I've seen London, I've seen France and you're all in America... oops.

We started off our trip to London with a midterm… wah wah, followed by a trip to The Old Globe Theatre to see The Taming of the Shrew. Saturday we took a bus to Cambridge. I have to be honest, I was far from excited for this because it was our only Saturday and I had plans to go to the Portobello Road market that is ONLY on Saturdays. But I pulled up my bootstraps and in true Ippolito fashion, I pulled out my cards and had a fantastic lunch with Kelsey, which included cake, chocolate of course, and coffee for desert.

Jean on jean.

For you dad...
"How many more bacon jokes is this guy gonna make?"

Because I had been to London before, this was a more relaxing city for me. I got to go site seeing with friends, but I didn’t feel pressured to see everything, which was quite refreshing. I did, however, get to see Abbey Road, which I had not seen before!

Tootie.

Thanks to some pounds from my Grammy and Papa, I was able to see not one, but TWO shows while I was in London. Jersey Boys was on Friday, and Wicked was on Wednesday. With the group, we saw the Philharmonic and Swan Lake. Needless to say I felt quite cultured. Although I was a little bummed that most of our time in London consisted of studying, I am THRILLED to be heading home, or to my homeland, ITALY!!! Arrivederci London, Ciao Roma!

"Bruges"ing through Haarlem

Waffles. Waffles, waffles, waffles, waffles. SO STINKING GOOD!!! Chocolate and caramel… YES PLEASE.

The main reason we went to Bruges was to visit European Parliament building in Brussels… not really my thing, but I guess it was neat?

I think the best part of the whole stay besides the waffles… was the bed.

You have to understand we move around A LOT and are exposed to many different hotels and hostels so I appreciate a good one. I roomed with Michelle, Corinne, and Angela, but Angela and I shared a bedroom (yes, it was big enough to have two separate bedrooms… we could run in the hotel room. We were ecstatic) and we would dream about our bed during the day.

Bruges was a quaint and beautiful town.

After Bruges, we headed over to Haarlem, The Netherlands. It is about a 15-minute train ride outside of Amsterdam, but it is a nicer neighborhood.

It is full of canals and a group of about 20 of us girls went on a bike ride, which was a blast.

My favorite thing that we did was go to the Anne Frank house. I remember learning all about Anne growing up so this was a life long goal I had. You can’t even imagine what the house is like until you go there. 

Normandy.

Bayeux was definitely a break in a sense. We stayed and an unconventional site: a Monastery. I was expecting to eat some soup that would give me diarrheas until Easters, eat some toast in my room and discuss how much I love “poopies,” light tan and other favorite things, and maybe go, go away and read some books. I didn’t but nonetheless enjoyed my stay and was impressed and encouraged by the dedication that those Canons (they were not called monks there), had in their faith.

The biggest part of Bayeux was when we traveled an hour or so outside of the town to Normandy to learn about D Day. This was a sobering event to say the least. I am very happy that I got to go on such a tour and learn from a very knowledgeable tour guide, but it real, it was unavoidable, it was heartbreaking. We watched “Saving Private Ryan” the night before in order to gain more of a visual of what it looked like back in {1944}. I have seen the film before, but not with the knowledge that I was going to visit many of these sites the next day. It is difficult to describe how real it feels when you are standing, staring through the lookout hole from the German bunker at the water that was once stained deep red from the numerous casualties of that dreadful day. It was a contrasting sight. The beach was beautiful, bright with colors of green, blue and sandy brown. The water was calm, barely pushing waves out to the shore. Yet all I could see were the visions of men dying right where I was standing. Being massacred, blown up, shot. As I looked at all my friends walking along the beach as well, I thought about what it would be like if we were in the war and how that this could be the last time I could see them alive, or even the last time I would be alive. Knowing that the second I stepped of that boat, this would probably be it.

I was really taken back upon arrival to the cemetery. It started to pour when we arrived and normally I hate being in the rain without coverage (my coat is not actually waterproof and I had forgotten my umbrella), but the rain felt like such a miniscule inconvenience in comparison to what these men endured.

It is difficult to come to terms with the glorification of war. On one hand, these men are heroes; they laid down their lives for so many people, for the safety and prevention of full Nazi takeover. But at the same time, did they not kill just as many men? I don’t mean to take away from the honor and respect these men deserve, I am just thinking out loud as I am trying to accept this backwards thinking. I think my heart just aches that this is how our fallen world deals with conflict. Dehumanizing our ideas of “them” and protecting “us” with a bullet that is shot without a second thought. I know I can’t put myself in their shoes and can’t even begin to imagine what it is like to fight for my country, but it is a difficult concept to grasp and I still can’t quite wrap my head around it.

Normandy was enlightening to say the least.

Swastika carved into the wall of the German Soldier bunker  

View from the German Soldier bunker

Bunker from the outside

All those crater-type holes are where bombs went off.

Omaha.

If a family member would like to remember their loved one, they call the cemetery and have them put a rose in front of their cross. The cemetery also then goes and gets sand from Omaha beach and rubs it on the letters to make them more visible. It had just started to rain so the sand was being washed away.

[For the sake of this title pronounce Paris like the French do]... Paris, I miss thee!

 So yes, I am an awful person. I have just been so wrapped up in my European lifestyle, I have forgotten about the ones I left behind in The States.

Forgive me of my wrongdoings and let me make it up to you with quite a few blog posts

Let’s begin with the end of Paris… oh my goodness gracious that was so long ago haha.

I don’t believe I touched on Versailles yet. Holy Guacamole.  I could have died. Versailles is known to be one of the largest, most extravagant palaces in the world and boy oh boy did it live up to that description. After taking the Rick Steve’s tour (that’s for your dad), Angela and I walked around the gardens and I begged her to join me in finding Marie Antoinette’s village. Marie Antoinette had it built in order to escape from the royal duties the palace entailed. This would have been fine if there weren’t a bunch of starving peasants outside her palace living in villages just like the one she was playing in. A little ignorant and oblivious if you ask me, but nonetheless, I have had a love for learning about Marie Antoinette since I can remember and was beyond excited to see her village.

Old painting of Versailles... huge.  

Oh just, you know, their backyard... no big deal.

THE VILLAGE!!!

Giddy 

That night, when we returned, I went to one of the most memorable dinners I have attended in a while.

Ludo is his name. Italian food is his game.

Alex, Angela and I went to a restaurant recommended by my personal concierge, Vito Ippolito, called Cacio e… Pepe. If you are ever in Paris, I HIGHLY recommend this restaurant. It was… as the French say, “tres magnific!” When we showed up around 10 minutes before 7:30, the door was locked and I was quickly embarrassed for leading my friends to a closed restaurant. But I spotted two people at the table in the back so I proceeded to knock. To the door arrives this medium-height, bald man dressed in jeans and a red polo with the collar popped. He starts muttering some words in French and seeing that all I can say is “merci,” “bonjour,” “croissant,” and “par les vous Angles” I quickly chose the fourth of my French phrases and hoped for the best. His responded in perfect English, “No, I do not speak any English.” I knew, with a witty comment like that along with the fact that the restaurant did not open until 7:30, this was going to be a great night.

We walk around the block to stall until it opens and upon returning, we are greeted by Ludo, yet again, with some sass and a song. I, in absolute Vito fashion, decided I was going to become best friends with this guy.  I knew I had succeeded in this task when I asked him what his favorite dish was and he responded with, “My favorite item, it is not on the menu. It is a pasta dish with truffle oil. If you would like it, you can have it for the price of the other fettuccine.” I obviously jumped on that offer.

He then proceeded to ask if we had been a tour of Paris yet and before I could even respond he ran into the back, grabbed his computer and placed it in front of me with the website to Fat Tire Bike Tours, a famous tour company. His friend runs the one in Paris so he calls her and hands me the phone to book an appointment. Sadly, we did not have time the rest of our stay to fit it in, but the offer perfectly describes our night with Ludo.

After some other hilarious and memorable encounters, we had finished our meal and had to say goodbye. Best meal in Paris. Fantastic Italian food. Best tiramisu I have ever had.

The next day, after visiting the Louvre, we met up with some boys from England Semester plus Casey. I was SO excited to see them. There is something so fun about mixing the familiarity of home with this trip.

People stopping to truly appreciate the Mona.
Or taking a picture to brag to everyone they know it 

Ventured later that night to Les Deux Magots with the fabulous Kelsey Baker and Hayley DeForest, the restaurant that Hemingway used to go and ponder life at. More expensive than our dinner that night, but it was WELL worth it. Please excuse the odd coloring... there were red lights on outside.

The platter of never-ending choices... sadly, our wallets could only afford 3.

Macaroon! 

Kelsey's liquid chocolate bar... aka hot chocolate

Pear pie.

We are so agile and attractive.

Oh just Nick, Danny, Captain Planet, and Me.
Yes, this Captain Planet.

More to come! I have a few more written, but it takes forever for the pictures to upload.