Friday, March 14, 2014

Amsterdam: Where the Tulips bloom and Heineken is brewed.

Only a three and half hour train ride from Paris yet Amsterdam seems like a completely different world. We left for Amsterdam early Saturday morning and arrived to the bustling city in the afternoon. I'm not sure if it was the gorge sunny weather or the day of the week but there were people everywhere. Our taxi driver took us straight to our hotel Notting Hill, which is highly recommended. We arrived to the sweetest welcome letter, because after all we were celebrating our 7 year anniversary!























After getting situated with our stuff we went to eat at a restaurant near by called, Bar Lempicka, and were blown away by the food. This seemed to be a reoccurring occurrence during our visit in Amsterdam, because literally every restaurant we went to was better then the last. We then headed to the Heineken brewery and took the tour. Anyone who comes to this city must go to the brewery, once you finish seeing how they make the beer, you drink it and then it turns into a full on party.

 


After filling up with some hops we headed to Dam Square to check out some coffeeshops (when in rome). We then experienced Amsterdam they way it should be experienced and walked around to get a feel for the beautiful city. 





















































Later that night we checked out the Red Light District, which was an experience within itself. We ate dinner at the super cool CAU, and walked around endlessly through the streets of Amsterdam ending up at Rembrandt Square to check out the nightlife. The next morning we ate breakfast around museum square and went to the Van Gogh museum. I can't say that I would exactly recommend going to this museum, after all the if I wanted to see the Starry Night, it's located in NYC. We roamed around that area which was surrounded with parks and people sprawled out on the grass fields.





Bikes in Amsterdam are as common as the scent of cannabis tulips and it is one of the main means of transportation in the small city.  Those bikers have no remorse for pedestrians. We wanted to rent the bikes for the afternoon but realized we did't have that much time left. We strolled through the fashion district and headed to dinner and experienced Amsterdam one last time before going to the train station

Everyone needs to visit Amsterdam at least once during their lifetime.  If not for their divulgences such as prostitution and legal drugs then for their outstanding cheese. 

Xx 



  

Thursday, March 13, 2014

London: The home of the Royals, Harrods and Pimms Cup

London has to be my new favorite city. Besides the fact that the day we went had to be the unluckiest day ever. Lets just begin with me, my bf and his sis getting to the train station an hour early for our 9 a.m. train, and then realizing we forgot our passports at home. So with Paris's killer traffic it took us about another hour and half to get back home grab the passports and be back before 11 a.m. for the next train. Then before getting on the train and going through British customs we had the worst experience with the officer because I accidentally put student as my boyfriends occupation. Like seriously homeboy it is not that serious. That led us to missing yet another train and we had to take the 12:30 one instead. So already our day in London was cut short and we were already exhausted. As soon as we got to London-town we jumped in a black cab and headed to the motherland, Harrods.
 
 


























For those unaware of Harrods and all its glory, go google it, like now. Anyway it was literally love at first sight. I mean Harry Winston, Chanel, Balmain and everything else you can possible dream of, all under one roof? It is seriously like dying and waking up in fashion heaven. After taking it all in we realized how hungry we were and with the overwhelming options of 28 eateries throughout the seven stories we decided to decline those and find a restaurant closer to the London Eye.  We ended up at ALL One Bar , which was centrally located near the tourist attractions and where I had an authentic English Pimms Cup (fav cocktail ever)!























Our extremely friendly cab driver recommended we check out the London Dungeon and we obviously trusted his judgment. He seemed like a trustworthy fellow. Uh in conclusion next time your in London for less then 8 hours, DO NOT spend 2 hours of your life at the London Dungeon, not worth it. Next we headed to the London Eye which gives you 360 degree views of London. 








 



After finally making it back down, 30 minutes later, we headed to the spectacular Big Ben. Seriously, it is so beautiful up close and personal.


















Buckingham Palace was next on our list and on our way we obviously had to take a picture in a phone booth, or how else could we really prove we were in London. 















So you know how when you get to Buckingham Palace and everyone (I) seems to think that their are guards standing outside for the perfect photo op? Yea, well they aren't. They are behind the gates where they are way to far to even take a picture of. But the queen was on her way in so that was kind of awesome. 


















We then headed to Oxford Circus for some shopping. We casually headed to the train station at about 8:30 p.m. Somehow we once again managed to miss another train. This time though it was the last train of the day and the next train back to Paris was only at 5 a.m. You can not even begin to understand our aggravation. We roamed the train station trying to think of solutions. We had no clothes, no hotel reservations, and were absolutely exhausted. After grabbing a bite to eat we finally headed to look for hotels. Everywhere happened to be fully booked that night, and I don't want to even discuss some of the hotel rooms we saw before we finally found a Hilton.  We slept for a few hours and luckily when we got to the station in the morning they changed our tickets and we got right on the train. 

Even through all of the mishaps it was actually one of my favorite days on our trip. London is so charming and the people there are so sweet. Next time I will be spending at least a few days there so that I can eat at all the awesome restaurants and see other things that we missed out on. 



Long live the Queen.

xX, 
G

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

PARIS: The city of lights, love and Laduree

As I touched down in Char De Gaulle I already knew I was in love. Paris is just a place that you already fall in love with before visiting. Me and my love decided about two months ago that we wanted to take a vacation to this glamorous city, so my excitement was at an all time high once we arrived. The weather was chilly in the beginning and got sunnier throughout the trip. Something about this place was so magical. I don't know if it was the history, the fashion or the food but everything was magnifique. With my boyfriend's sister living in the outskirts of Paris and only a 30 min drive away we were just close enough to the city to commute daily. On the first day we got there we were so jet lagged that we had to catch some Zzzs in order to reboot. At night we had Shabbat dinner with the fam and then headed to the Champs Elysees to experience Paris after hours. After taking some pics by the Arc De Triomphe we headed to my all time favorite, Laudree. 






















If your not familiar with Laudree, here's a quick recap. They invented the perfection of a dessert, which is known today as the French Macaron. Thankfully they finally just opened their first one in Miami Beach on Lincoln Rd. the day I left to Paris. 

On Saturday we roamed the Parisian streets with bf's sis and her french hubby who gave us little history bits about all the famous landmarks. We then had a traditional French lunch at the tiniest restaurant ever and headed to the Eiffel Tower. So little did we know the lines are like an hour long just to buy tickets to head to the top. In true Israeli fashion we found a shortcut and 90 euros later made it up to the top in less than 10 minutes.  The view was absolutely breathtaking. 









































That night one of bf's best friends was also in town with his girlfriend and we met up at Hotel Costes for dinner and drinks. Dinner was phenomenal, I had the most glorious truffle risotto that I am still dreaming about. After dinner we asked a bunch of locals what club we should go to and most recommended, Titty Twister. We were all pleasantly surprised how good the music was and enjoyed the atmosphere that differed from Miami's usual vibe. 



On Sunday we decided to take the car and explore Paris on our own. We started our touristy tour with the The Louvre. The museum was gorgeous inside and out. We took a look at Mona and looked around a little more. We then headed to Notre Dame and experinced all of its gothic beauty. There was two important French staples I was not willing to leave Paris without and that included a red beret and a lock on the lock bridge. Clearly I managed to get both.

 




Monday we went to a huge shopping mall near where we were staying and we had to sleep early because we had a train to London at 5 a.m. London was an adventure by itself and that needs a post dedicated soley to London. We got back Wednesday morning and were exhausted by the "adventure" so we hung out around the house and at night we headed to Moulin Rouge! 

Moulin Rouge has to be one of my favorite movies ever. Although in Paris the three most popular cabaret shows are Moulin Rouge, Lido and Crazy Horse and we had to decide which one we wanted to go to. I decided to stick with the classic and we got tickets to see the show and sip champagne. I probably haven't mentioned but bf is quite the picky eater and after viewing the prefix menu I knew we were better off grabbing dinner after the 9 o' clock show. The show was fabulous and the setting was so classic. Little tables surrounded the stage and it was intimate setting with only about 200 people in the audience. Unfortunately pictures are prohibited but I snuck a little one in between, I know I'm such a rebel. 


Thursday was spent in the beautiful Chateau de Versailles. We got there mid-afternoon and decide to start off with the Garden because there were less peeps. I would definitely recommend renting golf carts like we did because there is so much to see and walking can get exhausting. We ate at the cutest little restaurant nestled in between one of the gardens. Unfortunately the food was not as appealing. We continued to Marie Antoinette's house and finally to the Palace. Everything looked like it was straight out of a movie. Everything was laced in gold and I literally want to recreate the kings manor in my future humble abode, it was gorge. 

After a long day in Versailles we headed to dinner at La Cantine with the sis& her hubby. 


Friday we slept in and I spent the afternoon helping sis cook for Shabbat dinner. After bf finally woke up we headed to do a little last minute shopping because we were heading to Amsterdam Saturday and Sunday. Amsterdam too deserves its own post so stay tuned. Here is the bf with his newest niece, the cutest and sweetest, Elibelle.


























Overall Paris was everything I thought it would be and more. It was so nice spending time with family and seeing new places with my love.  I will definitely be visiting the city of love and lights again very soon.  


Au Revior 
xX 








Monday, March 3, 2014

Nice is Just a Place in France

Bonjour readers!
Currently I am enjoying my European vaycay, but couldn't stay away from The Other Best Friend for too long.  En route to Paris I read this entertaining  book called  Nice is Just a Place in France by The Betches. I think it's a sheer necessity for every girl to read this book. I'm not condoning all of the behavior in this book but it is hilarious! It teaches a girl how to talk, party, look and act like a betch. "How to Win At Basically Everything" is the books catch phrase and it's written by the creators of Betches Love This. Check out their website and buy the book you won't regret it.



Au revoir future Betches full posts from my Paris, London and Amsterdam adventures will be posted as soon as I make it onto U.S of A soil.

Xx
G