Florence

Next stop on the family vacation: Florence, Italy

The Ponte Vecchio

My first experience in Florence was a rather exciting taxi ride. Italians are crazy drivers!  On our 15 minute ride from the airport to our hotel we almost killed a pigeon, hit a moped and ran into a few people...thankfully we got to the hotel safe and sound and nobody was hurt.  The hotel was amazing, it was part of an old castle that has been redone into a hotel and was only a few minutes walk from the Duomo.  

The Duomo

Our hotel, Hotel Brunelleschi

After getting to the hotel we went walking around to find dinner. We found a really good restaurant right on the water with a view of the Ponte Vecchio. Our waiter did this fancy thing with our wine (which was served in HUGE glasses) where he poured a bit in each glass and swirled it around for a while and then finally poured it for Dad to taste and approve and then we all got a pour. It was pretty fancy...we think it was so that when you drink out of the glass you smell the wine instead of the glass...but it very well could just be for kicks too. Either way it was pretty cool, and quite delicious. The food there was delicious and the view at night was really beautiful. It was a good start to the trip. 

After dinner we walked around the city and checked out the Duomo at night when there wasn't the usual crowd of people around. The Duomo is huge and really pretty, it still amazes me to think of these amazing buildings being built so long ago and how much time and money were put into them! 

 

It was raining the next morning, but that didn't stop us from exploring the city on our only day there. So we headed to begin our climb up the Duomo. 463 steps and a few rest stops later we made it to the top and got a major payoff.  The view of the city from above was really amazing...even if it was pouring rain.  

After the Duomo we decided to check out the markets that Florence is so famous for. We first went to the San Lorenzo market. I've never seen so much leather in one place. Because of the rain everyone was making deals...I was even offered 300% off a leather jacket!  The sales people in the market are crazy...you can't even look at something in their booth without them shoving it in your face and telling you what a good 'deal' they will give you. But it was fun to see all the leather bags, wallets, jackets and anything else you can think of.  Mom got a really nice leather bag after a bit of bargaining with the very persistent sales man. 

San Lorenzo market in the rain

Mom with the Italian salesman and her beautiful new bag!

After the goods market we went to the food market, Mercato Centrale. They have some crazy things in here like cow faces, cow testicles, chickens with their heads still on, brains etc.  They also had a lot of really good looking food, but the weird stuff was the most entertaining. 

After a bit of lunch (or gelato in Dad's case) we walked up to Michelangelo plaza. More cool views of the city, this time with the Duomo in it. We were pretty exhausted from all the walking up church domes and huge hills so we went back to the hotel to rest up a bit before meeting up with Sarah for dinner.

View from Michelangelo Plaza

6 pm and time to meet Sarah in front of the Duomo!!!!  So good to see her again : )  After meeting up we all walked around looking for a spot for dinner, Sarah and I mostly caught up while the rest of my family found the restaurant.  The waiter we ended up with loved to speak in 'texting' language...lots of OMGs and JKs.  I also got my diet coke in a huge goblet which surprised me because usually soda comes in very small doses here in Europe and with no refills. So that was a nice surprise.  After dinner Sarah, Dan and I went to sit on the steps of the Duomo and enjoy a 5 euro bottle of wine.  

Dinner with Sarah!

The next morning I woke up with an awful cold...luckily I got some extra sleep on our train ride to...CINQUE TERRE!!!   

The Ketelslegers come to Copenhagen!

First stop of the family vacation...COPENHAGEN!  

The family at Nyhavn

It was fun to be a tourist in Copenhagen again.  The first day my family was here we went to the Carlsberg Brewery to take the tour and enjoy a couple of beers at the end. The coolest parts of the tour were definitely the bottle collection and the horses at the end.  The bar there is also really nice, it was good to sit in there and relax with our beverages for a while.

After the brewery tour we went to see my apartment and then off to get some dinner. We went to a place on Nyhavn and it was delicious.   After dinner we went to the Dubliner to hangout and have a drink. Mom and Dad turned in early and Dan and I stayed out to revisit some of his old spots from when he studied here.  We ended up going to Heidi's, LA bar, Happy Pig and then the Dubliner again for some live music. To top off the night the band played one of the best songs ever, 'Wonderwall'.  Many other American classics were played...Dan and I were pretty sure we were the only ones in the bar who could truly appreciate them. 


The next day we headed to Hillerod to go to Frederiksborg Slot.  We had another sunny day so the castle and it's gardens were really beautiful. The museum inside the castle was pretty cool too.  There were a lot of portraits of all the royals from way back when and either there was a lot of inbreeding or the artists were really bad at proportions because there were some pretty creepy looking Danish Royals.

one of many creepy portraits in the museum

Mom and Dad at Frederiksborg Slot

The Chapel in the palace

Me and Mom in the gardens at Frederiksborg

When we got back to Copenhagen we walked around Amalienborg slot and went to see the little mermaid. Then it was time for some wonderful dinner on Nyhavn.  After dinner we headed back to the hotel and got ready to leave for Florence, Italy the next morning! 

Amalienborg Slot, the winter home of the Danish Royal Family

Me and mom with the little mermaid...it was really sunny and cold if you can't tell...

I'm on a boat!

The last couple of weeks have been busy with a cruise to Oslo, studying for a finance exam and then a visit from my family. So now its time for an update! First, the Oslo cruise....

It was AMAZING! The ship we were on was so nice. It had a movie theater, a couple nice bars, a night club, a couple of nice restaurants and of course a fully stocked duty free shop.  The first night on the boat we had dinner at one of the restaurants on the boat which was absolutely delicious. After that we went to 'Heaven 11', the nightclub on board for some karaoke and dancing. Alaina, Cat and I had a great time with the karaoke, however I'm not so sure the rest of the club enjoyed our singing as much as we did.  

our boat

The next morning we woke up, went to a wonderful buffet breakfast and then headed out to the deck of the ship to see the view as we got into Oslo.  It was so pretty and sunny!  A great start to the day!   Once we got into Oslo we went on a walking tour and then roamed around and saw the sites.  

We started at the old fortress. Very cool to walk around and see a bit of the city from the hill. 

The Opera House in Oslo is so cool. It is very modern, inside and out. You can even walk on the roof!

The palace in Oslo is at the end of the big shopping street. Its very nice and the guards are so friendly. They can even talk to people! 

We also went into one of the churches there, it was very different from the extravagant churches you see in other parts of Europe like Rome and Paris.  This one was very beautiful but much more understated. 

One thing I really noticed in Oslo is how blond everyone really is. It made me feel like I had dark hair!  

After our day in Oslo we made our way back to the boat for another great dinner and some more karaoke! The trip back to Copenhagen was much rockier than the trip to Oslo. I didn't feel the boat move at all the first night but the second night was really bad. It was hard to keep my balance sometimes. But I finally got used to it and had another great night.  I think Cat, Alaina and I were up for karaoke about every other person. Some of our best performances included 'Its rainin' men' , 'Livin' on a prayer', and 'Wannabe'.  

The next morning we had another buffet breakfast and then we were back in Copenhagen.  After that rocky boat it was nice to be on dry land again! 

London Calling

Arrived in London Tuesday night. Traveling had tired me and Alaina out so it was basically straight to bed that night after a bit of planning for the next day.

We started Wednesday with a visit to Buckingham Palace.  It was packed with tourists. I could only imagine how busy it will be during the royal wedding. Speaking of the royal wedding, I was taken aback by how many souvenirs there were of William and Kate. You could get anything you could possibly imagine with their faces on it. I saw tea towels, tea cups, plates, flags, t-shirts etc.  But anyway, after seeing Buckingham Palace we went to the nearby Hyde park to explore. We got so lucky with the weather, it was sunny and warm out so our stroll through the park was perfectly pleasant. After that we made our way back to see the changing of the guards. It was even more packed now and we really couldn't see anything. I wasn't very impressed but we gave it a good try!

Buckingham Palace

Me at Buckingham Palace

Then we walked to Big Ben, Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey. All of them were absolutely beautiful.  Big Ben was my favorite because all of the gold on the clock reflected in the sunlight and looked so pretty.  

Big Ben with the London Eye in the background

Westminster Abbey

After that we hiked over to Trafalgar square where we ate some lunch..outside...in the sun! Amazing. I attempted to climb up and get a picture with one of the lions but lacked the upper body strength to do so.  I got a nice picture with it anyway.  

Trafalgar Square

My sad attempt to get up by the Lion in Trafalgar Square

Alaina and myslef in Trafalgar Square

Our last stop of the day was Camden Lock Market.  It was so cool there.  Its basically just a bunch of little stands where people are selling anything and everything.  I bought a really beautiful silk scarf at one of the vintage shops. 

Camden Lock Market

One of my favorite stands at Camden Market, this guy made old bottles into wall clocks!

Alaina and I were exhausted after walking London south to north so we decided to hop on a double decker bus and head back to the hostel to freshen up for dinner. For dinner we went to The Shakespeare, a bar/restaurant not too far from our hostel. We had some delicious fish and chips there.  

Fish and Chips

After dinner we decided to hit up a sports bar to watch a football game and have a drink.  The bar we went to was called The Victoria and it had a surprisingly similar menu to The Shakespeare. Alaina and I quickly figured out that most of the bars named after famous Brits and with signs saying 'Real British Food Served Here' were all selling the same exact food at slightly different prices. Oh well..it was still delicious!  Anyway, this bar was quite funny.  Our orders of a chardonnay and cuba libre were too complicated for the bar tender.  I was first asked if chardonnay was a red or white wine and then he proceeded to hold up the bottle asking 'is this right?'. Then he said they couldn't make a cuba libre (rum and coke)...so he just whipped up something special for Alaina. After our 20 minute, rather hilarious, drink order we sat down and enjoyed a bit of football.  Then it was time to rest our feet and hit the hay. 

On Thursday we decided to buy a day pass for the Tube so we could go to a lot of the further away sites in a more efficient manner.  In the morning we hit up 221 Baker Street to see Sherlock Holmes' office, Abbey road to get a picture of us imitating the Beatles, and then to the Tower of London. 

Knocking on Sherlock Holmes' door at 221 Baker Street

Being annoying tourists and holding up traffic to get our picture at Abbey Road

The Tower of London was really interesting. My favorite part was seeing all of the crown jewels and everything they use in the coronation ceremony for crowning new kings and queens.  It's amazing how extravagant everything was. I think the coolest things included the largest diamond in the world, the ceremonial robe that weighed something like 12 lbs, and a golden tub that held 144 bottles of wine used at some ceremonial dinner.

Right outside the Tower of London was a great view of the Tower Bridge (not to be confused with the London Bridge which isn't cool at all) so we got our pictures with the bridge there.

The King, Queen and myself in the Tower of London

The Tower Bridge

After our tour through the Tower of London we headed over to St. Paul's cathedral. It was enormous and absolutely beautiful, but it costs way too much money to go inside so we went in as far as we could to get a peek of the inside which is also huge and really pretty.  There is a cafe in the crypt of the cathedral so we decided to take a break and get some afternoon tea there. After that we checked out the Globe Theater and then headed back to get ready for dinner. 

St. Paul's Cathedral

Having afternoon tea in the crypt of St. Paul's Cathedral

For dinner we went to the S&M cafe for some bangers and mash (sausage and mashed potatoes). It was another delicious meal...I don't understand why everyone says that food in England isn't anything special because I thought it was all absolutely perfect!

Bangers and Mash

After dinner we checked out a bar called Dirty Dicks. We saw that almost everyone in there was in a suit and there were hardly any women so we thought we would check something else out. On our way out we got pulled into a conversation with a couple of Barclays Bankers. They were quite entertaining. The one was trying to find the other  (his assistant at Barclays) a nice girlfriend...so obviously Alaina and I became the targets.  It was all good fun though. We learned a little bit more about the Brits and got some advice on not taking Ryanair unless you can hold your breath for the duration of the flight. 

Our last day in London was a bit more relaxed. We had kept so busy the first two days and were rather exhausted so being able to move slowly was nice. 

We first went to Hyde Park and walked a bit further in to see the Princess Diana Memorial fountain. It was really nice and the park just gets more beautiful as you get further in. One of my favorite parts about the park was that they have a walking path and a bike path like most parks but they also have a horse riding path. Very cool. 

At the Princess Diana Memorial fountain in Hyde Park

Then we walked to the Tate modern to check out some modern art. Some of it was really cool...but most of it was over  my head.  One of the pieces reminded me of the painting Karston made for me this Christmas ... maybe we've got a future artist on our hands?

Getting a cheese and mushroom crepe on our way to Tate Modern

These guys were making sculptures in the sand 

Dinner our last night, calamari very much retaining it's squid shape

What surprised me the most about our trip to London was how hard it was to communicate with people.  I figured there wouldn't be too much of a language barrier seeing as we were going to an English speaking country but I swear I was misunderstood more in London than I am in Copenhagen or even in Prague for that matter.  It must be the American accent (which someone, to my surprise, told me they very much liked while in Camden Lock Market). Also, it was very difficult getting used to crossing the street and which way you are supposed to look.  If it wasn't for the reminders on the street I think I may have walked right into a moving vehicle. 

These reminders were surprisingly useful

All in all London was a success.  All the walking was exhausting but definitely worth it. We got to see so much of the city which is really beautiful and we got to avoid the Tube, which is actually pretty miserable, cramped and hot. 

Now it's back to Copenhagen and the real world of studying for finals...at least until the Oslo Cruise!

London Eye and the Aquarium at night

Alaina and myself