“It happened all at once: We exited the highway and there were the row houses of my imagination leaning precariously toward canals, ubiquitous bicycles, and coffeeshops advertising LARGE SMOKING ROOM. We drove over a canal and from atop the bridge I could see dozens of houseboats moored along the water. It looked nothing like America. It looked like an old painting, but real–everything achingly idyllic in the morning light” —The Fault in Our Stars, page 156 The Fault in Our Stars is a bestselling novel by the author John Green, which was published on January 10, 2012, and celebrated its one year anniversary yesterday. It is a heartbreaking and humorous…
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Amsterdam: Last Look
Amsterdam and I had our ups and downs, but as soon as I bought a bus ticket to Copenhagen, I felt a pang of sadness at having to leave such a lovely city that I was really just beginning to get a feel for. Regardless, here are a few final photos from my trip to Amsterdam. Perhaps I’ve been a bit redundant in my posts about this city, but I’ll say one more time that the architecture and the canals were just stunning. When Amsterdam wasn’t wowing me with its beauty, it was making me laugh. The next photo encompasses beautiful architecture and questionable water sports. Plus, sometimes a city…
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What I Learned in Amsterdam
or, I Visited Amsterdam and Didn’t Get High I went to Amsterdam for Vincent van Gogh, and Anne Frank. I went because friends had been and spoke highly of this fun, cultural city. And I listened when people told me that Amsterdam was an amazing place to party. That’s where I went wrong. Amsterdam was the first place that I traveled to by myself, and although I had one contact in the city, he was in the midst of studying abroad and busy with classes and his own life. I stayed at hostels that didn’t facilitate meeting other travelers (no common room!), and I was new to this, so I…
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Tea Tuesday: Dobrá Čajovna
I first fell in love with teahouses in Barcelona, at a teahouse called Čaj Chai, which was founded by some Czech immigrants to the city. I have written, and waxed poetic, and gushed about this teahouse before, and I will do so again, but for now I want to tell you about a teahouse in Prague called Dobrá Čajovna, which I was pleased to stumble upon. It was so good, I went twice over the course of my five days in Prague. When I found it, I was surprised–an Asian-style teahouse in the Czech Republic? Apparently this isn’t at all an unusual thing. The teahouse in Barcelona that I so…
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Things You Might See In Vondelpark: A Photo Essay
This isn’t really a photo essay. Mostly because I’m not entirely sure what a photo essay is–other than a term that bloggers use when they don’t feel like writing and would rather post a bunch of pretty pictures. I’m not trying to discredit anyone who takes beautiful photos with quality equipment and writes a blog post to highlight the way in which their pictures tell a story. Okay, maybe I do know what a photo essay is… Regardless, here are some things you might see in Amsterdam’s beautiful Vondelpark. I know I’m harping on the prevalence of bicycles in Amsterdam, but you will definitely see some people riding bikes along…
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Weekly Travel Inspiration: Instagramming Paris
I spent last week in Paris with my mother. And I discovered a new obsession. Sacre Coeur Paris is an amazingly photogenic city. I felt like a wonderful photographer while I was there because I took so many beautiful photos, but I think it was less my photography skills and more the city’s innate charms that looked so good. Nothing can beat seeing Paris for yourself, but I hope you’ll enjoy this sample of the photos I took there. I found that as awesome as these shots looked on their own, they also lended themselves well to instagram. Winged Victory, at the Louvre What I’m really enjoying about instagram is…
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Amsterdam: First Impressions
I love cities where the water feels like a necessary part of life, where it can’t be avoided. In New York City, for example, it’s easy to forget that you’re anywhere near the ocean, but in Amsterdam, the canals are hard to miss. You all remember my friend Grace from my week in Iceland, yes? Well, I spent my first two days in Amsterdam with her cousin, Miles, who, when I set out to explore the first day, told me that the city gets better the farther you get from the center. He was absolutely right because the farther away you get, the more likely you are to see sights…
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Come on you Spurs!
If Afternoon tea was the one thing I had to do in London, then going to a football match was the one thing my brother had to do. And yes, we were in London, so when I say “football” I am referring to what the majority of the world calls “football,” and the US (rather sillily) calls “soccer.” Now, I’ll be honest, I don’t know much about football or any spectator sport really. I find televised sports dull, and if you ask me about my favorite teams, I will tell you the Boston Red Sox and FC Barcelona because I lived in Boston for four years and I studied abroad…
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Tea Tuesday: Harrods
You didn’t think afternoon tea at Dean Street Townhouse was the only time I drank tea in London, did you? This particular cup was a darjeeling blend, the name of which I failed to write down. I enjoyed it along with some buttered crumpets after an afternoon spent exploring London’s iconic department store, Harrods. The store is home to a number of restaurants, and this one was aptly named The Tea Room. It was a little pricey, and my waiter failed to hold back his smirk when I ordered crumpets, but I never regret a cup of tea. Plus, wandering around Harrods was a fun way to spend the afternoon.…
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Happy Thanksgiving from Croatia
There was no turkey to be had in Dubrovnik, and my friend Katie is a vegetarian anyway, so we celebrated the day with a multi-course meal at a Bosnian restaurant. My meal came with a baked potato! I told Katie I was hoping to find apple pie somewhere in the city, but when I saw a dessert on the menu called Tufahije, and the description was “baked apples with walnut and chocolate filling, whipped cream,” well, I was sold. Please note the walnut brittle tucked into the whipped cream. We wrapped up our meal with tea, which came with complimentary Turkish Delight. All in all, I thought it was a…
