Sunday, December 19, 2010

snow :)

^ View from the top of the tower! One of the many Chirstmas markets in Brugge. 
^ Cherry Beer!
^ Chocolate Beer!!!
^ Haha, the only place you would ever see a kid at a bar, EUROPE!
^ me :)
^ A boat ride that we took.
^ All the houses looked like this! They look like gingerbread houses!

December 17 marks the first snowfall of the year. It was amazing. You could definitely tell that we are all from California by the way we were jumping around in the snow, trying to touch every snowflake. It snowed pretty much the entire day. There was so much of it that they had to close down the Florence airport, the train station, and all buses. It hasn't snowed since then, but there is still snow everywhere. I am really hoping it snows Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. 
2 nights ago, my roomies and I all made home-made lasagna. It was so much fun making the noodles and the recipe was surprisingly not that hard. 
Last weekend I was in Belgium, which was amazing!!!! I loved Brugge. I love how I am falling in love with pretty much every European city I have been to so far. We were only there Friday-Sunday, but the city is so small that that amount of time was just right. I fell in love with the Belgium flavored beers! I had cherry, which was my favorite. And then I had Chocolate beer, which was so cool!!! The best thing was to have a sip of chocolate beer, hold it in your mouth and take a sip of raspberry beer, then the flavors mix together and it tasted soooo good. I had lots of waffles with chocolate sauce and I had a Belgium hamburger, which is quite different from an American hanburger, but of course still good.
It is almost Christmas!!! I can't believe how fast these 4 months have flown by!

Thursday, December 9, 2010

its beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Florence is completely decked out in Christmas decorations! All the streets have Christmas lights and there is even a big Christmas tree in front of the Duomo. It is beautiful and definitely makes it feel like the Christmas season. We got a small Christmas tree for our living room and we are planning to do a little secret santa between my close friends. There is also a German Christmas market going which is really cute and they have hot apple cider which is perfect since it's so cold here! 
I have a new favorite type of tea now. Twinings English Breakfast. It is delicious, especially with a lemon slice in it. I usually have tea now, instead of coffee since I figure it is much easier on my stomach. 
Tomorrow I am headed to Belgium! We are going to see Brussels and Bruges. I am really excited to eat a real Belgium waffle. I know a couple people who have been there already and they have all loved it. I think it might be snowing there (or at least snow on the ground). I am just really excited to find a cute, warm cafe and hang out. I figure this will be a good trip to get caught up on reading. 

CIAO !!!!!!!!!!