6 Reasons to Visit Paris in the Spring

It didn't take much convincing to get me to move to Paris when I was 20 years old and a junior at university. My first trip was when I was 16 and the two weeks we spent wandering around the arrondissements and the gardens had me itching to return and stay for even longer. 

I started taking french classes my freshman year and only wish I had taken them longer so that I could've had a better foundation when I got there. I spent the first 3 months getting down the small daily interactions like how to greet someone(Ça va?, Salut, etc..), to always say good bye and thank you as you leave a boutique or small store and memorizing the grocery stores that are closed on Sundays or Mondays in my neighborhood  So here are some more tips for visiting my favorite city in the spring when everything is blooming and the sunsets will stop you in your tracks. 

1. Luxembourg Gardens.

One of my favorite places to hang out between classes and eat lunch was in front of the Medici Fountain inside the Luxembourg Gardens. It is tucked away in a little corner of the park and the seclusion from the vibrant city always felt inviting. 

The Luxembourg Gardens was always one of my favorite places to sit and people watch. 

2.  Rue de Rosiers

There was nothing I loved more in the spring than walking around Le Marais. I would always end up strolling through Rue de Rosiers for their falafals (best falafals in the world!)and vintage shops. Le Marais (the old jewish quarter) is beautifully preserved with cobble stone streets and small store fronts that are inviting and full of intrigue. One day I was in search of a book for school and popped into a book shop on Rue de Rosiers and quickly turned around when I realized that it was a naughty gay book shop that probably wouldn't carry a 17th century novel by Voltaire. It was embarrassing but I immediately started laughing at myself the second I left. 

3. Notre Dame + The Bell Tower

It was ridiculous that every day on my walk to school I got to walk past Notre Dame. It is absolutely stunning and the view from the top is even better. I had already been living there for 5 months before I climbed to the top with my cousin.

The view from the top is worth the 10-20 minute wait outside. I couldn't stop snapping my camera once I got to the walk way, you are able to see Sacré-coeur to your right and the Eiffel Tower to your left. Afterwards you can walk around the back of the church and sit in the peaceful park while admiring the buttresses and stained glass that often times get overlooked. 

4. Cafés and café au laits

I highly encourage walking around the city and going down little streets and wandering around different arrondissements and inevitably you will easily stumble upon a dozen or so outdoor cafés just waiting for you to take a seat and flip through your travel books and sip cappuccinos. 

5. Delacroix Museum

Yes the Louvre is an iconic Parisian landmark but wander off the beaten museum path a bit and visit the Delacroix Museum near St. Germain Des Pres. I had the luxury of having a student ID that got me into any museum for free so I took advantage of visiting some of the lesser known museums scattered around Paris. The Delacroix museum was a pleasant surprise because they had converted his old house into a gallery and just in back there was a beautiful little garden with benches and chairs to admire this space where he had been so creative.

Other museums worth a visit…

Musée de l'Oragnerie 

Pompidou

Musée de la Mode et du Textile

Musée Rodin

Musée des Arts et Decoratif

Musée Bourdelle

Musée de Cluny

6. Markets

Marché aux Puces de St. Ouen

The markets in Paris can not be missed, even if you aren't out to purchase a 17th century chandelier, the atmosphere and small trinkets you'll find are well worth the visit. While markets take place year round in every corner of the city and every day of the week, when the weather gets nicer more vendors will be out and you'll be more willing to wander up and down the aisles admiring each stall.Here is a weekly guide to the markets in Paris.

Raspberry Chocolate Ricotta Mousse Cups + My Loyalty to Parisien Yogurt

So continue my cooking and baking attempts found in the beautiful Forest Feast cookbook. I thought I'd try a dessert today since my sweet tooth is above average, and I had the perfect jars to display the finished products in! 

The jars I used were from my time spent living in Paris. They were actually old yogurt containers that I had saved and lugged back with me. Paris obviously takes its yogurt game pretty seriously, and Danone puts its yogurts into ceramic clay jars that you can reuse. Let's just say that I was such a die hard yogurt fan there that my apartment probably could have been a designated redistribution center for those jars, and now I am always finding different ways to reuse them.  

In each recipe I recreate I am always searching for ways to somehow make it my own or simply use what I have in the kitchen and adapt the recipe. The original recipe didn't call for any raspberries but I think they add a nice balance and tartness to the dish. 

The chocolate shavings I used were actually from chocolate my parents and I had brought back with us from South Africa from our day of vineyard hopping across the countryside of Capetown. 

:INGREDIENTS:

4 oz. chocolate (any kind)- usually 1 bar

1/2 tsp of cinnamon

1 TBSP brown sugar

2 cups ricotta

1 container of whipped cream

:DIRECTIONS:

1. Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pot of boiling water. 

Since the bar of chocolate I used wasn't exactly 4 oz. I tossed in a handful or so of chocolate chips as well. 

2. Blend everything together in a food processor for no more than a minute.

After I blended it for 30 seconds I stopped to taste it to see if there was anything else it was missing. It still tasted very ricotta-y so I added a little more brown sugar. Then blended it for about 10 seconds. 

3. Spoon the mixture into 3-4 small ramekins or small containers then let them chill for about an hour. 

I used ramekins as well as old clay yogurt containers that I had carried home with me from my time living in Paris. 

4. Once they have chilled, remove them from the fridge and garnish them with whipped cream and whatever toppings you like. 

I always love how raspberries taste with chocolate so I added some to the top of my desserts.

5 Places You Can't Miss In Milan

It has been a little over a year since I moved back from Milan and as bloggers are flocking to the city for fashion week I thought I'd share some of my favorite places to visit!

1. Luini's - I've written about Luini's before but it's worth another mention! The BEST panzerotti in Milan. It's a fact. I had never heard of it before I got to Milan but by the time I left I'm positive I was 70% panzerotti. Get there early to avoid the lines but regardless don't let the lines deter you, they move quickly with the help of their suited up bouncers!

Via Santa Radegonda, 16 Milano Italy

Open 10am-8pm

Closed on Sunday*

*I had my heart broken a few times when I would forget it was closed on sunday.

Luini's website

2. Princi - One of my FAVORITE places to grab lunch. While they are probably better known for their breads and foccacia. I was always queueing up for their octopus salad. TO DIE FOR. There sweets selection can't be missed either. It's just around the corner from Duomo so you can always take it to go and sit on the steps of the church! There are also 4 other locations around the city!

Via SPeronari 6, Milano Italy

Open: 7am-8pm

3. Shocolat - One of my FAVORITE places for gelato is Shokolat. It's near Cadorna and only a 5-10 minute walk from Duomo. Of course I flocked there every other week for the nutella gelato, the gelato being merely a vehicle for nutella. 

Via Giovanni Boccaccio, 9 Milan Italy

Open: 7:30am-1am

4. Bastianello -  Thankfully I only discovered this pasticceria about a month and a half before I left Milan because I would have come home 10 lbs. heavier. Every pastry there is beautifully made and they taste just as good as they look! The sfogliatella being my favorite! Right off the San Babila stop. 

Via Borgogna, 5 Milan Italy

Open: 7-10pm

5. Magnum -  Naturally I would recommend 3 sweet shops. My final recommendation is Magnum. You get to be a little creative and invent your own bar and add exotic elements like dried rose petals and passion fruit! How could you resist?!

Piazza Santa Maria Beltrade, 1 Milan Italy

Open: 8:15am - 8:45pm

Go get lost in the streets of Milan and enjoy Fashion Week!

5 Things I Learned From Living In Milan

1. Milan never runs short on street markets. Every day of the week you can find a different market tucked away along the cobble stoned streets of the city. The weekday markets sell a variety of fresh produce, flowers and designer goods. You can go there looking for eggs and vegetables for dinner and leave with a live chicken. The flowers are always fresh and vibrant while the vendors that line the streets are friendly and always offering a smile.

The BEST market is held at the end of every month on Saturday and Sunday when vendors and locals flood the streets of Navigli with the most beautiful antiques, art and vintage clothes that will have you wandering up and down the canal all day. Luckily the streets are also equally as vibrant with their cuisine where you can find the best pizza and aperitivo for when your vintage hunting makes you hungry!

Mama Farina Via dei Valtorta 44 Milano

2. Carbs are your best friend. I actually already knew that before I lived there, but I definitely took advantage of it every single day in Milan. In Italy you just need to embrace carbs and appreciate every delicious bite of that brick oven pizza or penne arrabiata. In Italy you are expected to finish a whole pizza by yourself so when you sit down you better be up for the challenge! Mama Farina was one of my favorite local places to eat dinner near my apartment. I would have gone there every night but I wanted to make it seem like I had somewhat of a life so I would stagger my meals there to 1-2 times per week. The streets of Milan offer plenty of delicious options and sometimes in the most unassuming places, so don’t be afraid to wander and you might stumble upon the best pizzaiolo!

 

Milano Centrale 

Venezia

3. Milan is great hub to travel through Northern Italy.  Milan is a great city to use as your base for traveling around northern Italy. Every city from Cinque Terre to Venice is within a few hours reach. Even a bullet train to Florence will get you there in an hour! A beautiful train ride through the Swiss Alps isn't even out of the question for a weekend adventure. The main train station in Milan, Centrale, You could start your morning in Milan eating sfogliatella on your way to the train station and by the afternoon you could be walking down the streets of Verona eating 10 scoops of crema gelato. Who wouldn't want to spend their weekend exploring historic cities and devouring pastries and culture?

Luini : Via Santa Radegonda 16 

4. Luini Panzerotti will change your life. Every day people crowd the small street near the Galleria anxiously shuffling through the line to get his or her hands on these famous panzerotti. They take it so seriously that there's even a bouncer in full suit and tie ushering people through the lines as if they're escorting the president through the airport. Luini’s runs like a well-oiled machine. Once you get to the front of the line you have 10 seconds to order, pay and move along. If you have never indulged in panzerotti before I compare it to an empanada but about 10 times better. The dough is crispy and fluffy, while the inside is filled with fresh mozzarella and tomatoes. It’s exciting and always a fun mid day adventure.

That's right, I MADE this!

The Mag Cafe in Navigli

5. Cappuccinos run through your veins in Milan. Espresso, real coffee is a lifestyle in Italy. My first day at the showroom I said, "of course I know how to make cappuccinos, yeah I'll make them for our high profile clients!" I had no clue what I was doing but by the end of my internship I had become a full-fledged barista. Starbucks would have been honored to hire me. The cappuccino culture there is borderline religious. The espresso is rich and the foam is always perfect. I could easily sit along the canals of Navigli at The Mag Cafe enjoying coffee, free wifi and reading material. 

Barcelona + The First City I Fell in Love With

Almost 14 years ago I first discovered Barcelona and I've been back twice to experience and explore the unique culture and architecture. 

My first time in Barcelona I remember I was 11 years old and crabby from just having experienced my first bout of jet lag and then we came up from the metro and I saw Sagrada Familia and my eyes bugged out with excitement. All of a sudden I no longer felt tired and irritated, I felt like an explorer who had just discovered an entirely new world and I couldn't get enough of it. 

At the top of Parc Güel you can take a survey of Barcelona's short skyline but what pops out is Sagrada Familia, whose construction began in 1882 (13 years after my house was built!)and it is STILL under construction. It has taken so long because the funding for it comes strictly from donations. 

Casa Batlló

Throughout the city you will find BEAUTIFUL, unique and kind of crazy architecture and its all most likely done by Antonio Gaudí. Probably my favorite building he designed was Casa Batlló. It is colorful and weird and looks like an exotic lizard. 

Colors are constantly exploding across the city whether it is in the architecture or on the street performers along Las Ramblas.

The Mercado de la Boqueria is tucked away along Las Ramblas and if you don't look hard enough you might pass up one of the most vibrant and lively staples Barcelona offers. When I studied abroad in Barcelona for 5 weeks I would visit the market once or twice a week just snapping pictures of the changing environment and of all the colorful fruits and candies most of the stalls sold. 

Had I not lived with a host family, I would like to imagine that this market would have become a part of my daily routine, shopping for that nights dinner or grabbing a snack before class because who can pass up Haribo candy?! 

Please excuse the tourist that got in my way!

If you didn't already figure it out, this market is one of my favorite places to visit when I'm in Barcelona because its not too touristy and you get the feeling like your a local doing your daily errands in this beautiful and colorful market. 

Barcelona will always spark a light in me and it seems that when ever I do talk to people about this city I get excited and passionate about describing the streets and culture and architecture. 

Capetown + Kalk Bay

My exploration through Capetown led me to find some unique and interesting pieces. I discovered a lot of markets and small co-ops that exceeded my expectations and made me feel like a kid in a candy store. While I still visit candy stores at the age of 24 and get more excited than I should, navigating through these markets and boutiques was always a fun and wonderful adventure!

At Mungo & Jemima on Long St. in downtown Capetown I found this beautifully hand made necklace with a little fringe on the end of it and I'm a complete sucker for anything with fringe or a tassel on it. The nicest women worked there and even recommended a great Ethiopian restaurant for us to try that night. 

I can not say enough of about how much I love the Kalk Bay Co-Op. I stepped into this store and felt like I had entered an entirely different world.

Getting Lost in Travel Magazines

Afar, Travel + Leisure and Conde Nast Traveler have evolved to be staples in my reading list. They all help inspire me to travel to the furthest reaches of the globe, let my Carmen San Diego-ness flourish and capture beautiful memories with my camera. 

Afar Magazine fell into my lap about 2 years ago and I could not be more grateful. Everything about Afar is so unique and different from other travel magazines that I read, even just the texture of the cover is kind of exciting! 

Being buried in these magazines every month keep my curiosity of the world growing and evolving and I would recommend to everyone I know to read them and explore the world and learn about different cultures. Even if you don't like reading much, the photography alone could catch the attention of a goldfish! I'll admit I have fantasized about some of my photography featured in these magazines.

Afar Magazine fell into my lap about 2 years ago and I could not be more grateful. Everything about Afar is so unique and different from other travel magazines that I read, even just the texture of the cover is kind of exciting! My favorite articles to read every month is following one of their writers as they're thrown into an adventure with 24 hours notice. They send them to sometimes obscure rural areas and then other times they get off the plane and are surrounded by the lights of Macau. It's always fun and has me on the edge of my seat to hear how they deal with new environments and language barriers and new experiences!

Maps + Feeling Like Magellan

For any gift I give, I always like to make it personal and creative. I stumbled upon this incredible book of maps at Paper Source and had a stroke of inspiration to deconstruct the book and take different maps and gift them for Christmas.

Each map is so incredibly detailed and beautiful that leaving them bound in the book just felt wrong. The illustrations are each so unique to each country and while the map can't really guide you through any country, it shows the diversity, resources and monuments found there. 

I thought it would be a lot harder to dismantle the book but it was fairly easy. I started with going through and using an X Acto Knife to snip the string binding throughout the book and then I used the same knife to then precisely cut the other pages that were glued and after 30 minutes I magically had 52 maps to play with. 

After taking apart the maps I had them spread out across my dining room table and for a few seconds I felt like Magellan because I imagined this is exactly what his desk looked like as he was exploring the world. Granted these maps wouldn't help me navigate through the coasts of Italy, I still am imagining I still am envisioning that this is how explorers felt!

Some of the maps I am thinking of spray painting and others I am thinking of putting pom pom fringe around the border as an homage to one of my favorite British artists Ann Carrington.

Ann Carrington

Passports + Momentos

On every adventure I've taken I always collect an annoying amount of small momentos from every city. The essential things I always bring back with me… regardless if my suitcase is already buckling… 

-Postcards

- Currency

- Ticket stubs

- Artwork

-Business cards

- Jewelry

I have different shoe boxes filled with momentos from every city I've been to. A bit excessive I realize that but I like to stay organized and then it is easy to go back and rifle through each box and find exactly what I'm looking for! I feel like it is important to keep these small things even if its something like ticket stubs from museums or cable car rides because you can always go back to them. 

Travelogue Scratch Off Map

Being able to finally scratch off my first country in Africa felt amazing! I am a very visual person and getting to scratch off each country is aesthetically pleasing and its just as gratifying as ticking something of a list of to do's!

Banana Bread + Broken Platters

 Banana Bread Recipe

Made my first attempt at mastering banana bread today. It went… ok. I scoured through Pinterest to find the perfect recipe. Finally found one without walnuts to accommodate my inconvenient allergies and I got to work! I learned the key to a great banana bread needs ripe banana to keep the bread moist. I however was impatient and couldn't wait for them to ripen. The crumble was incredibly easy to make and tasted amazing. I'm considering putting crumble on every desert I make from now on!

The plate was one of the treasures I brought back with me from South Africa. Unfortunately it did not survive… In fact it did not even survive 3 hours after I purchased it thanks to my clumsiness. So now instead of using it to plate beautiful pasta dishes at the hypothetical dinner parties I throw, it will just have to be used as decoration.

Elbowing Tourists and Penguins

Walking up the undisclosed winding road to Boulder Beach lined with palm trees and quaint houses you could never imagine that just around the corner lived thousands of little penguins on a secluded beach. The South African Government has built this raised walkway along the beach and through the trees so that people can transform to being flies on the wall to this colony of tuxedo studded birds. I could have stayed there for hours watching them stand on the beach and watching the rebel penguins swim in and out of the arctic current water.

At any attraction there is always that one sweet spot that gives you the best view and everyone knows about it and elbows their way to the front in frustration. There are the tourists that fight their way through the crowds and then there are the tourists that will tap their feet and roll their eyes and look at their watches until they make you so uncomfortable you have to leave. Then there was me who waited methodically for a spot to open then slithered my way in and didn't look back… and it was completely worth it! 

Observing these animated, wild and exotic animals (exotic to me having growing up in Chicago)was such an amazing experience. I fully embraced and enjoyed my few minutes in the golden spot and was blown away by the contrast of penguins and this incredibly clear turquoise blue water and palm trees.