back to the land of pleins and straats

I'm back in Amsterdam and am finally all unpacked and settled in for the most part. This past week, Jaclyn and I continued our truly cultural Italian experience by touring around Genoa, stopping in Cannes, France for the weekend, and spending two days in Tuscany. (Yes. We were spoiled.)

We took a long walk around the city with one of the cousins, Christina, and her daughter, Eleonora. A lot of steep narrow streets and hopefully toning of my legs and butt led us to a beautiful view of the sea and Portofino in the distance.


If we were alone, there is no way we would have found any of the places we went to. The blue building in the distance of this picture is one of the most popular bars in Genoa and you can only get to it by walking on the rocks. The view, as everywhere in Genoa, was breathtaking.


Cannes! Unfortunately it was raining on our first day in Cannes, but we were able to walk around the city and see the touristy spots. We took this lovely photo on the red carpet at the Palace of Festivals. For those of you who are culturally aware, watch Entourage, or have heard of the Cannes Film Festival, this is the place where all of the films are viewed. We went to the beach the next day and I gained back some of the tan I lost from sitting in an office this summer. Everywhere in France they sell these gladiator sandals called Les Tropeziennes, so... I had to buy a pair. My first real purchase of the trip, but they were so worth it Mom!!





Our last stop was Tuscany. We ate like Kings. Our last big lunch consisted of about 8 different appetizer plates, ravioli, a meat dish, lemon sorbeto and a coffee, of course. However, the coffee cups are the size of my thumb and it’s filled with espresso so it’s much different than New York coffee. The Italians also have a tendency put a HEFTY amount of sugar in something that takes one sip to finish and I’ve seen no sign of Splenda or Equal. Anyway... the country house was nice a quiet. We got to check out their small vineyard and we tasted the homemade red wine that is stored in their cellar. We also walked around a small village and got a nice view from the top of an old castle.


Now it's time to reunite with Loyola and really experience Amsterdam. Amsterdam is an extremely unique place and there are always interesting things to see or watch. Besides the mispronouncing of every dutch word and the probability that the boys in our group will constantly chant "USA" while walking through the streets, I think we'll fit in quite nicely here.