Twenty Twelve

is here!!! What a holiday I had closing out 2011 and starting a new year in Europe with the one and only Gregory! I honestly do not know where to begin with this trip and ALL the food we encountered but I guess I will start with our first stop, London! 

Out of all my experiences in London, this is by far my favorite... I got to see the London I was craving... local pubs and the true spirit of a Football Match! Of course we had plenty of pints to go around...I even tried Strongbow which Greg and I saw many people drinking... we however, did not like this beer. It was like an alcoholic apple juice but not in a good way LOL! I did get my fish n chips!!! MMM! It came with peas which I loved ha! Sadly, that same night I almost got robbed by a gypsy. Thank goodness for the training I rec'd from studying abroad in Italy... I was smarter than her :) 

Borough Market Venison Sausage nomnomnom

A spot of English Tea

Trafalgar Sq

Fish n Chips

Fulham vs Man U

Next stop: Amsterdam! Amsterdam is so easy to fall in love with... the beautiful canals paired with the colorful homes... not to mention all the people biking around full of smiles :) Again another city that did not disappoint with food & drinks!!

Waffles

French Fries normally served with Mayo but we went with ketchup!  

Best beers ever!!! Dark beer obsession 

Walking around at night :)

Delicious and homemade Churros!

Sprechen Sie Deutsch? Can you guess what our next Country was?.... Germany!!!! We were ready for more beers and I was dying for my German food!!!!!!!!!!!! We spent a few nights in Frankfurt, which is a smaller city so we were able to walk all over and explore the whole place. Then we decided to rent a car and explore more of Germany.. The Rhine specifically... it was fun to drive and stop at different towns... there were TONS of castles and wineries to see! 

Christmas Dinner with some yummy beers <3

Walnut Cheese- SO good!

Cheese Spaetzle- YES!

Schnitzel

More beers & the best pretzel ever!!

Cute German Buildings

Time for our snow destination... Switzerland <3!! St Moritz to be exact. My mom's friend recommended this area to us, which was nice to know of a place that someone has been to before. However, this town was a bit ritzy...and that's subtle. It was beautiful and worked out perfectly but we just couldn't stay IN the town. I would shock you if you knew the rates for the hotels IN the town! BUT the snow & skiing was the main attraction and it was spectacular!!! The mountains looked like back drops! We also had the best hot chocolate, fondue, and pizza :)! 

The Town of St Moritz

After a long day of skiing, Hot Chocolate was my cure for the cold :)

Fondue 

Beautiful photo of our train leaving Switzerland .. Look at those mountains!!

After Switzerland, we headed to the motherland... well my motherland.. ITALIA! We went to Milan and Parma. Milan was perfect for NYE because the Duomo, the main church, has a huge piazza. Tons of people, champagne, and fireworks!!!! Parma was perfect for the small town Italian feel. We had some of the best food here, duh of course, and tons of wine to go along with all the fun!!

Caprese

Gnocchi

Orecchiette

Arancini!!

Line for Panzerotti

which is basically a smaller/snack size calzone mmm

Prosciutto Panini with Olive Tapenade, Tomatoes, & Ricotta

pizza pizza pizza

They have to put something in their coffee-- It is SO good!

Parma is known for their prosciutto

our snack: Bottle of red, fresh mozzarella, bread, and prosciutto- best I ever had!

Truffle Risotto... i miss this dish!

Tortellini with mushroom gravy sauce

Chef Alessandro 

Olives mmm... in focaccia bread.. even more mmm!

Our last country was France. We both have done the Paris thing so it was time to venture elsewhere. Lyon was our destination of choice mainly because we love wine from the Rhone Valley. Lyon is situated right ON the Rhone River... YES! Again, just like every other country, we devoured our food and wine as if it was the last on this earth! We had very good bread, pastries, steak, potatoes, wine.. you name it!! 

ham and cheese please!

Farmer's market full of fresh items, I wish I could have bought everything!

Chocolate Croissant with crunchies!

River + Bridge = Beauty

Rhone Valley Wine!

walking around downtown...

Lyonnaise Salad

Steak with Bernaise sauce and Pom Frittes- MMMM

Bouchon in Lyon- typical of locals & yes they really don't speak English! ha

Pate

Sausage and Potato

Au Gratin!!!!!

Steak sautéed in a red wine & shallots reduction... mmm! 

All in all, we had a BLAST! Our idea of this vacation was to RELAX. Wake up, walk around & explore, stop for coffee & pastry, walk around some more, stop for a snack & wine/beer, stop for mid day coffee and another pastry, go home & freshen up, go to dinner, walk around some more, grab more drinks, sleep, wake up and repeat for 17 days :) It was so enjoyable to not have plans and to frolic around with no agenda other than to have a good time!! 


Hope you all had a fabulous holiday too... and I hope 2012 brings new beginnings for everyone!!