Chez Pascal

There are 3 simple things to follow when you visit my family: eat, laugh, love.  I love food but I usually eat small portions, however this completely goes out the window when I'm here.  There is constantly food and it is consistently amazingly delicious. My uncle is the main chef of the house and boy is he amazing at what he does.  Here are a few pictures of the meals we enjoyed!

Making Gnocchi

Gnocchi with la Daube 

My beautiful sister with fresh Baguette, 

garden grown tomato, mozzarella, basil salad, and ham cold cuts

Banana flambe

Okay these next few weren't homemade but I just had to show you the delicious food!

Fresh calamari grilled with salad

Chichi au sucre from my mom and aunt's childhood

Jus de pomme et fraise, tea, and macaroons

Bonne Appetit!

Ensemble, c'est tout

A trip to Europe meant a visit to my family in the south France, and after Ireland a high dose of vitamin D was needed! Seeing my family is always a great time and it was even nicer that my mom came from Toronto as well as Lucile from Berlin.  The first weekend, my cousin joined us with her husband and 3 kids. We spent our time catching up, eating, laughing, and swimming.

La Provence

Making homemade Gnocchi

Pool time

On Tuesday, we went into Marseille to eat fresh seafood by the ocean.  It was the most excellent fish I've ever had! Afterwards we went to check out the Calanques, this rock formation along the coast is absolutely stunning. 

Les Calanques

The rest of the trip was lovely, we spent time at the beach, as well as with my two other cousins in Nice.  Can't wait to come back!

La Famille

Ireland Part Two

The Irish are known for enjoying beer, perhaps just a stereotype, it most definitely wasn't one among my friends.  Guinness is THE Irish beer and is definitely an acquired taste.  Although I personally am not a huge fan of it I was still very keen on visiting the brewery in downtown Dublin.  The experience was a lot of fun, the storehouse is beautiful and full of history and finishes at the top of the building in a circular glass room overlooking all of Dublin.  By the end of it I knew the different components that make up this famous beer as well as how to pour a perfect pint, I might even go as far as to say I started to enjoy the taste!

Me and Ian

View of Dublin from the top of the storehouse

For the rest of my time in Dublin, I spent time at Trinity College visiting Ciara and Niall while they did various things for Fresher week as well as wandering through the city and enjoying the night life. The day before I left Ciara, Niall, Ian, Ricardo, and I went for a beautiful hike at Glendalough.  Not far outside Dublin this beautiful site is the natural Ireland you would imagine. 

Glendalough

Left to Right: Ricardo, Ian, me, Niall

Glendalough

Overall this trip was amazing and wouldn't have been the same without the hospitality of Ciara, Niall, and especially Ian. I will definitely be back!

Ireland Part One

Last summer my job was made a lot more fun when a few of the staff members were Irish people who had come to Toronto for the season to work. After a fantastic summer we said our goodbyes and hoped we'd see each other again.

Dublin

After visiting my sister I headed over to Dublin to see Ian, Ciara, and Niall! As soon as I got in we went out and I got to experience the night life.  It was really fun and made great promise for what to expect for the rest of the trip. Ciara and Niall were quite busy with back to uni stuff, so on Monday Ian took me to Killkenny. Just an hour and a bit outside of Dublin, we saw the Dunmore Caves and the Killkenny Castle, followed by dinner with Ian's sister. We then headed to his farm where I met his parents, brother and fiancee, and one of his childhood friends.  Everyone was so friendly and kind, I truly felt at home!  My favourite part was when everyone went to bed, Ian took me on a night stroll of the property.  Although it was cloudy and we couldn't see the stars, it luckily wasn't raining (quite impressive for Ireland!).

Dunmore Caves

Dunmore Caves

Ian and his lovely mother

The next day we walked through a beautiful forest and explored more of his land, even though it was raining it added to the charm of this beautiful country!

Ian at his farm

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After we said our goodbyes we headed back to Dublin... more on that on the next post!

Ich bin in Berlin

Lucile, my sister, moved to Berlin about 6 months ago for work and I had not seen her since (far too long!). Even though I've been here twice before it was nice this time to stay a little longer and live the local life more. The first weekend here we went to the Berlin Festival, which took place in Tempelhof Airport-an airport turned into a park.  It was a really cool venue and the best act was by far Bjork who at 47 put on the most amazing live show.  The other days we did a combination of tourist things such as visiting Check point Charlie, Brandenburg Gate, Reichstag, the Berlin wall, while also taking in the local Berlin culture by going to parks, wandering the streets, eating delicious food, and going to bars.

At the Berlin Festival

Berlin Festival at Tempelhof Airport

Berlin Cathedral and Tv Tower

Reichstag- Parliament Building 

Lucile and I inside the Reichstag Dome

Me and Lucile at the Brandenburg Gate

Berlin Wall

I missed my sister dearly but I am so glad to see how well she's doing here in Berlin.  Hopefully it won't be another 6 months before we see each other again!

Grecian Summer

Ellie and I at the Acropolis!

This summer I was quite lucky to get to return to Greece and on top of it all to get to celebrate my 21st birthday there! If you asked me if this is where I thought I'd be a year ago when this crazy wild adventure started, I'd actually say yes... I had always intended on spending some time in Greece during the summer with my best friend Ellie who was aupairing in Paris.

I arrived in Athens the day of my birthday and right away I ignored the fact that I had just flown 10 hours and there was an 7 hour time difference.  We spent a few days in Athens, and then went on a day trip to Delphi. We then boarded a ship and sailed away on the Aegean sea to the islands of Santorini and Ios. It was spectacular!! Spending time with my best friend of 10+ years and getting to see Greece again...I am one lucky girl :)

The Oracle of Delphi

Santorini

Most Amazing Sunset at Oia

View from our hotel in Ios

Funniest meal with the best friend

If you ever get a chance to go to Greece check out the Cyclades, these islands have a great reputation for a reason!

Love,
Clara

London Calling

Me and Big Ben..

And so here I was in London, my last stop before returning to Canada after four months of adventures in Europe. The weather was as expected, but I think the rain and grey sky added to the charm of the city lol. I met a guy named Michael in Berlin who lives in London so he gave me a grand tour of all the major sites of the city- Globe Theater, London Bridge, London Eye, Big Ben, Westminster, Buckingham palace, Piccadilly Circus... I went to the British Museum to see the marbles of the Parthenon that Lord Elgin stole from the Greeks, it was nice to come full circle and see the missing pieces after having visited Athens in November. My last few days in Europe were very bittersweet, I was excited to go home for Christmas but really sad to leave Europe and this crazy adventure behind. I'm really glad I always pushed through and made the best of every situation :)

Love,

Clara

The tube

Michael (my tour guide) and me infront of Buckingham Palace

Viennnaa

Vienna was beautiful!
My Canadian friend Nicole who I met in Rome was studying in Vienna for a semester so I got to see her again :) The first day I was there was great! We went to the Freud Museum, then we had the famous Sachertorte chocolate cake, and finally that night we went to the Opera to see Mozart's Enchanted Flute.
It was exam period for Nicole so it was nice that Jason (the Aussie guy from Berlin) came to Vienna too. We visited the palace, went to christmas markets, ate a lot of food, and just overall enjoyed the city.
I'm really glad I made this stop and Im really grateful Nicole was such a good host!

Freud's Office

Sachertorte! Yummy :)

Nicole and I at the Christmas Market

Berlin

Flag of Berlin

I headed to Berlin to meet up with one of my good friends Tyler who I met in Athens and later saw in Paris. This was his last stop and I really wanted to see him again before he headed back to good old Oregon.

I think everyone agrees when I say Berlin is the best city to just live, no need to make a check list of must sees, you just need to live day to day experiences. It has this vibe that's hard to explain but impossible to resist.

I got to experience the underground club scene as well as get a great history of the city and the country on a walking tour and just enjoy the great people and places of Berlin. One day I had the chance to visit Sachsenhausen concentration camp just outside of Berlin, which was not only used by the Nazis but also during the soviet union, I had a really great tour guide that made the experience very interesting.

Chocolate Brandenburg Gate!!

Me with part of the Berlin Wall in the background.

Oh and I met this interesting Australian fellow named Jason who decided to join me in Vienna...