Laduree: My One True Love

Laduree had to be one of my favorite stops while in London. I have wanted to visit one for the longest time now & it certainly lived up to my expectations. Their macaroons are so delicious & the little boxes they come in are gorgeous (I am now using them to store jewelry on my dresser).

My beautiful friend Teresa is an awesome photographer & she took some pictures of me with my lovely Laduree, so I thought I'd share them :)

Thank you Teresa for the lovely pictures!! Click HERE for Teresa's blog to see what she's been up to in Italy & more of her pictures. 

Ciao, Erica xo

It seems I've been a bit busy..

I have been terrible about updating my blog lately.. really the only excuse is that I've been having so much fun in Europe & I've been enjoying my few weeks left here.

But WOW do I have a lot to post on..

-More about Paris
-London
-Robbie in Italy!
-Venice
-Berlin
-Austria & the Christmas Markets

My goal is to get all of these done before the weekend is over... I have a lot of writing to do... so I better get started ;)

An American in Paris: Day 4

our last day in Paris we did some shopping, ate amazing food & saw the Tower sparkle at night.

Teresa & I were on a hunt to find Laduree. I knew that I wanted to try some of the amazing macaroons and to get the beautiful boxes that they come in. Because I am a bit direction-challenged we had a hard time finding the store, but when we did... it was wonderful. The macaroons were even better than expected, and Teresa took some cool pictures of me with my Laduree purchases, so I will do a blog post on that sometime soon :)

 My wonderful lunch :)

 We headed to the Eiffle Tower and stopped along the way to get savory crepe and some mini bottles of wine to have a little picnic while at the Tower. It was so beautiful to see it lit and we got there just as it started to sparkle. It was wonderful & a good ending to the amazing trip we had.

Ciao, Erica <3

An American in Paris: Day 3

On Monday Teresa & I went to:

Notre Dame

The Pont des Arts

& 

Angelina's 

The Notre Dame was beautiful and we spent some time admiring both the inside and outside. I must say, the church is amazing, but I have seen so many wonderful churches in Italy that the Notre Dame wasn't my favorite.

 We then walked along the river to see the Pont des Arts. The bridge were couples go to leave a padlock with their initials on it attached to the bridge. The walk was gorgeous, and Teresa & I spent some time sitting along the water. There are many different bridges or monuments in Italy that have the same concept as the Pont des Arts, so it was something that I had seen before.

 We then made our way to Angelina's. A restaurant that Teresa's house-mom reccommended we go to & try the hot chocolate. It was so quaint and beautiful inside, and there was a line to get a table, so we knew it'd be good. The hot chocolate was undescribable. It was AMAZING. We both got hot chocolate and a light lunch. I had frites and a vegetable quiche, which was also delicious.

The hot chocolate was so good I may have bought some to bring home and share with my Mom & Padre ;)

Later that night we met up with some people we met at our hostel. They are American students studying in Italy as well and they were heading to a concert at a bar in the city and asked Teresa & I to join them. We took a metro and walked a ways to the bar and when we arrived it was a little.... weird to say the least. The music was loud & electronic & sounded like music people would make you listen to to brainwash you... not so good haha. Needless to say we only stayed for a little while & instead we found some late-night nutella crepes :) delicious.

Ciao, Erica <3

An American in Paris: Day 2

On Sunday we went to see the Arc de Triomphe & the Eiffle Tower. We knew that we wanted to climb to the top so we allowed ourselves a lot of time there. We stopped by to see the Arc and take some pictures. 

And then made our way to the Tower. It was so sunny outside we took time to sit on the grass in front of the Tower and appreciate it before we had to stand in the HUGE line to get to the top. 

 The line took about 2 hours.. but we finally made it to the top. And it was definitely worth the wait!!

 My terrified face... I'm a bit afraid of heights

I'm in love with the Eiffle Tower. It is gorgeous and well worth the time to get to the top. 

We then made our way to a restaurant that a friend of mine recommended called Le Relais de l'Entrecote, which only serves steak-frites. Teresa & I were starving so it was a good thing they serve you two helpings, the steak and fries were delicious & I ate every last bit :)

 Ciao, Erica xo

An American in Paris: Day 1

The next morning we got up early to start on the long-list of things we wanted to do & see in Paris (and also so we could score the free breakfast at our hostel which ended at 9:30 every morning).

We first walked along our street and wandered for a little while, window-shopping and exploring the city. And by wonderful luck we ran into A STARBUCKS about 10 minutes into our walk. Teresa & I have both been missing Starbucks in Florence so we stopped to enjoy some American coffee :) Most of you at home are probably rolling your eyes at us.. but you try going without a skinny vanilla latte for two months!!

 

After our delicious Starbucks break we continued on with our day (now with a bit more energy) :) 

We walked to see The Pantheon, Luxembourg Gardens and lastly the Lourve. 

The Pantheon was really cool, but what impressed me most were the apartments right by. The buildings were beautiful & I wouldn't mind living in them ;)

Afterward we made our way to Luxembourg Gardens. It was huge & beautiful, definitely a place you could spend hours in. If I lived in Paris I would be there everyday going on runs or reading a book. It was so nice to see some green & flowers, since Firenze pretty much has none.

We spent a good amount of time in there. Relaxing & enjoying the garden and then made our way to to the Lourve. We got there and as expected there was a huge line. Luckily it moved fairly quickly, which was good considering it was getting pretty chilly outside. We spent a few hours there, looking at all the art and seeing the Mona Lisa, which as expected was not too exciting. I don't really understand the big deal other than it was painted by Da Vinci. We also had lunch in the museum as well, since we were starved after all the art strolling. 

 The tiny Mona Lisa

My yummy Quiche Lorraine and salad

After the long day we headed back to our hostel, exhausted from all the walking & site seeing. We decided we wanted to see another movie, YES ANOTHER (we've been deprived). Teresa wanted to see Paranormal Activity 3 and since it just came out in the States we figured it would be in English. We got to the theater, which was SO crowded. The French I guess were REALLY excited to see this movie. Hoards of people crowded the door and people started to get in fights with each other beacause they were trying to push to the front. Anyways, it was not enjoyable waiting for the movie to start, and to our surprise, when it did it was in FRENCH and with no subtitles. We tried to understand what was going on in the movie, but I was totally confused (and frightened). Afterward we walked back to the hostel & passed out. 

Ciao, Erica <3