After three weeks of wind and rain I expected the same in Portugal (the forecast said so) but knew that I would have a good time regardless because Conor would be there too. However, after a stop-over flight from Amsterdam to Frankfurt and then to Lisbon, Conor and I found ourselves stepping into six days of sun and sangria, for which we were quite overdressed; or underdressed if you are portuguese. It was beautiful weather from the very first day, at around 20-22 degrees celsius. Conor and I wore t-shirts as we passed portuguese people in full-on winter gear. Talk about adaptation. We arrived in the evening, took a local bus to Praco do Comérico, and got off of the bus looking for the arch that we were told to go through to get the ... read more

So this year, I decided, will be meaningful for me. I realized that where I am right now in my life, nothing is tying me down. So I am taking advantage of that and have subletted my apartment in Toronto and have moved to holland to learn Dutch and my roots (aka mom). Why would anyone want to learn Dutch? No one really speaks Dutch. About 27 million to be exact. I want to learn Dutch though, because I feel like it's part of me and whenever I hear people speaking it I have this feeling if jealousy. I WANT it too. Mom didn't speak too much Dutch to Kim and I growing up because she was still learning English I think. So now it's my turn to learn. This is what will help make this ... read more

Once we left the beauty of Cinque Terre, unfortunately, things got less pretty for us. We headed to Milano hoping to get a night train to Barcelona but being so deep into summer, the train was full. Spain is the bottleneck of Europe as there are only two ways to get in by train, one on the west coast and one on the east. If you don't get bookings early enough then you just won't get on the train and you're trip drastically changes from what you thought it could be. We got on a train to Nice so that we could hopefully get to Barcelona from there the next day. (With Eurorail you have to be at the train station you want to leave from in order to book your seat, this is what ... read more

We spent the day in the Vatican City, guarded by the Swiss gaurds, with its own postal service, money, laws, and population of about 800, it is the smallest country in the world. With its own power it is not subject to anyone/anything else, it can operate as it sees fit. We were determined not to take a tour because they can hold you back and you just feel silly following someone waving a colourful stick in the air. But after seeing the line-up to get into the Vatican Museums (Sistene Chapel) wrapped around the block, we succombed quite quickly. Joining the tour allowed us to skip the lines and go through the Vatican Museum accompanied by an energetic-almost to the point of annoying- blonde New Yorker who provided us with historical facts and pretty ... read more

Picture this: the sun is setting as you walk across the Tiber River on a bridge that's been there for over 1500 years, you hear a man playing saxophone in the background hoping for some generous hands, you're feeling full with gelato, and you smell the Tiber - a potpourri of seaweed and outhouse, you see old Roman ruins everywhere you look - so common that most aren't even labelled, and best of all you're walking along with someone really special to you that can tell you the history of it all. That was our first night in Rome. That day we walked along the streets of Rome to whatever was nearby at that moment. We began at the Spanish Steps, then to the awe-inspiring Trevi fountain built right into the building it sits by, ... read more