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Venezia!

1/19/2016

Buongiorno, Loves

The past weekend, I took a trip down to Venice with my five friends for one of my friend's 21st birthdays. We went to a very lively and electric club called Molochinque, and of course we got VIP bottle service, completely by chance! The woman working the desk at the hostel we were staying at just happened to be in charge of the guest list for the club, and she put all six of us down for a private table. Needless to say, luck was on our side.

Aside from the nightlife, Venice is also known for very distinct things. Obviously, the water canals and the gondolas are a symbol of Venice, but the city is also known for its rich mask culture. On every strip, there is a mask shop, and each one is handcrafted, some shops even do customization. The food as well is different: my friends and I stopped at a "hot wine" cafe and burned our tongues on the scalding wine. However, it was excellent. Think of a hot cider, but made with grapes, not apples. Venice is also known for seafood, and there are bustling fish markets that sell fresh fish (yes, they still have the heads and eyes attached), but I was not that brave, so I decided to stick to some pan-seared mussels and clams. As far as the sweets go, people of Venice love the toasted chestnuts. Venders are on the streets constantly firing up their grills selling freshly roasted chestnuts.

Lastly, our lovely gondola ride. Don't get me wrong, the ride is incredibly relaxing, but the first ten minutes are terrifying. Getting in and out of the boat is a nightmare: water splashing, the boat rocks side to side, and at first, you feel like you are going to tip at any moment. I managed to set my fears aside and take some lovely photos of the canal from the Gondola. Enjoy

Thank you for reading, stay tuned, as I will be in Sicily for the weekend! I am incredibly excited because this is the home of two of my greatest idols, Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana.

Chin don
xoxo
-A

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Moving to Florence: First Week in Review

1/18/2016

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Buonosera

Hello Loves:
Excuse my delay from my site: the move has sucked the life out of me, and that doesn’t even take the jet lag into account. So far, I am wholeheartedly in love with Florence. Everything from the food, to the shopping, to the people are absolutely wonderful. I can see why all the most important artists, merchants, and socialites gathered together here five hundred-some years ago.

First of all, the fashion. LOTS of leather, lots of fur, and lots of animal print. Also, everyone here loves black and brown. For anyone who has read any of my posts, they will know that that is NO challenge for me at all. After all, Florence is one of the world’s leather capitals. As you can see in the following photos, I kept it clean in an over-sized sweater dress with a sleek blazer for my day of exploring and photographing. As far as footwear goes, I have never seen so many pairs of black ankle booties in my life, so of course I had to buy some here.

Second is the food. The rumors are true: pasta is abundant and the pizza is completely 3D. The toppings are literally bulging off of the pieces, and gelato flows like water. Nutella is just about everywhere, and we eat it straight out of the decorated glass jar with a spoon. The cappuccino is bitter, just the way I like it, and the espresso is so strong it can wake a lion. But the best part of Florentine cuisine is the fact that everything is so fresh, and you can taste it in every bite. I have not been sick once off of a single thing I have eaten, and fresh markets are on every street corner loaded with goodies.

Lastly, here are some pictures from my first week here. I have kept a travel journal and have started a collection of Polaroids to add alongside the notes. The first time I laid eyes of the world-famous Duomo, I was speechless. Also, Poseidon’s rear is a heck of a lot more defined than it looks in pictures. Art history books and magazines simply do not do this city justice.