Monaco & Monte Carlo (July 2005)

Monaco is home to the cleanest, most pristine train station I have ever seen in Europe. This clean, orderly, air of perfection extends beyond the train terminal and permeates the tiny country. With unemployment and homelessness rates at 0%, and no income tax, this constitutional monarchy is almost a utopia of sorts. The pleasant climate and casino culture attract tourists from far and wide. We took a 35 minute train ride in from Nice to explore Monaco and Monte Carlo for the day, awestruck by the immaculate nature of the country. Everything is kept up, from the sidewalks to the harbors, to the architecture, nothing is unkempt or on the verge of becoming so. We ambled around town, not really sure of what sights were notable sans the esteemed Monte Carlo Casino. Manicured gardens and boutique hotels are the norm in Monte Carlo - evidenced by the expensive vehicles parked outside. Bentleys, Rolls Royce's, Mercedes, the list continues...basically a car collector's dream, all vying for recognition or sponsorship at the Monaco Grand Prix - Europe's annual, revered car race. While cruising Monaco we also took in St. Nicholas' Cathedral where Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier were married decades ago. We didn't have a change to sample any cuisine while in Monaco, as prices were so overpriced, hunger seemed like the better alternative. An item as small as a bottle of water was 5 euro at one shop! The luxurious amenities even crossed from land to sea, as the Port of Monaco was packed with enormous, sparkling white yachts. We laughed, joking that the sight alone prompted the "Lifestyles of the rich and famous," voice to echo in our heads. Overall - while it is perhaps the cleanest, safest destination you will ever visit, I thought it lacked what most travelers seek, culture, variety and of course a little unpredictability.

New York City (first trip, April 2006)

When a friend from college moved out to NYC right after graduation, talks of venturing out to visit the Big Apple began. We decided to celebrate my friend's 23rd birthday in New York, an exciting journey for both of us, since neither of us had been to the city since middle school. We arrived on an extremely wet April morning...and after lunching at the pizzeria Frank Sinatra made famous- Grimaldi's - we took a stroll in the rain along the Brooklyn Heights
Promenade. Right as we were about to pose in front of the Brooklyn Bridge, the wind caught by umbrella and turned it inside out. My friend happened to snap a picture of me at that exact moment, which ended up being pretty hilarious.
Luckily the rest of the trip was gloriously warm and sunny, very un-New York Like for early April. While our friend worked, we indulged in touristy sites. We skipped the Empire State Building and went for our own concotion of a tour a la "Sex and the City." Visiting Magnolia Bakery in Greenwich Village, Serendipity, the Guggenheim Museum, the Chrysler Building, Bryant Park, and of course the stoop where Carrie lived in "Sex and the City." We went out to eat at some great spots, Corner Bistro (known for peppery Bloody Mary's and amazing burgers), Kemia - a funky Moroccan restaurant/bar with a sultry red decor, Serafina, authentic Italian in the the theater district, 'A' - inventive Caribbean fare on the Upper West Side, and of course Nathan's gourmet hot dogs. We ended the trip with a sunny walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, and dressing up for dinner, drinks, and a Broadway show "Putnam County Spelling Bee." If you haven't been to New York, I highly recommend it, and advise you to explore beyond the advertised attractions, you never know what you will find!

Siena, Italy (July 2004)

My sister and I arrived
in Siena on a warm, summer afternoon, and sought to take it the sleepy town's architectural wonders. The bell tower in Siena is the highest in Italy, overlooking the wide Piazza del Campo below and the Tuscan countryside that lies beyond the city limits. My sister and I climbed to the top of the tower (a total of 102 meters upward). The climb seemed mild at first, but as you gain height in the tower, the interior staircase narrows and the ceiling drops. For those who get claustrophobic easily, this is not the site for you! Once we hit the top (out of breath might I add), the views are spectacular.
There is a good sized balcony area (as bell towers go) to walk around and take snapshots of the panoramic views. There is an excellent aerial view of the Siena Cathedral duomo and its black-and-white striped campanile. While my sister and I were in the midst of snapping pictures, the bell rang! It scared the crap out of us!! The bells clanged with such force and volume that everyone up there jumped in surprise, and was even scarier was that we could feel the vibrations of the bells beneath our feet.
After our jolt, we climbed back down the tower (almost scarier than going up) and continued to explore the other sights Siena had to offer. I highly recommend paying the 5 or so Euro to see the inside of the
Palazzo Pubblico, the palace of Siena, home to the famous frescoes by Tuscan painter Ambrogio Lorenzetti. Also notable is the gorgeous Siena Cathedral, which is aesthetically and spiritually stunning.

Nice, France (first trip, July 2004)

The French Riviera is like a vacation from your vacation. The sunshine permeates the coast, once off the train you feel a sudden overwhelming sense of peace accompanied by a gentle breeze of salty ocean air. Here the locals are jovial and welcoming, and tourists are met with wide toothed grins rather than frowns. The water is unbelievably clear and such a vibrant azure blue, it feels unreal - as if you are floating in neon blue food coloring. And to accompany the quintessential Nice sunset are stretches of uninterrupted beach as far as the eye can see. My sister and I arrived in Nice the day before Bastille Day (France's independence day). The town was abuzz in preparation for the Bastille Day festivities. A celebratory parade marched down the Promenade des Anglais, paralleling the Bay of Angels, complete with a brass band, local military squads outfitted with weaponry, and locals sporting elaborate colorful costumes. The spirit of the day carried into the Cours Saleya, Nice's famous outdoor market (one of my favorite's in Europe). The Cours Saleya is organized in a U-shape, French restaurants, bistros, and cafes make up the perimeter, while daily vendors set up shop in the interior space. The market vendors offer fresh picked fruits and vegetables, delectable pastries, breads, seasoned meats, and fresh caught seafood still squirming, brought up daily by local fishermen. It is a jumble of conversation, laughter, and pedestrians, some wandering, others sipping lemon pressé and dining on the catch of the day. The entire day was exciting because we almost felt like locals, indulging in the celebratory atmosphere of the community. As dusk settled in, we followed the crowd to the Promenade des Anglais, where a spectacular fire works display ensued, cheered on by boisterous French men and women. All in all, a fantastic independence day!

London, England (June 2004)

London served as my gateway to Europe. My sister and I who had never before been abroad figured if we started in an English speaking country it would be a smoother transition into the European way of life. London, while fabulous in its own right, turned out to be one of the more chaotic cities we visited. London is a hodgepodge of underground stations, winding streets, expansive squares, and rows of identical houses. A place where one neighborhood mingles into the next without so much as a sign or arrow of distinction. As pedestrians we forever were challenged to look right when crossing the street, as cars come speeding by on he "wrong" side of the road. On our first full day, we decided to wing it, navigating the glorious streets of London in the rain, pocketing our map and guidebook and simply hoping for the best. Well turn after turn, and one torrential downpour later we ended up in what we later discovered to be Soho, London's infamous sex district. We found ourselves in the midst of a neighborhood of "XXX" ratings and explicit window displays, all the while huddling together under our umbrella trying to avoid the streams of water pouring from overflowing gutters. It is comical to look back on now, remembering how we were simultaneously laughing and crying, running through puddles in frantic search of a warm place to stay dry (not exactly easy to find in the sex district). Finally we rounded a bend and in the distance, like a beacon of light, was Starbucks! Despite the tourist faux pas of indulging in an American brand abroad, Starbucks was our savior. We warmed ourselves and dried our feet over hot mugs (no paper cups here) of coffee and biscuits, and laughed about our first adventure abroad.

Los Angeles, California (Oct. 2006)

I flew down to LA for the weekend to attend the bat-mitzvah celebration of Chelsea, the younger sister of my good friend Lindsay. My sister who lived in Newport at the time, accompanied me as my date. After the coming of age ceremony, we moved into an adjacent ballroom for the "Pretty in Pink" themed reception and party. Now I haven't been to many bat-mitzvah's but this was an extravagant soirée, the caliber of the decorations, the favors, and the food made it feel like we were at a wedding (except everything was pink and it was for a 13-year old). Regardless, my sister and I had a fabulous time! There were hip-hop dancers for entertainment, photo booths, and pixie-stix making stations. The interior of the hall was transformed into a pink paradise, complete with hot pink chaise lounges and gargantuan pink flower arrangements at every table. At the end of the night, they passed out pink party favors - princess crowns, blinking rings, pink feather boas, pink glow-sticks. We all enjoyed playing "dress up" and adorning ourselves with the favors, making my sister and I reminisce back to our "dress and dazzle" days. At the end of the night, I was so glad I flew down for the weekend; to see Chelsea all grown up, and laugh, dance, and dress up with two of my favorite people!

Sun Valley, Idaho (Feb. 2006)

Ever since I was can remember, my family has made an annual pilgrimage to Sun Valley, Idaho for a family ski vacation. About 10 years ago, my mom's best friend and her family built a house in Sun Valley, and we gained a stellar place to stay on these annual vacations. The last time I visited in February, 2006, I took a long weekend and flew with my Mom and her friend to Sun Valley for a "girls trip," as none of our other family members were available. The weather was impeccable, sunny as always. We spent the weekend skiing, shopping, dining out at local restaurants, and curling up in front of a roaring fire watching the Winter Olympics.
On our final day we decided to try snow-shoeing. Snow-shoeing is pretty funny, it feels like tying tennis rackets to your feet and shuffling through the snow with the aide of ski poles. The three of us corralled around in the snow, sinking into drifts, and occasionally losing our balance and tipping over, which I'm sure appeared quite comical to anyone who might have been watching. All in all it was more of a workout than I anticipated. Although I must say, while snow-shoeing, you have adequate time to absorb the wilderness scenery, a nice change-up from a downhill run.

Munich, Germany (July 2005)

The afternoon we arrived in Munich, Germany was one of the hottest days of our European trip. The sun was beating down on us as we carried our heavy backpacks around town, searching for a place to sleep for the night. Brows sweating, stomachs rumbling, we looked for somewhere cool to rest and grab a bite. After cruising through an outdoor market we stumbled upon a bratwurst outdoor beer garden. It was almost more of an outdoor cafeteria as there were rows and rows of bench seated tables arranged under groves of shady trees. The tables were packed with people, relaxing with large steins of beer and brats. Figuring "When in Munich," we ordered ourselves a few steins, brats (pouring over the large mustard selection in the condiment area) and settled onto a corner of a table to enjoy our German feast. However, once our filling lunch was done, it was back to the heat. Anticipating our evening festivities at the Hofbrauhaus we didn't want to wear ourselves during the day and decided to leisurely explore. In one of the main squares I came upon a large fountain spraying idyllic cool water - and I don't really know what came over me, but I was so uncomfortable I jumped in - (disregarding the consequences of actually being caught, fined, or even arrested) and leapt around the fountain for a few blissful seconds, much to my friends' surprise. Probably wasn't the smartest move, but I did feel much cooler for the rest of the afternoon.

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico (Nov. 2005)

I'm usually not one for going out of town during the holidays, but when my friend Ashley invited me to spend Thanksgiving weekend, 2005 in Cabo San Lucas with her and her family, I had to accept. We left at 7am from the frosty weather of Seattle and by 3 were lounging poolside in Cabo. While Thanksgiving was a little different those I am used to, it was complete with a turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and pumpkin pie - courtesy of Ashley's always prepared mom and the local Costco. The day after Thanksgiving, when most Seattle-ites are getting up early to hit the shops, watching football, and indulging on leftovers, Ashley's family and I took at little adventure and went ATV-ing on the beach. (ATV stands for = all terrain vehicles). I was a novice at ATV-ing which are basically like 4-wheeled dirtbikes you race. Our ATV experience was pretty exciting, we rode along narrow desert trails, through sand dunes paralleling the beach, and finally alongside the ocean. We were in a corral of about 15, 7 of who were in our group for the weekend. We started deep in the cacti, and followed the herd out toward the beach where we had 2 hours to have a free for all! We drove up steep ridges, got stuck in the sand a few times, and did some modest jumps and spins. Overall it was a great time, and a beautiful, warm day, it hardly felt like November, let alone the day after Thanksgiving.

Salzburg, Austria (June 2005)

I love musicals. My grandparents used to have season tickets to the 5th Avenue Theatre and would take my middle sister and I to every musical that debuted. I did not anticipate my affinity of musicals to catch up to me in Europe, but surprisingly enough - it did. Turns out the most famous musical of all - The Sound of Music was filmed in Salzburg, Austria. We discovered this fact while visiting, and while normally aiming to be the "anti-tourist," (ie. not traveling in tour groups, over zealously taking pictures, traveling in large packs, trying to stand out)...my friends and I decided to take the "Sound of Music Tour."
Now I have to say, this tour was impressive. For four hours you are guided through the hills with an Austrian native, going to the sites of the movie. And the best part was - she played the soundtrack while we drove! So we were literally singing "the hills are alive," while driving along the windy back roads of Salzburg, it was surreal.
Our tour guide took us to see the Von Trapp estate where the family lived in the movie, the gorgeous gardens the children run through in song, the church where Captain Von Trapp and Maria were married, the wall Maria runs alongside singing "I Have Confidence," and finally the gazebo-home to the famous duet "I am 16, Going on 17."
So when we arrived at the gazebo there was a crowd of about 20 or so people...and we come to find out, Liesel (the real actress who played Liesel) was there filming a Sound of Music tribute. It was such a unique and pleasant surprise! Our tour guide said in the 9 years she'd been running this tour, nothing like this had ever happened. It was so cool, we got to meet and take a picture with her. And then the entire crowd, led by Liesel herself, joined in for a group singing of "I am 16, Going on 17," my friends and I were just giddy with delight. Kind of dorky I know, but it was such a fun, once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Barcelona, Spain (June 2005)

My friends and I decided to go to Barcelona on a whim halfway through our trek of Europe. We had originally made arrangements to go to Athens and surrounding islands, but we decided we couldn't tackle all that Greece had to offer in 4 short days. Itching to get to the beach, we cashed in our europebyair.com tickets for three flights to Barcelona. Of course when we got there we had no idea where to go. Which was not a huge deal because we had been winging it in most cities. But we realized we didn't even have a guide book on Spain to coach us on what neighborhoods to stay in and what to avoid, as Spain was not part of our original itinerary. Next my friend suggests "let's tell the taxi driver we want to go to "la playa," the beach - there has to be a place to stay by the beach!" We all agree and pile our huge backpacks into a taxi, saying "la playa" to the driver, who looks at us puzzled and then shrugs, speeding off. We arrive at what is nothing more than a long stretch of beach - with what looks like a few cafes but no hostels, hotels, nothing. He drops us off and drives off grumbling "stupid Americans." So there we are stuck on a beach, with no clue of how near or far we are to anything in Barcelona, when it starts to rain. This beach vacation started off great huh?
Well...long story short we found a place to stay after locating an internet cafe, what did travelers do before the internet?
And though it did continue to rain for most of our so-called beach excursion, we were able to indulge in some culture. Barcelona is the home of architect Antoni Gaudi, famous for buildings that are organic, Art Noveau-esque, and almost other worldly in appearance. I studied him in my college architecture classes so I was eager to check out the real thing. We didn't get to see all of his work, but we did walk through Casa Batllo - an apartment building fashioned to resemble an underwater dragon, which was so cool to walk through - I highly recommend it. We also saw Casa Mila and finally Sagreda Familia. Gaudi died while building this soaring basilica that he intended to be "the last great sanctuary of Christendom." Each of the four facades has a different construction, with incredible religious symbolism infused into the structure. To me it kind of looked like an alien space ship, it has these four spindles that pierce the sky, and the tympanum reliefs look like melting wax dripping off the basilica. All in all, we didn't quite make it to the beach. But we got ourselves some culture.

Bridgehampton, New York (Aug. 2007)

This August, my family took a vacation to visit some of our cousins at their summer home in Bridgehampton, New York. We flew into JFK, and drove from the chaos of the city out to the Hampton's - a sumptuous corner of New York; freckled with Cape Cod estates, expansive green meadows, historic B&B's, and beaches with grassy dunes. While we were there, I felt somewhat disconnected from reality. We spent our days lounging around their house, swimming, bike riding through the neighboring lanes, and playing on the beach. Occasionally we would drive into one of the towns; picturesque boulevards of antique storefronts, 5-and-dime stores, and family owned businesses. On any given day you can see people sailing in the harbor, children licking ice cream cones, and celebrities eating at outdoor cafes, unafraid of being recognized.
In the evenings the atmosphere would liven, as everyone would return from their activities of the day, coming together to enjoy an amazing multi-coursed feast. There were about 15-20 people there every night, some family, some friends; just talking, laughing, eating, and drinking together. Overall it was an enjoyable, relaxing vacation, but I was happy to get back to my normal life. Leaving with the knowledge that if I ever need an escape, I know just the place to go.

Cinqueterre, Italy (June 2004)

I'm sure by now everyone has heard of the Cinqueterre, made popular by travel guru Rick Steves. If not, they are five coastal Italian hilltowns nestled in rocky nooks along the scalloped Mediterranean coastline. These towns are gems because they are only accessible by train or footpath, there is no access for cars or tourist buses - an absolute delight! While all five towns are connected by trains that arrive every 15 minutes, my sister and I decided to take the adventurous route and trek the "L'alta via delle Cinque Terre" the highest hiking trail. Wearing tank-tops, running shoes, and carrying our day packs, we began our trek in Monterosso (the northern most town) to the next town, Vernazza. We later found out that this leg of the hike is by far the steepest and most difficult, which we were tackling in the heat of the day, without food or water - big mistake! However the views were unparalleled. The narrow dirt trail hugs the side of the mountain which is lush and green, and has sweeping views of the ocean below. Above us we saw farmers laboring amongst their crops, terraced because the hills are so steep. The hike was very strenuous even for my sister and I who come from a family of avid hikers. But the experience was manifested by our final bend in the trail that overlooked the sparkling town of Vernazza. We could hear children laughing in the water, see the fisherman coming into port, daytrippers sunning on the rocks. It was a fantastic, cumulative moment, and I found that in that moment I was no longer tired, or thirsty, or out of breath - just in awe and at peace.

Prague, Czech Republic (June 2005)

During the summer after I graduated college, two of my best friends and I took an extensive backpacking tour of Europe, and Prague was our third destination of the trip. When we arrived the air was warm, and the sky a gorgeous azure blue, dotted with hundreds of small, airy clouds. A welcome change from the foggy cold of Germany. We took a taxi from our hotel to Old Town Square, where we began exploring the city. Prague's tagline "city of one hundred spires," rings true as you stroll through the square. The buildings have not been cleaned or prettied up for the sake of tourism as is the custom in Western Europe. I got the feeling of going back in time- the true spirit of bohemia; walking along aging green statues of Christ, street musicians and vendors puttering around selling paintings and marionette dolls, the conversation of guttural accents.

After some sites, we indulged in Prague cuisine - known for hearty, stick-to-your-ribs fare and world renown beer. After discovering a charming restaurant off the beaten path, we enjoyed Pilsner's (so much better in Prague than the US) and goulash. Goulash: if you're unfamiliar is made from beef, onions, red peppers, and paprika, often served over white bread. Now, I have to say when the goulash arrived it looked like brown slop; totally unappetizing. However after my brave friend took a bite and us less adventurous foodies tried it, I'd pass on this advice - suck it up - because it is actually delicious (even if it looks gross).