S. and I are in Barcelona right now sightseeing and soaking up sunshine (more on that soon), but I realized I never gave Carcassonne it’s fair due! We were only there for one full day and stayed for two nights to break up our otherwise ten-hour journey from Nice to Barcelona. With Carcassonne acting as a midpoint of sorts, we made a quick stopover to checkout the medieval town. Note to Eurail users, we paid €3 to head from Nice to Carcassonne (the required reservation fee) while at the train station. Out of curiosity (I’ve been dying to know how much I’m actually saving with my Eurail pass), I asked how much a ticket would cost without my pass in hand. The verdict? €65 for that leg! I’m not sure how much the other trips would have been, but I can positively say that my €210 Eurail pass was worth every euro cent!

You’ve never heard of Carcassonne? Yeah, either had I until I perused my Let’s Go! Europe book and read about it. It’s pretty close to Toulouse and not too far from Marseille with a population of 50,000 or so. Random, yes, but it’s also home to a medieval city with an old-school fairytale castle that we thought would be a perfect sight to check out for a day. As fate would have it, Carcassonne was actually infinitely cooler (temperature-wise) than any of the other places we had seen. We had grown accustomed to 95+ degree, sweltering weather and Carcassonne’s breeze and 70 degree weather were actually a nice break before returning to the heat in Barcelona!

Surprisingly, Carcassonne is actually a rather expensive city in which to stay. When we looked at hotels within the city, we were looking at paying around €120 per night on the lower end. We like to think we’re high rollers and that that’s okay, but in reality (we both were brought back to reality after looking at our twenty-something bank accounts) we wanted something cheaper. Far cheaper. Instead, we booked a room in the outskirts of the city at a place called Balladins. I think I speak for S. when I say that we were both pleasantly surprised! Comfortable rooms at literally half the cost (we paid around €60 a night… much better)!

We got up, had breakfast at our hotel and jumped on a bus to the city center. After a few wrong turns and a stop off at the Visitor’s Centre, we made it to the medieval part of Carcassonne. All I could think when I stepped in was that I wished my dad could be there! My dad loves all things medieval (I’m embarrassed to admit this, but we used to go to Renaissance Fairs when I was younger… eek!) and would have loved the charm of this medieval city despite its inherent tourist factor. S. and I were immediately content with our decision to visit the city — it was charming and completely different from the beachy cities to which we had become accustomed.

We hit up the castle almost immediately. While we debated (momentarily) whether or not we wanted to pay the €8 entrance fee, we quickly discovered that we both got youth discounts (there are benefits to being under 25!) and snagged tickets for €5 each… for some reason that seemed infinitely better to me. The castle and the views were incredible — definitely a must-see for anyone who happens to be in Carcassonne. In hindsight, the thought of going to the city and not going to the castle? Kind of ridiculous!

The castle aside, however, the medieval city is charming on its own! The streets are rather narrow and cobblestoned and wind around little gift shops, restaurants and creperies that dot every free inch. The pint-sized visitors (there were loads of excited kiddos there) were all too excited to buy their own knights and princess costumes and the vendors were prepared with bows and arrows, swords, chain mail and the like! I musn’t lie — I secretly wanted to buy the bow & arrow kit but there was no way I could fit it in my luggage!

After exploring the entire city (a whopping five hours maybe), we headed back to our hotel to hang out and grab dinner before packing up to head to Barcelona. Although most people may not consider Carcassonne as a stop-off point between the south of France and Barcelona, it is definitely a cute place to stop if you have a day to break up your travels! Doesn’t everyone need a little more medieval in their life?

xoxo from Spain,

Though S. and I spent two and a half days soaking up the amazingness that is the French Riviera, I have but one posts’ worth of goodies to share. If I were to blog every day, it would look something like this:

July 19^th: S. and I went to the beach.
July 20^th: S. and I went to the beach.
July 21^st: S. and I went to the beach.

That’s right, two and a half awesome days enjoying sun in the south of France. I’m sure it would be more impressive/studious if I were to say we hit up some of the many museums that dot Cote d’Azur, but no. The sun was shining and the beach was a five-minute walk from our Avenue des Fleurs apartment. I swear the sun is stronger here – I felt it literally sizzling my legs, but seeing as how my poor Californian self hasn’t seen the sun (regularly, anyway) for a good 10 months, I soaked it up.

Our first day, S. and I stuck to the beaches of Nice. We got in late the night before and went out for a late-night jaunt to explore the area. With a full day ahead of us, we headed down to the promenade and found a perfect little area on the beach. Sadly, the beaches around us were rocky – sand is definitely a luxury with which Californians are incredibly spoiled. We wanted to rent beach chairs (the kind with the perfectly perched umbrellas), but the same chairs that we rented in Malta and in Greece for €5 were running €20 in Nice! Definitely a bit excessive for our taste, so we posted up on the rocky beach, purchased rafts and intertubes and floated around in the sea until we were sufficiently sunned.

Though we should have (theoretically) opted for French cuisine come dinner time, we instead headed to a cute little Turkish place down the way from our apartment (Le Bosphore). While the service was a bit questionable, we had a pretty awesome dinner and spent a couple of hours chatting before heading home for the night.

For our second day, we knew we wanted to hit up a nearby city to get a taste of towns outside of Nice. Our first choice was the oh-so-glamour St. Tropez, but it was entirely too far for a one day outing. Second choice (per S.’s request): Cannes. I was 50/50 between Cannes and nearby Antibes (having had been to neither), so we jumped on the #200 bus down the street from our apartment (for a mere €1!) and headed in the direction of Cannes by way of Antibes. It took us nearly at least 45 minutes to get to Antibes and considering the distance between Antibes and Cannes, we decided to avoid the latter and spend our time beachside.

We jumped off at the Antibes stop and strolled through the old town before settling into a perfect place on a (sandy) beach! We hung out for a few hours watching the yachts pass by, before taking the train back to Nice. With it being our last night in the south of France, we wanted to do something fun; to experience something new. Since I have been in the business of seeing as many countries as possible this year, we thought a jaunt to the Principality of Monaco should be in order for the evening.

After getting home and cooling off, we got dressed up and took the train down to Monte Carlo for the evening. We arrived at around 11:15P to grab dinner and check out the casinos and hotels and people watch. People-watching is infinitely more fun when the people roll up in Bentleys, Ferarris, Lamborghinis, etc.

We decided to check out the restaurants and hotel eateries to find a place for dinner. We wandered into a swanky eatery inside an oh-so-glamorous hotel just to see the first hors d’oeuvres listed on the menu for €247. We took that as a cue to leave and headed across the way to a casino’s (still fancy) restaurant to eat (Le Cafe de Paris). We noshed on light dinners and grabbed celebratory drinks to commemorate our night out in Monte Carlo.

We definitely didn’t do our homework, though. After having a late night dinner and drinks, we were ready to head back at around 1:15A. Sadly, the trains and buses stop running at around midnight, leaving visitors with three options: stay in Monte Carlo overnight; stay in Monte Carlo until 5A at which point the trains begin running again; take a taxi to your destination. We opted for the latter since staying in Monte Carlo overnight was never going to happen! Note to readers, though: taxis from Monaco to Nice are not cheap. As the taxi driver put it when we gasped in shock, “This is Monaco!” €70 later we arrived at the doorstep at Nice Fleurs, our apartment complex, where we got into our sweltering rooms and headed to bed.

Today was our last day in Nice and with our train to Carcassonne not leaving until 430P, we decided to hit the beach one last time. We packed up, checked out, stored our luggage and headed down to the rocky beach we had visited on our first day. After a few hours of sizzling in the French sun, we grabbed lunch and grabbed a cab to the train station.

We’re currently en route to Carcassonne after having left Nice a few hours ago. We’re passing through Montpellier soon, tired and a bit sad to have to leave the French Riviera behind. Cote d’Azur definitely goes on my list of places to visit again in the future – ties with the Amalfi Coast for first place!

Want to see more pictures from our jaunt in the French Riviera? Click here.

xoxo from the French countryside,

Today is truly momentous. I took my last exam of my masters career (and I think it went well — icing!), the US beat Algeria 1-0 in the 92nd minute of their game this afternoon and I just booked our hotel in Nice for next month! We’re going to be popping over to Nice after our stint in Florence and we’ve been scouring expedia for deals to find a reasonably priced hotel in a good area (a difficult find in the French Riviera). Nevertheless, S. and I waited, patiently, knowing that a deal had to come along at some point… right? Well, after my exam (half way through the England-Slovenia game) I got an email from S. on my iPhone. Pertinent message: Expedia is having a 24 hour sale. Let’s book! Needless to say, as soon as I got home, I jumped online and began scouring.

It was only a few minutes before I stumbled upon the Residence Nice Fleurs, an apartment complex renting out studio apartments 400 meters from the beach, near the heart of the city. Plus, kitchenette, flat panel TV and free internet? Could this place be any more perfect? Of course, the reviews are mixed, but with it’s location and it’s amenities, we had to give it a shot. After inputting our dates, it notified me that a 2 person studio was going to run me about £75 a night. Not cheap, but definitely not expensive for Nice standards. But wait! Not only is it £75 a night, the third night is free?! Cha-ching! Needless to say, it was the fastest decision we’ve made yet. For £165 pounds, we booked three nights in a central location in a more-than-decent hotel, keeping us right at budget. In Nice!

Happy, happy, happy.
That’s what I am right now.

Exams are done. I have a lot to do, yes, but the really rigorous, mind-bending work is done and I made it out alive. I am so excited to begin this madness. Let the adventures ensue! Stay tuned — this summer is going to be an intense one.

June 30 – 31: Road trip with SPD girls! Location TBA.
July 3 – 7: Malta
July 7 – 12: Athens, Delphi and Hydra, Greece
July 12 – 15: Amalfi Coast, Italy
July 15 – 18: Florence and Siena, Italy
July 18 – 21: Nice, France
July 21 – 23: Carcassonne, France
July 23- 27: Barcelona, Spain
July 27 – 31: Dublin, Ireland

Lots of love and happiness from Londontown,

I’ve been having mini blog withdrawals since I’ve been less than regular in updating this bad boy within the last week or so. Exams have effectively taken over my life and I’m finally starting to regain a bit of it back (although I still have one more exam to go). With three exams under my belt, I’m starting to finally get things together and get really pumped for summer! My travel adventures with S. had seemed but a lifetime away with exams, moving and doctors visits taking up the in-between time. With my vaccinations scheduled, exams nearly done and my rooms slowly being torn down I feel like I’m finally able to look a head a couple of weeks!

S. and I have already booked our places in Malta, Athens, Amalfi and in Florence and (get this!) have stayed under budget at every location! The costs of living in London, as most can attest, is exorbitant. Even living in student halls, my shoebox of a room with a shared bathroom and kitchen costs me around £170 per week. When I broke down the costs on a nightly basis, I rounded up to about £25 per night for my current room. Surely I could find hotels/hostels around Europe for less than that? (Mind you, I’m not paying rent in London for the month of July which makes this entirely realistic for a student on a budget.) Well, I was right! More than right, actually. Since I’m traveling with a buddy, we’ve essentially set an upper limit of around £50 per night (£25 each) for hotels as we travel. Our hotel near Amalfi is the only one so far that actually reached our limit — our place in Malta was about £35 per night total, Athens was the same after discounts and Florence was about  £40 total. With the discounts we’ve gotten, we’re now prepared for the more expensive French Riviera (where hotels are more realistically in the range of £60 – £70 on the lower end) and don’t have to feel bad about overspending! I’m kind of flabbergasted by how inexpensive it is to travel through Europe. Hostels can, of course, be found even cheaper but since they charge per bed, the savings isn’t really enough to sacrifice privacy when traveling in twosomes (or larger groups).

So after booking our first four spots, we’ve begun looking at oh-so-glamorous Nice (shown above), nearby Monaco (which sadly doesn’t stamp passports despite being its own country) and the TBD stop between Nice and Barcelona. The train ride between Nice and Barcelona is looooong. Very, very long. If my memory serves, it’s roughly 10 hours depending on the number of changes and the time of departure. Though I’ll be using train time to work on my dissertation, 10 hours is killer. We knew immediately that we needed a city (any city!) to break up the ride. First, we considered Marseille. Alexandre Dumas had dubbed Marseille ‘the meeting place of the entire world’ so it had to be eclectic at the very least. Indeed, after we researched a bit, it had a unique charm and seemed like the perfect stopover. That is until we realized that it’s only 2 hours from Nice and still another 8 hours from Barcelona. For two people looking for a city to ‘break up the ride’… that wasn’t going to cut it. We needed something further, something closer to the Spanish border.

Within a few hours, S. got back to me (ever so diligently) with a new idea: Montpellier! Well, I have of course heard of Montpellier by name (I assume that the US capital of Vermont took a cue from its French counterpart) but I had no idea what there was to do there. Well, Montpellier is a much smaller city than Marseille (p. 225,000 vs. 820,000), but still bustling enough to be interesting. We’re only looking for the city of choice to be a stop-over essentially — a place we can stay for a day (maybe two) en route to Barcelona. After reading more about it, I found it charming… While people think of Paris when they think ‘French’, I would argue that big cities lack a bit of the character of the smaller towns. Not that I didn’t like Paris and not that I don’t love London, but despite their unique characteristics, they don’t necessarily embody the culture quite the same as out-of-the-way towns (think: Stratford, Oxford, the Cotswolds, etc.) With that in mind, I started liking the idea of Montpellier.

Then, while reading my Let’s Go Europe guide (which I absolutely love and 100% recommend), I stumbled upon Carcassonne. You haven’t heard of it, right? Yeah, I hadn’t either, but as I started to read, I started to love. For a stop off point, this seemed perfect! It’s a small town (p. 46,000) but it’s like something straight out of a Disney movie. Actually, according to this site it was the inspiration for Sleeping Beauty. After seeing the pictures, I hardly doubt it. It’s a UNESCO heritage site and is home to a castle, drawbridges and cobblestone streets that transport visitors back to medieval times. With my dad’s love of all things medieval, it was inevitable that some of the intrigue would be passed down… I so wish he could be here to see this place! Mind you, this is slightly out of the way for our Nice/Barcelona since it’s slightly inland, but I think it’s worth it! (Read the Let’s Go review here.)

As for now, we’re still debating between quaint and medieval Carcassonne and its livelier counterpart, Montpellier. We’ll only be in in town for one full day really, but we want to pick a great place.

Has anyone been to Montpellier? Carcassonne? Both?
What are your thoughts?

Happy travels,

Although it’s all over and my dad and sister are likely fast asleep in their cozy beds in Northern California, it was seriously awesome to have a bit of family time, even just for a couple of weeks. I hadn’t realized quite how much I missed having them around until they were here! I had a gift sent to them when they left (a package of my favorite pictures from our trip [95 of them] courtesy of snapfish.com) and am looking to send another package of memories shortly. We had talked about having four pictures from our trip blown up to 8 x 10s to be framed: one from each leg of the journey. That being said, I’ve been going through some of my photos to find my favorite picture from each trip. Here are some that I’m considering:

England

This is one of my most favorite pictures ever! So cute!

I have a number of other pictures of them in front of St. Paul’s but I like that they’re heading toward the church. Maybe in B&W?

Wicked was their favorite part of the London trip… though I wouldn’t pick this pic normally, it could be a good memory :)

Prague

In the Old Town Square enjoying hot dogs and beer? Quintessential Prague!

Tiff & I in front of the Vlatva River

Tiff & dad in front of Prague Castle!

Paris

Dad & Tiff in front of Sacre-Couer!

Tiff & I at the Eiffel Tower

Dad & Tiff at Notre Dame

Amsterdam

T walking by a canal in Amsterdam.

Dad & Tiff in the Rembrandtplein area.

The view from our room :)

—-

Alternatively, I’m thinking of doing one quintessential shot from each of the cities that we visited; no people, just something that capture the essence of the country. Here are the four I’m looking at:

England: I could (should?) probably use a picture of Big Ben, the National Gallery or St. Paul’s to capture England, but I absolutely love, love, LOVE this picture of two horseback-riding bobbies down by Buckingham. The colors are gorg!

Loving this picture of Tyn Church with a hint of a market stall in the foreground.

Without a doubt, my favorite picture from France: lunch.

I love this shot of Amsterdam: the buildings, the canals and even a hint of a bike seat!

What do you guys think? Which pictures should make it to 8×10 status for the fam?

Love from London,

Departures from Gare du Nord, Paris

Bonjour from Bruxelles!

I’m currently sitting on a Thalys train from Paris to Amsterdam by way of Brussels using the on-board Wi-fi and astounded at how far technology has come. Talk about convenient! I’ve been on board this train for about two hours and have come to the conclusion that comfy seats + on-board bar + nice toilets + outlets and Wi-fi = wayyyy better than flying. For a trip that’s 5 hours or less, trains are seriously the way to go!

We started our morning on an Easter mission; on a hunt for macarons! I have heard nothing but delicious tales of the French macaron in all it’s glory and knew that it was a must whilst in Paris. We tried escargot yesterday – a must when in France, and searched Montmartre for a boulangerie with quality macarons to fit the bill. Not only were there none to be found, but we discovered that being Sunday and Easter was not a good combination in terms of finding open establishments. With high hopes, we boarded the Metro at Anvers and headed down to St. Michel to find Paul, a little chain cafe with the most amazing-looking breads and pastries ever.

Easter goodies at Paul's!

We ended up with a pistachio, coffee and vanilla macaron and I finally felt satisfied and ready to leave Paris!

Oh deliciousness!

We explored Le Quartier Latin for the last time and enjoyed a cup of coffee near St. Michel metro station before heading to Gare du Nord. Now, we’re about 30 minutes away from Amsterdam, stoked to continue on to the third leg of our European adventure!

Dad & Tiff enjoying the train ride <3.

Au revoir mes amis! Check back later for a review of our first night in Amsterdam!

xoxo from Belgium/the Netherlands,

Dad & T in front of Sacre Couer

Bonjour from Paris mes amis!

After yesterday’s mixed experience (amazing sights but a stolen wallet on the Metro), today helped to re-invigorate our feelings towards the French population. We began our morning at the Sacre Couer, a beautiful church with an impressive view that sat down the street from our hotel/hostel in Montmartre. The outside is certainly far more impressive than the inside, but the view from the front of the church is worth climbing the innumerable steps to the top.

The View from Sacre-Couer

Loving the Latin Quarter

After our Sacre-Couer excursion, we decided to head down to the Latin Quarter (5eme & 6eme) to enjoy the boulangeries, brasseries, cafes and darling restaurants sprinkled about. I’ve decided that if I were to move to Paris, le Quartier Latin is definitely where I’d be living — it’s amazing!

After checking out a number of cafes at which to grab a bite, we decided upon a cute, quaint little restaurant called Le Passion du Vin with a selection of galettes (savoury crepes) and French cuisine. I have had an unhealthy obsession with crepes as of late: sweet, savoury, big, small… they’re all amazing and all on my personal menu. Along with our crepes, we grabbed escargot (in true Parisian fashion). Though I had a conversation about whether or not snails are veg-friendly, I ended up tasting one…When in Paris? Hopefully PETA will forgive me.

Tiffany getting into some escargot!

Escargot <3.

T & I with our favorite host!

After our oh-so-delicious lunch, we decided to head back to Notre Dame to take a peek inside! The weather was significantly better than the day before so we didn’t have a problem waiting in line! The cathedral is amazing from the outside, but the inside is almost equally impressive.

Notre Dame

Inside Notre Dame Cathedral

After our Notre Dame excursion and soaking in the momentary Parisian sunshine, we grabbed baguettes, fromage, vino and some other goodies from a local shop (to take on our train to Amsterdam) and headed back to our flat for the night. After a couple of hours of relaxation we decided to head out for a bit to eat in Montmarte. We stumbled upon Le Bar du Lycee on Rue de Dunkerque and had the small restaurant to ourselves for about an hour before crowds came in. The restaurant was small and the owner/chef was the only person present when we arrived. Though we weren’t 100% sure what to expect, we were beyond pleasantly surprised! The food was delicious and the owner was amazing — friendly & so incredibly helpful! Despite my sometimes-problematic vegetarian diet, he was able to whip up something special to fit my palate. Delish! Plus, T’s pasta (with truffle oil) was quite possibly the most delicious pasta that has ever hit my lips. Tasted like my first kiss. Mmm!

Delicious veg meal!

After all that fun, we headed back home to prepare for our last night in Paris. Up next: Amsterdam! Can’t even explain how excited Tiffany is!

Au revoir!

See all the pictures from my Parisian excursion here!

Metro Station

Yesterday marked our first full day in Paris, and what a full first day it was! We saw nearly everything that we had anticipated and despite the sub-par weather, we did an insane amount of walking. Our first stop of the day was the Louvre. Usually when you’re traveling in groups, it’s relatively hard to decide upon sights that everyone wants to see. Our trio is pretty cohesive and we all have similar interests so that’s rarely an issue for us. With the Louvre, it was a no-brainer. We all wanted to see the world’s most famous museum up close and personal and made a point to see it first thing in the morning. For a mere 9.50 euros, we each had an admission ticket and began our exploration.

Dad & Tiff at the Louvre

The fact that the tickets are only 9.50 seriously boggles my mind. The place is ridiculously massive! Not only is it large, but the pieces are spectacular. Mona Lisa? Venus de Milo? Winged Victory? Check, check and check! We saw all of those plus some… definitely checked off a major must-see in life.

Tiff & I with Winged Victory

After checking out the Louvre for a few hours (we knew we couldn’t see everything, so we just picked our top few must-sees to check out) we headed to the famed Notre Dame cathedral for a glimpse of the church’s facade. We decided to skip the queue and save the inside for another day since the line — and the rain — were a bit on the excessive side.

Dad & Tiff in front of Notre Dame <3

After hitting up the Notre Dame, we headed down to the Quartier Latin, an area that I had been dying to see! Though we only meandered through the streets, the area was quaint and we decided that it was on our agenda to see more in depth before departing the City of Lights. Since we were on the south side of the Seine (Left Bank East), we decided to head down along the river to see the Eiffel Tower up close. After passing the Musee d’Orsay and Les Invalides, we finally arrived at the famed Tour Eiffel. Although I swore to my dad that the structure was 315 feet tall (though he argued that it was clearly larger than that), I discovered that it was actually around 315 meters tall. Close, right? Feet, meters… practically the same!

T & I at the Eiffel Tower

By the time we finished checking out the Eiffel Tower, it was evening and we decided to head back home to Montmartre. We jumped on the metro and arrived back at Anvers station about 20 minutes later to find my dad wallet-less. After scouring his pockets and jacket, it was nowhere to be found… pick-pocketed! Money, credit cards, souvenir tickets and the lot all gone! Talk about putting a damper on the trip… luckily my dad is ever the optimist and tried to make my sister and I feel better about the situation. We were so upset about the whole situation (I mean, really… pick-pocketed in Paris?! Bleh!!) but tried the make the most of everything. We finished up the night with a casual dinner in Montmartre relaxing and chatting about life before heading to the local boulangerie to grab a baguette and night-time goodies from the best bakery in town!

After a long, rather mixed day, our feelings about Paris are still rather mixed. Hoping for some experiences to re-invigorate our Parisian excursion!

xoxo from Paris,

Enjoying a delicious Czech dog for the last time

After enjoying our last few hours in Prague, soaking in the deliciously cheap Czech fare we made our way to the airport and headed off to Paris.  Now, our hotel in Prague (the Golden Tulip Prague Terminus) was a pleasant surprise. The rooms were huge, the bed was massive and the amenities were great. Plus, the staff was beyond friendly! After a pretty hassle free flight to France, we arrived in Paris at Anvers metro station in Montmartre to find a hotel that was not quite as inviting as our Prague-based home. Not bad, mind you, but not exactly the 4 star experience we had before. Our current hotel is actually a hostel (oops… didn’t know when I booked!) and although it wasn’t what we had anticipated, it works.

Family at the Eiffel Tower!

After settling into our temporary abode, we headed to a local brasserie for a quaint dinner and a little exploration of our neighborhood before calling it a night. Check back soon as I recount Day #2 in Paris: the Notre Dame, the Louvre, a quick stop by the Latin Quarter, the Eiffel Tower and dad getting pick-pocketed on the metro (grrr)! A veritable mix of emotions from the start.

Check back soon!

Love from Paris,

Check out photos from all of my adventures here!

So excited to see this drunken face again!

After booking our Spring trip to Prague, Paris & Amsterdam, I took some time yesterday to actually book our hotels for our stay! I have never been to any of these places, so I had to do a little reconnaissance work to figure out which area would be the best for our little family fiesta. My dad and sister both put a lot of faith in me to make these kind of decisions (not sure if that’s the wisest, but we’ll soon find out), so I took the liberty of picking areas that I thought provided the best bang for our buck… err.. euro. Typically, when I’m booking a hotel, I try to find a place that’s relatively close to public transport (preferably the Metro, but bus & tram can suffice). It’s usually much more expensive to stay in the touristy spots, plus the restaurants in those areas are pretty hit or miss… I’m sure a lot of them realize that they’re getting one-time tourist customers and can charge ridiculous prices and not deliver. So, for all of the places that I booked, I chose accommodations within 5 minutes walking from the town’s subway system — thank God for public transportation (America, listen up)!

Old Town Square, Prague

So, in Prague, we (read: I) decided to stay in this awesome hotel near the Old Town Square. And– get this– two nights in this four-star hotel, free Wi-fi and breakfast for a mere £98. For both nights. For all three of us! Needless to say, we were pretty stoked (perhaps it was an error on expedia’s part?) and are all really pumped to explore.

Sacre Coeur, Paris

In Paris, there were so many areas, I had to really investigate. Luckily, with the help of the internet and with my handy Let’s Go Europe! book, I managed to find a pretty great hotel that was reasonably priced (which seems to be a feat in the City of Lights). Though we looked at places in 1eme/2eme (near the Louvre) and 5eme/6eme (the Latin Quarter), we actually settled on a place that borders 9eme (L’Opera) and 18eme (Montmartre). The place is darling and it’s down the street from the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur. Plus it’s well connected by transport links (metro & train station are nearby). Considering it was about £200 pounds (total) cheaper than staying near the Louvre or Eiffel Tower, I think we’re happy with our decision.

Jordaan Area, Amsterdam

Amsterdam… ugggh… Amsterdam was rough. I’ve never been there before and I haven’t really investigated it because it’s not much of my scene. When I was looking, however, I was surprised at how expensive the majority of the hotels are! I thought Amsterdam was going to be the least of my worries, but it ended up being the most challenging. After reading a few helpful hints on Expedia, we decided to stay in the Jordaan area (pronounced yor-darn). It’s supposed to be a pretty area – lots of canals, art and markets nearby.

Now that everything’s booked, I’m so excited to get some sightseeing in and explore! I’m actually very happy with our (much-debated) itinerary. My dad and sister will both get a pretty good taste of Western Europe (London + Paris), a bit of Eastern Europe (Prague) and then a touch of something unique in Amsterdam!

53 days and counting! Now, off to the Tate Modern to soak in some art on my day off!