New Year, New Blog

Here's a brief recap of the 10 Best Things from the past 4ish months that I've spent galavanting around Europe (and, briefly, Asia).

In chronological order:

1. Lounging in the garden of Eden with Giulia.

(her family's house in Terracina.)

Giulia's front yard

Best Fraaands.

It's a miracle that we made it there. The night before we were conducting a blitz on Rome. At 5 a.m. we decided to stay up and get the train at 7 a.m., followed by a bus, followed by a 2.5 mile uphill hike to the Simonelli-Gallo family compound.  When we finally got there we laid down next to the pool and passed out. And we didn't move for the next 3 days, except to occasionally walk to town for gelato, a martini rosso and a dip in the sea. Most enjoyable hangover of my life.

La piscina

Breakfast anyone?

The view

2. Everything* we did in Ibiza.

(*Excluding getting robbed blind our last night there)

Playa d'en Bossa

Ibiza is the Jersey Shore of Europe. There are some quiet, pristine beaches frequented by people who are taking a break from being on their yachts, and then there are long white beaches where it's not uncommon to see girls wearing half a bikini rip body shots to a throbbing techno soundtrack at 11 a.m. The 9 of us got to enjoy both of these lovely facets of Ibiza. During the day we visited some of the lushest, most idyllic nature imaginable, and at night we went to nightclubs the size of small planets and saw Tiesto, Skrillex, Afrojack, and many other DJs who basically melted our faces off.

Hiking in a nature preserve.

Plenty of this everywhere.

A sturdy crew.

Skrillex lights

3. Immaturity in Madrid, with Cody & Alexa

he does what he wants.

Multiple shots of us posing like the statues behind us. Drinking out of prohibited fountains. One inexplicable gondola ride. And I'm pretty sure that all we ingested over those 4 days was vodka, wine and churros. We are children.

casual pose at the chupitos bar.

Just perfect.

our sustenance.

4. Black Cab tour in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Falls Road murals

Chris and I went to Belfast to visit our lovely friend Siobhan. While she was still at work, we did a tour of the Catholic / Protestant neighborhoods that were absolutely devastated during the Troubles. Our guide was a cab driver, Paddy, about 65 years old, who was from one of the worst-affected Catholic neighborhoods. For like $40, he picked us up and drove us around for 2 hours, showing us the famous murals and absolutely ripping on the English the entire time. It was the most biased yet most interested tour I've ever been on.

5. Amsterdam

No description necessary.

Supplies.

Mariah my trusty travel buddy.

6. Beers in Belgium.

After Amsterdam, Mariah and I went to Antwerp, Bruges, and Brussels. There were a lot of good beers. In Brussels, the Delirium Cafe holds the world record for most beers on hand (over 2,000). We sampled a good percentage of them. Our favorite? La Chouffe N'ice. 

Here's the description I found for N'ice Chouffe online: "The N’ICE CHOUFFE is a strong dark beer that will warm you up during the winter months.  It is spiced (with thyme and curaçao) and a light hop taste, a well-balanced beer.  The N’ICE CHOUFFE is unfiltered, and re-fermented in the bottle as well as in the keg." And at 10%, it makes you feel n'ice indeed.

7. Ya's Dublin visit.

Little bro came to visit me before he went to Basic Training on January 2nd. I hadn't seen him since he moved to Tennessee at the beginning of August. 

We went running so he would still be in good shape for the Army

We went out in Temple Bar.

We went to Zara and tried on really tight pants.

8. Istanbul adventures with Papá

My dad and I spent 6 days in Istanbul right before Christmas. The city is spread out on both sides of the Bosphorus, so you can take a ferry back and forth between Europe and Asia. We saw a lot of really beautiful, really old mosques/churches/churches-turned-mosques. We played cards, drank tea and smoked hookah in little hole-in-the-wall cafes. We ate a lot of lentil soup. And one day, we stumbled upon an Upper Crust in the middle of nowhere. Many people know how ardently I admire and love Upper Crust. This, plus the fact that it was blizzarding, really made me feel like I was in Boston for a minute.

Good ole' Constantinople

Snow at the Topkapi palace

seagulls following the Euro-Asia ferry

inside the Suleyman mosque

at the cafe

UPPER CRUST!!!!!!! <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

9. Pavia with Ale.

Ale is one of my mental patient friends. Nobody can out-party him. He basically invented going out in Boston. In between Christmas and NYE, I visited him in Pavia; the tiny, adorable Italian town where he grew up. It is tranquil, old, and beautiful. I don't understand how a nice little town like that could produce Ale, but I'm not complaining.

1500s church

the mutant of Pavia

10. New Year's Eve at Whirl-Y-Gig, London

Whirlyyyyy

I just realized that my list of favorite things begins and ends with Giulia, which gives the thing a nice symmetry. She really outdid herself as a host over NYE. Myself, Mariah, Rachael, Brian, and VIP guest Izzy all descended on Giulia's house on the 31st, and we were ready. to. go.

Giulia had been talking up Whirl-y-gig kind of a lot, and it did not disappoint us. It's not a club but rather an event that happens once a month or so. They take over an old abandoned warehouse/alleyway type venue. Glittery scarves cover the walls and a giant white parachute covers the ceiling. The lights are ballistic, the music even more so. It's part rave, part disco, part music festival, and part...idk. We went hard until 6 a.m. when suddenly, everyone just sits down on the dance floor (squeezed together suuuuper tight) and the giant white parachute descends. The event workers stand on the edges of the floor and wave the parachute right above everyone's head while colored lights shine in and really trippy, zoned-out music plays, and everyone passes around joints (it was really cool while this was happening, but in my head the whole time I was just thinking I realllly hope this parachute is fire-proof). It was absolutely the most memorable NYE of my life. So fun, so exhausting. 2013, bring it.

an exhausted Whirly-goer, circa 5:30 a.m.

Under the parachute