I never thought I'd fall in love with lasagna

I feel like I haven't blogged in forever although it's only been two days... I think all this traveling has definitely messed with my body clock and my mind! Yesterday was a pretty good day; the sun has been shining in Florence which makes such a difference. My big news from the day was that I had my first day volunteering at an Italian elementary school! My teacher from pre-session Italian happens to be the volunteer coordinator and I emailed him hoping by chance he could find me something despite my tiny tiny amount of Italian language skills. He pulled through for me even though most of the spots were taken, and I was told I'd be working with kids who know english but are not very good at reading or writing it. I was stoked!
  
When I got there though it was a lot more difficult than I expected. I was warned by fellow volunteer friends that we would be given no guidelines or instruction materials so I had worked hard trying to plan some games and activities. However, all of the kids are at completely different levels and we had no way of knowing how much english they could write! I also was working with three kids who were all friends so I spent more time telling them to pay attention than actually doing any activities. So, it was definitely a test of patience and way more difficult than I expected but I have high hopes it will get much better! Also, a precious Italian child gave me his picture that he drew of his family and wrote me a note, which if anyone knows me you know that kind of thing makes my day!

The highlight of today (as it is every Wednesday) was my cooking class! Today's meal blew my mind. We made lasagna with fresh pasta (we made it in class!) ragu sauce (which we learned how to make right under Michele's watchful eye), and a béchamel sauce (which is a white sauce with butter, flour, milk, and nutmeg). This was no Stouffer's lasagna, and when he pulled it out of the oven and served us pieces as large as my hand, I had no trouble eating the whole thing! This is the kind of food I expected from Italy... it just melted in my mouth!

Next we made Veal with a Balsamic Vinegar sauce which was not my favorite, but definitely unique.

We ended with panna cotta for dessert. I've had panna cotta a few times in Italy and let me tell you nothing stood up to this one. It's made with only cream, gelatin, and sugar and then you refrigerate it to let it set. For the sauce we blended strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, lemon juice, and sugar and chilled that as well. And let me tell you, I couldn't handle how delicious it all was. The panna cotta was much less slimy and dense as I'd had it in restaurants, and the sauce was divine. I left with a tummy ache but so happy!

Thoughts on Germany

Well I made it back to Florence after another great weekend! I can't believe I can say I've been in 4 different countries in the span of 3 weeks! It has been an exhausting month but well worth it. I really enjoyed my trip to Munich... I appreciated experiencing a completely different culture than Italy's! The beer culture is evident and proud, and everyone is so friendly you just feel happy walking around. The weather was a bit gloomy at times but the city was still charming and I loved all the history! I've put up my pictures to walk you through some of the adventures I had, but I'm glad to say I had a really great time with many funny stories! 
  
Today I had to jump back in the swing of things, but it's always great to return back to Florence... I feel like I fall more in love with the city every time I leave it! I went in search of a computer charger today (mine called it quits) and went on a wild goose chase for a non-existant store. But, it provided me a great walk on a beautiful day while exploring the less touristy parts of the city. 
  
Here's the link-- I've got some major sleep to catch up on! 
  
Munich Pictures

Introduction to all things Germany

Well after a long night of travel we arrived at Jaegers Hostel in Munich! It was a short night of sleep but the sunshine outside was a nice way to wake us up! Today we blasted through some German history and culture in a very short amount of time! We saw the carillon (imagine a giant cuckoo clock) in the New Townhall go off (rated second most disappointing attraction in Europe but I liked it!) and after grabbed lunch from various street vendors.

We took advantage of a free tour of the central attractions which I learned a lot from! We also literally covered the entire history of Germany and Munich which was rough at some points (I took a year long class on German history in high school... 3 hours can't do it all justice!) I think walking the streets where a lot of things we talked about in that class happened was just amazing! I learned tons of interesting facts but one of the most interesting was that only 5 percent of Munich's buildings survived WWI and the reason 2 of its most famous landmarks survived is because bombers spared them to use as markers of the city from above to know where to aim. The history here is so different than what I'm used to and I love it.

I wrapped up the day by seeing the panoramic of the city from the top of St. Peters clock tower and having dinner at the Hofbrauhaus! German beer halls are pretty incredible but the hot restaurant and huge crows (not to mention being surrounded by more beer than I've ever seen in my life) left me exhausted!

Tomorrow we're off to Neuschwanstein to further my goal of becoming a princess by exploring a castle!

Thoughts on the Opera, and it's that time of the week!

Two great things are going to happen in this blog post.
1. I went to the Opera last night, and feel compelled to enlighten you on my thoughts throughout the entirely Italian performance.
2. Wednesday=Foods of Italy class day! So, I get to share mouth watering pictures and fun Italian food facts.
     
Let's get started.
1. Kenan, Kaitlin, and I headed to the Opera last night for the performance of Tosca. The theatre was about 20 minutes away (we only got a little lost) and we were in the nosebleeds. But, we could see clearly and it was fun to be in the huge theatre! For your personal enjoyment, I've provided a generalized play-by-play of what ran through my head during the performance.
  
- Wow, they have Italian subtitles on a screen! This will be great because I am so capable of reading some Italian
- (30 seconds in) Wow, I know zero Italian.
- This is great! They are so in love.
- I wish that in real life people sang everything they said.
- I'm a little confused as to why this man keeps running on and off the stage.
- YES a dancing clergymen scene!
- Why is that guy holding a gun to the Bishop's head?
- The curtain goes down, and they are doing a curtain call... is it over?
- It's not over.
- Wow, the fat man is not a nice man.
- Yikes! Lover boy has blood all over him!
- Homegirl is totally going to kill the fat guy...
- Yup, she killed him.
- The curtain went down, can this really be the end?
- JK, it's a three act Opera.
- Why are they on a roof?
- Yay, the lovers are reunited!
- Why is he not worried about the firing squad about to shoot him?
- I hate gun noises in plays.
- Why is she surprised he's dead after being shot?
- Holy cowbells, she just jumped off the roof.
-Third curtain call, my hands hurt from clapping.
  
So clearly, you can tell this is a play about a man who has been arrested for assisting a Liberal escapee from jail, is tortured to reveal where he has run off to, is in love with a lady who takes a bribe with the police officer to keep him alive, and then the police officer does not keep his promise, but the lady killed him before she knew that so then they all die. 
  
But really, it was a beautiful Opera and I enjoyed it completely despite not having a clue what was going on. I'd do it again. 

All dressed up for our classy night out!

Tonight was my fourth cooking class with Michele! We studied the Lombardy and Liguria areas of Italy (in the north) and made a lot of food today! The dishes included:

Bresaola, which is cured beef, which he sprinkled with lemon juice and olive oil

Testaroli with fresh pesto.

Cotoletta alla Milanese (Veal covered in breadcrumbs and cooked in butter) , with the other way to serve the pesto, with pasta, potatoes, and green beans.

Torta di cioccolato (chocolate cake)

The coolest thing was the testaroli. It's known as "poor cuisine" because all you use to make it is lukewarm water, flour, and a little salt. You pour it into the frying pan and cook it so it kind of looks like a tortilla. Then, you take them and cut them up, and mix them with sauce just like pasta! It sounds weird, but it was delicious! It's not that hard to make either! (I say this after many struggles learning to make them)


I'm off to Munich tomorrow night! I can't believe how quickly this week has flown by!

Barcelona through pictures

My blog post today will instead be a link to my Picasa site, where I've posted many pictures (don't let the sheer number of them deter you... I cut 300 out) with captions to walk you through my great trip! I spent too long working on them so check it out if you get the chance.

Off to work on homework and later go to the Opera! 

Click here for pictures!

A few favorite things and a desperate plea for sleep.

I'm running on very little sleep yet again, but I'm happy to say that my trip to Barcelona ended well! I have now successfully done my first international flight within Europe and dealt with the many busses and planes with flying colors! I'm really excited to post my pictures from Barcelona, but I have class in the morning so I should probably sleep. (Remember that time I go to school? Yeah, sometimes I forget too). Here are pictures of my top 4 favorite things in Barcelona  with an album of pictures to come in the future! Buenas noches! 

Many people know I love boats and the water (thanks Daddy), so seeing the port and walking on the waterfront was such a treat!

Seafood Paella? Need I say more?

La Sagrada Familia literally blew my mind. I'm mildly obsessed.

The view from the top of Park Guell. I can't get over how great it was to be in the beautiful park seeing this panorama!

Sore feet but a happy heart!

The past two days in Barcelona have been a blast! I had no idea how much there would be to do here and I feel like we have barely scratched the surface! Some of the fun we've had includes:

1. A guided tour of the Gothic Quarter
2. Taking a cable car to Montjuic for fantastic views of the port and city.
3. Stumbling upon a central American cultural parade.
4. A tour taking us to the many architectural buildings of Gaudi.
5. Being blown away by the Sagrada Familia
6. Stumbling upon a political protest with a couple thousand people
7. Exploring Park Guel and it's famous mosaics.

I'm pretty exhausted but I'm so impressed by this city. I wish we had more time but Florence is calling us home early tomorrow!

Bienvenido a Barcelona!

I can barely keep my eyes open as I write this, as I have been awake since 3:45 am! We caught a bus to the Pisa international airport at 4:45 to begin our journey to Spain and it was early! The bus ride was an hour followed by an hour Ryanair flight which was such an experience... I felt like I was on the home shopping network as they tried to sell us everything from lottery tickets to smokeless cigarettes in the short flight! Another hour bus ride and an hour of navigating the metro brought us to our hostel! Other highlights of today include:

Stumbling upon hundreds of dressed up kids parading in the cutest costumes presumably for Carnival? Either way the girls dressed as shrimp were my faves.

Aimlessly strolling through the streets of the historic center and by the waterfront.

Going to the Picasso museum!

Having an excellently authentic Spanish meal at a mom and pop restaurant (don't ask how much we spent... It was a treat though!)

I'm about to crash And we have a big day tomorrow but here's a picture from our flight.... So beautiful!

Oh Mr. Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden Sun...

Today the sun came out! For the first time in 3 weeks, I didn't stuff my hands in my pockets, duck down my head, and forge my way through treacherous winds to camp out in my apartment until the next time I was forced to leave again. I woke up this morning not thinking today would be full of sunshine and happiness... right after my alarm went off and for the two hours I was at home before leaving for school, there were workers surrounding our apartment. I don't know how they did it, but there was a plumber downstairs and some workers right outside our window working on the exterior of the building (we live 2 floors up, I don't ask questions). With ears ringing I went to class and was shocked that I didn't have to do my usual power walk to prevent loosing feeling in my face! Good day. 
   
After class, Anna and I went to the chocolate festival (I know, it's a week long thing, this will be the last time I talk about it I promise) to celebrate the weekend. Since I am leaving tomorrow morning, this was my last hoorah for the festival celebrating my favorite food group. We didn't waste any time going for the chocolate dipped strawberry kabob which I literally ate in two minutes tops. We meandered around and I got some chocolate dipped dried fruit (why do I keep buying things?) and we topped the trip off with a piece of chocolate cake. It was a cake of classic Italian style, a little dry but with some sort of unidentifiable glaze in the middle to sweeten things up. What a perfect way to end probably one of the more perfect festivals I will ever experience. 

Tomorrow I'm off to Barcelona early in the morning... bring on the adventures!

At least we don't have a scale here...

As far as what I've been up to lately, there's not much to say than what a picture would say, so here's another post with lots of pics. I ate too much today, just as I did yesterday, so before I slip into a food coma, here's a recap of some great food.
   
The chocolate festival continued today despite the cold and rain. Here are the treats I got!

Yum. 
   
Tonight for our cooking class Michele took us to a restaurant right by the Duomo called Ristorante Buca San Govanni. He said it's one of the oldest restaurants in Florence, and we had a traditional style 4 course Italian meal. Needless to say, I'm stuffed!

First up, a eggplant and cheese soufflé and a mushroom nest? I don't remember what he called it, but it's mushrooms in a flaky crust cup.

Next, risotto with artichoke and carrots and pasta with a meat sauce (ragu) 

The main course was some sort of steak with roasted potatoes. 

Lastly, panna cotta for dessert. Michele said we will make this later in the semester but it's merely gelatin, cream, and sugar. (Note the face profile in the chocolate, photo credit to Emily for spotting the picture in the food)

Lastly, the restaurant served limonchello shots which half of the class took (I only took a baby sip but it sort of tasted like a lemonhead candy). It's still surreal to be having a meal with professors at our school as they do shots with the class! Getting home at 11:30 p.m. from class was also a new experience... I guess nothing can be just ordinary here!

Florence, will you be my valentine?

My Italian Valentines day as told through pictures!

My boots slightly fell apart during my trip last weekend so I had to stop by the shoe repairman near my school... he solved the problem in under 10 minutes and only charged me 8 euro, success!

They look brand new!

Anna and I stopped by the chocolate festival between classes. It's going on until Sunday and is conveniently located in between my apartment and my classes... today's treat was a dark chocolate coated waffle on a stick!

Our apartment had a great dinner at Acqua al 2, a pretty famous restaurant in Florence. I got the five pasta sampler and it was delicious. The chef picks the 5 pastas you get so it's a surprise! For dessert Kenan, Kaitlin and I split chocolate cake... It was a great Valentine's Day celebration!

My attempt at making chocolate covered strawberries was a bit of a flop but that didn't stop them from being devoured! Tonight some girls in our program hosted a dessert and wine get together where chocolate was again in abundance. I feel like there is a redundant theme to my day...

Slovenia to Venice to Florence: A timeline.

8:25- Wake up, not excited about the handheld shower or getting out of my warm bed.
9:00- Go down to breakfast, eat same thing I ate for the two days before: two rolls with a chocolate spread, dried apples, and a clementine. Sneak out lots of chocolate spread for future use.
10:00- Board bus
10:40- Notice mysterious brown sludge creeping down the floor of the bus. Bus pulls over.
11:30- Bus is temporarily fixed from the frozen engine leaking water. Heat on bus doesn't work. Considers putting gloves on feet. 
12:30- Stop at toll booth and smoke engulfs bus. Bus driver is not phased, just says that it will smoke when we stop, so stops henceforth shall be limited. 
14:30- Arrive outside Venice after one potty and two gas stops. Tired, hungry, smell a little like smoke, and cold. 
15:30- Actually get into the city of Venice. It's way prettier than I could have imagined.
16:30- Finally make it to San Marco square, where the center of Carnival is. Lots of beautiful costumes. Laugh at hearing Green Day playing on the loud speakers. Take lots of pictures of costumed people.
17:20- Start heading back to the train station (meeting point).
18:15- Reach train station after getting hopelessly lost, including walking in a circle three times and stopping for carnival pastries.
18:30- Buy pizza from quick cafe. Contemplate getting the french fry covered pizza, but stick with cheese.
19:45- Board new bus which has double the seating, heating, and a DVD player. Watch Anchorman and Zoolander. Happy. 
23:15- Arrive in Florence and glad to be back. And will never complain about the cold in Florence again. 


Picture of Slovenia will be posted in a few days! Here are a few previews!

UPDATE: Pictures are up Here!

Icy waters ahead!

Today we spent time exploring Lake Bled! The town is clearly a tourist destination with its many hotels and casino- all of which look like they are stuck in the 1970's. But, it's impossible to ignore the beauty here!

We took a hike up to the castle which sits on a cliff overlooking the lake, and when I say hike I mean it... Just wait till I post pictures, it was steep! The views were so worth it though of the frozen lake below.

Our big adventure was going to the island to see the church. Since the lake is frozen we decided to walk ON the lake the whole way which was pretty far! I'm not going to lie, it was terrifying standing in the middle of a frozen lake, but with tons of Slovenians out there too we felt like they had to know it was safe, right? We later learned the ice is about 1.5 inches thick and it only has to be 0.5 inches thick to hold the weight of a person so we were pretty safe. But still, every time I thought I heard a cracking noise my adrenaline levels spiked!

We're off to Venice for carnival tomorrow... let the new adventure begin!

"Zdravo" from Slovenia!

This post will be brief as writing on an iPod is a pain! However I'm happy to report Slovenia is incredibly beautiful and we've had lots of fun so far! Some highlights of the day include:

1. Arriving at our hotel at 2:30 AM.
2. Snowshoeing across the border back into Italy.
3. Seeing some of an international dog sledding competition.
4. Exploring other sites in the area such as one of the world's tallest ski jumps.
5. Walking across Lake Bled which is frozen over!
6. A filling meal at a traditional Slovenian restaurant.

I can't wait to share photos... There will be many! Apparently they are at a low for snow this season (there is usually 2 feet this time of year!) but to me it's great to see snow at all!

I may be 4500 miles away, but I'm still a Tarheel

Yesterday was frigid as per usual, but I was still excited for my second cooking class! We studied the Piedmont region of Italy which is in the tip top northwest corner of Italy, where you can find the city of Turin (remember the Winter Olympics?). This area is known for their Barolo and Asti wines as well as their truffles found in Alba. Our menu for the night was:
   
 risotto con salsiccia (risotto with sausages), 

brasato al Barolo (beef braised in Barolo wine), 

peperoni alla piemontese (peppers with anchovies and capers), 

torta di nocciole (hazelnut cake). 

 Sounds delicious, right?
I forgot to get pictures of the beef... I ate it too fast. But the peppers and the beef were delicious (he left out the anchovies which we were all a little thankful for). I was in the group making the risotto and I'm so glad I had the opportunity to learn how to make this delicious dish. It's more complicated than I thought but once you have the process down (it's kind of a science) it's not too bad!
   
The big adventure of the night was the UNC vs. Dook game. All the hype on Facebook is contagious even across the ocean, and needless to say we were willing to do pretty much anything to watch it. We were so lucky that a girl in our program found us a bar willing to stay open till 5:30 AM just so we could watch the game (and I'm so thankful for it!). After a brief nap, we woke up at 2 to head over to the bar by 2:30 for the game at 3:00. AM. So early. It was a blast though hanging out with the other UNC students at this little hole-in-the-wall pub in Florence. 

 Unfortunately, the game was a bit of a disappointment. I think that the bartender didn't know how to handle us afterwords! While walking back to the apartment in the cold streets of Florence, we let the city know our frustrations, but I can't imagine what it felt like to be at UNC watching the game! At least we could escape into the city to recover. Julia even made us pancakes at 6 AM to help mourn the loss. Three hours of sleep later, I was up and off to class. 

Today my Renaissance culture and civilization class met at Santa Croce, which was a monastery for the Dominican order (Franciscan Monks) back in the day, and is still an beautiful cathedral housing incredible history. It was nice having a guided tour from our teacher, and I definitely learned a lot that I wouldn't have known from going on my own. However, I think I could go back and spend hours there because there is so much to see and learn! Oh, and no big deal, Galileo and Michelangelo's tombs are there. I wasn't ready for that one! 
     
In an hour I'm headed to the bus station to head to Lake Bled, Slovenia for the weekend. I bought a puffy Italian-esque jacket today which I think I'll be very thankful for in the chilly weather! 

fa freddo...

Living by the Duomo you get accustomed to the touristy side of Florence. There are always caricature artists and tacky souvenir vendors whom we pass every day when walking to class. We have to pass by a t-shirt stand right next to our door every day, and I've grown accustomed to saying "ciao" to the vendor and he doesn't try to sell things to me anymore. These people make their living off tourists, so you know it's a chilly day when even the street vendors don't open their shops because it's too cold. Today we got a little sunshine with a side of snow flurries though so at least it wasn't cold and boring!
  
After class I went shopping for some warm weather clothes (success this time!) and I stopped in the department store, Coin. I have never been so lost in a store before. Literally I just walked around for 20 minutes and went up and down multiple sets of stairs before even finding the scarf and hat section. It's so weird to see huge stores here since property is so expensive! I've been in stores smaller than my dorm room before... I think I would panic if I walked into a Target now because I haven't been in a store that big in a long time!

In other exciting news, for dinner I decided to treat myself to some panko fried chicken and reaffirmed that nothing beats fried food. You can take me away from America but please, please don't take away my canola oil. 

Lastly, tonight I went to see an Italian movie through a film "festival" (I'll use that term loosely because it's just put on for NYU students by NYU). It was open to all students in Florence and I decided to go because it was free and how many chances am I going to have to see Italian movies with english subtitles? The movie was called "Terraferma"and it was about a family living on an island south of Sicily dealing with the shift from the fishing industry to the tourist industry, as well as the issue of illegal immigration from Africa. Ironically, the movie touched on topics of immigration we discussed in a lecture my first week here, and it was an interesting take on the issue since the movie was more of an artistic perspective versus the political debates and news you hear about.

The coolest thing about seeing this movie is that the editor of the movie, Simona Paggi was there. She talked a little about the process of editing the movie and you could tell she was a little nervous to be talking in front of everyone. But, as shy as she was, she's kind of a big deal... if you IMDB her, you'll see that she was an editor for the movie "Life is Beautiful" which is a very famous movie in Italy and the United States! It was a pretty cool opportunity to see her and her work. 

Winter Winds

After our late night last night I am continuously thankful for my 1:30 class! Sleeping in and reading for classes in the morning is just so nice. After class I attempted to go shopping for a warmer hat and a sweater, but to no avail. The shopping is so great here but I just don't know where to start! And it didn't help that the winds were rough again today-- the newest fashion is wrapping your scarf around your face to not only keep warm, but to be able to breathe when the wind blows over you! 

   

Since we've been stuck inside, one thing we've been very busy with lately is planning our travels around Europe! I have big trips planned the next three weeks that have required a bit of planning which can be stressful but will be totally worth it we hope. This weekend I am excited to be headed to Slovenia...

...Ok now that you're back from googling where Slovenia is, I'll tell you. It's located north of Croatia and borders north-east Italy. A few friends and I are going to Lake Bled, (Alright, here's the link to google images, to save you the time Lake Bled Slovenia ) It's not a place I ever thought about visiting, but it seems like a nice break from the hustle of the city and I'm excited to go into uncharted waters (I don't know anyone who's been there and literally, it's a lake.... sorry for the bad pun.) We're also stopping in Venice on the way back for Carnival, it should be a fun time!

More trips for this month? Well you'll be hearing about Barcelona and Munich soon as well! 

   

I'm looking forward to tomorrow... the weather's warming up! Looks like a high of 37 F with 21 mph winds! Bring it on Italy. 

Stuck inside but it's still the superbowl!

Alas, again we found ourselves holed into the apartment on this windy cold Sunday. Many stores on Sundays are already shut down, but with the cold weather it seems the whole of florence has shut down by the afternoon! However, I do have some pictures to make my day seem a little bit more interesting!

I made fried apples per Grandmommy's recipe! A perfect warm treat on a cold day.

Kenan treated our apartment to (don't worry about it) 1 kg of gelato. Perfect especially since my gelato count hasn't been moving much with this weather!

   

Plus, I got to skype with some beautiful people. 

And last but not least it IS Superbowl Sunday so of course we had to celebrate! A group of us headed to the Club House bar where we got to sit with good ol' American chicken wings and beer and watch the football game. Granted, the one difference was that the game started at 12:30 AM and we left after the halftime show (2:15ish...) It was a long night but entertaining nonetheless. It's good to know that you can find classy Americans even in an international city! (note the dripping sarcasm, but it was a good show for us when the game was grasping our attention) The one disappointment is that ESPN America does not have the classic commercials so feel free to send me the best ones! The only commercial we enjoyed was the one advertising the UNC vs. Dook game this week... not sure how we're going to swing watching that game, but we're working on it!

So come out of the cave...

Today I finally ventured out of our (slightly) warm hole of an apartment and did a little adventuring. Well, ok, not so much of an adventure, but more like a trek through Siberian winds to the Accademia to see Mr. David. The museum is incredibly unassuming considering it holds one of the most famous sculptures in the world. I almost missed it because this is all you can see from the outside...

 The museum itself is much smaller than I expected! There are a few galleries but it's clear the show stopping part is Michaelangelo's David. I cruised through the museum in less than an hour (I'm thankful for the few crowds and my museum card!) but next time I go back I'll bring some sort of book or audio guide so I can fully appreciate all the works the museum has to offer!
      
After running some errands to the bookstore and grocery store I came back and made some chicken and pasta (classic menu of my life right now). I got a treat at the grocery store today which was boxed hot chocolate just to check it out. As I've talked about before, hot chocolate here is essentially hot chocolate pudding... and delicious. I found a box mix at the store and it actually turned into this creamy hot chocolate I so much prefer over American hot chocolate. Wrapping up the night watching The Wedding Date with the roommates made for a great day! 

Lazy Days

Not much to report from today! I slept in (which was much needed) and having a bit of an off day, I decided to stay in and mosey around the apartment. The day did get better though when we headed out to dinner at a recommended restaurant to us, Baldovino. We were so impressed with this restaurant; it was small, inviting and had a great relaxing atmosphere which is just what we wanted to start out the weekend! All of us had great dishes and I had a pumpkin and potato gnocchi with cheese sauce which was delicious. It's always a good sign when restaurants have a seasonal menu and it didn't disappoint! We wrapped up our meal with two desserts: a piece of chocolate cake and a piece of cheesecake with strawberries on top. I didn't take pictures (I semi-regret this) but the desserts knocked my socks off. They make the desserts in the restaurant and I do believe it was one of the best pieces of cheesecake I've ever had! 

                             

We came back to the apartment stuffed and happy and we curled up and watched When Harry Met Sally to end the night. Hopefully tomorrow will be more exciting and bring a good day...even with the never ceasing chilly weather! 

One perk of where we live is a huge wall outside with advertisements of things going on in the city... yes I want to go to this one especially!