VENICE

my time in venice was short and sweet. i was only there for 24 hours, but i felt that was more than enough time to experience everything. i stayed outside the city in mestre, and took the bus over the canals to reach venice. venice is very picturesque, and it's hard to believe anyone actually gets to live there. this might actually be the case since a saw approximately ten people in the whole city who weren't tourists.

the basilica di san marco was breathtaking, and the surrounding piazza was filled with pigeons and tourists. i sipped on bellinis while exploring the streets and canals, and after a few hours i ended up circling back to all of the same places. the island is small, and it doesn't take long to see everything.

am i allowed to say that i wasn't impressed by venice much? there wasn't much to do on the island itself, and all of the restaurants seemed like they catered to tourists. to be fair, i did feel weird traveling alone in such a romantic city without anyone to ride a gondola with me. i did get to go on a waterbus though, which was about 100 euros cheaper. i won't be in a rush to visit venice again anytime soon, although i do wish i would've gotten to the island of verona.

GENEVA

i spent most of last weekend in geneva, switzerland, and let me tell you, there's a reason why the swiss are so happy. geneva was incredibly beautiful with a landscape of mountains from every view point and a crystal clear lake in the middle. really, you can see all the way to the bottom. the city was relaxed and pleasant and everything ran on swiss time which means that busses were on time to the second. how??

we spent most of our time hiking around geneva and nyon, which was a perfect escape from the busy city life. there were cows grazing the mountain on every corner we turned, and you could here the bells around their necks from a mile away. the cows are happy here, maybe that's why the chocolate is so good?

speaking of chocolate, i had the best chocolate of my life in switzerland. i planned to ration my truffles, but i nearly devoured my whole bag by the time i landed back in rome. i would gladly go back and turn over all of the contents of my wallet to the swiss chocolatiers. 

switzerland is super expensive as expected, but they do have a lot to offer visitors for free. the city gives out free bus passes to incoming visitors, free bike rentals in the city, and has a very large botanical gardens that is free entry for anyone. maybe the perks make up for 15 CHF cheeseburgers?

one of the best part of the trips were our hosts, who graciously let us stay with them and helped us get around the city. they were much to kind to us, and it made us feel at home for the weekend.

geneva was a wonderful city, and i would be in a hurry to get back to switzerland if their economy wasn't so damn strong.

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favorite things in geneva

frederic ducret  // omg you need this chocolate in your life. i polished of a large slice of chocolate cake and 12 truffles in record time.

le chat noir // supposedly the best jazz club in rome, but they wouldn't let us downstairs to hear the music because we weren't running on swiss time. they had fun, fruity drinks for 15 CHF a piece.

mount saleve // this is actually in france, but we took a bus from geneva to the border where we took cable cars to the top. there are tons of hiking trails, paragliders, and you can see the swiss alps and mont blanc on a good day!

geneva botanical gardens // right in the middle of the city and so cool! plus, it's free.

MILAN

last weekend i traveled to milan for the world's fair! it was overwhelmingly spectacular- like disney world but without the stupid rides and long lines (for the most part). the theme this year was feeding the world and i was in heaven. each country had a pavilion set up showcasing their food production and consumption and of course all of the ethnic food. I had one too many fried, cheese-stuffed plantain dough balls from ecuador but everything was sooo good that i couldn't help myself. one of my favorite pavilions was nepal's, which was left partially unfinished because of the recent earthquake. it was so beautiful and understated. if you want to see any of the pavilions from the expo they're all online here!

on saturday, we explored the city. it's funny how different milan is from rome. everything is modern, even some of the architecture. they actually play music from this decade in stores and restaurants (rome just found out about the spice girls and destiny's child). everyone in the streets was wearing louis vuittons, i kid you not. they also have restaurants serving food other than italian. it's almost like they've heard of civilations outside of italy??

i didn't get a chance to eat much in the city, but a did enjoy brek, a fun little marketplace type restaurant where they served paninis, pasta, stuffed tomatoes and the best pastries.

sorry for the brief post and the worst pictures yet, but i am off to another weekend of traveling after a busy week of schoolwork. i'll be back with more updates soon!