quite want to stop drinking…so we hopped into Abirra Dero where we had a good conversation with the bartender about craft beers in Barcelona. They had a ton of different beers to choose from, and while I didn’t end up loving my IPA, it was a cool spot for beer lovers (I meant to buy a glass but forgot on my way out!)

Finally, we went back to the hostel and got finished packing before getting dressed and ready to go out for the night. We had been warned that Monday nights were a little crazy – we were headed back to City Hall where the Hostel One group got a free hour of beer and later, time in a VIP area with free bottles of champagne.

When we first got into City Hall, I saw posters for a beer pong tournament and low-key freaked out. Or, not so low-key freaked out. I HAD to enter. Emily was with me – this absolutely had to happen. No questions asked.

The guys running the tournament for City Hall were slightly creepy (very, creepy) but we managed to figure out that we needed to pay in cash in order to enter (though they seemed to be demanding kisses as well). We headed back upstairs to find out where we could find an ATM – the one next door wasn’t working so we walked across the street and I paid $30 to take out 20 more euros that I definitely wasn’t going to end up using. Whatever. If it cost me $30 to play beer pong at a club in Barcelona on my last night, so be it.

Back in City Hall we signed up and had a #14 sticker put on our shirts. We left the beer pong area to dance for a little while – the music started off as Latin and I pretended I could move my hips like Shakira while dancing to Gasolina, belted some Enrique and FREAKED out when a random song I had put on my Barcelona playlist came on – Picky by Joey Montana – go listen, it’s great.

Eventually we noticed people playing beer pong and wandered over to figure out how we would know when it was our turn. It was confusing and frustrating and not very well organized at all – I mean, it was in the middle of a night club with the event, “FUCKING MONDAY” going on. So…we decided to take a tequila shot. That made the waiting more bearable. I was just about ready to concede that I had wasted my money and beer pong wasn’t going to happen when WE WERE UP.

And turns out, we were really filling the cups with beer. Gross, beer. Estrella. Beer pong beer through and through. Not particularly cold beer either.

But it was happening! We were two American girls playing beer pong in a Barcelona night club and we were gunna SHOW THEM WHO WAS BOSS. Plus, the music had switched over from Latin to American 90’s and early 2000’s hits. If I was ever in my element, it was now.

First game – solid. Emily got the last cup, and we both played pretty well!

Second game – another win. Emily got the last cup again and we started feeling in the zone. The music was killing it, and a crowd was starting to gather around the remaining games.

Third game – Semi Finals. The pressure was ON. I thrive on beer pong pressure. We won AGAIN. Emily made the last cup, again. My shero.

Fourth game – FINALS. There was no chance we were losing. Absolutely not. ‘Merica. There was a whole big misunderstanding when I tried explaining that I was heating up – but once we got past that, WE WON. I sunk the last cup and Emily screamed really loud and picked me up and it was perfection.

They introduced us to the manager who asked what shot we wanted to do and then we took a Patron shot with the him. We eventually found out that we had won a booze cruise on April 22 but when we said we were leaving the next morning (in like, 4 hours at that point…) they asked what they could get us from the bar. We got a bottle of champagne and danced a little bit more before handing off the bottle to the team we had played in the finals and heading back to the hostel.

Once at the hostel, we sat in the lobby/kitchen and had a heart to heart. I think we didn’t want to go to bed because then our trip would officially be over. So we ate more bread, meat and cheese and talked until it was 5:30 a.m…we had agreed to leave at 7 a.m. and my alarm was set for 6:30 a.m.

I fell asleep for an hour nap and woke up to Jon yelling, “GUYS! TIME TO GO IT’S 8!”

UHM, what?!

I flew out of bed. Jumped down. Zipped my suitcase, prayed everything was in it, ran to the guy at the front desk and tried to convey the urgency of “OVERSLEPT, Need to pay NOW, late for flight!” While simultaneously trying to book a taxi with the MyTaxi app.

The typical European laid-back demeanor meant my sense of urgency was not exactly met – but soon enough we were stepping into the street and into a waiting taxi – thank God for technology.

When we got to the check-in counter they let Jon and I go ahead – along with another woman who was running behind schedule for the flight to NYC.

In reality, we made it through security and to our gate in plenty of time – we even got water bottles, chocolate milk (CACAOLAT ❤), and some souvenirs from the Duty Free shop.

Despite being so so exhausted, I didn’t sleep a ton on the flight – I did watch Moana though (loved it) and another movie that I can’t remember now.

When we landed, Jon and I split an Uber back to the Upper East Side and I somehow managed to do laundry and completely unpack that night before collapsing into bed at a ridiculously early hour. To think that I had at one point contemplated going straight to the office after landing…

Honestly, this trip was 100% more amazing than I could have ever imaged it would be.

Emily is the best travel buddy and potentially the only human on this planet who can keep up with and accept my obsessive itineraries – while still managing to push ME to party harder and stay up later.

Throughout the trip we kept turning to each other and saying, “We’re in SPAIN!” I am absolutely determined to take a trip outside of the country every spring from here on out. There is so much to see and experience!

The language barrier and cultural differences of being in another country helped me relinquish some of the control I usually insist on having – I often couldn’t communicate exactly what I wanted at a restaurant, I drank my coffee with cream instead of almond or skim milk, the culture didn’t include boutique fitness studios on every corner so I went a week without working out – and now that I’m back, some of these things have stuck. I’ve spent about $100 on cappuccinos in the past two weeks – and I haven’t been nearly as motivated for kick ass workouts. Instead, I’ve been walking to and from work as much as I can (3 miles) and that’s feeling great.

I haven’t stopped following travel blogs and accounts on Instagram – I’m throwing around ideas like Munich, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgium, Amsterdam – so if you have any suggestions for a 7 day trip in Europe for April(ish), LET ME KNOW PLEASE!

Thanks for reading these ridiculously long daily recaps – there will be a short(er) and sweet travel guide to Barcelona coming one of these days!

READ ABOUT MY OTHER DAYS IN BARCELONA:

Barcelona: Day Five

Emily and I woke up on Sunday morning and headed to a cute café for breakfast. It was called Café Cometa and had a definite NYC vibe with its succulents on every table and cute interior. The menu featured everything I love in a brunch spot – avocado toast, yogurt, smoked salmon – all the essentials. We also appreciated the English version of the menu – though I’m sure this wasn’t our most authentic Spanish meal of the trip. 

We grabbed a seat outside, because who doesn’t love al fresco dining? – and I ordered yogurt with granola and a slice of avocado and tomato toast. PLUS a mocha latte which was definitely unnecessary but, delicious nonetheless.

We tried to watch a Youtube video to figure out the proper way Emily was supposed to eat her egg – but we definitely did not succeed.

After our meal we walked around the corner for my donut stop of the trip – La Donuteria! I’ve been following them on Instagram since I booked my flight to Barcelona and I love that they’re constantly changing their flavor offerings. It was very quiet when we arrived, and I conducted a full-on photo shoot with Emily, the soon-to-be-full-time-artistic director of Peanut Butter Is My Boyfriend.

I got a chocolate apricot donut and a Crème de chocolate con leche con praline – they were pretty pricey, and though beautiful, definitely didn’t compare to other doughnuts I’ve had!

Next we hopped in a taxi and made our way to the Gothic Quarter for two stores that we wanted to get souvenirs from – the FCB Barcelona Team Store and Toni Pons.

I had read that Barcelona, and particularly Toni Pons, were the spot to buy espadrilles – a type of shoe that was first created in the Pyrenees region of Catalonia. I love espadrilles – they’re always super comfortable for the summer with the perfect laid back but classy look.

Apparently, the name for espadrilles comes from the Catalan word for espardenya – the bottoms of the shoes are made of espart which is a tough grass that’s also used to make rope.

I was amazed at how many different styles the Toni Pons store had. And since I’m horrible with decisions, I was also overwhelmed. I tried on about 5 different pairs (after one of the men working there helped me figure out what European size I was!) and then I was stumped between two pairs. One a more traditional canvas espadrille in tan/beige and the other an espadrille with a navy blue leather upper. I was so stumped, that the man helping me and the cashier made a bet about which I would buy! They both told me to go with the traditional canvas ones, but I ended up going with the leather because I thought they were more unique!

They are SO comfortable and now I wish I had bought about 5 more pairs while I was there! They’re available online, but I don’t really feel like paying the hefty international shipping fees.

We ambled our way back to the hostel and even found ourselves in the middle of a Palm Sunday procession. With more foresight, I would have been really cool to go to mass in one of the beautiful and historic churches, but we enjoyed the nuns singing in the streets. It felt a little weird that so many tourists were just stopping and taking pictures. I put my phone away and tried to be respectful (after snapping one picture for the memory…)

When we got back we took a very necessary hour + nap and then it was time to wake up and get ready to explore Montjuic, a massive hill overlooking the water that was basically in the backyard of our hostel.

There’s a castle at the top of Montjuic and it is also the location of many Olympic sites – the Olympic Ring, Olympic Stadium, Olympic swimming facility, and the stadium where we would be seeing Ed Sheeran in concert later that night! (Palau Sant Jordi).

We started by walking up, and up and up and taking in the views of the city. We spotted a lot of smoke on the horizon, and while my mind immediately went to a terror attack, Google let us know that it was a yacht that had been burning for hours!

We wound our way up towards the Hotel Miramar, a gorgeous hotel on Montjuic. We walked around a bit before realized we were off-course for our destination – Montjuic Castle.

Backtracking, we realized we had much more to climb – so up we went. It was no joke – I was dripping in sweat, Emily’s Achilles was killing her, yet the gondola to the top was way over-priced for the distance it would have carried us.

We powered through and eventually made it to the castle – which was free on Sunday’s after 3 pm (it’s like I planned that or something…oh right, I did!)

I attempted to read along with the brochure and learn something, but it was kind of dry material. Instead, we entered the center of the castle and found tons of the wooden games I had seen at the Farmer’s Market! They were probably meant for kids, but Emily quickly came up with a rough translation of the instructions and we started trying to balance weird wooden pieces on top of each other.

Who knows if we were playing right – but it was a ton of fun! I would love to make some of these games for my backyard. (With the tools and handy skills that I don’t have, for the backyard that I don’t have…)

After we got bored of the games, we sat down on a bench and reevaluated our plan – it was a long time until the concert, and there aren’t really any bars or restaurants on top of Montjuic where we could spend our time pregaming. So we headed back down on foot and walked to El Sortidor – the restaurant that both our cab driver and cooking instructor had recommended to us.

It was bizarre – the hostess told us they weren’t seating people – even though there were tons of people at the tables outside and even someone inside the restaurant eating…

I was bummed, but we headed to Carrer Blai, a street right near our hostel that is filled with tapas and pinchos restaurants. It seems that every restaurant on the block is named “Blai 9” or “Blai 11.” There’s no cars down the street – just restaurants and tables.

So let’s take a quick pause to talk about pinchos (or pinxtos). I didn’t really know what they were before I arrived – but essentially they’re little bite-sized bar snacks, almost like tapas, but with wooden skewers through them. They line the bars, and when you’re done at the bar, they charge you based on how many skewers you have on your plate! Different skewers may cost slightly different amounts, but for the most part, pinchos on Carrer Blai cost just 1 euro each! Other parts of the city they’ll cost between 2 and 2.50 euro.

We had our first true pinchos experience before the Ed Sheeran concert on Carrer Blai and to be honest, I barely know what I ate. I wasn’t blown away by any of it -  I mean, it sits out on the bar all day – but some of the bites were tasty and I wasn’t really the biggest critic once I started sipping Cava. There were cod fritters and some cheese and stuff piled on a mini pancake – if anything, they made for pretty pictures!

After eating and drinking our fair share (and having our first chocolate filled CHURROS of the trip) we scurried back up the street to our hostel for a quick phone charge and champagne chug. What I didn’t finish of the bottle, I poured into one of Jon’s empty beer cans – ROADIE!

Soon we were in a taxi (they don’t have Uber in Barcelona, but they do have MyTaxi which is essentially the same thing) and on our way to Palau Sant Jordi.

When we got out of the cab, the light of the setting sun combined with the sight of the Olympic ring – plus the anticipation of seeing Ed Sheeran and the copious amounts of cava – had me smiling from ear to ear. We sat in the grass and finished our drinks while I serenaded Jon and Emily with Ed Sheeran songs.

For some reason I pictured the venue being outside, but we soon discovered that Palau Sant Jordi was an indoor arena (that holds 18,000) that was created as part of the Olympic complex. Jon and Emily stood in line for beers while I rushed to my seat – scared that I was going to miss even a second of Ed singing.

I shouldn’t have worried – because there were two openers. One of which was Anne-Marie who sings Alarm – I got reallll into it.

When Ed Sheeran started, I was in my own world. I am 99% sure I was the only person in our entire section that stood up the entire show and sang along to every word. Jon and Emily were good sports, only knowing a handful of songs.

ED SHEERAN’S CONCERTS ARE MAGIC. I said it about 2348932 times over the course of the trip, and Emily and Jon kept making fun of me, but I’ll say it again anyway: It’s nuts that it’s JUST HIM up on the stage with his guitar and loop pedal. SO MUCH BEAUTIFUL MUSIC. I died. And I decided that no matter the cost, I simply need to see him again when he’s at Barclay’s in the fall.

Ugh. I still can’t get over how perfect it was – hearing him perform Barcelona IN BARCELONA.

After the concert, we walked alllll the way back because – why not? Also, because we couldn’t get a taxi.

When we arrived back in our hostel’s neighborhood, we all agreed it was a good night to take off from clubbing – so we set out in search of some good drunk food.

Jon wandered into various establishments asking, “Hamburguesa con queso?” But we kept striking out. For a city that stays up drinking all night – there are very few dining establishments whose kitchens stay open. There were plenty of pinchos available – but we were looking for something a little more, well, American. We ended up in a halal restaurant, feasting on naan and dosa and curry. It was almost like we were in New York shoving our faces with lamb over rice.

The man working at Tabaq late on a Sunday night was like our knight in shining armor. He was so nice too – we couldn’t have been happier. Also, it turns out that the folks on TripAdvisor think Tabaq is the best Pakistani/Indian food in Barcelona! SCORE. 

After that, we crawled contentedly into our beds. (Not sure how I haven’t yet mentioned that I was on the top bunk and every time I climbed up, I had visions of the handrail coming out of the wall and me plummeting to my death).

Hard to believe we had only one day left in Barcelona, but it wouldn’t disappoint!

READ ABOUT MY OTHER DAYS IN BARCELONA:

Barcelona: Day Four

Before leaving for the club on Friday night, I had set out my running clothes to provide a small glimmer of hope that I might actually achieve more physical exertion than simply walking at least once during the trip. It wasn’t because I felt guilty about not working out, or about eating and drinking non-stop- which was surprising to me. The motivation was purely the fact that I knew even an easy 3 mile run along the water could potentially be one of the best parts of my trip – that’s how happy running makes me. And if I could do it relatively pain free, I’d be even happier the rest of the day.

Since we had actually left at a “normal” hour Friday night (Saturday morning…) I shocked myself by waking up, throwing on my sneakers, and heading outside for a run.

Our location was really convenient for a run down to the beach and along the water and as I went I passed a few fellow runners and a farmers market – I instantly felt wonderful. My legs were a little achy from all the walking we were doing every day, but at that same time, they felt refreshed because I hadn’t done any strength training or real cardio all week.

I ran along the water and it was pretty, but I was on the Port Vell side so it’s mainly just a lot of boats. When I started, it was still not very crowded out but by the end of my run the streets and waterfront were starting to fill up.

I stopped at a park with benches and used my phone to do a deck of cards workout with squats, dips, sit ups, etc. I got a few weird looks but it was a very quiet area so I didn’t feel too weird.

On my run back to the hostel, I had to stop at the farmer’s market! There were a handful of booths with cheese, vegetables, jams, chocolate, and bread. There were also a ton of games set up – they were made out of wood and kind of reminded me of Nok-Hockey, but I didn’t recognize any of them. Later in the week, I’d find them at Montjuic Castle and Emily’s Spanish would help us play a few of them!

When I got back to the hostel (after running back and forth on our street a few times to end at an even number on my Garmin - #RunnerProblems) I turned on the lights, opened the window and said “GOOD MORNING, RISE AND SHINE.” Much to the chagrin of Emily and Jon, I was ridin’ high on endorphins and ready to get the day going.

Brunch & Cake

Eventually, I got everyone up and motivated – we showered and got ready for our planned brunch at Brunch and Cake – a restaurant that my friend Brynn had told me to follow on Instagram FOREVER ago. It’s one of the most aesthetically pleasing Instagram accounts in the world – the food is so damn colorful, plated beautifully, and HEALTHY!

I got a café con leche for the walk to Brunch and Cake as I tried to mentally prepare Emily and Jon for the wait that we were sure to encounter when we arrived. Brunch and Cake is located near the college, and you can tell you were in the college neighborhood – the places just seemed hipper. Sure enough, Brunch and Cake was packed and we were told there would be an hour and ten minute wait.

Jon stood on the sidewalk to people watch while Emily and I walked down the block and found a cute café where I got a green juice. The inside of Cosmo was SO so cute and I felt like I was in Brooklyn.

Jon texted in seemingly no time that we were up next – it ended up not even taking an hour until we were seated and handed menus (in English!) at Brunch and Cake.

As usual, Emily and I decided on two things that we wanted to split. The first was a salad that had sweet potatoes, arugula, guacamole, salsa, and a vegetarian taco “meat” that was absolutely ridiculous in a good way. We also split a banana/oat pancake that was legitimately the size of the entire dish, with the banana layered underneath and covered in granola, seeds, nuts and fruit. Plus, all of the syrup that was poured on top.

The pancake was a little dry, but that salad was phenomenal!

Parc de la Ciutadella

After brunch we took our time wandering over to the Parc de la Ciutadella, where we passed the Arc de Triomf. As we passed under the arc I naturally compared the park to Washington Square Park.

There’s a pedestrian street that leads from the Arc de Triomf to Parc de la Ciutadella and we took our time taking in the band that was playing, the people selling massive balloons, blowing bubbles and sat on a bench to watch insanely talented kids perform soccer tricks. Eventually we continued into the park and I was instantly in love. It was Central Park-esque in the sense that people were lounging out on the various lawns with full on picnics and towels set up – you could tell they planned on spending many hours there.

Everyone you looked there were different performances going on and we sat down to watch a group of hippies slacklining. I so wish I had gotten up the nerve to ask them to try it, but the Riekorderling Raspberry cider I was drinking, while delicious, wasn’t quite strong enough to give me that extra push ;)

There were however small children whose parents were nowhere to be found that were giving tight-rope walking their best attempt, with the help of the random men who lifted them up. Europeans man – so much more laid back!

I even saw people with these awesome blow up bean bag type things and now I definitely need to get one for days and nights in Central Park.

We all could have spent much more time exploring this park – there’s even a zoo inside – but sadly we had to be on our way to walk over to our cooking class!

Weaving in and out of the maze-like streets of the Gothic Quarter, I was happy I had decided to pay the $10 a day to use my phone data. There were a few days when I didn’t turn it on, but for the most part we would probably have spent the entire week lost had we not been able to use Google maps. Yes, we had physical maps, but the streets are so winding and confusing that we didn’t stand a chance! It wasn’t until day 3 or 4 that we finally felt confident getting ourselves back to the hostel.

Foodie Experience Barcelona

We arrived at our cooking class and waited outside the door for a few minutes, making small talk with some of the other people who would be in our class (there were 11 of us total). When Angel opened the door and let us into the space, I knew it was going to be a good night. It was bright, spacious and absolutely spotless.

Angel went through the menu that we would be cooking that evening, and then led us outside for a tour of La Boqueria.

I hung on her every word as we wound our way through one of the oldest food markets in Europe – we stopped at a few different booths and learned about ham (jamon), seafood, saffron, paprika and more. I’ll be writing an entire post that goes into more detail on the Foodie Experience – because it was incredible and anyone going to Barcelona should absolutely do it!

I wrote notes on my phone the entire time and learned SO much about food that I had never known. The difference between Serrano and Iberico ham, the salt content in Atlantic seafood vs. Mediterranean seafood, the different between anchovies vs. boquerones, and the fact that in Barcelona, barnacles are considered a delicacy.

Angel explained that the front of the market tends to be really packed with tourists, but as you make your way further back its more local. She also mentioned that a lot people are starting to get upset that vendors are essentially selling out and selling smoothies and ice cream because that’s what the tourists are buying. 

After our tour of La Boqueria, we headed back to the kitchen and Angel went around the big island explaining what the different steps of the recipe would be. We each got assigned a task for the meal prep – I was on veggie chopping duties.

The knives were extremely sharp, and I had already managed to slice my finger with a bread knife cutting baguettes in bed at 5 a.m. during the trip – so I was a little wary. I managed to make it through the peppers, carrots and green beans without amputating a finger or hand.

We each raised a glass of sangria and said cheers the way the Catalonians do – Salud y Buena Vida!

The rest of the evening included lots of wine, lots of laughs from Emily who couldn’t keep it together for some reason, and lots of interesting information and stories from Angel as she used our prepared ingredients to make tortilla and paella.

The tomato bread, a very traditional Catalan dish, blew me away with its simplicity and flavor. Sourdough toast, three streaks of a garlic clove, and half of a tomato rubbed all over the bread. A hefty drizzle of olive oil, sprinkle of sea salt and VOILA – one of the freshest appetizers ever! I’m so sad that the specific tomatoes they use in Barcelona can’t be bought in the US – but I’m going to have to give it a try anyway.

The tortilla is also very traditional – and it’s not a tortilla like you picture when you think of Mexican food. It’s actually more like a frittata and the only ingredients are eggs, potatoes, tomatoes and olive oil! I was fascinated by the fact that the onions and potatoes were cooked by boiling them in olive oil. The sound of it all sizzling away was music to my ears.

Angel also showed us a Youtube video of someone flipping the most massive tortilla – before showing us the easier way of doing it using a flat surface and a spatula. 

Watching Angel make the paella was like watching an artist – simply following a recipe would never yield the same results and what she made for us. Filled with vegetables, chicken thighs, sausage, mussels and prawns – it was incredible!

Another great moment during the class was waving across the roof to Angel’s 100+ year old neighbor – so adorable!

The last hands on portion of the class was getting to blow torch our own Catalan Cream for dessert – turning a layer of sugar into a crispy, crunchy, caramelized creation.

We all hung out around the table eating, drinking, talking, and enjoying the experience before saying thank you and goodnight to Angel. I also purchased some saffron (it’s very expensive, and I got a very small container of it) and smoky paprika for if I ever attempt to make my own paella!

We got back to the hostel and began to get ready for another night out on the town. When I heard that we would be going to a craft beer hall, I was PUMPED. Pumped enough to ignore the fact that the club we’d be going to was going to be techno music.

CocoVail was AWESOME and had so many beer options. There was live music when we arrived and we were given wristbands that meant every beer was $5! I had two IPAs (shocking, I know) and enjoyed the laid back, picnic table vibe of the beer hall. I also enjoyed a conversation about Sunday Funday on Rainey Street with an expat from Austin, Texas! 

Eventually it was time to head over to City Hall – a short walk away from CocoVail. This was the first club we went to that wasn’t on the beach – it was located in the middle of the city and used to be a theater in its heyday. Redesigned, it now features different types of DJs and themes every night of the week. We happened to be there for techno night – which is so not my scene. I lasted for one song in the basement because of Emily’s pleas to give it a chance – but I couldn’t hang with the ravers.

We ventured upstairs to the ground floor where there was a much smaller dance floor and DJ playing non-stop 90’s and 2000’s hits. I was in heaven. I mean, Miley Cyrus and Avril Lavigne? Jackpot.

I got a water bottle from the bar, which Jon proceeded to squeeze and spray all over my face. I was not a happy camper. As he recounted later, “Lauren didn’t talk to me for like 5 whole minutes – that’s a really long time for her to stay mad!” Accurate! But then I ordered a tequila and orange juice and my spirits improved. I love that a lot of times when you order a drink at a bar or club in Barcelona you get a cute little glass bottle with your mixer and pour it into your glass yourself.

We ended up being the last three people on the dance floor at City Hall as we requested that the DJ play Ke$ha. We took the subway home that night because the metro station was right outside of City Hall and our walk back we were hysterical about I don’t even know what. Ke$ha and raucous laughter in the streets - perfect way to end the night! (More baguette, meat and cheese too, of course!)

READ ABOUT MY OTHER DAYS IN SPAIN: 

Barcelona: Day Three

After our quick "nap," it was time to head out for our journey to Girona and Figueres – a 12 hour day of touring.

We decided to walk from our hostel to the tour office (we booked through Julia Travel) and along the way we stopped at a market for some apples and a café for café con leche, a sandwich and a chocolate croissant to split.

1)     The café con leche from Barcelona has ruined my life because it was SO PHENOMENAL and now I find myself paying $5 for cappuccinos and other delicious espresso drinks with frothy milk and cream. I can no longer bear the thought of sad drip coffee with skim milk and a Splenda.

2)     I swear that all ANYWAY eats in Barcelona are sandwiches of ham (jamon) and cheese on the most amazing baguettes (except they probably aren’t called baguettes there because that’s a French phrase). I believe they’re called bocadillos. Anyway, they’re so simple, but they really are delicious.

3)     The chocolate croissant blew my freaking mind. As usual, I served as the human garbage can throughout the trip – finishing anything that Emily and Jon were too full to eat. When Emily didn’t want any of this croissant, I gladly finished every crumb.

Walking Tour of Girona

After some trial and error we figured out where we needed to be for the bus tour and signed in. Eventually we were led outside to the buses which were very spacious (no bathrooms though – which always stresses me out!) Emily and I sat next to each other and for the beginning of the trip our tour guide talked a lot about what to expect out of the day. Everything throughout the day was repeated in English and Spanish which made things a little more time consuming.

The bus ride from Barcelona to Girona was about an hour, and despite the espresso, I fell asleep HARD after eating my sandwich.

When I woke up, we were approaching Girona, driving through beautiful green fields close to the border between Spain and France – with the Pyrenees in the background.

Everyone was given a little radio with headphones which would make it easier to hear the tour guide as we walked around the historic city of Girona.

We had a few minutes to grab a coffee or use the restroom before meeting up with our tour guide. She was extremely sweet – and it was so adorable hearing her English portion of the tour. It was totally understandable, but with little mishaps like “print foot” instead of footprint.

The city of Girona is sooo picturesque. You really feel like you’re stepping back into medieval time as you wander through the cobblestone streets and alleyways. The cypress trees look otherworldly set against the massive cathedral and stone walls that still surround the city.

There are 4 rivers in Girona, meaning you can amble along a river (the view from one reminded me of Mykonos) and I don’t know about you, but I’m always happiest when I’m near water.

We came to a statue and our tour guide explained to us that the tradition is to “Kiss the Lioness’ Bottom” if you wish to return to Girona. Emily and I had a good laugh taking Boomerangs of us “kissing the butt” a la Finding Nemo.

Another interesting fact our tour guide told us was the legend of St. Narcis’ foot print (“print foot”) – apparently there are tons of legends surrounding him. One says that an army was attacked Girona and St. Narcis ran out of the city walls in one direction, but his footprint pointed in the other – causing the attacking army to go the wrong direction. Or…something that like. There’s a statue, and touching the footprint is supposed to bring you good luck.

To be honest, the rest of the information I kind of half paid attention to – it wasn’t super interesting to me and the fact that half the time I was hearing Spanish made it hard to keep me listening. But for an hour I was content to take pictures and look around. Emily is a big Game of Thrones fan and apparently they’ve filmed multiple scenes in Girona, including one on the massive stairs of the Cathedral.

Towards the end of the tour we headed into the Jewish Quarters – where Girona’s Jewish population used to live. Apparently it’s one of the most well-preserved in the world – and it was really awesome to navigate through the narrow streets thinking about how much history you were surrounded by.

By the time we were standing outside of the Jewish Museum and our tour guide was rambling on and on about what we would see if we went into the museum – Emily and I had had enough – we knew which areas we wanted to go explore on our own, and as the clock ticked down we knew our free time was dwindling. We peeled off from the group and scurried down an alley way where I had seen the elusive garlic mincing dish I have been hunting for forever. I picked out a ceramic garlic grater in a pretty pattern and for 5 euro I had successfully found one of the souvenirs on my list.

We started to make our way up to the main city wall, which you can walk along, and I was in heaven. It was absolutely gorgeous – perfect weather, greenery everywhere, the smell of fresh flowers, views of the Pyrenees, and not crowded with tour groups like the streets had been.

We found a secluded area and had a full on photo shoot in the fields – how amazing is the portrait mode on the new iPhone? I spent the rest of the trip making Emily take glamour shots of me. Not vain at all.

I think we both could have stayed on top of that hill all day long, but we wanted to make sure we had time to eat something before we got back on the bus so we wound or way down and back into the streets and ended up eating at the most adorable café. Turns out that Federal Café is a chain of Australian Café’s with 6 locations in Spain (Girona, Barcelona, Valencia, and Madrid).

Those Australians man. They sure do know how to do brekkie.

I felt like I was in Soho except surrounded by 100X more history and charm as I sipped my turmeric latte (!!) and ate my Greek yogurt with granola, composing the perfect Instagram shot of Emily’s avocado toast with MACADAMIA NUT DUST.

Even though it may not have been a traditional Spanish meal, it was one of our favorites of the trip. I think it was a combination of being exhausted and finally sitting down, the gorgeous setting, the fact that we were outside and the weather was beautiful, plus the food being so so aesthetically pleasing – not the mention the waiter was very easy on the eyes.

As we sat there, I realized there were SO MANY cyclists. With BEAUTIFUL, expensive bikes. They were no joke cyclists – and Girona is no joke hilly. I also saw tons of people running…maybe that’s why I felt so at ease and relaxed in Girona. I was amongst my people! I had found the bike riding, hill running, turmeric latte sipping Catalonians!

We wrapped up lunch with the perfect amount of time to go to the bathroom and re-board our tour bus. I was sad to leave Girona – it felt so homey and comfortable there – but I kissed the Lioness’ Bottom so that means I’ll be back one day, right?

Salvador Dali Theater & Museum

As soon as we were back on the bus, our other tour guide started talking again – and he was talking a lot. I just wanted to sleep. Eventually I tuned him out and dozed on and off for the hour and 45 minute drive to the Salvador Dali Museum.

At this point, I didn’t really feel like wandering a museum for the 5 hours we would be in Figueres. But as we stopped outside the museum and our tour guide started speaking – I was captivated. Not only by the interesting information, but by our tour guides passion for Dali and his work.

The outside of the Dali Museum looks very strange – but when we found out that all of the little yellow things stuck to the building are supposed to be BREAD – I was like, “Wow, even stranger than I thought.” Oprah might love bread, but I think Salvador Dali loved bread even more.

It’s not just any bread on the outside of the museum (which Dali fully designed himself) – it’s bread that was historically made for funerals, giving the museum a bit of an eerie feel. But the giant eggs on top (yes, eggs) are full and uncracked, representing life and ideas. Dali has a quote that I love – “Beauty should be edible, or not at all.”

It was really cool going to a museum of an artist that was a lot more contemporary than a lot of the artists you typically study – his references seemed a lot easier to grasp and understand, despite the fact that he was a surrealist and a lot of his work is very “out there.”

Our tour guide took us into the museum and you first come to a giant courtyard that has a LOT going on. He talked us through a lot of it, and I found myself hanging on his every word. I also had an epiphany that one of the tattoos on his arm was Dali’s famous mustache – which is when I realized this guy really knew his Dali.

Next we walked into the “theater” where there is a giant painting that will play tricks with your eyes – I don’t want to ruin the surprise, but it’s cool! Then, we were told that we were standing above Dali – and he was actually buried right below us!

Dali was such an interesting person and I can’t wait to get my hands on a book to learn more about him. He was apparently super narcissistic, but clearly a genius in many ways.

I was sad when our tour guide was done speaking and sent us off to explore the rest of the museum on our own – but we really did enjoy a lot of the different rooms even though I’m not a huge art person.

The tour also included entry into the jewel exhibit – and while some of them were cool to look at, at this point I was dragging a little bit and didn’t spend much time there. The best part was potentially when we walking through the revolving doors into a pitch black room to a massive security guard standing there that literally made us JUMP and shriek. It was terrifying yet hysterical.

We exited and then realized we probably should have found a bathroom while we were inside before our two hour journey back to Barcelona. The security guard let us back into the jewel exhibit but we could not find a bathroom for our lives so we talked our way back into the main museum.

Then we sat outside at our meeting place and waited for the bus.

On the ride back we had WiFi and chargers - #BLESSED! Emily and I fell asleep listening to Ed Sheeran and other random tunes and the nap time was CLUTCH.

We got dropped off in Barcelona and started walking our way back to the hostel – I had survived the entire tour on two hours of sleep + random bus naps throughout the day! This newfound ability to function on almost no sleep set my “NO SLEEP TILL TUESDAY” tone for the remainder of the week. Eek.

Night Out

When we got back to the hostel we quickly showered so we could make it downstairs for 8:30 group dinner. When we got down there, we were the only ones, since the group activity for the day had been watching the sunset from “Bunkers” which is up above Park Guell. We sat around for awhile, I journaled and an Englishman made me a cup of tea! I was getting reallllly hungry but we held out and waited for the group to return – including Jon. They had all been drinking wine for the past few hours, so the mood instantly livened up.

Dinner was lasagna made by Simone – a young girl from Italy with the most magnetic personality in the world. It wasn’t the best thing I’ve ever eaten, but it was free and fun to eat with the group – while drinking pitchers of sangria and getting ready for the night ahead.

I decided I couldn’t handle heels again, so I dressed down significantly for the second night. We got to the bar and everyone from the hostel was given a delicious shot (the sugary, mixed kind) and then we all went in on splitting liters of sangria that came out in little personal kegs with sparklers on top.

Around 1:30 we started the walk from the first bar to the club – a walk that I usually took to Instagram Live – WHY?! Someone needed to stop me. The club that night was Shoko, and like Opium the previous night it was down on Barceloneta Beach. You can leave the clubs and walk out onto the beach, which is pretty cool. We didn’t like Shoko as much as we liked Opium and we couldn’t exactly place what the reason was. I think this was the only night that we stuck to our 3:30 a.m. curfew because we weren’t having an absolute blast.

While waiting in the taxi line to go back to the hostel, men walk around selling bocaditos – so tempting, but Emily and I passed because we wanted to buy our own bread, meat and cheese to eat at the hostel.

Another day down, and we were starting to get into a groove!

READ ABOUT MY OTHER DAYS IN SPAIN: