Walking on Water in Amsterdam

…well FROZEN water! All over Europe, the Arctic front swept in and temps DROPPED to super icy lows…this meant that not only did a fresh layer of snow cover Amsterdam but the canals became a wintry plateau for us to walk on! I have been looking forward to walking on the canals ever since I stumbled upon a postcard a few years ago of people skating on Amsterdam’s canals. Judging from the clothing of the ice skaters on the postcard it was clearly the 80’s, so it’s been quite a while for Amsterdammers to see the canals freeze over. Whelp…THIS WAS MY YEAR!

I was like a giddy little child hopping around the canals, through bridges and sliding in my boots. It was absolutely UNREAL to experience this and was hands-down one of my favorite Amsterdam moments. Our first walk was an incognito trip after work, just as the sun went down and the lights surrounding the bridges starting to light up—beautiful. Last weekend, Christian, some friends and I spent 5 glorious hours walking up and down the canals, picking up 1 EUR cups of steamy gluhwein on the way. People were selling pea soup, sausages, hot chocolate and even set up subwoofers in some places for passers-by to get their dance on and warm up a bit—so cool. We managed to catch a glimpse of the speed-skating race on Keizersgracht, but so did 5000 other people (its rare to see 5000 people in Amsterdam! And this city is not catered for THAT many people)…our afternoon of wintry wandering was most certainly the highlight of the weekend! Take a peek!


SIDE NOTE: Oh oh oh oh!!! My best friend Smitty is en route to Amsterdam right this second!! We’re off to Prague for the weekend followed by 8 glorious days frolicking around Amsterdam (her third visit in a year and a half!)…these cold Amsterdam temps are no contest for what Czech is giving us though…-10 is on the horizon! Eeeek! We’ll find a way to deal with it ;) muahahaha! Enjoy your weekend!! Stay bundled up…and well if you’re in a warm place, you better be lounging on the beach ;)

 

{Christian obviously ELATED that his boat is frozen ABOVE the water and not below it :)}

{Speed skating race}

Timeline of Our Across-the-World Lovin’!

Happy Valentine’s Day you lovebirds!! I love Valentine’s Day because it’s not only the time to spend with the one that you love, but the people that ya love! I spent plenty of Valentine’s days eating my favorite chocolates with my mom or watching the sunset with my best friends. But I DO have a little lovebug to spend this year with :). Tonight, Christian and I will be cuddling up next to the fireplace at a cozy little Irish bar in Amsterdam (pub food is delicious!) and my last name is O’Banion, gotta represent the Irish at all times! (Google 'Dion O’Banion', yep MOBSTER!)

But but but!!! I have a little Valentine’s treat for you guy…a little look at Christian and I’s transatlantic love that we had to endure for a full 365 days :(…but it wasn’t all that bad :). After Christian and I spent 6 awesome months as exchange students in Finland, we had to return back to our respective countries and do long-distance FOR A WHOLE YEAR!!! Luckily, we got to jetset out and see each other quite a bit! Then that wonderful day in June 2008 came and I hopped on the plane to reunite with my Dutchy once and for all!

Have a fun-filled day of love!!

MET IN FINLAND

JANUARY 2007

I left my warm beaches behind and arrived in Finland in the dead of winter in January with with an open passport, open mind and open heart. Actually I spent a few days in Amsterdam before I continued on to Finland :). Christian had just arrived from the Netherlands…and then we met, aaaand we were basically smitten from first sight! :)

OUR FIRST DATE

JANUARY 2007

We spent the afternoon walking amongst frozen Finnish lakes, drinking hot chocolate and ended the night when he made me dinner.

WE SPENT ONE OF OUR FIRST TRIPS EXPLORING THE ARCTIC CIRCLE, FINLAND

FEBRUARY 2007

We took the train for 12 hours to Northern Finland and spent a few days snowmobiling and dogsledding!

OUR FIRST OVERSEAS TRIP TO SWEDEN

APRIL 2007

We joined two of my friends from California on the 17-hour party cruise from Helsinki to Stockholm! Cruising through the Swedish archipelago watching the sunset, karaoke to Finnish music and a ball pit? It’s more romantic than you think! :) It was a blast!

IT WAS TIME TO LEAVE FINLAND, BUT I STOPPED TO VISIT HIM IN THE NETHERLANDS

JUNE 2007

We said our goodbyes to our new friends and 6 amazing months in Finland. But I visited Christian in his hometown (Maastricht, NL) for a week (ironically, my return flight left from Amsterdam)! I met his friends, family, we celebrated his birthday and he took me on a roadtrip to Luxembourg. Then we said our tearful goodbyes as I returned back to California...boo hoo :(.

I TOOK A 10-DAY BREAK FROM THE FALL SEMESTER AND WENT OUT FOR A VISIT!

SEPTEMBER 2007

We planned on not seeing each other until November but we just couldn’t help it! One-ticket to Amsterdam, please! We drove around the Netherlands visiting cute Dutch villages and we soooo stoked to see each other after 3 months apart.

…THEN HE CAME OUT FOR A VISIT! CALIFORNIA, VEGAS & A REAL AMERICAN THANKSGIVING :)

NOVEMBER 2007

His first trip to America!! And it meant we got to wiggle our toes in the California sand, visit Vegas, San Francisco and celebrate a good ol’ American Thanksgiving with my whole family.

WINTER BREAK + EXTRA AIR MILES MEANT I GOT TO VISIT AGAIN FOR 3 WEEKS! AND WE WENT TO BRUGES, BELGIUM

JANUARY 2008

I got to celebrate New Year’s Eve with him and his friends while we drank into the wee morning hours. Then he surprised me with a trip to Bruges, Belgium, for my birthday :).

SPRING BREAK AND EVEN MORE AIR MILES MEANT 10 DAYS IN EUROPE AGAIN! AND A WEEKEND IN VIENNA, AUSTRIA

APRIL 2008

At this point, I was accepted to the University of Amsterdam, got the great news about my scholarship and just had to go for another visit (I also got to move some stuff over..hehe)! My Dutchy took me to Vienna, Austria, to celebrate that we’d be united in 2 short months!

COLLEGE GRADUATION: CHECK—BAGS PACKED: CHECK—READY TO MOVE TO EUROPE: CHECK!

JUNE 2008

I finally boarded my one-way flight bound for Holland! After graduating from college, packing my bags, and spending 2 weeks with family and friends, I was on my way. My parents came out a few weeks later and we roadtripped around Belgium and Germany. We spent the first half of the summer lounging in Maastricht and watching European Cup hysteria hit the Netherlands, camping in Belgium with his family, soaking up the thermals baths in Budapest and he took me to see my favorite band (Death Cab for Cutie!), which just so happend to be playing in Amsterdam that summer. The below pic was the day we moved in! We spent the remaining part of the summer getting to know our new city we’d call home, Amsterdam…Home Sweet Holland!!

And now…5 years later (almost 4 years since I moved to Amsterdam!) and we are oh-so-happy and ENGAGED!!

Sicily Pt I: Palermo, Taormina & The Best Pasta We've Ever Had

After spending a couple of days getting lost in Florence, making a friend of Zach the World Traveler (who joined us on the plane to Sicily!), we arrived pretty late in the Sicilian town of Palermo...and we were starving. It was nearly midnight once we found our hostel tucked behind the backstreets of bustling Palermo, but our hostel owner assured us that we could sneak around the corner to a small place and get a meal. Not one person was sitting inside, beads were draped over the open door and some cheesy Italian music was blasting from the radio in the back--not your ideal Italian restaurant right? WRONG! We sat down, pointed at 'vino 1 Liter' and with a few hand swishes and no English words, we somehow figured out that the chef would prepare us whatever he liked--this may have been the best miscommunication I've ever experienced! The three of us waited patiently for our meal to arrive and then suddenly, there it was, 3 heaping plates of spaghetti slathered in olive oil, tomatoes, garlic and pepper. Such a simple dish, no? Once the spaghetti hit our tastebuds, we ooooo'd and aaaaah'd at the sheer deliciousness! How could such simple ingredients be combined in such a magnificent way? Then and there we agreed that it was most certainly the best spaghetti we've ever had. 

The city itself was quite crazy--vespas, cars, and Sicilians swishing off in every direction. We weren't dying to visit Palermo as it was just where we had to fly in to, but we managed to squeeze in a little stroll down the fish market and to the catacombs. Although not the most beautiful city, it was still that city with the place that had the most amazing spaghetti the 3 of us have ever had. We had hoped to squeeze in one more helping of that delicious plate of spaghetti but 'damn its closed!' was our fate, then we were off! Our next stop was Cefalu, a charming little village on the north side of Sicily. Cefalu was AMAZING which is why I decided to dedicate one post to it. After Cefalu though, we hopped on the train bound for Taormina, a hilltop gem in the wake of Mt. Etna. The train ride itself was quite a treat--we peered out the window watching as we rolled past endless blue/green/crystal clear coastlines with rolling green hills at our backs. 

Four hours later, we set foot in Taormina. We were just in time to grab a meal of ham 'n cheese tortellini and the waiter bet that we couldn't finish 2 liters of wine, we graciously accepted (and proved him wrong!) his challenge--piece of cake :)--then he treated us to a free helping of tiramisu! Taormina sits high above the ocean and man did that ocean look tempting. Finding a walking path through grape vines and around mountain bends, we made it to the sea below--the shores of Isola Bella are what greeted us. For the rest of the afternoon, we got 10 EUR massages on the beach and twiddled our toes in the sea ;).

{Palermo}

 

 

{Taormina}

{Isola Bella}

Friends 'n Florence

Sometimes one of the best ways to see a city is to wander and get lost. That's exactly what Smithers and I did on our next stop, Florence! Right in the heart of Tuscany and surrounded by rolling hills and ancient villages, Florence was a pretty easy choice to add to our agenda :). We got in a bit later in the evening and stayed at a pretty sweet hostel...they had an onsite bar, restaurant, club, pool, sauna, turkish bath and a roof terrace with 360-degree views over the rooftops. That night we took advantage of the turkish bath and enjoyed our cool little hostel, ultimately capping off the night sharing bottles of wine with fellow hostel-goers on the roof terrace. 

The next morning we skipped grabbing a map on the way out and decided to get lost instead. We were rewarded with cozy street markets and gelato popsicles but wanted to hurry back to the hostel to catch the sunset from the hostel's roof terrace. Again, we popped open some wine with fellow hostellers and enjoyed the crisp view over Florence. One of these hostellers was a Floridian-born bartender from the Cayman Islands--Zach--who was traveling around the world solo for 1 year--awesome. We met Zach on the first night in the turkish steambath...as always, Smitty and I were chatting up a storm of hilarities and yep there was someone else behind that steam too: Zach the World Traveler. World travelers will always get major cool points in my book, all types of travelers for that matter. We're pretty sure he thought we were crazy but the three of us became travel buddies for a few days...its crazy how traveling can form friendships so quickly. We had a day of barhopping in Florence under our belts but our new friend Zach decided to buy a plane ticket and join us to our next destination: Sicily! Spontaneity is the best! :)

{Zach joins our travelin' posse!}