Nutella, Wine, Pizza and more Wine...

Paris was a fresh breath, it was home and when I more or less fell down on my chair after ordering my Starbucks in half French, half English (something that soon became way to usual that evening) it felt like all the times before. Relaxing and calming.

    I don’t know if it was good or bad luck that we ended up walking from the Tour Eiffel to Amalfi in the Duplex-area, but Italian pizza and wine did not hurt. After having the waiter call me the “baby” and “dolly” for the entire evening, saying “I love you” in Norwegian and ending it all by giving me a lollypop we went laughing back to metro where a puppet-man entertained us half the way back to Montmartre ( I may upload the vid later!) where a lovely man sold us Crepe Nutella and Warm Wine.

   Paris’ food and people are way too easy to enjoy and already when we arrived at the metro station a very cute French guy, came over to carry my suitcase down the stairs. Why would I ever wanna leave here?

-Mari Clémentine

Where to go (and where not to) - Florence

So for Florence there are to places I will tell you about. One is the snack bar Cucciolo, with the world’s best pizza. I think I’ve said about three times only on this blog. It’s located in Corso and the pizza is only 3,50 – enjoy!
Then the hotel here we stayed: Hotel Medici. The hotel was the coziest ever, and the roof terrace and location is what made it worth staying at. It didn’t have aircondition and the bells of the Duomo rang all around at all times of the day, but it was worth it, I loved it enough to recommend it.

Then it is the “not to go” part, which I usually don’t have to do. It’s about a restaurant close to the Medici chapel with the worst service, the most terrible excuses and worst attitude ever. We actually saw people leave and asking the waiters to go to hell, so yeah. You can only imagine. It’s called Il procospino. AVOID IT! I mean, why bother going there when it’s so many good places to eat?

Mari Clémentine

Top 5 things to do in Florence

So for me the plan of going to Florence came out of nowhere, but when I first decided to go and started researching the city I understood it was not very much to do so I planned on a trip out of town (to Pisa) and was ready for some lazy days. The thing is that much like Venice, Florence is not about the museums and attractions, it’s about the vibe. And beside that the top 5 thing to do in Florence was not written with big bold letters on the web, so I decided to make my own list.

1. The Gucci Museum

As you may have read in my “They never told me Gucci was from Florence” post I was absolutely thrilled over the fashion museum by Piazza della Signora. It was the most refreshing thing we did in Italy and I recommend anyone up for something different a visit to a museum with no lines, a lot of space and great aircondition!

2. Climb to the top of Florence

Across the river Arno is a hill and a series of roads and stairs that lead to Piazzale Michelangelo, named after the most famous of Florentines. The ones that know me know that my favorite place in Paris is on the top of the city, so me enjoying the view from the top of the hill shouldn’t come as a surprise for anyone and I really recommend going up at night, instead of taking a bus in the hot sun. Have fun, enjoy the view.

3. Eat the world’s best Pizza at CuccioloThis is not a joke. The small pizzas you get for 3,50 at the snackbar in Corso is really the best I’ve ever had. Ever heard of. Tastes best when enjoyed on a rooftop c:

4. Look at the Street PerformersFlorence has the best street performers in the world. It’s not an understatement. The painters are fantastic, the men painting on the ground are even more fantastic and the musicians are amazing. Crowds of over a hundred gather around and make the evening unforgettable. To find them check in front of the Duomo,  Piazza della Signora and Piazza della Republica. You’ll be sure to find many.

5. Rub the nose of Il Porcellino (The wild boar statue)              Il Porcellino is a statue of a wild boar standing by Mercato Nuovo. It is said that if you rub it’s nose you are guaranteed to return to Florence. So if you liked it, rub away!

Mari Clémentine



A writer in Scotland

“Oh, good luck with ye book! Mari, was it?” I smiled at the old lady from Glasgow that I had been talking to half the tour.

We got an early start for once as we had to check out from our hotel, but then the Elephant House was just around the corner and I was ready for my morning tea. I’m not sure if I love the place because Rowling is said to have been writing at the café, or because of the amazing view of the castle. Okay, definitely the castle. We headed for the castle after tea and shortbread, but were kept by souvenir shops – we had to find a birthday gift for my dad – and in the end The Writers Museum. 
       

    “That tour departs in just 15 minutes,” I said to my mom and pointed at a sign outside the door. “Book Lovers tour”, Sir Walter Scott, J. M. Barrie, Arthur Connan Doyle, J.K. Rowling and so on. In the end I ran to get some money and paid the tour to Allan, a wonderful guide/writer that took us (a group of what? 8?) around Edinburgh talking literature for more than the 90 minutes we were promised.

   Among our fellow tourists was an old pair from Glasgow, an Australian couple, I think the woman was an editor, and to other women, one of them from Brazil. And that is what you’ll know her as: Miss Brazil.  

   

    “I find it easier. Italian.”
“The Italians pronounce the word, just like she said” said Miss Brazil. It was by coincidence we had ended up eating lunch together. She was going to the castle, we were going to the castle, none of us ever got there, all three were hungry so we invited the nice lady to eat lunch with us at some Italian place our guide recommended us.

     “I’m a pizza person,” I said and looked down on what looked like bread with tomatosauce on it. “In Brazil they make real pizza. If you ever come to Sao Paolo you must tell me and I will show you were to go!” I smiled as we exchanged contact information. New country, new people, new destinations.

Mari Clémentine

They never told me Gucci was from Florence...

“You have very nice hair,” the lovley girl who had showed us the first floor at Museo Gucci told me. “Oh, thank you.” It was so nice to hear after trying to fix it all morning.

Florence has two great museums: The Uffizi Gallery and Accademia where Michelangelos David is standing. How did we end up with going to none of them? Don’t ask. Early that morning we went out to visit the Basilica di Santa Corce which holds the tomb of both Michelangelo and Galileo, it’s kind of a must, but not to interesting even though the church were rather nice, they were working on it and we did not get to see it in all its glory. So we went back to Piazza della Signora and that’s when I could not help myself. “Let’s go to the Gucci museum!” I said and dragged my mom with me to the entrance where a suit-dressed lady met us. “Do you wish to visit the museum?” she asked. I nodded and followed her. And that’s how we ended up at a fashion museum.
    The Gucci museum is the most fun thing we’ve done in Florence so far. They have different themes like travel and sport where you get different cards where they tell you about the different items you see and why they are as they are. In addition to that Paul Fryer also had a video installation and an exibition at the second floor. It was all such great fun and I would recommend it to any woman who cares about what she wears.

    

“Signorina bellina!” I smiled at the man in the restaurant door and went to the next door store to pick up some water and yogurt. This evening we ate at the Cucciolo. Snack bar again. Our we brought the pizza home and it’s really the best pizza I’ve ever had. It’s located in Via del Corso and you have to try it for yourself to get it – and it’s only 3.50!

   The rest of the evening we spent watching a fun comedian/talking pantomime clown who took people from the crowd and made them do fun stuff. People where gathering, hundreds of them, laughing and clapping. The man had been doing it for 29 years.

Mari Clémentine

Blue Polar Bears lost in Roma

"Roses are red.
I’m gonna sue.

Polar bears are white
So why is this BLUE?!" - Me at the dinnertable

So I guess in Italy, the place really known for its great fashion and shopping streets are Milan, but I found some rather good buys in Rome. It is summer sale after all and even though I planned on going to the Zoo, who can say no to shoes!

    So as you might guess, today we ended up just hanging around in the streets during the day and going to the Castel San’Angelo and its markets at night. Does it sound like I shopped ‘til I dropped, I really didn’t. But I did get a cute dress and some wonderful high heeled shoes, which I wore for dinner as I knew there was no cobblestone on the short way to the restaurant. 

     “What do you want?” I asked my mom. “I don’t know. Pasta maybe?”

“Okey. What kind of Pasta. Carbonara or bolonaise?”

“I don’t know. Carbonara?”

“Yeah, sure. But I do have a little urge for pizza.”

“Pizza.”

“But we can eat Pasta, it’s okey.”

    The waiter soon arrived at our table to take orders. I looked at my mom. “Pasta?”
“Pizza!” I couldn’t help but laugh. And then for dessert, when I ordered the children’s ice-cream the people who work there couldn’t help but laugh either. But as everything on this blog it has a story.

    When I was ten and went to Gran Canaria we were going to Playa del Ingles a day and before walking to the beach we went to a shopping center where we had icecream. The very same type of icecream. Except that time I ordered the cow and the bird, and now I got the polar bear. A blue polar bear. Yeah, I don’t know if they thought I was just cute or cute and retarded. But at least they smiled, so I’m taking my blue ice bear home, baby!

And tomorrow I’m getting up at 7 am to go to the Vatican – lucky me!
Mari Clémentine

The Past and the Present

So as I’m taking things a little step by step these days I just wanted to tell you a little about the present as well as the past. Just for the record: I "just" came home from a couple of days in Paris and a week in Trondheim that was more about festival-life than anything else. It all looked a little like this (at least Paris did):

Tomrrow I’m flying to Rome to explore more of the Vatican and meet a friend of mine, then we are taking the train to Florence – a city I’ve never been to before, but I’m sure I’ll have a lot of fun in the sun. And how bad can it be in the land of gelato and pizza? (Pictures are from my 2010trip to Rome)

From Florence we’re flying to London, getting ready for a piece of West End and Harry Potter, with day trips to Brighton to walk down memory lane and Oxford to walk the footsteps of J. R. R. Tolkien. After a couple of days in London we’re heading north to Scotland and Edinburgh to sit where J.K. Rowling sat and explore castles, lochs and bagpipes. I am so excited for this trip and I’m sure I’ll have a lot of stories to share with you guys, so stay tuned!

Mari Clémentine