Warsaw

After saying goodbye to T, I got on the flight from Pisa to Warsaw in Poland. Honestly I didn't have much preconceived expectations of Poland, because I didn't do my research, and also because I have not heard much about it. 

DAY 1

First impressions of Warsaw is that it's quite a dreary town, with plenty of leftover scars from communism, with uniform blocks of buildings all in grey. 

and this was our first meal in Warsaw, at a milk bar, which is a dining concept in which you just pick what you want and pay by weight. 

Chicken with mashed potatoes

and boiled pierogi, which is a polish dumpling stuffed with all sorts of things. this one had cottage cheese and potatoes. very starchy haha

the tower blocks of Warsaw

and we went to the palace of culture and science and went up to the observatory to get a view of the city.. and this is what we saw.

grey blocks for miles around haha, we were quite disappointed with the lack of beauty in Warsaw, but luckily we found the lovely old town of Warsaw later on. Still, i wouldn't recommend travellers to spend more than 2 days in Warsaw, especially when there are so many much more beautiful places in Poland to visit.

 a belated birthday dinner at Rozbrat 02, a fancy French restaurant!

bread with butter finally!!! in italy they give you unsalted bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, which i think is just nasty.

 a rich creamy and yummy potato soup

 turkey breast

 with truffle mashed potatoes

 and an amazing chocolate ganache cake


DAY 2: Warsaw Old Town 

good morning!!! (:

 vodka is famous in poland, so we bought a bottle belvedere which is apparently some good stuff, but i didn't have much of it. im sick of alcohol after all the wine in Italy.

warsaw uprising monument, celebrating freedom fighting 

and we realised that there ARE pretty buildings in warsaw

this one is the Barbican, which reminds me of a fortress!

and we stopped at a pretty looking restaurant to eat

Zurek- a polish speciality, some kind of sour soup with white sausages and boiled eggs

today we tried fried pierogis with saukraut and meat. it tastes better than yesterday's pierogis haha, but eating too many dumplings make us sick of it

turkey meat and forest mushroom gnocchi (:

horse carriages are everywhere in the touristy districts 

                                       

and we went to a traditional market, and bought these awesome sausages that had crispy skins

more goodies up for sale

we really keep eating. after we got tired of walking around and eating street food, we decided to chill in a cafe and eat some more. this is a meringue cake with mascarpone cheese and chocolate sauce

we really enjoy chilling, sipping tea, and just talking (:

and we had sushi for dinner!

chef making sushi in front of us, and look at the little boats that are supposed to float sushi around the bar.

beautiful salmon sashimi rose :D

and the amazing sushi rolls!!! i forgot what this is actually, but it had torched salmon on top

 unagi and avocado sushi

and my favourite was duck tempura sushi!!! which i've never tried before, and it was nice to have hot tempura with cold sushi (:

baked salmon roll

DAY 3

still hungry for asian food, and this time we had vietnamese pho! hot soupy goodness on a cold morning. it's always a pleasure to eat soup noodles on cold days i think

then we went to take a walk around warsaw.

and had lody (which means ice cream) and gofry (which means waffles). I love how it's a common snack in europe, which means i can get it everywhere for cheap!

this is the royal palace, which was closed when we were there, so we only got to see the exterior

and we were feeling rather lazy, so we sat on the barbican walls and talked and lazed the afternoon away eating snacks on top of the wall lols

and then continuing our asian food streak, we had thai food for dinner!

tom yum soup! much love!!

fried rice!!!! oh my it was my first meal of rice in quite a while i think

and apple pie with ice cream for dessert, yummy!!!

our conclusion was that we should have spent less time in Warsaw and more in other regions. but the good thing about Warsaw is that it has plenty of Asian food hahaha, so we got our Asian food fix before moving out (:

and the next day we headed on a 6 hour drive south of Poland to Zakopane, home of the Tatra highlands! for the next post (:

love,
shermine

Happy birthday to me in Lucca!

After a wonderful 8 days or so in Italy, it was time to say goodbye, on my birthday ): 

after checking out, i had one last pasta whilst waiting for T to get off school to help me with luggage. I love pasta, and even simple pastas are really yummy to me (: 

and i walked past this place called Venchi. I have a serious crepe obsession, and i couldn't resist getting this although it was so expensive (5 euros). most wonderful chocolate crepe ever, with thick chocolate and hazelnuts inside!!! it was so nice to simply enjoy crepes over the counter, surrounded by chocolate!

And i love how fresh pizza is available as a snack everywhere for 1 or 2 euros, and it's soft and moist unlike singapore's pizzas. it's simple too, you can get something with just cheese and tomato, no need for fancy toppings and it's delicious

After an afternoon of wandering around the quaint town of Lucca, we went to the restaurant that T made reservations at called Canuleia (:

very cozy and intimate place

complimentary tiramisu shot from the chef

 starters was mashed cod and potato. very yummy but very salty too haha

 risotto with calamari!!

 poached seabass with fennel

and a picture of us (:

and I had a surprise- molten chocolate lava cake with ice cream (:

haha it was a very relaxing evening spending some time with T before I flew off to poland, but we missed our last train back to Pisa!!! so it was quite an adventure because we ended up having to cab from lucca to pisa where our accom was haha, we joked about it being a luxurious way to end off my birthdayyy. im glad that although for most of the year we're apart, i got to spend my birthday together!

2 months before I see T again, this time back in Singapore for a good 2 or 3 months (: yay! I miss him already ):

love,
shermine

Florence Part 3

DAY 6: 

- Breakfast at Al Nannini

- Palazzo Pitti

- Piazzale Michelangelo 

- Lunch at Osteria Antica Mescita San Niccolo 

- Shopping

- Aperivito at Soul Kitchen

- Black Swan Gala Ballet 

- Gelato at Dei Neri

Day 6 in florence was packed full of activities! Met T early in the morning because he kindly helped me with my laundry, and we went for breakfast at a panini place. It's a huge serving chock full of fresh and yummy ingredients, sort of like an italian subway. I even had half left over for me to take on a picnic. haha 

afterwhich, T got me free tickets to go visit the palace called palazzo pitti. It is full of wonderful exhibits, and although we were not supposed to take pictures i simply couldn't resist.

this was the bedchamber of some noble or royal, and i loved how the walls are lined with beautiful silk. everything was so luxurious it was nice to even look at it.

and this was the costume gallery, where they showcased dresses and fashion from eras gone by

the palace grounds and gardens, where i had my own little picnic with the remainder of my sandwich haha

all the rooms in the palace had spectacular ceilings, frescoes and art work. Look at the intricate details of the art on this ceiling!!!

after touring palazzo pitti, i walked to piazzale Michelangelo, which boasts a good view of the Florentine skyline.  it was nice, but i don't think it was much different from the one i saw from fiesole. haha

but anyway i went to a lovely place for lunch, and had roast beef with pureed spinach! yum

in the evening I met T for Aperivito. It is a dining concept in which people order a drink (about 8 euros) and can help themselves to a free buffet. It was so fun!!! and the cheapo in me was super happy about it haha

Here's the menu of what they would be serving for that night.

there were so many good things to eat, like fried mushrooms, fried eggplants, omelettes with asparagus, pasta, risotto, pork and chicken in cream sauce, fries, ham and cheese, breads, etc

we were SO stuffed after a while, because the food was so good. It's hard to imagine that the locals eat this as a pre-dinner snack

 here are our drinks!

and here we are at the black swan gala ballet. It was good artistry, the dancers were all technically very sound and I enjoyed the dancing very much! Too bad about the lack of sets or props and live music.

and more gelato! cream cheese and chocolate are my favourite flavours i think

DAY 7:

Didn't do much at all this day, because I was sleeping the entire day. But T cooked dinner for me, and here's our delicious pasta with eggs.

and a picture of him at work in the kitchen :D lovely evening chilling together

DAY 8: A perfect Day

- Al Antico Panini

- Shopping for vintage couture
- Pre birthday dinner at Osteria Santo Spirito

T has been telling me that if there's one sandwich shop to try in Florence, it has to be Al Antico. So here we are, with our sandwiches. haha to be honest i prefer subwayyy but saying so makes me feel bad to the artisanal heritage of Tuscan paninis hahah

so after breakfast we went to explore Florence's streets together. (FINALLY he has time to wander with me just before I leave ) and we got my birthday present, which is a realllllyyy beautiful lilac vintage gown (: i'm so thrilled with it, and i'll post pictures of that next time!

and an early birthday dinner for me at a really yummy place in Florence

truffle gnocchi! pretty good but super rich and filling

this was fresh tomato cream with feta cheese, which was refreshing for a while, but we started to get sick of it after a bit

and awesome beef stew with potatoes! favourite!

and a last happy picture (:


love,
shermine