Week 6 spent with Dad :)
Hi Everyone!!
Sorry this post is a few days late, I've been studying for my midterms next week! I'm here for school, remember? :)
Hope everyone had a great week/weekend. I was fortunate enough to have spent mine with my Dad :) A quick break from his European tour for work, we had the chance to visit Berlin for a few days, Florence where I played tour guide, Tuscan wine country for winery tours, and a day trip to Rome!
For starters, Berlin was unbelievable. It was my first trip to a really historical place, which was very interesting. My trip started off with a 6 am flight which got me to Berlin around 11. Dad was confused about the baggage claim set up and accidentally walked out of the secured area without it (in his defense it was weird), and we had to track down the bag of my clothes that he brought across the world for me a :)) Had to exchange my winter stuff for spring stuff, yanno!
Once we got to our hotel, we spent the day exploring Berlin. We walked and saw the Reichstag Building and the Brandenburg Gate. We took an uber to the East Side Gallery, which is a series of murals painted directly on a 1316 meter-long remnant of the Berlin Wall. One side is covered in graffiti, while the other is beautiful murals painted by commissioned artists.
We then wandered into grunge, hipster commune-like area called Holzmarkt (we definitely got some weird looks from its inhabitants) with cafes and little snack shops. Dad grabbed a cinnamon roll and some coffee to hold him over :)
We then went to Checkpoint Charlie, which was the name given by the Western Allies to the best-known Berlin Wall crossing point between East Berlin and West Berlin during the Cold War. We had dinner at a delicious Italian restaurant (every freaking restaurant in every city is Italian-- I can't escape it).
On Thursday, Dad and I went and did an Underground Bunker tour. The Bunker existed prior to WW2, and wasn't even a real bunker, but was used as such anyway. We entered the tour through one of the subway stations in Berlin. The guide shared with us stories of the rooms in the bunkers, and there were a bunch of old artifacts (clothes, utensils, paperwork, etc.) that had been left behind. There were benches where people used to sleep, all the original signs in German, and the walls still had the glow-in-the-dark paint which they showed us by writing with a flashlight on the walls. It was very eerie, but also very cool. It's one thing to learn about WW2 and the Cold War in school, but to visit a city with so much history, was unreal. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take any pictures, so I can't share with you what it looked like :(.
After the tour, we grabbed some juice at a juice shop that was completely out of the way (sorry dad, need my green juice), and then made our way to another side of Berlin to grab lunch. Later in the day after my dad finished his business calls, we headed to the Museum of the Murdered Jews of Europe, which was a museum/memorial for those who lost their lives. We did the listening tour, and read/listened to stories of individuals and families who were killed. The museum was very well done and did a great job putting things into perspective about what happened. In one of the rooms, they had painted on the walls the names of all the countries & how many people who died from each country. I was astonished to learn that only 150,000-160,000 died in Germany, while 2.9-3.1 million died in Poland. The museum was definitely very difficult to attend, but very worth it. The museum board and donors did a phenomenal job recognizing such a devastating event in history, and managed to do so in a respectful but educational manner.
Friday morning was another early morning, and Dad and I hopped on a plane to Florence at 6:40 am. Once we got here, I ran him by the apartment to give him the grand tour of our Italian mansion and our private terrace.
We grabbed lunch at my favorite juice shop in town, and then walked him around the city. Florence is relatively small, so I was able to show him all the best spots in town pretty quickly. Made sure to take dad to Panini Toscani, a small family-run panini shop where you taste the bread and cheese available so you get exactly what you want on your sandwich, he loved it.
I also took him by one of my class buildings to show him Florence University of the Arts. The building has been completely renovated so it's brand new and stunning. I showed him my classrooms, the wine tasting lab, and the full kitchen where we do all of our cooking labs.
We then made our way to the Academia Gallery where we saw David, who is massive by the way. He was originally created with the intent to be placed on the Duomo, the giant Church in the middle of Florence, so he's massive.
After our culture for the day, I took him to the leather market where he got a nice taste of good quality Italian leather and schemey vendors :) For dinner, we went to Il Paiolo, a small family-run restaurant where we ate our weight in dinner, so freaking good.
Saturday morning we were up early, and had our small-group tour of the Duomo. Our tour guide was great, and we were able to visit inside the church and then climb to the very top of the Duomo.
After a quick bite to eat from Eataly (an Italian grocery store/bakery/deli/restaurant), we jumped on a bus for our Chianti Wine tour. We saw 2 vineyards where tasted a variety of wines, olive oils, bread and cheeses. It was a very well organized excursion and we definitely got our moneys worth!!
For dinner, we went to a restaurant called ZaZas, which had the most extensive menu I've ever seen (aside from The Cheesecake factory, haha). The restaurant is HUGE so they're definitely capable of having that large of a menu. Dinner was delicious!
Sunday morning we got on a train to Rome to take a quick day trip (yay, trains! Happy Dad!!). We paid for a hop on, hop off tour bus of the city so that we'd be able to see everything. My biggest downfall was that I forgot that the first Sunday of every month, every museum in Italy is free... aka the Roman Colosseum was an absolute CLUSTER. The woman working the hop on, hop off bus literally told us "good luck!" It looked like crowds inside of Disney World, and were getting harassed by tour companies asking if we wanted to do a 'cut the line tour' with them. It was a mob scene. Dad joke of the weekend: "Do you think they modeled it after the Oakland Coliseum?"
We took some pictures from a far, and instead saw the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. It was a beautiful day in Rome, 65 and sunny, so we walked a ways over to a little restaurant to grab some lunch outside. After lunch, we took the bus again around the city and to the Trevi Fountain, which was also a mob scene, but very cool as well. The fountain looked like it was in pristine condition and was bright white, and we caught it at the perfect time of day with the sun right on it.
After a long day, we made our way back to Florence where we had dinner at place called The Fishing Lab which serves fresh seafood and street food. Dinner was delicious once again, and like I said to my dad, the wine here flows like water :) Said goodnight to Dad around 11:30 after dropping off my winter clothes for him to take home and picking up my mini bottle of wine from one of the wineries :)
All in all, a wonderful weekend spent with my dad! Feeling very fortunate that he travels for work and had the ability to see me in Berlin AND spend a whole weekend with me in Florence.
I'll be hanging out in Florence this weekend studying for my Midterms and taking a quick breather from all the travel I've done in the last month! Three of my best friends from Carolina arrive here on Sunday for their spring break, and I can't wait to have them here with me :))
Ciao for now,
Xo Katie girl
Sorry this post is a few days late, I've been studying for my midterms next week! I'm here for school, remember? :)
Hope everyone had a great week/weekend. I was fortunate enough to have spent mine with my Dad :) A quick break from his European tour for work, we had the chance to visit Berlin for a few days, Florence where I played tour guide, Tuscan wine country for winery tours, and a day trip to Rome!
For starters, Berlin was unbelievable. It was my first trip to a really historical place, which was very interesting. My trip started off with a 6 am flight which got me to Berlin around 11. Dad was confused about the baggage claim set up and accidentally walked out of the secured area without it (in his defense it was weird), and we had to track down the bag of my clothes that he brought across the world for me a :)) Had to exchange my winter stuff for spring stuff, yanno!
Once we got to our hotel, we spent the day exploring Berlin. We walked and saw the Reichstag Building and the Brandenburg Gate. We took an uber to the East Side Gallery, which is a series of murals painted directly on a 1316 meter-long remnant of the Berlin Wall. One side is covered in graffiti, while the other is beautiful murals painted by commissioned artists.
We then wandered into grunge, hipster commune-like area called Holzmarkt (we definitely got some weird looks from its inhabitants) with cafes and little snack shops. Dad grabbed a cinnamon roll and some coffee to hold him over :)
We then went to Checkpoint Charlie, which was the name given by the Western Allies to the best-known Berlin Wall crossing point between East Berlin and West Berlin during the Cold War. We had dinner at a delicious Italian restaurant (every freaking restaurant in every city is Italian-- I can't escape it).
On Thursday, Dad and I went and did an Underground Bunker tour. The Bunker existed prior to WW2, and wasn't even a real bunker, but was used as such anyway. We entered the tour through one of the subway stations in Berlin. The guide shared with us stories of the rooms in the bunkers, and there were a bunch of old artifacts (clothes, utensils, paperwork, etc.) that had been left behind. There were benches where people used to sleep, all the original signs in German, and the walls still had the glow-in-the-dark paint which they showed us by writing with a flashlight on the walls. It was very eerie, but also very cool. It's one thing to learn about WW2 and the Cold War in school, but to visit a city with so much history, was unreal. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take any pictures, so I can't share with you what it looked like :(.
After the tour, we grabbed some juice at a juice shop that was completely out of the way (sorry dad, need my green juice), and then made our way to another side of Berlin to grab lunch. Later in the day after my dad finished his business calls, we headed to the Museum of the Murdered Jews of Europe, which was a museum/memorial for those who lost their lives. We did the listening tour, and read/listened to stories of individuals and families who were killed. The museum was very well done and did a great job putting things into perspective about what happened. In one of the rooms, they had painted on the walls the names of all the countries & how many people who died from each country. I was astonished to learn that only 150,000-160,000 died in Germany, while 2.9-3.1 million died in Poland. The museum was definitely very difficult to attend, but very worth it. The museum board and donors did a phenomenal job recognizing such a devastating event in history, and managed to do so in a respectful but educational manner.
Friday morning was another early morning, and Dad and I hopped on a plane to Florence at 6:40 am. Once we got here, I ran him by the apartment to give him the grand tour of our Italian mansion and our private terrace.
We grabbed lunch at my favorite juice shop in town, and then walked him around the city. Florence is relatively small, so I was able to show him all the best spots in town pretty quickly. Made sure to take dad to Panini Toscani, a small family-run panini shop where you taste the bread and cheese available so you get exactly what you want on your sandwich, he loved it.
We then made our way to the Academia Gallery where we saw David, who is massive by the way. He was originally created with the intent to be placed on the Duomo, the giant Church in the middle of Florence, so he's massive.
After our culture for the day, I took him to the leather market where he got a nice taste of good quality Italian leather and schemey vendors :) For dinner, we went to Il Paiolo, a small family-run restaurant where we ate our weight in dinner, so freaking good.
Saturday morning we were up early, and had our small-group tour of the Duomo. Our tour guide was great, and we were able to visit inside the church and then climb to the very top of the Duomo.
After a quick bite to eat from Eataly (an Italian grocery store/bakery/deli/restaurant), we jumped on a bus for our Chianti Wine tour. We saw 2 vineyards where tasted a variety of wines, olive oils, bread and cheeses. It was a very well organized excursion and we definitely got our moneys worth!!
For dinner, we went to a restaurant called ZaZas, which had the most extensive menu I've ever seen (aside from The Cheesecake factory, haha). The restaurant is HUGE so they're definitely capable of having that large of a menu. Dinner was delicious!
Sunday morning we got on a train to Rome to take a quick day trip (yay, trains! Happy Dad!!). We paid for a hop on, hop off tour bus of the city so that we'd be able to see everything. My biggest downfall was that I forgot that the first Sunday of every month, every museum in Italy is free... aka the Roman Colosseum was an absolute CLUSTER. The woman working the hop on, hop off bus literally told us "good luck!" It looked like crowds inside of Disney World, and were getting harassed by tour companies asking if we wanted to do a 'cut the line tour' with them. It was a mob scene. Dad joke of the weekend: "Do you think they modeled it after the Oakland Coliseum?"
We took some pictures from a far, and instead saw the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. It was a beautiful day in Rome, 65 and sunny, so we walked a ways over to a little restaurant to grab some lunch outside. After lunch, we took the bus again around the city and to the Trevi Fountain, which was also a mob scene, but very cool as well. The fountain looked like it was in pristine condition and was bright white, and we caught it at the perfect time of day with the sun right on it.
After a long day, we made our way back to Florence where we had dinner at place called The Fishing Lab which serves fresh seafood and street food. Dinner was delicious once again, and like I said to my dad, the wine here flows like water :) Said goodnight to Dad around 11:30 after dropping off my winter clothes for him to take home and picking up my mini bottle of wine from one of the wineries :)
All in all, a wonderful weekend spent with my dad! Feeling very fortunate that he travels for work and had the ability to see me in Berlin AND spend a whole weekend with me in Florence.
I'll be hanging out in Florence this weekend studying for my Midterms and taking a quick breather from all the travel I've done in the last month! Three of my best friends from Carolina arrive here on Sunday for their spring break, and I can't wait to have them here with me :))
Ciao for now,
Xo Katie girl
Comments
Post a Comment