SUMMER IN EUROPE 2016

HELLO!

As I promised in my previous post as I told you about my recent trip. HERE COMES THE STORY ABOUT EUROPE!

This is my first time visiting Europe. I always have thought that Europe is gorgeous and pretty, in different way. I think US will be kinda playful, I've never been there too by the way, but Europe is elegant. I am telling you, Europe is more gorgeous than I've ever imagined!

I joined the tour for Europe summer trip from Bayu Buana tour (nope, this is not an endorsement). The package cost around 37 million rupiah, ticket and visa were included. The tour was designed for 12 days. I thought it was quite a decent price, but turned out I have to pay some additional packages when I was in Europe and some of the lunch and dinner was not served by tour package. Well it was totally fine by me since I was not really into the food they provided and planned to buy local food by myself.

I took the trip on June 21st to July 2nd. It was supposed to be late spring. I checked the weather and it was around 22 Celcius degree in Rome. I thought it would be bright and warm because it was almost summer. Turned out I was wrong! It was still windy and cold in Switerland, Germany, Netherland, Belgia, and Paris. I brought all my summer clothes with only few jackets! hahahha Make sure to check the weather correctly before your trip!

I had quite a good flight with Etihad airlines. The air trip was quite smooth, food was not bad (well I ate a lot at the plane because I was bored), blanket and neck pillow was ready on each seat. It took around 6 hours to reach Abu Dhabi to transit and another 7 hours to reach Italy. 

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ITALY

ROME

Reached Italy at 1 pm, I was so tired because I felt like the day was stretch longer due to the time difference between Jakarta and Italy, but still I AM SO EXCITED! 

From Fiumicino (the airport of Rome) I went directly to Vatican city to visit St Basilica. One thing good about joining the tour was all of your belongings could be kept in the bus and did not need to bring all the bags and luggage wherever you go.

You could reach Vatican in 60 minutes drive by bus from Fiumicino. It was quite a crowd to enter Vatican. You will be body examined and bag checked. It was unusual for me to see that two countries which are Vatican and Rome is separated by only thin line. Thing to remember, you have to wear polite clothes to enter the St. Basilica (no tanktop and shorts)

St Basilica was so beautiful and majestic. Speechless to see all the pretty details in the buildings. They also allowed us to take pictures and even recorded. They do have some praying corner so that we can stop and deliver a quick pray.

I continued to the Colosseum. The sun was so bright and it was quite hard for me to take photos. It was under renovation while the half part of it was still the old style and the rest was had modernized. Honestly I prefer the old one tho. It had its own pretentious feeling.

Too bad I did not take a peek to what's inside. Gonna be my check list next time! (Amen to that!)

Thing I loved about Italy: the glorious and lovely buildings. They were all in brick color and I really loved to see how the red and brown color beautify the city. They just loved the historical kind of building so much that they did conserve it. The thing was, people in Italy was not so friendly. They talked fast, impatient, and not really hospitable.

Thing you should not miss: Trevi fountain and its gelato. Throw a  coin using the right hand over the left shoulder, if the coin was made it through the pond, you're going back to Rome, they said.

FLORENCE

On the next day, I drove through Florence to make it to Pisa city. Florence was actually nice and much more quiet. It was like a dreamy suburban area with beautiful green scenery. Florence was well-known with its source of leather. One of the famous brand, Salvatore Ferragamo, was originally from here.

I captured this during my bus trip to Florence. In love with the colors!

Pisa city was not big and I need to park the car quite far from the Pisa leaning tower area. I transferred to Pisa tower by shuttle bus for around 1.20 euro. The Pisa city itself was not a big city. One thing to say after seeing the leaning tower: IT WAS REALLY PRETTY. The tower, majestic building, sunny day, blue sky, green grass, I could not ask for more!

Describing my summer in Europe much.

VENICE

This is the most sunny day of my summer trip: VENICE! So excited because I've seen many photos of beautiful Venice and could not wait to see it by myself.

YES IT WAS SO PRETTY and so hot as well. I did not even think that wearing an umbrella would help. The sun was scorching hot! But still, the beauty of it took my breath away.

My gondola man. It took around 40 mins (around 80-100 euro) to stroll around the city with gondola. It was such a memorable experience to see the houses on the edge of canal. It was just lovely. 

MILAN

My last day in Italy, visiting Milan. It was an additional trip though, during my trip to Switzerland I did give a visit to this beautiful city. I really was happy I did not miss this one. This one is the best one in Italy for me. Alive and pretty as well.

I did go to Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, one of the luxurious mals with high end brand and fancy restaurants along the mal. Turned out that this was one of the oldest mal in the world. It was soooo elegant yet pretty with its high ceiling and details on the wall. It was crowded here so beware of pickpocket!

I also tried Cioccolat Italiani. They had wide selections of gelato and crepes. I could not choose so I went for both! It was hot and cold mixture when you ate the crepes and the icecream: so good I could not describe!

My tour leader said Adidas store here behind the mal had quite a wide kind of collections. Maybe you can check it out if you are looking for any particular Adidas style.

My last day in ITALY. SAD,

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SWITZERLAND

HELLO FROM SWITZERLAND! Super duper excited because that day was the first time I was going to touch the snow! I know I know I might be too old for you to be a first time playing with snow, but I did not care I was just sooooo glad!

Mount Titlis is located in Engelberg village, around 40 minutes from Lucerne/Zurich by bus. The trip passed the beauty of Switzerland itself. Green grass everywhere, cows happily in nature, the waterfalls split the hills OMG it was just soo soo pretty. Switzerland is one of the most amazing country so far! I knew that living there might be lengthen your age because you could breath the fresh air every single second.

Going up to Mount Titlis by cable car gonna took 20 mins and you would be transferred to rotating cable car for around 10 minutes so that you could really enjoy the view. I LOVE EVERY SINGLE MOMENT OF IT. It was kinda view you really wanted to see for the rest of your life when you were old and happy with your life.

I was in Mount Titlis in summer, and I thought it was such a perfect time. It was around 5 degree Celcius on the top of it, the snow was there, so you still could enjoy the view and playing on the top of Titlis without being too cold. My aunt once went there when it was winter and she said it was too cold she could not enjoy it.

So happy that I could taste winter and summer in Europe at the same time!

There was chocolate and souvenir shop at Mount Titlis but I found the price was kinda pricey. Well Switzerland itself was one of the most expensive cities in the world, tho.

LUCERNE

Visiting Lucerne right after Mount Titlis. Could not get any better. Thing that amazed me in Lucerne: you could enjoy a very beautiful view of mountains from its townsquare. How good is that! I love Lucerne, the city was lovely and alive. They had many watch stores here.

RHINEFALL

Rhinefalls is the biggest waterfall in Europe. It flowed to Rhine river. It was quite lovely with Worth castle beside the waterfall. You could also try tourist boat to get near the fall.

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GERMANY

I was gonna moving to Frankfurt that day, but going through the highway gonna take around 5 hours directly. So I stopped by Lake Titisee in Germany. It was one beautiful lake with black forest as the background. Yap, the blackforest cake was originally from here.

I reach Frankfurt on Sunday and it meant it was national holiday for them! No open shops on Sunday, unfortunately.

COLOGNE 

One of the most lovely city: Cologne (Koln)! The people was friendly and quite crowded. I visited Cologne cathedral, strolling around the cities, tried Merzenich bakery (a classic German bakery that sells lotsa beautiful pastries). I felt contented here! Wish I could live here someday. Amen to that!

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AMSTERDAM

One way to describe Amsterdam: it was Marvelous! The city was LOVELY I LOVE IT SO MUCH! One thing that, everything was legal here, so I could find smoking marijuana in public space was not a big deal. The strong scent was quite annoying tho. But still, the beauty and gorgeousness of this city had me at hello :)

Tried Manneken pis fries at Damrak, Amsterdam. Thick cuts of fries in paper cone in huge size (even the small size was big) and served with lotsa sauce selection. I undoubtedly went for cheese! It was nice and a good companion to stroll along the Amsterdam street.

ZAANSE SCHANS 

Things I (super love) about Netherlands; pretty small villages. Zaanse Schans was surely something you could not miss. Pretty windmill village with hot chocolate scent filled the village air. Such a beauty to the eye! Oh they had klomp/ Netherlands clog factory here!

Everything about tulip!

VOLENDAM

Fisherman village in Volendam was also a good destination in Netherlands. Took a mandatory photo with Netherlands traditional clothes was a must here! Gave yourself a treat with fish and chip and poffertjess, too! Everything was enjoyable!

I heard that my friend visited Zaandam, I checked it on internet and hope that someday I am able to give Netherlands another visit. Have a little faith, Je!

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BELGIA

Strolling around Brussels, Belgia, was not bad at all. I found Brussels was kinda quiet, the building was quite old, and they could not really speak English. I had some problems while talking to local people when I looked for some things tho.

One of the symbol in Brussels: Manneken Pis. A statue of a naked boy urinated to the pond. They said the boy helped them to win the war. They could change the boy's clothes in every season, and when I was there he was just naked.

One thing to do in Brussels: eat Belgian waffle! I tried one near the Manneken Pis statue It was Leonidas waffle, I was not wrong. Freshly baked waffles was all around the air, I could not resist to have one. I have one with nutella banana and caramel banana. I SWEAR IT WAS THE BEST WAFFLE IN MY LIFE. My waffle life wouldn't be the same. No more. It was crunchy on the outside and super fluffy inside, sprinkled with sugar. So good I was gonna die.

Another thing to do: shop at Godiva and Tintin Boutique (Yes I am a fan, I watched all of the Tintin series). Godiva was one famous chocolate shop originally from Belgia. I recommend to try the chocolate-dipped strawberries!

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PARIS 

HELLO FROM PARIS!

I paid a visit to the Eiffel tower, went to the second floor with Paris view. It was gloomy that morning, but it was okay it was still amazing!

Galleries Lafayette was one huge shopping mall that might be contained any brands that you wanted. Surely it was not complete to be in Paris without shopping here. I tried Angelina the famous chocolate shop in Paris. The hot chocolate was so thick, dense, and strong! I also tried Mont blanc, a signature pastry from Angelina. It was super sweet it might be too overwhelming for me.

Got visited the oldest Disneyland in the world! They said it was kinda old but well, I still found it was lovely! It was gloomy when I was there but Disneyland just could not let you down!

You know you are in the happiest place on earth when the building is painted pink!

MY EUROPE SUMMER TRIP IS OVER! I was so sad leaving Europe but lets just be grateful because it happened. I am happily writing this, hoping that I can share my excitement and happiness with you guys Who knows it can give you one or two inspirations to go. 

Go heading to my instagram page (@jechristy) for more photos!

Auf wiedesehen, Danke!

Best regards,

Jessica Christy Limanjaya