Child's Tea Set, Euro-Style.

If I were 5, I would be all over this.

The Charles Bridge. Prague.

The Charles Bridge.




Definitely deserving of a walk all the way across.

Gorgeous.

Looming.

Ancient.

Magnificenting the Vltava River.

Darkening her ripples with his blackened decore of Baroque statues of saints.

Enjoy your stroll to the other side.

Listen to the songs of the Band Bridge.

Look at the art work for sale by local artists.
Take a photo shoot with a best friend.





This is definitely a bridge I'll never burn. ;)

Tip:  Be ready to LOVE the mass amounts of tourists -- you are one too after all.

Breakfast of {Greek} Champions.

While enjoying breakfast at Petrino Suites in Halkidiki, Greece, I discovered this little gem.

Greek Yogurt drizzled with honey.

Better than anything else.

Ever.

Verona By Foot.

After taking a little break from extensive tourism in Turin, we dove full force into sightseeing when we arrived in Verona.

We began with Rick Steve's guided walk around the city, from the center to the river.

RS led us down the Liston walkway, into a hole-in-the-wall wine shop, underneath the Scaliger tombs, onto Juliet's balcony, and finally to a spritz in the Piazza Erbe.

{Mr. Umbrella and I are pretty big fans Rick Steve's books and tours.}

It was beautiful walk and a great way to see the city.

Smile. You're in the Alps.

Holy Freakin' Cow! I get to check this one off my bucket list!

Mr. Umbrella, Cathy, Courtney, Joe and I rented ourselves some skies and headed to the Sass-Fee ski resort for some serious shredding of the gnar.

Sass-Fee offers excellent Alps skiing (trails between 2500 - 3500m, an elevation of 3,600m, a vertical drop of 1,800m) at reasonable lift and resort prices. It's nestled between several other ski resorts and the Saas Pass includes access to the Saas-Almagell and Saas-Grund lifts.

And, good news! Zermatt, home to world-known skiing, is only about 16 km away and requires only a one bus - one train travel day. More good news! Six day Saas Passes allow skiers to experience Zermatt peaks for a highly discounted price.

If you don't ski or snowboard, there are plenty of other opportunities for winter fun within this village including ice skating, tubing, tobogganing, train rides, and hiking. Super experienced skiers can hire a guide for glacier skiing too.

In case you need further convincing to stop by this skiing sensation, Saas-Fee was voted one of the top 10 of underrated ski resorts by goski.co.uk.

I Really Love Sleeping in a Storage Unit.

And I really love this girl.

And I love that she is totally okay with this

sleeping arrangement for 3 people, 1 of whom she's never even met.

But this is what you get at Easy Hotel in Basel, Switzerland: A very

affordable room with no frills, no breakfast, and no maid service. We

decided that, at best, you may describe the Easy Hotel experience as similar to a

cruise ship sleeping accommodations, and at worst, you would describe

it as similar to sleeping in a storage unit.

I mean ... haven't you always wanted to sleep in a storage unit?

And, good news! The hotel's website is painted on the door.

This may or may not come in handy during your stay.

The positives: A private stand-up shower, private rooms, less

than half the price of EVERY other hotel and hostel we looked at in

Basel.

Old School and Christmas Markets.

I awoke on December 19 to find myself sleeping with my boyfriend in a twin sized bed for the first time since college thanks to our cheap hotel and, despite this fact, I was ecstatic for multiple reasons.

A. I was in Basel, Switzerland.

B. One of my best friends from college would be arriving all the way from Chi-town very soon.

But A comes before B, so my group and I headed out to do some Basel.

First thing to note: Many museums are closed on Monday, so plan ahead!

We decided to walk around old town Basel and take in some sights of the market square, hear some bell ringers, and see the Tinguely Fountain {Jean Tinguely is a sculptor and painter dedicated to kinetic art}. If you're around on a non-Monday, check out his full museum: Museum Tinguely. We were pretty freakin' sad to have missed out on it!

To finish our walking tour, we stopped off at a Christmas Market for some pretzel sandwiches and mulled wine.

D-to-the-licious.

Hello Lover. And by Lover, I do Mean Basel, Switzerland.

Yes. The Rhine is why I call it Lover.

Yes. Basel was a great beginning to European Christmas '11.

Venice Love.

Venice is known for its picturesque canals, its orchestra cafes, its carnevale, its piazzas.

It's known for epitomizing romance.

Before we left, people warned me that I will either love the city or hate it.

Good news ... I loved it. All of it.

Venice, for Mr. Umbrella and I, was drinking great homemade wine, picnicking with fresh seafood next to a canal, enjoying a river cruise ride, sipping coffee in a cafe {for the record, Kosovo's coffee is way better}, watching the sunset over the Adriatic Sea, falling in love with Venetian Sea Squid {squid cooked in it's own ink sauce}, wandering around piazzas and back sidewalks, and walking amongst English-speaking tourists.

I love, that right now, I get to do day trips to Venice -- and to think, I used to think day trips to Keystone were great. ;)

4 Countries in 4 Days?

No Problem!

For Columbus Day weekend {apparently that's cause for a day off in Kosovo}, Mr. Umbrella and I headed on a "country hop".

Stay tuned for information about our visits to:

* Skopje, Macedonia

* Venice, Italy

* London, England

I love living in Europe.