Houses in Burano, Venice
You may have noticed for the past month or so I’ve been a little absent…
No, I wasn’t being lazy and slacking off…I was actually in Europe! It was amazing, and I have some pictures and stuff to show you guys of places and things(including food).
I pretty much lived in London, and every now and then on weekends I would go with my family to other places in Europe, such as Scotland, Paris, Venice, and Rome.
So the first place I’d like to share with you guys…
Venice.
Gondolas in Venice
I would say, out of all the places I’ve traveled, this is the most amazing. It’s simply the fact that its such a different place from what people are normally used to. The whole city of Venice is quite literally on the water. There are no cars, just boats, and it is absolutely gorgeous, and magical.
A little off Venice, there is are three islands, Murano, Burano, and Torcello. The first one, Murano is famous for its glass making…
It’s a pretty great place, just like Venice, however on a smaller scale, and with much more beautiful glass.
If you ever visit, I would recommend checking out a glass blowing demonstation, its pretty amazing how the glass-blowers work with the glass.
A glass-blower in Murano
The next island is an island famous for its lacework, and its amazingly colorful houses.
Its a great place to simply just walk around and admire the colors and beauty of the place. Even its windows are fascinating.
Another couple pictures of Burano/Venice
Gondolas in a canal
Houses In Burano, Venice
Gondolas
Venetian Mask Shop
Another thing Venice is famous for besides being on the water are their gorgeous masks. It really amazing.
The next place to show you is Paris.
I suppose I wasn’t as impressed with Paris as I expected it to be. Don’t get me wrong, it was a pretty amazing place(and the food…), but it struck me as any old big city. It was like london or new york with slightly different buildings, a different language, and a whole lot more bakeries. Still a great place to go though, here are some pictures…
The Louvre
The Louvre was amazing. Its crazy how there were so, so many pieces of art all in their, and some of this all being from so long ago. I did indeed see the original Mona Lisa, which was weird, and great in all.
A Stained-Glass Window in the Notre Dame
Another place that you must check out while in Paris is the Notre Dame. Its absolutely stunning, from the inside, because of all the huge stained glass windows.
Palace of Versailles
I feel as if I’m using the same adjectives too much, but once again, this was stunning. The Palace of Versailles is a great piece of history as well.
The Eiffel Tower
As for the Eiffel tower, at first when I saw it, I was quite confused. It didn’t live up to my expectations…however I had a ticket to go up on the Eiffel tower at ten thirty so I ended up staying a while. And I was quite glad I did, because the Eiffel Tower at night is completely different from it during the day. And if you come at the right time, you can also watch it “sparkle”. I couldn’t quite capture the effect for you guys with my camera, which is why you see little white blotches all over it.
This isn’t something you really have to visit, I just thought it was interesting. Around the Eiffel Tower is bridge, and on that bridge, are hundred of locks, and I suppose the couple puts them on there to symbolize their love. I found it strange how people all managed to do this… did just start out with one lock that people copied? Or was it a bunch of people who spread the word?
Sacre Coeur Basilica
The Sacre Coeur Basilica was also quite grand and this Basilica stood out to me the most for one reason. Its made out of color changing rocks which turn whiter when there is supposed to be bad weather, an effect which I didn’t see, but I thought was very interesting.
Also around the basilica is the town of Monmarte, and even though its in France, its not at all like the places around it, it’s not very city-like, and its an interesting place to walk around.
The next place I went to was Rome. Rome’s history is honestly a very fascinating thing. Or to me atleast, I found it quite amazing how Rome rose to be such a great empire, and it also fascinated me how, it was so different from what it used to be, or it seemed to be different. Rome again, was your giant metropolis, but with amazing history and so many places from the past.
One of the places being…
…the Colosseum. Its really amazing how some thing so old still lasts today, and if you think about it you were in the same place people we standing hundreds of years ago.
The Trevi Fountain
The Trevi Fountian is also a great place to visit. Actually there are many, many fountains all around Rome, however I believe this is most likely the most famous of them all.
St. Pete’s Basilica, Vatican
St. Peter’s basilica, in the Vatican, is probably the grandest of all the basilica’s I visited whilst in Europe. Its probably also, the most famous, because it is where the Pope is.
The Oculus of the Pantheon
Another church like the Sacre Coeur, which i found really interesting was the Pantheon. It was originally created as a temple to all greek gods, however it was converted to a christian church. Also as you can see, it has a hole in the top, called the oculus. The interesting thing about it, is that it is said, that it never rains in the pantheon. The reason, which I will not reaveal here, is quite interesting, and its not because the oculus is sealed with glass.
And the last place I visited, was Ediburgh, Scotland. Once again, this place was also filled with sites of historic value. It’s also great to wander through the streets though, its very quaint, yet not so quaint.
Edinburgh also has many castles, and is home to Holyroodhouse, a residence of the queen. It was also fairly different from all the places I went, and I really liked it.
While i wasn’t off exploring these other places I just showed you, I stayed in London.
I honestly loved living in London. It was definitely different, from normal life, but I like it. The people in london seem much more relaxed than people in America. And it was great that to go places I mostly walked in the street, and used the tube which is something you can’t do in the suburbs of America. It may seem a simple thing, but I really liked it.
And I nearly forgot! What did I eat there?
Well many things. Most of which I forgot to take picture of for you guys. Don’t blame me, its was seriously yummy food! But some of those things are already on this blog(such as tiramisu, which i had ALOT of in italy, panna cotta, crostata, and chocolate mousse), and others will soon be coming.
But here are somethings that I did remember to take pictures of…
Sticky Toffee Pudding
I like to consider this the british equivalent of apple pie. Its seriously yummy, and is even better warm with a scoop of ice cream on top.
This most likely will pop up on here sometime, as soon as i find a recipe :)
Belgian Waffles
Best waffles ever. Period. You don’t even need syrup.
Chocolate Bombe
This was so delicious, and so richy and creamy! A bit like mousse…but thicker.
and lastly, macarons from laduree
And I suppose that’s all. Hope you enjoy the pictures!
Hope to blog soon,
Dee D.
