no carb left behind

Greetings from international waters! We are currently aboard (yes, aboard) the Hotel Malardrottningen in Stockholm, Sweden. It is close to 1 a.m. here and the sky is only just darkening. Gotta love being this close to the North Pole.

Last time we blogged, we were getting ready to go to the Cinque Terre and Lake Como in Italy. Both sites were absolutely breathtaking...and waistline-increasing. We ate every delicious carb we could get hold of: spaghetti, ravioli, pizza, paninis, bruschetta, gelato, etc. To semi-compensate, we also decided to do the famous 5-6 mile hike starting in the little town we were staying at, Monterosso, and finishing five towns later in Riomaggiore. The sights were amazing!

Definitely got some of the best pictures of the trip from this adventure. The hike was pretty intense at times and left us and knowing that we would be sore the next day. Especially in the gluts region. It was like some serious StairMaster 5000 Italian style action. Very worthwhile nonetheless.

One particular highlight of the trip was meeting the owner of the Hotel Spiaggia, a wonderful man named Andrea who started the hotel himself in the 60s and runs it with his wife today. He gave us all the best insider tips and even treated us to some of his delicious locally-produced wine (we actually got to see his vineyards on our hike). Andrea is like an Italian version of the dad from "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" in that he repeats things very slowly for emphasis and is supremely proud of his native land (but sans a Windex remedy comparison unfortunately). According to Andrea, we got to stay in the same room that the Bush twins occupied 15 years ago. Fun fact, question mark? We definitely derived some amusement from this.

From there, we ventured to Como for the day, where we stayed long enough to tour the gorgeous lake, get as close to a George Clooney owned-property as we'll probably ever be and eat the best pizza of our lives.

Then we flew to Stockholm, which reminds us a lot of Amsterdam with its lovely canals and architecture. We're very excited to explore the land that brings the world the likes of IKEA and ABBA tomorrow. So far, Stockholm wins the prize for nicest people and best transportation system. More on that next time around, loyal blogees. Hej hej! (pronounced hey hey…which means bye bye…but also hello ha ha)

oui are lovin' the cote d'azur

Bonjour! When we last wrote, a kid sketchily biffed in front of us. Since then, much crazier and sketchier things have happened. Later that same day, however, was quite lovely. After blogging, we went to another one of Gaudi's creations, Casa Batllo, which was very hallucinogenic and cool. Afterwards, we went to an amusement park. Before the trip we were like "Hey, let’s just go to all the cool amusement parks in Europe and plan our trip around them. How sick would that be? What do you think Mom and Dad?"

Well, they weren't as into it but we still really wanted to hit the parks wherever we could find them (excluding EuroDisney cause that's just pointless when you live in L.A., no?) Thus, our decision to make the trip to Tibidabo (also featured in Vicky Cristina Barcelona!) which is a century old amusement park that sits atop a hill in front of a huge church with fabulous views, especially from the cute multi-colored 50s ferris wheel. While there, we went on multiple rides, including "El Huracan" which Monica called a death trap. It was the most intense ride ever so we departed a little more appreciative of our lives and the ground. That night, we went to dinner at a lovely restaurant that Gaudi also designed called Casa Calvet, where we had the best wine of our lives and obviously engaged in wonderful conversation.

Our last day in Barcelona was a bittersweet one, filled with more exciting activities. Obviously, we had to hit the aquarium before we left, so we did and we were very delighted by the Finding Nemo exhibit, where Nemo, Dori, Flo, and all the other fish in the movie are all in one tank. We got really excited when we saw it...so did all the 5 year olds. Later, we decided to indulge in some light shopping at TopShop, our favorite new store which could be described as H & M's cooler older sister. After, we had our final dinner at a Tapas Bar called Cerveseria Catalunya (which was another adventure in terms of finding a seat but we succeeded after hovering over an English couple who were intimidated by us so they left....or so we'd like to think.) And so ends our visit to Barcelona....or does it?

The next morning we woke up extra early to catch our train to Nice, but oh wait...the French trains decided to go on strike that day...for only one day. So we had no way of getting to Nice through train and were therefore delegated to the bus station. After this day, we were not huge bus fans…to say the least. Let us explain. We went to the bus station at 9 in the morning, but there were no seats left for the 9:30 train so we had to wait until 3 in the afternoon for the 11-hour bus ride to Nice....ouch. To kill the time, we went to a nearby cafe, where we stayed at for literally four hours reading. Finally, we got on our bus and were thankful that we had at least found another means of transportation. Two hours later on the French border, we were detained. They stopped the bus to check all of our passports and since the French police thought some people were sketchy, they had us get all of our stuff down from the bus and executed a full on drug search through our luggage. Also, for some reason they were quite suspicious of us (as in the Alba sisters, specifically) and thought we had entered the country illegally because we didn't have some stamps on our passports, which according to us you don't need. So they kept a handful of us outside the bus and we ended up being the only ones of our bunch to get back on the bus; the rest were sent back...super sketchhh!

A million random stops later, as well as awkward cafeteria breaks, we arrived in Nice at 2 in the morning. But they kind of just dumped us on the side of the street, not at a legit bus station and you see Nice is very desolate at 2 in the morning. (Unlike Barcelona, which is bumpin all night long.) We then called a taxi that drove us to our hostel and found our room after running into some sketchy characters in the hallway. Sketch was definitely the key word of the day. We then summarily passed out.

The next day was far more successful. Unable to see the beauty of the city the previous night, we were quite pleased by the quaint beach town. We decided to take a break from so much sightseeing to lay out on the beach, but only after we had an interesting breakfast where our waiter read our auras and signs...he actually said some eerily correct things. Anyway, then we tanned and read at the beach (Mo: “What is the What” by Dave Eggers; Lo: “”Renegade: The Making of a President by Richard Wolffe). That night we figured we were due for another outing, so we did some research on hotspots in Nice. We read a great description about a place entitled Blue Boy Enterprise. We decided to walk there, got a bit sketched out, realized that once we got in the taxi it was only a street away, then found out it was closed, got back in the taxi, taxi driver then told us it was in actuality a gay bar and we laughed a lot. He then redirected us to a less desolate part of town where we were pretty sure we ventured into a private karaoke party...needless, to say we did not participate. We promised to attempt a more successful outing the next night.

The following day we decided to take the 20 minute train ride from Nice to Cannes, where we took a cute train cinema tour about the international festival hosted annually there. That night we returned to Nice to have dinner and go out to the most popular bar, Wayne's. Wayne's turned out to be super touristy, but we still enjoyed ourselves and the DJ's funny remarks in the middle of each song.

We left Nice the next morning for Monaco, which is where we are now at and it is beautiful! The train ride was easy for the most part, besides the fact that our bags have somehow become impregnated and therefore are harder to haul up and down train station stairs. Regardless, we arrived in Monaco and were so amazed by the beauty of the tiny principality. Today, we visited the palace, as well as the oceanographic aquarium (what can we say? we love that stuff) before heading to the Monte Carlo casino for a quick visit to see where they filmed Casino Royale, the James Bond movie. It's pretty tight. We may or may not have also tried our hand at some gambling. Nothing too serious. Just a few slots and we ended up winning money! And tomorrow, we are headed to Italy, where more fun and adventure will surely occur.

Je t'aime fellow bloggers! Au revoirrrr!

we were taken...

...so aback by the beauty of Bruges and Barcelona that we have not been able to blog for days. Also, we have had bad luck at finding wifi spots. So, very sorry about that loyal readers. Anyway, we are now writing from a tiny travel bar in Barcelona where they are airing reruns of "The Lizzie McGuire Show" and the British owner is ragging on Prince's "Raspberry Beret." No joke.

Ok, so in the interest of catching everyone up, here's what we've accomplished since last we blogged:

- Climbed all 366 steps of Bruges' famous Belfort Tower. Almost had asthma attacks.
- Sampled some fine Belgian beer at de Halve Maan Brewery.

- Got drenched (once more) in the suddenly schizo European weather.
- Imbibed delicious chocolatey drinks at the Bar Choc.
- Purchased delicious chocolate at the Chocolate Line....ate delicious chocolates purchased at the Chocolate Line (do you see a theme here?)
- Dined at a restaurant that did beer pairings with every course. Brilliant.
- Left Bruges (sad face) for literally the quickest tour of Brussels on the planet. Spent approximately two hours (a.k.a our train layover time) touring the greatest hits: the Grand Place, Mannekin Pis and a Chocolate MUSEUM! (again, there's that theme...) - Took another train to Paris in order to catch our third train of the day, which was our first overnight train ever from Paris to Barcelona.
- Almost died of laugh attack when Monica attempted to open the little door in our private train compartment because we thought it was a bathroom. It was sketchily padlocked, which we couldn't understand and therefore tried to break open. Obviously. Several unsuccessful blows to the door later, we gave up and sat back down. Amidst the silence, we started hearing an elderly version of Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem (could it be? We had found Penelope after all?) arguing incredibly loudly in Spanish. Then, completely audibly, we heard the wife tell her husband that some crazy people were trying to break into their cabin and would not stop attacking the door. Um, oops. So that wasn't a bathroom after all? Loreli started convulsing with laughter and Mon mostly just couldn't believe what she had just done. We then strategically barricaded ourselves in so as to not incur the wrath of the elderly and laughed our whole way across France. Lesson learned: padlocked doors in train compartments are not always bathrooms. - Slept quite soundly and woke up in Barcelona very excited to spend five days exploring the city.

Upon arrival, we decided to hit the most important Barcelona tourist activity: Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi's "La Sagrada Familia," an enormous church that has been under construction for the last century and is only expected to be completed sometime in the next two decades. It. Was. Astounding. Unlike any religious building we had ever seen. We spent a good three hours there and loved the views from the church's highest bell towers.

That night, we ate one of the best meals so far at a restaurant near our hotel called Pla. It was a tiny little joint and we liked it so much we are thinking about going back before we leave. The next day, we hit "La Pedrera," another one of Gaudi's masterpieces, which is home to the supposed inspiration for the soldiers/guards/weird white helmet men in the Star Wars saga. Pretty cool. Then we went to the Joan Miro museum, which was also lovely, and finished off the night eating at Les Quinzes Nits and having the life-changing Cataluyan dessert. Mmm.

Around 1 a.m., we were like, what should we do now? Go out maybe? Yeah, ok. So we got ready and went to a crazy club called Razzmatazz. It was located in a gigantic warehouse and had at least five different floors/areas with different kinds of music. We made some cheeky British friends and danced the night away...into the morning. We were also very amused that Juliette Lewis was apparently playing at the club that night, but only saw her for a few minutes. Which was actually enough. Left around 5 a.m., very happy to have met our friends from across the pond but even more excited to go to sleep.

The next day began, well, in the afternoon. We woke up late, had a fabulous brunch at a little place called Milk, and headed to El Camp Nou, home to FC Barcelona (2009 champs! Woo!), where we toured their museum and wished we could be water girls for the team.

Then, we hiked (literally, hiked...) to Parc Guell, another wondrous Gaudi creation. From there, we went to dinner at a hole-in-the-wall tapas bar called Inopia where we had to wait about an hour just to get a spot at the bar. This is how this place works: there's a bouncer in a funny fedora who writes your name on a chalkboard when you arrive. Then, depending on how many people are ahead of you, you wait in a crowd and watch the lucky fools inside the restaurant eat delicious food from behind a roped off section. We had semi-calculated which spot at the bar was going to be ours, judging from the couples who were leaving, and were so excited it was a place that actually had stools.

Literally two minutes before our name was called, some other people from inside the restaurant took the stools because, you see, half the restaurant stands and half gets the good fortune of a wobbly stool. Well, naturally, we were then shown to our little bar space sans stools. Irony abounded. We had just stood for about an hour waiting to get in, we had seen the little stools with our eyes and been so excited to sit upon them and then poof. They were gone. Oh well. At least we could stand AND eat now. So we started ordering and were delighted with the first few dishes, achy feet and all. Monica was watching the other stools like a hawk and POUNCED the moment a couple from across the restaurant got up. Then she had the fun task of dragging the stools super awkwardly as everyone watched, probably thinking "Damn. She's a desperate hungry woman." All true. Seated at last, we were very happy and had a delicious meal.

We had to finish in time to make it to the flamenco show we had gotten tickets for earlier that day. The show, though a bit touristy, was very entertaining. Of course, it would not have been a Monica and Loreli outing without our typical laugh attacks at inappropriate moments such as when the male flamenco dancers come out in their Fabio hair and sparkly onesies. Anywayyyy, it was another great night in Barcelona, which brings us to today. (Ahh! Finally!). Sorry blog world, we promise to be more on top of it in the coming weeks. Maybe. Ok, hasta luego! Besos!

Whoa. Literally just saw a kid biff horrendously right before our eyes in the travel bar. Awkkkk. Ok, now this blog post really is complete. Byeeeeee!

bruges bound

Hallo from the Belgian countryside! At the moment, we are on a train to Bruges. Leaving Amsterdam this morning was quite bittersweet as we both agreed that our first stop was extremely pleasant and all in all a successful and productive three days. But, alas, we venture on to the next city in our agenda which we will be staying at for a couple of days before we go down to Barcelona. We are very excited about the prospect of going to a city that is sunny and over 65 degrees because Amsterdam though beautiful was super chilly and rainy. To our dismay, we have had to engage in outfit-repeating due to lack of arguably poor weather anticipation. It’s June, Europe. What gives? Nevertheless, we had a great time in the Netherlands.

When we last blogged, we had said that an exciting evening was in store for us…we are here to confirm that the evening was quite exciting indeed because we know you all were really interested and worried about that. We went to this crazy restaurant called SupperClub which Lonely Planet recommended and it was nutsss. Apparently there are other SupperClubs around the world but the Amsterdam location is the original. Our concierge Tim told us that the place was quite casual…translation for Mo and Lo: no apparent need to change out of our Pumas and Converse, respectively. However, upon arrival, we wished we had thought better of it. We were prepared for a pretty atypical dining experience, as the LP description indicated there would be live entertainment during our meal among other surprises. Nowhere in the description though did it mention that this “experience” would exceed five hours and include various dj sets, mandatory shoe removal and a drag diva singing such hits as “Aint No Mountain High Enough” with a noticeable accent. Oh, and the whole restaurant was one giant wrap-around bed with pillows that made us both want to sleep between courses. Somewhere between a delicious fish course and ridiculously tender meat course (P.S. the menu is fixed and they do not tell you what you are eating, and only do so reluctantly upon badgering inquiry, which Mo of course insisted on) the whole restaurant/club (it really is like a nightclub for foodies) started jumping and dancing on their respective mattresses, rocking out to none other than that song that just keeps repeating: ‘[insert female nationality here] they get crazzzzy na nann nana na na.” Naturally, we obliged, validating the song’s lyrics as proud Latinas. That night, we had our best sleep yet and kissed jet lag goodbye.
The next morning, we ventured to Amsterdam’s two most famous museums: the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum. The latter was definitely our favorite and sure to be a highlight of this trip because of one very special reason. Though usually displayed at MOMA in New York City, Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” was on special loan for an exhibition called “Van Gogh’s Colors of the Night” to our great surprise and delight. Not to mention we also happened to visit on the last day of the exhibit. Seeing as how it was pouring rain by the time we were done, we thought it only fitting to purchase a “Starry Night” umbrella to complement our sketchy 90s Adidas umbrella. Still, we got totally soaked because we did not want to leave the area without seeing Vondel Park and walked through a torrential downpour to see it. We were glad we did though because it is certainly one of the prettiest and most lush parks we have seen.

We then got a bit lost, but luckily found refuge in a coffeeshop and realized we were starving and wanted to try Indonesian food upon Catherine Lyons’ fabulous recommendation. Unfortunately, the place we found in our little book was closed on Sunday (boo) but fortunately, there were six other Indonesian restaurants on the street (yay). We picked one that was tiny and inviting and had received one of the best introductions we could ask for to a type of food we’d never tasted before. Unbelievably delicious.

We left very satisfied and exhausted from walking all over in the inclement weather so we decided to head back to the hotel to “rejuvenate” and ended up just sleeping the night away, which was for the best since we had an early morning check-out and departure for Bruges. Just for good measure, we made sure to have some last-minute Dutch pancakes at a little place near the train station. Very excited to move on to the next phase of breakfast delicacies in the next city: Belgian waffles, chocolate and beer (or any combination of the three).

Ok, dag! (That means goodbye in Dutch!)

an amsterdam(n) good time

Greetings from the lands of Nether. After a stuffy 11-hour plane ride and beautiful 4-hour train ride, we finally arrived in our first city on the agenda: Amsterdam. The old train station's exterior was amazing architecturally (in fact, most buildings we pass are quite misleading. Example: "Oh that must be a church or some sort of important government building...um, it's a shopping center? Wait...wha?") After taking a much-needed and longer-than-intended nap at our hotel, which fortunately was walking distance from the station, we decided to explore the streets of Amsterdam. We ventured out at 9 p.m. and it was still perfectly light outside and continued to be for a couple hours after that. It was sketch, yet helpful. We wandered over to the Red Light District to find something to eat...and, of course, ended up seeing a lot more than anticipated along the way. Truly mind-boggling stuff.

At the restaurant, Mon almost ordered schnitzel, but then thought better of it. If anyone really recommends it, then i guess we'll try it...not a guarantee though. The restaurant/bar was a pretty cool scene. We saw videos of Beyonce that appeared to never have been released in the states and listened to throwbacks like "Hey Yeah" and "Sitting on the Dock of the Bay"(ok, some more throwbacky than others). Then we roamed to the De Wallen area and were surprised by the "landmarks" there. We had stroopwaffels that were super delish to round out our eventful first night.

Jet lag proved to be a latent enemy that woke us up crazy early this morning:6 a.m. For those of you who know us even a little bit, Mo and Lo do not wake up at 6 a.m...ever...this would only happen if there was a Tina Fey book-signing (Monica) or some sort of Harry Potter event...it could really been anything Harry Potter-related(Loreli). But, yes, this morning it happened and it happened naturally, which was the weirdest part. We were quite bemused, but decided to take advantage of the time gained (well, first we kind of hung out watching unknown MTV videos) to get ready for the day.

We walked to the Anne Frank house, which is where she and her family went into hiding during World War II. We were able to walk through the secret annex they stayed in and see the original diary, a.k.a. Kitty. It was very moving and we were glad to have done it. Then we got pancakes at "Pancakes!" It was a very delightful hole-in-the-wall establishment with only about 6 tables. Mon ordered this crazy pancake pie and Lo ordered pancakes with brie, chicory and ham. Both were a tasty shock to the taste buds. After, we decided to find a boat tour...didn't succeed for a while but got a nice walking tour of the Southern Canal District. We finally found a canal cruise, which was quite relaxing after having walked a lot. Then we went back to the City Centre to try out a real Amsterdam gem: Abraxas Coffeshop...yum...and now we're in an internet cafe blogging!

It's officially day 2 of our trip and we are having a blast! It's been everything we hoped for and more. We are especially proud of our productivity and city-navigating skills, Mom and Dad. Tonight promises to be a very fun evening...more on that later!

XOXO,

Amsterdam Girls

"you guys look like turtles"

It is the night/wee morning hours before we take off on our European adventure. T. Rex's "Bang a Gong" was blasting from my newly assembled EUROPE '09 PLAYLIST when Monica and I decided to do a test run with our new rolly slash backpacky slash turtle-inspired eagle creek bags!

This is by far the most appropriate picture we took...all others were of us crawling on the ground like turtles (mother was our photographer/director)....that may seem weird to you but it is 1:30 in the morning and Mon really procrastinated packing so this is about the time where we get loopy and jokingly panicky and do strange things. Thus turtle pictures are too embarrassing to post...maybe we'll recreate once there....maybe not.

Anywayssss...we leave at 2:00 pm from San Francisco on a direct flight to Frankfurt (we like to call it Frankfart and might be referring to it as such in future posts...we hope that offends no one) and will then be hopping on a train immediately Amsterdam-bound. Once there, we intend to eat at the Pancake house everyone has been recommending. Any other suggestions? We'll be there for three days! Can't wait! Peace and love, San Jo!