Edinburgh and Dublin

I am going to condense these posts a bit, since we didn't spend a ton of time in either place (plus, we got back almost a week ago, and I'm eager to get back to normal blogging!  Don't worry pictures to follow in my next post!).

Edinburgh was a truly stunning city.  It is very hilly, which I wasn't expecting (okay, that's a lie, based on having seen the movie One Day, which is set there, I had a feeling it would be hilly).  Geographically speaking, it's really interesting.  The Firth of Forth sits to the north (in other words, a bay), and there are volcanoes (inactive) not far from the center of the city.  The result is some seriously wacky weather!  Rain, bitterly cold wind, brief periods of sunshine...we really did get it all!

We got in late on Wednesday, so didn't do much other than head to a cute little restaurant for dinner (or so I thought...until I found out that there were pine nuts in my risotto.  Thanks, Europeans, for not putting allergens on menus, because none of you have allergies!)  That was actually the second time that this had happened on the trip, but I hadn't taken a bite in the first restaurant in Paris, where I was served something that looked suspiciously like pesto. Anyway, we got up bright and early (well before the sun came up!  My dad and I often ran in partial darkness in London, Edinburgh and Dublin because, since all three are on the western part of their time zone, it gets dark significantly later) and headed up to Edinburgh Castle...where we got stuck in a torrential downpour and gusty winds.  Womp womp.  Luckily, there was enough to see inside the castle that we could run in between buildings and not spend as much time exposed to the elements. 

We then took a cab tour (my dad's idea, he was all about the see-everything-from-the-bus-or-cab tours!) with a crazy (and crazy-haired) Scot named Gerry.  Fiercely patriotic and very anti-England (and J.K. Rowling, which I was not okay with), he drove us around the city and its outskirts and gave us the historical tour of Edinburgh.  For example, we saw (through binoculars) the only statue of Abe Lincoln located outside the U.S., we drove by J.K.'s house, the world's first golf course (a 3-par course), and the graveyard where Ebeneezer Scrooge's grave sits.  I really had no idea how many incredibly influential were from/once visited/knew someone in Edinburgh haha, and good ole Gerry spared no detail.

Afterward, my mom and I did some shopping (she got Scottish souvenirs for her family, as they are part-Scottish), and I got a sleeve of St. Andrews golf balls for Dan (even though we didn't make it to St. Andrews).  We then met up with my friend Cat, who I met studying abroad in Strasbourg and who now lives in Edinburgh, for a delicious dinner.

Cut to Dublin.  I have very mixed feelings about Dublin.  The first time I went there (this was my third time), I was expecting to see beautiful streets with lush trees and eternally cheerful redheads everywhere.  Maybe I'm just unrealistic.  Ireland has definitely fallen on some hard economic times (to put it mildly), and the city, in reality, seems very down-and-out.  In fact, when we were in a pub on NYE (just getting dinner; we had a 6am flight the next morning...nice planning, Mom haha), a middle-aged Irish couple, when they found out we were Americans, urged us to tell all of our friends to go there.  They really, REALLY need the tourists' money there.  Even from the first time that I went, I felt like there was not a whole heck of a lot going on, an opinion which was echoed on both my second and this visit.  We did go to the Gourmet Burger Kitchen, which is where I had arguably the best vegetarian burger of my entire life (a goat cheese patty with eggplants, some sort of tomato relish, and lots of other veggies), and the Guinness Factory (where Tim was completely in his element, and I, even my second time there, was enjoying myself), but other than that, we didn't do a whole lot.  I think my dad put it best when he said that, with another day, it would have been nice to go out into the countryside or to the coast, that that's where you see the "real Ireland".  Having been to the countryside, I can confirm that that is true.

When we woke up bright and early on New Year's Day (2am--YIKES!!!!) and walked past drunken revelers on our way to the airport shuttle.  And just like that, our European Christmas vacation was over.  It was magical at times (and rainy and cold at others), and I don't regret a single second of it.  Yes, it was difficult not to be in our own home over Christmas, and even more difficult to be away from Dan for that long, especially around the New Year.  But I had an incredible time gallivanting around Europe with my family, and will definitely look back on it fondly as one of our best (perhaps THE best) family trip we have been on.

Stay tuned for photos!

Phase 3: London!!

From Paris we moved on to London via train.  I think my family was relieved to be continuing the next leg of our trip in an English-speaking country.  I have been in countries where I do not speak the language, and I know that it truly is difficult if you are not able to communicate with anyone very effectively, be it hotel employees, waiters, cab drivers, etc, so I can certainly understand why they felt that way.  I was excited for London because, rather than stay in a hotel over Christmas, we were staying in my roommate's wonderful cousin's house, who lives in London with her husband and baby but was in the States for Christmas.  I have only met her a few times, and was blown away by her generosity when she offered up her home to us.  It really made a huge difference to come back to an actual home every day, rather than to a hotel room, and the location was great for all of the sightseeing that we wanted to do.

When we got in, we went to this restaurant/bar called the Prince Alfred, in Beth and Josh's neighborhood, for dinner.  I was definitely feeling down-in-the-dumps that day, for a variety of reasons: I was missing Dan terribly, I was sad to be leaving France, and I was depressed to not be in our own home for Christmas.  Also, even if we had been at my parents' house for Christmas, being that we are transplants, we would not have been in the house that we grew up in, which made me sad. That being said, I am SO glad, and feel so fortunate, that my family is in DC now!  After this dinner, though, I felt so much better, because the food was delicious, my family was in a really happy, chatty mood, and the staff was really friendly.

I was really proud of us, because, other than taking a cab twice and the Tube once, we walked EVERYWHERE!!!! There were days when, in addition to my dad's and my runs, we would walk 8 or 9 miles, so go us for not whining and for getting some serious exercise!!! It was actually really helpful that we did all of that walking, too, because I realized, when we got there, that I felt slightly disoriented as to where everything was relative to each other.  Walking definitely helped me get my bearings!  On Christmas Day, nothing was open and we had a bit of a slow start, given that I think Tim and my dad were still adjusting to the time change.  We walked downtown, stopping along the way at Buckingham Palace (where I was replaying the royal wedding broadcast in my head, the part with the kisses on the palace balcony.  Please don't judge me.) before heading to Christmas Mass at Westminster Cathedral, which, with its moorish-looking design, looked more like it belonged in southern Spain than in the middle of London.  After Mass, we went home and made an improvised dinner, courtesy of Marks & Spencer.  It certainly wasn't a gourmet feast, which definitely wasn't ideal, but we were all together, so that was all that mattered.

Much to our disappointment, nothing was really open on the day after Christmas, either, being that it was Boxing Day (in my opinion, a completely useless holiday, but who am I to judge?  According to Wikipedia, it was traditionally the day when nobility would give boxed gifts to their hired help.  Why they had to make a holiday out of it, I have no idea).  We opted to go on the hop on- hop off bus tour, which gave us a really comprehensive view of all of the major sights in the city, thus enabling us to get off the bus when we wanted to explore a particular area more.  We ended up getting off near Big Ben on our loop back from across the Thames, and walked up Whitehall to Trafalgar Square, where the Olympic countdown was in effect.  We got back on the bus later in the day and got to see the more western part of the city, the more museum-y district (needless to say, we didn't do any museums because Tim is very anti-museum haha).

On Tuesday, we walked over to Notting Hill and, after exploring the Portobello Road area a bit (which was not exactly bustling like it had been when I was there last), grabbed a quick bit of breakfast.  One of Tim's roommates lives in London and another of their roommates, who, oddly enough, studied in Salamanca this past semester and was staying with the other roommate's family for Christmas, had just gotten back to the city, so they did their own thing for the rest of the day.  My parents and I walked about 9 miles that day, from the house all the way through Hyde Park and then up to Harrods, so that I could get my La Durée visit in.  Being that it was the first day that Harrod's was open after the holiday, it was a MOB SCENE.  I'm usually okay with crowds (my parents HATE them), but even I was getting a bit disgruntled; since it was so crowded, my dad and I got our desserts to go.  I was somehow able to restrain myself from eating it until later that night, and it certainly did not disappoint.  That La Durée, they certainly know their desserts.  We got back on the hop on-hop off bus for another two hours, which gave us a slightly different perspective, because we got to see everything lit up at night as opposed to in the daylight.

The next day, we departed via train for Edinburgh.  In theory, I love trains in Europe, because they are relatively efficient and comfortable.  But we were really crammed in there like sardines, what with all of our long legs, so both train rides, the one from Paris to London and the one from London to Edinburgh, were pretty painful.  I really did love our time in London, and I guess the one thing that I would change if I had it to do over again is that I would go a few days after Christmas, because of the closures for Christmas and Boxing Day.

Phase 2: Paris!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There is something truly indescribable about Paris.  There must be something in the air there, because each time I have been there, it has felt as though I'm walking on a cloud.  Paris has long been the inspiration for so many artistic, literary and cinematic figures, and, after mere minutes of wandering down little side streets, it's not hard to imagine why.  On the airplane ride home, one of the movies I watched was Woody Allen's latest, Midnight in Paris.  While it was typical Allen in that it was just a bit kooky (and, besides, I didn't fully agree with casting Owen Wilson for the lead male role, but I digress), the message really resonated for me and, I realized, sort of helped me verbalize what makes Paris "it" for francophiles.  Like Owen Wilson's character, lovers of Paris have a certain sense of nostalgia for the city.  A walk down its tree-lined boulevards makes one imagine the city's halcyon days, leaving one constantly imagining, with every turn and at every corner, the legends who stood there in the past and the historical, or simply mundane, acts that occurred there.  My dad pointed out that he felt like the buildings were all too uniform and cold in their construction, but I would counter that by saying that, even in their relative uniformity, there are subtle distinctions.  And, rather than be put off by the "coldness," I look at the balconies, the terrace gardens and wonder who lives there.  While the observer is, to an extent, shut out, there is a certain invitation to curiosity about the lives of the people who live in those buildings.  Paris, simply put, has a certain je ne sais quoi that is nearly impossible to articulate unless you have been there.  All I know is that, the second I stepped off that train at Gare de l'Est, I was glowing, and the feeling certainly didn't fade.

I had forgotten how easy the Parisian metro system is to navigate, so I had us at our hotel in no time at all. Before the light faded, I proposed that my mom and I head up to Montmartre, in my opinion, one of the two best views of the city, the other being the view from atop the Arc de Triomphe.  Our first stop was the Mur de je t'aime, one of my favorite spots in the city.  On this wall is written "I love you" in every language imaginable.  It is quite the romantic spot, understandably, despite the nagging feeling that the wall suggests more multicultural openness and acceptance than is a reality in France.  From the foot of the hill, at Abbesses, we walked up to Sacre Cœur.  I am someone who likes to marvel at things, and I think that's another reason why I love Paris.  Everywhere you turn, there is something to marvel at, and I could look out on that view of the city all day long.  Surrounding the church was a Christmas market, which, along with other markets near the Trocadéro and the Champs Elysées, made me chuckle.  Even in this bastion of secularism, Parisians can't help but embrace Christmas...or maybe it's just that they appreciate it in its more shallow, gift-giving sense.  After walking through the church, we wandered around Montmartre some more, the squares where artists displayed their wares and painted pictures of some of the other tourists, and finally found a little café where we had dinner.

We ended the night by heading down to the Trocadéro and took in the Tour.  The Eiffel Tower, while the pinnacle of touristy attractions in the city, is somehow not degraded in beauty by its overly touristy existence.  Especially when it's lit up at night, as well as when it twinkles brightly every hour on the hour :)  It is truly a sight to behold, and, even though I felt no need to go to the top, as I did that on my first trip to Paris, I could just stand there and look at it forever.

My dad and Tim arrived first thing on Friday morning, and we quickly left the hotel so they would have no chance to fall asleep.  We metroed over to the Notre Dame area and, before visiting the storied cathedral, enjoyed a full French breakfast (I think I successfully got my family hooked on pain au chocolat, although I was informed that, without my knowledge, my mother used to buy them at Dunkin' Donuts.  Psh, secret sugar consumption...I'm of the be loud, be proud sugar consumption school!).  After Notre Dame, we wandered the Left Bank a bit before stopping off at the Louvre (just for pictures, since Tim is really not a museum guy, especially on no sleep).  From there, we walked through the Tuileries, through Place de la Concorde and down the entirety of the Christmas market-lined Champs Elysées.  My heart was broken when I discovered that the La Durée location had sustained major damage during a fire, and thus was not open for dining, so my pastry had to wait until London :(  We were able to walk up the Arc de Triomphe, though, which, as I said, is my other favorite view of the city.  After a nice pizza lunch, we walked over to the Tour Eiffel so that my dad and Tim could see it, and then went back to the hotel to crash for a bit.  We ended up wandering through the 8ème, where our hotel was located, only to find that there were no suitable dinner options there, so we ended up just sitting in a little bistro just down the street from our hotel for our last dinner in Paris.  I had been relishing in using my French again (and was shocked at how quickly and naturally it came back to me), but, as I may have mentioned in my Strasbourg post, there are simply food items (particularly of the meat variety) whose French equivalents I don't know, so I felt bad that, when asked to translate menus for my family, I kind of had to shrug my shoulders.

On Saturday morning, Christmas Eve, we schlepped over to Gare du Nord, where our train to London was leaving from.  It was there that I got my ever-elusive French passport stamp.  In all of the times that I have been in France, I have never gotten a passport stamp (which, if you ask me, has to be some sort of security breach), so I was delighted when I got an exit stamp there.  While I was weary from being tour guide and translator, I knew I would miss Paris.  Actually, when I watched Midnight and Paris on the plane, whose opening scenes are a collage of shots of Paris, it brought tears to my eyes.  I think that the way people love Paris is similar to how they would love a person, which would explain the very strong attachment that I have to the city.

I will eventually get the London, Edinburgh and Dublin posts up, as well as pictures!!! Bear with me, folks...

Phase 1 of our European Christmas Adventure: Strasbourg!

I know that this post is well overdue, but we have spread ourselves so thin with sightseeing and walking that I have been far too exhausted at the end of every day to crank out a blog post.  However, thanks to the excellent Wifi connection at a friend's house in London where we are staying, I am able to send out this quick little update.  Actually, to begin this post, I have to give a shout-out to my iPhone.  While I am currently writing this post on my dad's little Acer computer that we brought along with us, my trusty little phone has been my lifeline to the outside world throughout the course of this trip.  Thanks to generally great Wifi connections in our hotels, I have felt close to friends and loved ones despite the several thousands of miles that separate us right now.  So thank you, iPhone :)

Moving on...I had been missing Strasbourg dearly in the two-and-a-half years since I last visited it.  I studied there a whopping three years ago (I know you older readers may take offense to this next melodramatic statement, but boy, does that make me feel old!  It feels like the study abroad stage of my life was only yesterday!).  Hopefully none of you want to punch me right now!  Allie and I visited the city at the end of our study abroad year as a day trip from Paris, and the city was certainly different in early-summer warm weather, not to mention SUNLIGHT, something  I had been severely lacking when I had left the city in December. 

When we pulled in to the train station a week ago, I felt as though I had never left.  I think that, even in my state of exhaustion (after having made it through a transatlantic flight during which I had slept little, and then a connecting flight on an itty bitty flight that would have been terrifying had I not conked out before safety instructions were even read), I had butterflies in my stomach.  I was reconnecting with a little part of myself that I had been missing over these past three years.  And I was coming back at CHRISTMAS, the part of the year when I most fell in love with Strasbourg.  Even as the weather turned gray and dismal and the temperatures plummeted, even as I wanted to rip my hair out while studying for finals in my seven (count 'em, seven!) classes, I had the Marché de Noël beckoning to me from downtown, just a short tram ride or a slightly longer walk away.

Strasbourg is the self-proclaimed Capital of Christmas, and it sure isn't afraid to flaunt it!  My mom and I dropped our bags at our hotel, and, since our room wasn't yet ready, went out again immediately to begin exploring (even if we had been able to get into our room, it would have been unwise to nap at that point).  We walked around the city for a few hours, grabbed lunch and then went back to the hotel for a little bit to crash.  Each new corner we rounded, each street we went down, felt like greeting an old friend, and I was so happy that I had gotten the chance to share this part of myself with my mom.  We did end up napping for about 2 hours, and then, with renewed resolve, walked around the city some more, at that point, blanketed in darkness. 

All of the markets are wonderful to look at during the day, but at night, once the lights are turned on...wow, what a sight to behold!  It really is one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen, resplendent in its Christmas glory.  Tucked away in little town squares are rows of Christmas Market stalls for as far as the eye can see.  In those stalls are young adults making crepes, which really is an art and a science; vendors selling everything from strands of Christmas lights, build-your-own nativity scenes, ornaments of every kind, the largest gingerbread cookies you have ever seen, and hot wine, among other things.  In Place Kléber, one of the main town squares sits the most beautiful (not to mention one of the tallest) Christmas trees you've ever seen, and it certainly puts the White House Christmas Tree to shame!!!  Essentially all of our time in Strasbourg was spent winding down little side streets and crossing town squares, taking in the lights, the smells, the sounds, and the general joyful spirit that you couldn't help but adopt for yourself.  To partially alter a quote from Love Actually, if ever I grow weary with the state of the world, I picture myself wandering through the Strasbourg Marché de Noël, which, for me, is, however infantile it may be, the pinnacle of joy and happiness.  People from all over the world come to this much-celebrated market, and I was overjoyed to be wandering through it with my mom.

After two full days in Strasbourg, we headed to Paris, which, since this post is getting wordy (true to form), I will have to save for another day.  Once I get home and am able to make some sense of the hundreds of pictures I've taken, I will post some of those as well, so that you can see a little of how I spent my Christmas vacation!  I hope that you all had a marvelous Christmas with family, friends, and other loved ones!

The Post In Which I Bemoan My Packing Procrastination

Okay, I just have to start by saying that I am not at all a procrastinator (in fact, when I was in college, I would set artificial deadlines for myself for days before papers and theses were due, and, damn it, I stuck to them!), but this packing for Europe thing has got me befuddled.  For those of you who know me, you know that packing light is not one of my strengths, so planning for less than 50 pounds (in fact, 45 would be preferable) is not exactly my strong suit. 

I have been so busy this week (mostly with baking, which, as I declared to my roommate during my third straight night of baking on Wednesday, I hate, which, for those of you who know me, is utter blasphemy) that I really haven't had too much time to pack. I did pick out the 7 outfits that I will be bringing for my 14 days on the Continent, and for me, it was difficult to limit myself to that many.  And sure, there are some things that I won't be able to pack until Sunday night, but I am anticipating that I will need to pack and re-pack after weighing my bag, because I refuse to let my bag be overweight.  I am determined to turn over a new leaf!!!  It could be an interesting Sunday afternoon indeed!

But, moving on to more important things, my mom and I are leaving for Strasbourg on Monday! It is surreal to me that our departure is so imminent.  I know that, when we get to Strasbourg and I am frolicking at my beloved Christmas market, it will feel as though no time has passed at all, when, in actuality, I lived there THREE YEARS ago (God, that's so depressing, to think that it's been that long!).  I know that it will be very emotional for me to reconnect with my old city, and I'm so excited that I'll get to share that with my mom before we meet up with my dad and Tim in Paris.  In the few days that I have left in the States, I will be feverishly trying to wrap up projects at work, saying goodbyes to friends, and spending lots of quality time with Dan before I leave him for two weeks :(.

Now, as far as blogging while we're on our trip, it will entirely depend on how much time I have and what the internet connectivity is like there.  My main priority is having email access to message loved ones, but, if I have the time and a strong Wifi connection, I will make every effort to pen some quick updates.  If not, you can expect a GARGANTUAN catch-up post when we return on January 1st. 

As a quick aside, something that has kept me entertained this week is the Georgetown Hipster meme. Now, being that I am not a hipster, the word meme has only come to my attention within the past week, but, for whatever reason, the outside world (obviously, people who have never set foot on this campus that is just oozing with preppy people) believes that Georgetown is a hipster school? Erm, okay then...I did look through a lot of the memes, though, and chuckle to myself, and I am thankful to this website for adding a little bit of humor to an otherwise stressful week.


I am wishing you all, my dear readers (all five of you haha) Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year!

Favorite Christmas Movies

What would Christmas be without some Love Actually clips, right?!?

Some of my favorite scenes from the movie:

• "To me you are perfect".  I wish people actually said things like that!
• The scene when Hugh Grant sings Christmas carols thanks to the heart-meltingly adorable pleading of three little girls (sorry, terrible video quality)
• Hugh Grant dancing.  Come on, how could you not be amused by this scene?!
• And.....my all-time favorite clip from the movie (probably because I am both a hopeless romantic and a language freak) is the scene where Jamie proposes to Aurelia.

Ah, love, ain't it grand!  Dan will be watching this for the first time next weekend, and I can't wait to 1) witness his mocking laughter, and 2)see if he actually enjoys it.  Fingers crossed! 

Some of my other favorite holiday movies:

• The Holiday
• The Family Stone
• Home Alone 1 and 2
• Elf
• The Grinch (both the animated and the Jim Carrey versions)
• It's a Wonderful Life
• Muppet Christmas Carol (I just saw this on Saturday and thought it was really cute!)
• I also bought Christmas in Connecticut and White Christmas this year, so I have high hopes for those!  Gotta love the Christmas oldies!

My goal is also to watch A Christmas Story all the way through.  Even though it is pretty much playing 24/7 on ABC Family during the Christmas season, I have yet to see it in its entirety.

Do any of you have any Christmas movie recommendations?

Happy Weekend!
Kristen

My Crafty Christmas

This Christmas, I decided to change things up a little bit in terms of gifts.  Now, I can't give away what I gave all of my friends and family, because not everyone has received  their gifts yet, butI have to share one in particular because I thought it was especially crafty on my part.  Thanks to some inspiration from Pinterest, I decided to make a friend's wedding invitation into a Christmas ornament!  I was really pleased with the result, so here is a picture!

How I did it: I copied the invitation onto gold vellum paper, so that I could keep the original copy of the invitation.  I then cut the invitation into strips and curled the ends with scissors.  Next, I strug some clear fishing wire through a few lines (I tried to do 3-4) and then fed each of the lines into the ornament.  Once all of them were in, there was definitely some maneuvering that I had to do, but I was very pleased with the result.  I topped it off with a ribbon, and voila!  (Note: the ornament is a hard plastic one that I bought at Michael's.  It has a removable top- perfect for putting the paper into the ornament!).

One of my coworkers also gave me a recipe for Santa Hat Brownies, so of course I had to make them!  I made them last night, and was very pleased with the result!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Wednesday!  I got slightly soaked when a car drove through a puddle and got me wet this morning, but luckily, I was wearing my raincoat that reminds me of those plastic ones you have when you're five, so I didn't get as wet as I could have.  Despite being a little bit soggy, I am determined that today is going to be a good day (maybe it's because we watched Elf last night and I'm just in a cheery mood.  Dan pointed out that I really resemble Buddy in a lot of ways, and I have to agree with him haha)!