Italy Video

Here is the video we made about our time in Italy! The first song is "You Don't Know How Much You Can Suffer" by Jan Morks Quartet, and the second is "Tintarella di Luna" by Jenny Luna.  Enjoy!

Eurotrip: Rome, Italy

Our last stop in Italy was Rome. We had both been to Rome before and had very different experiences: I went with my family when I was younger and fell in love.  Taylor went during a school break while he was abroad and didn't have the greatest experience (let's just say his bunk bed was shaking all night long thanks to some very oblivious/intoxicated guests in the sketchy hostel he was staying in...awkward).  I was determined to change his opinion about Rome.

Rome was quite the change of pace after being in Modena and Bologna -- there were so many tourists and so many things to do that at times it was overwhelming.  We decided to only do a couple of the big sights and then explored other parts of the city where we could breathe and relax. We ended up seeing the Colosseum/Roman Forum and the Vatican/Sistine Chapel, and then dropped by Trevi Fountain and Piazza Navona. 

Each day we explored a different park.  We found two different spots with beautiful views of the city - an endless landscape of buildings the colors of sand and sunsets, dotted with the occasional ruin. It's a pretty unique city to see from above.  Both parks felt like a quiet oasis above the city where we could people watch and take in the city from a different perspective. One day we took sandwiches and beer up for lunch.

We also spent a day walking around the Jewish Ghetto. It was nice to explore some quiet, pretty streets. We didn't have any particular destination in the neighborhood, so we just let ourselves get lost! On our last day, Taylor decided to get his haircut at a barber near our Airbnb, which ended up being a fun adventure. The shop was run by the sweetest old man and his wife.  Neither of them spoke any English so it was pretty funny trying to communicate with them!

TO DO & SEE: Beyond whatever tourist sights you want to see I would recommend taking walks up to see the parks I talked about above. The one near Travestere is up on Gianicolo Hill -- this one is a longer walk. There are a couple of monuments and a botanical garden to see on your way up the hill. Villa Bourghese is the park near the Spanish Steps. It is not so far removed from the city, but is a good place to go for a little break from everything.  Definitely spend some time in Trastevere -- it is full of sweet little streets and piazzas (I'm a sucker for narrow, cobblestone European streets...have you figured this out yet?) and a couple pretty churches. Like I said before, the Jewish Ghetto is also a nice place to explore.

TO EAT & DRINK: For lunch on our second day we went into a little meat and cheese shop on a side street intending to buy materials to make our own sandwiches, but the guy inside offered to make them for us. We chose everything and he threw it together for us.  We grabbed a big Perino beer and took everything up to the park. I would definitely recommend doing this for lunch over trying to find a good restaurant.  When you're out seeing tourist sights it's hard to avoid crappy/overpriced food. 

On our first night we went to a great little restaurant in Trastevere called Meridionale.  The walls are covered in old magazine clippings and it is furnished with retro, mis-matched tables and chairs.  Aside from the meal being amazing, it was also a nice place to eat because it was away from the busiest parts of the neighborhood. By far the best meal we had was at Il Duca, which is also in Trastevere. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. Taylor got carbonara and I had the best lasagna of my life.  We also got fried artichoke and prociutto e melone to start.  I still dream about it. After dinner at Il Duca we popped into a tiny little convenience store to get beers and walked around the streets with the crowds of young people. We liked doing this at night rather than finding a place to get drinks, but we did go out for drinks one night in Trastevere at a place called Nylon. They had good drinks, a cool atmosphere and nice outdoor seating that was perfect for people watching. 

Oh, and I can't write a post about Rome and not mention gelato. We had amazing gelato at Il Gelato di San Crispino.  It's all homemade and doesn't have gross artificial colorings and flavorings.  We read somewhere that it's a bad sign when gelato is super colorful. 

Look back tomorrow for the video we made about our time in Italy!

Eurotrip: Modena & Bologna, Italy

After our time in Strasbourg, Taylor and I took the train to Italy to spend some time with some of his family friends in 2 smaller towns/cities in Italy. We started in Modena, and then went to Bologna. It was great to experience Italy from an Italian's perspective for a few days and get to know Taylor's old family friends -- We had the most wonderful hosts and were sad to leave! (Thank you Laura, Gianfranco, Maurizio, Massimo & Wendy!). This is a collection of pictures from both places -- they are pretty similar, but Bologna is bigger.  They both have the most beautiful sunset colored buildings and little cobblestone roads. We spent most of our time wandering around and eating lots of amazing food.

In Bologna we took a walk up a big hill along the worlds longest continuous portico to see Il Santuario di San Luca -- the view from the top was beautiful! Afterwards our hosts, Maurizio and Massimo took us for a little drive around the hills and we went to a super yummy restaurant tucked away above the city.  

Above: First, the streets of Bologna. Second, beautiful buildings in Modena. My camera was full of pictures like this -- I can't resist those colors!

Maurizio and Massimo's sweet furry daughter, Wendy. We were both pretty smitten with this pup.

>Modena

TO DO AND SEE: Modena is a super small little town--we just had one full day there which was really plenty of time to do a little exploring.  We started in the center of town and walked around from there. There are a couple of churches to take a peek into (such as the Duomo di Modena), but what we enjoyed most was just finding interesting streets to walk around and little stores to pop into (our hosts recommended walking down Via Taglio). There is a Ferrari Museum nearby for car lovers -- I guess a couple of famous car designers grew up in the area. When we were there all of the piazzas were filled with displays of super expensive cars -- there was some sort of convention going on. Didn't interest me much, but I made sure to send lots of pictures to my car obsessed brother!

TO EAT AND DRINK: We didn't actually eat out in Modena so I don't have much to say about restaurants -- We were lucky enough to have an amazing cook as our hostess! But, let me just tell you now, don't leave Italy without eating prosciutto e melone.  This is what we had for lunch on our first day, and I was addicted for the rest of the trip. In terms of places to grab a drink--we were wandering around in the rain on our one full day in Modena and stumbled across the coolest little bar called Juta Café (on Via Taglio).  It actually really reminded us of Portland--the picture above (with the quote) is from there. I would definitely recommend stopping there for a drink.

>Bologna

TO DO AND SEE:  Definitely take the walk up the portico to see San Luca.  It is a pretty long walk but definitely worth it.  Or if you have a car and want to drive up I would recommend driving around the area afterwards to find a place to eat among the hills -- unfortunately I can't remember the name of where we ate, but we passed a lot of restaurants in the area that looked nice. While we were in town we saw a lot of monuments and really beautiful churches around the city--I don't remember all of their names, but that is something you can find in a guide book! We also enjoyed walking around the student quarter--it was a nice little area to explore. Do a little shopping if that's your thing -- There is a big Zara and an H&M that is way better than ones in the U.S.  There are also quite a few boutiques that have beautiful locally designed clothes...fun to look into but a little pricey.  

TO EAT AND DRINK: Oh my goodness guys.  We had the best food ever in Bologna.  Apparently it's the place to go for Italian food. Two restaurants I would highly recommend: Casa Monica (on via San Rocco) was a little more fancy and not strictly traditional (still Italian but with a fancy twist). It's a beautiful little restaurant that is family owned. On our last night we went to a restaurant called Tratorria della Santa (on via Urbana) that was very traditional Bolognan food. I had ravioli the way it is traditionally eaten--in a broth--and an incredible tiramisu. So yummy. The food is reason enough to stop in Bologna for a day or two.  In terms of drinks, we went to this really cool place that our hosts recommended called Le Stanze (on Via Borgo di San Pietro) in the student quarter.  The drinks were pretty good but they also gave us a strange (free) plate of random (slightly stale) nibblies...Which were not so good. But it is a really neat spot---apparently it was originally the 16th-century private chapel of the Palazzo Bentivoglio so it is painted with really beautiful frescoes. They also have a couple of tables outside--great people watching spot. It sounds like the actual meals there are quite good so I would still recommend giving it a try. On our way back we stumbled upon what looked to be a pop up bar in the middle of Piazza Marco Biagi. Unfortunately we needed to get back for dinner so we couldn't stop, but it looked like a fun place to check out.  I'm not sure if it happens everyday, but if you're interested maybe drop by around dinner time--that is when they were setting up!

France Video

Before we began our trip in Europe Taylor and I decided we wanted to try to make short videos from our time in each country we went to. Neither of us are particularly skilled videographers, but it was fun none the less! (The parts where you feel like you're in an earthquake from all the shaking are by yours truly...). Anyway, here is the video we made for France! The songs in the video are "Si tu vois ma mere" by Sidney Bechet, "Moi Je Joue" by Bridgette Bardot, and "Elle Me Dit" by Mika.  Hope you like it!

Eurotrip: Paris, France

Paris was the last stop of our trip in Europe, and definitely one of our favorite cities. Taylor had already fallen in love with Paris on a program trip during his semester abroad, but this was my first time in the city.  Even though it was a bit cloudy and on the colder side, I also fell in love. How can you not? We stayed in the cutest little apartment in the 14th arrondissement, near a subway stop that got us to all the sights easily. Every morning Taylor went and got the yummiest pastries from a patisserie down the street, and we ate breakfast out on the porch connected to our room.

Each day we went to a different market street where we walked around and got supplies for lunch. On our first day we went and had our lunch in the park near the Eiffel Tour in a rare spot free of crowds of tourists. On our last day we got rotisserie chicken and fat soaked potatoes to go with our bread and cheese and wine in a water bottle.  SO GOOD. On our second day we went and locked our love on Pont des artes (we're corny like that...)

As we explored the city we quickly saw lots of the sights, but stayed away from going into most of them. The only museum we went to was Musee de Orsay. I felt crazy not going to the Louvre, but with so little time we didn't want to deal with the crowds and long lines. Next time!

TO DO & SEE: The two streets/markets we went to that I remember were called Rue Cler and Rue Montorgüell. Both were nice but we liked Rue Cler better. It was definitely less touristy--lot of locals buying an armful of baguettes for the week!

Montemarte was one of my favorite neighborhoods.  There were lots of cool boutiques with locally designed and made clothing (some really great dress stores).  On our last night we went to dinner in Montemarte and ended up walking around as it got dark. After hearing some people talking about a beautiful view near by, we walked all the way up to the top of the hill that the area is situated around and found a building/church (?? our tour book probably knows what this building is but I don't feel like looking it up...it's the building pictured above).  Anyway, below this building were stairs filled with people looking out on a beautiful view of the city.  It was super full of tourists, but worth a few minutes to take in the twinkling city lights.

Musee d'Orsay-- we chose to go here instead of the Louvre because honestly, most of the art at the Louvre isn't really our thing (gasp!). We especially enjoyed seeing art by Dega and Van Gogh. Would highly recommend it! 

TO EAT AND DRINK: On our second night we set out to go to a taco place called Candelaria.  It is a tiny little place with a small area to order tacos (there is one table and a little bar space to eat at) and a really cool bar in the back.  The door to the bar is at the back and looks like it leads to a back room for employees or something. When we got there the line was super long and we were hungry so we decided to skip the tacos and come back for drinks after dinner.  The tacos looked really good though so I would definitely recommend giving it a try.

We ended up going to the restaurant right next door, called Clasico Argentino, which was an empanadas place. So good. And so cheesy. Afterwards we went to Candelaria for yummy cocktails.

On our last night we went out for a fancier meal to end the trip. We went to Miroir in Montemarte which was amazing. I had fish and Taylor had lamb.  Everything we saw people order looked amazing.

We also found La Famille (also in Montemarte) when we were looking for nicer places to go. Apparently they have really fancy, interesting drinks.  Unfortunately we didn't end up being able to go there, but it would be a good place to check out.

Check back tomorrow for the video we made about our time in France!

EuroTrip: Strasbourg, France

Hello, blog friends! Long time, no see. I haven't fallen off the face of the earth! Summer has given me a new burst of inspiration (and a little more free time) and I'm ready with lots of fun posts for your viewing pleasure.

As some of you may know, Taylor and I just got back from a 3 week trip around Europe.  Taylor was studying in Strasbourg, France last semester, so I met him there and we travelled around France, Italy & Spain. Over the next few weeks I will be sharing some photos, videos and recommendations from our trip.  It was an amazing trip, so I am excited to share with you all.

Today I'm going to share some pictures from our time in Strasbourg and a few bits and pieces about what we did/recommendations, in case any of you ever decide to check it out! I will share the video we made from our trip soon.

After one of the longest, rainiest winters in France, the sun finally came out the week I arrived in Strasbourg. We spent most of our time wandering around, exploring the city--we walked along the canal, went to the park, explored "petit France." We ate our fair share of pastries, tarte flambe, café, and Alsatian beer (Alsace is the name of the region Strasbourg is in). While we were there we also got to have dinner with Taylor's host family--it was nice to be able to see what he had been experiencing over the last 5 months.

We stayed in a room in an apartment that we rented out through airbnb.com.  I would highly recommend using this site when you travel anywhere! We used the site throughout the trip to rent out rooms and loved every apartment we stayed in.  It was nice having hosts to give us advice (the people who own the apartments are also usually living there), and by only renting a room it was just as cheap as staying in a hostel. Our apartment in Strasbourg was a perfect little place with a tiny little kitchen, creaky floorboards, and windows looking down into narrow cobblestone streets.  Our hosts were wonderful and very interesting-- we shared a bottle of wine with them one night and learned about the man's job as a circus clown! 

We spent one day seeing a few of the bigger tourist sites.  We went to Rohan Palace where we saw a couple of impressive exhibits, and then we went to the cathedral and climbed to the top for a beautiful view. [Below: The view from the top of the cathedral, stained glass in the cathedral, and German style buildings lining the river]

With each of these posts I'm going to share our recommendations for things to see, places to eat/drink, etc. We stumbled upon some really fun places along the way that we want to share!

Strasbourg is a pretty small place and while there are a number of interesting (more touristy) sites to see, the best way to experience the city is by just walking around and getting lost...here are a few places you might want to check out along the way... 

TO DO AND SEE: Grab some bread and cheese and walk to the parc de l'Orangerie for a picnic. 

In the evening walk along the canal and stop by the boat bars for a drink on your way back.

 Climb up the cathedral for a beautiful view.  If you go to the cathedral at midday you can buy a ticket to see the astronomical clock at work. Be sure to go back and see the cathedral at night as well. 

If you are into museums, check out Rohan Palace, which has a few different collections to choose from, though nothing we found particularly exciting.

Walk around petit france for a little shopping and to see a nice part of town.

TO EAT AND DRINK: Taylor's favorite place to go for coffee during the day or drinks at night was a cute little spot called Jeannette's in Centre Ville.  They have delicious mojitos.

Try some Tarte Flambe while you are there (sort of like the French version of a pizza). 

Taylor also recommends a place called La Lanterne for drinks and tarte flambe.  He says they have a happy hour on Wednesdays that includes specials on both!

San Francisco

A couple weeks ago I popped down to San Francisco for a weekend to visit my dad and brother while they visited colleges. I'd only been there one other time, but fell completely in love with the city! Needless to say I was pretty excited to get back there.  We didn't have very much time there so we mostly just explored the city and ate good food when we weren't visiting schools. We went to an amazing French Vietnamese restaurant called Le Colonial.  So good.  We ate so much we basically rolled out of there (the yummy cocktails didn't help either...).  Go there if you're looking for a fancier restaurant and are into that kind of food!  Anyways, here are a few of the pictures I took while there!

Foggy city skyline//Fun art at one of the schools we visited//Graffiti art in the Mission//Prettiest buildings in Haight//Me and my brother...when did he get so big?

Hope you're having a great weekend! xx

Currently

Reading:  The Silver Linings Playbook.  I've been trying to read The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo since the end of the Summer, but no matter how hard I try I just can't seem to make myself get into it.  Anyone else feel that way about this book?  Anyways, I decided to just stop forcing it and move onto something different.  So far I'm loving this book. Also loving being able to read for pleasure now that I'm no longer reading hundreds of pages of academic literature a night!

Listening to: Lots of Camera Obscura.  I recently bought more of their music and have been listening to it non-stop.  Especially love this song.  (Also, try listening to the Camera Obscura playlist on Pandora.  So good).

Eating: Healthy.  I'm trying really hard to cook real meals rather than pasta every night. It's going ok.  I made a variation of this vegetarian chili with polenta the other night and it was really good and easy to make.

Loving: Yoga. I started going to Power Yoga at a "yoga by donation" studio downtown and I love it.  I come out feeling so productive and relaxed.  For those who live in the area, this is the one I go to.

Drinking: Specialty cocktails at Happy hour with my girlfriends.  We went to a place called Saucebox in downtown Portland twice within a week.  If you ever visit Portland definitely go for happy hour. I would recommend the Pad Thai ($4!) or Steamed Clams ($5!) to go with their "cocktail of the day".

Looking forward to:  The weekend! I have Friday off this week, so I get an extra long weekend.  Also, one of my best friends from home is visiting on Sunday.  Can't wait to see her and show her my city.

*inspiration for this "currently" post came from Sometimes Sweet Blog!

happy valentine's day!

Happy (late) Valentine's day!  I hope your day was great.  My day was filled with extra cuddles from my little Valentines at work (I work at a pre school), lots of chocolate, and some face-timing with Taylor.  I wasn't going to but Taylor insisted that I post this little (corny and slightly embarrassing) Valentine's day video that I made for him since we were far apart this year.  Sometime I'll share a bit about how I made it!

I love planners

It's weird, but I really do love planners. Buying a new planner, notebooks and post-it notes is definitely my favorite part of starting a new year. Problem is, despite my love for office/organizational supplies, I am not really an organized person.  I've always been a list maker, but I write so many lists in so many places that I can't keep track of them.  It's a problem.  So, this year one of my resolutions was to be more organized.  So far it's going pretty well!  I decided that to help with this I would put together a planner that has everything I need in it, so I will actually use it.

To make my planner I got a mini binder from Russell + Hazel.  They sell everything you need to fill the binder, but it's pretty expensive so I chose to just get the weekly planner inserts and then make everything else myself.  You could also make your own inserts using tables in Word or you could try and find a template online (I was going to do this but didn't have a printer).  You can also find mini binders at most office supply stores if the Russel + Hazel ones are too pricey.  I got some white card stock and cut it to make the dividers and used washi tape to cover the tabs.  I also use thin washi tape to mark really important events that are coming up.

I also used the card stock to make other sections that I thought would help keep me organized.  I made a section with a list of short phrases that remind me of my new years resolutions, and a page for planning meals/grocery shopping lists (by doing this I have been pretty successful at avoiding a fridge full of rotting food at the end of each week).

To keep me on track with this blog I made a section for writing down blog post ideas, and planning out my blog posts for the next two weeks.  I just made a page (that folds out) with squares that fit little post-it notes.  This allows me to rearrange the schedule if I need to.  I also put in some extra pieces of lined paper for taking notes, and a space for keeping track of all the little tasks that I need to get done, but that aren't urgent. In the years to come I can add new sections, depending on my needs.  Yay for getting organized!

little snippets

Now that I have a nice camera, I am trying to take more pictures everyday so I can improve my photography skills.  Every so often I will try to share some "little snippets" of my daily life through photos on this blog. These are some pictures from a thai banquet we had at my house with friends this past weekend.  My dad made some amazing dishes, mostly from this book.

 

green papaya salad/chili peppers/tofu & sweet potato curry/seafood before/seafood after

life lately [instagram edition]

brainstorming project ideas/ani difranco concert in the park/post-picnic swinging/experimenting with new camera toys/dusting off my uke/popsicles and hammocking/refreshing summer drinks with mint from the garden

[p.s. you can follow me on instagram @ella_michelle]