Welcome to another TTT! This week’s topic is a non-bookish freebie, which means you can share your list on anything your heart desires! This top ten list could be on your favorite TV shows/movies, bands/singers, food items/recipes, items, places you’ve visited, fashion designers, etc. It could also be on a more broad topic like things nobody knows about you, your favorite things in general, your hobbies, your views on life, etc. The possibilities are limitless, you just can’t talk about books! I cannot wait to see what everyone has chosen to write about and get to know all of you a little better! I love traveling, so I’ve chosen to list out my favorite places I’ve visited. And every single one of them was with my favorite travel partner: my mom (and today is her birthday, so how perfect is this??). I’m not just limiting it to cities or countries, I’m letting myself get even more specific. These are in no particular order, as I love them all!
1. Venice, Italy
I loved walking through the tight alleyways along the canals. Everything is so twisty and turny, and every turn you make presents you with a stunning new view of a bridge or a secluded alcove. It’s easy to get lost, but it’s also easy to end up in places where you’re totally alone. That quiet, magical time of realizing nobody else is around is amazing. It’s just you and the water. And the pigeons. lol.
2. Bellagio, Italy
My mom and I stayed at a pink hotel right on Lake Como, and our corner room provided us with two balconies to gaze out at the stunning views. We climbed to the very top of the town and saw the most beautiful little chapel, and then we dined on some amazing past on our way back down. My favorite gelato shop has a bench right on the water, and it was empty for us every time we stopped to get a cup.
3. Florence, Italy
Florence has my heart. I loved seeing the Duomo, which is right smack dab in the middle of everything. Seeing Michelangelo’s David at the Galleria dell’Accademia di Firenze was a transcendent experience, My mom and I found the cutest jewelry shop and bought some fun souvenirs, and I had the best prosciutto and fresh mozzarella sandwich of my life here.
4. Curaçao
This little Caribbean island is magical. The traditional architecture is stunning, and all the buildings are pastel colored. My mom and I had so much fun ducking in and out of the shops and basking in the sea breeze (it gets so windy there).
5. La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain
I minored in art history in undergrad, so I am obsessed with art and architecture. Visiting Gaudi’s stunningly unique church after studying it and seeing it in my textbooks and on lecture slides was surreal. When the sun shines through those stained glass windows the entire interior becomes a kaleidoscope of color. And then when you stand in the glow of those windows? You can almost feel the colors soaking into your skin. I could have stayed here for hours.
6. Palma de Mallorca, Spain
Mallorca is a small Spanish island, famous for their pearls. My mom, sister, and I visited the most famous Mallorcan pearl store, Majorica, which has been producing these pearls since the process began in 1890. We each bought some, and I have cherished them ever since. I also visited my very first European cathedral here in Mallorca, The Cathedral of Santa Maria of Palma (La Seu). I saw my very first rose window in this church!
7. Paris, France
I was going to say the Eiffel Tower, but then I got sad because I loved Paris so much. I loved the iconic Art Nouveau metro station entrances, the hot pink bakery outside our quaint hotel that sold the most amazing quiche and strawberry tarts, the Notre Dame, Shakespeare and Company, the Louvre, exiting the Louvre and getting my first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower, the baguette sandwiches, Sainte-Chapelle, the Sacré-Cœur, everything. My mom and I ate nutella crepes sitting on a bench overlooking the Eiffel Tower. It doesn’t get more magical than that. Visiting Paris was a dream come true.
8. The Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy
I got the picture everyone gets of themselves, holding the tower up. But I don’t care. I have wanted to see that tower since I was little, and it was so much fun.
9. New York City at Christmas
This was another dream come true! My mom and I stayed in this adorable boutique hotel with a door man and a bellhop and a Christmas tree in the lobby and breakfast with fresh doughnuts from a local bakery. We saw the Rockefeller tree, bought obscenely expensive truffles from Teuscher Chocolates, watched the Rockettes dance in the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, saw Mary Poppins on Broadway, saw all the beautiful Christmas storefront windows, braved the coldest and windiest night of our lives at the top of the Empire State Building (there were like 2 other people up there with us), bought an ornament from Bloomingdale’s, had frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity 3, found the best pizza ever, saw Starry Night at the Museum of Modern Art, went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, took the wrong subway, walked the streets at night looking at Christmas lights and eating candied peanuts, got overwhelmed in Times Square, poked into FAO Schwarz (I was last there as a kid and my parents bought me a cute dog stuffed animal), at ate Junior’s in Grand Central Station, and so much more. We had the best time, and made the best memories.
10. Juneau, Alaska
This was a port of call on our Alaskan cruise, but Juneau will forever have a place in my heart because this is where I got to go whale watching. It was a cold, misty day out there on the boat but I seriously felt like I had communed with nature. There’s something so majestic about watching whales dance in the water. I saw so many flukes, tails, spouts, and even breaches! I never knew how much I loved whales until this experience, and I still can’t get enough of them. I look for spouts every time I’m near the ocean now, and I see them way more than I would ever expected.
Do you like to travel? What place in the world is your favorite?
What topic did you choose this week?
