Favorites of 2011

Posted by Laura & Claire on Dec 28, 2011 | 12 comments

2011 has been a great year for us! It has really flown by though and we had some great moments during our travels!

Favorite moments

Starting out the year in Australia!
Horseback riding on the beach in Australia.
Learning to surf!
Getting stuck for five days in Sydney.
Drinking multiple smoothies every day in Mornington, Australia.
Seeing a tango show in Argentina.
Falling off paddle boards in Tybee, GA.
Taking a mud bath at the Dead Sea.
Riding a camel, visting Holy sights, and getting baptized in the Jordan River in Israel.
Cliff diving in Kusadasi, Turkey
Seeing the Parthenon in Athens and relaxing on the beautiful island of Patmos, Greece
Reaching over 400 followers on Twitter.
Watching the changing of guards at Buckingham Palace in London.
Staying with friends in a small town in Switzerland for a week.
Driving 110 mph on the Autobahn in Germany.
Randomly running into a childhood friend in Amsterdam.
Spending a day kayaking and bike riding in Tybee Island.
Spending Thanksgiving at Port Saint Joe.

Favorite destinations

We can’t wait for 2012! :)

Best Meal in Buenos Aires

Posted by Claire on Dec 10, 2011 | 5 comments

Juana M. deserves a post of its own. Juana M. is the best restaurant in Buenos Aires! If you think differently, you haven’t eaten here.

It’s completely hidden, like, underground, no joke! It’s like a secret treasure and I am so glad we found it. My mom had heard many good things about it, but she wasn’t sure if we should go there. We went to the hotel receptionist to ask what she recommended. She said there weren’t any restaurants nearby, which was weird because my mom heard Juana M was right around the corner. It really was a secret! So we set off on our own to find it… and here it was, shining bright waiting for our entry…

Ok, I might have been exaggerating about it being “underground” and “secret hidden,” but you do have to go down these stairs and it’s easy to miss I promise! Once you open the doors, this is what you see…

Coolest place you’ve ever seen right? See those pillows on the bottom left corner? That’s part of this awesome waiting area…

Who could complain about waiting for a table while sitting in this cool corner? Not me! But don’t worry, we didn’t have to wait at all because we were the first people in the restaurant and it was 8 PM… Who knew Argentinians don’t eat dinner until like midnight?!

So we sat down at our beautifully set up table (only people in the restaurant as you can see). Every person eating at Juana M. gets a free salad bar… but this isn’t any normal old salad bar… this is like a meal bar. There’s uncut baked potatoes, uncut hard boiled eggs, uncut fruit, and uncut vegetables. I should have taken a photo… But here’s a photo of my delicious steak… Seriously the best steak I’ve ever had!

So, yeah, if you’re in Buenos Aires, please don’t miss out on Juana M.! You won’t be disappointed! Keep an eye out for this sign: (it’s right above the stairs)

Check out the Juana M. website here!

Tango Porteno

Posted by Claire on Dec 10, 2011 | 2 comments

Visiting Argentina, seeing a tango show is a must! I went to one called Tango Porteño, which was a dinner show. There are tons of different theaters with tango shows every night and I only went to this one, so I can’t say I recommend one over another. But this one was great!

We got there a little bit late because we ate at Juana M. before the show. So, we got seats at the very back but it wasn’t bad at all. We still got a great view and the theater was pretty small so we weren’t actually too far back. Here’s a photo from where I sat.

After a while of anxiousness for the show to start, it finally did! And it was great!

Oh I wish I could dance like that!!

If you want, you can check out Tango Porteño’s website here!

Buenos Aires, Argentina: Photos

Posted by Claire on Dec 7, 2011 | 0 comments

Here are some of my favorite photos from my recent trip to Buenos Aires:

: Dog walkers = everywhere

: Boy playing guitar on the steps to a school

: But then there’s the quiet streets

: Beautiful park

: Love the trees

: Made me laugh!

: Loved the architecture

: A lot of kissing went on in Buenos Aires!

: Guard at the memorial

: Great views all over

: Nighttime in Buenos Aires is the best!

: A shot from the Recoleta market on the last day…

The Recoleta Cemetery

Posted by Claire on Oct 24, 2011 | 2 comments

The Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires is so fascinating! It’s like a town of beautiful mausoleums. There are several “streets” or alleys that you can walk down and admire the architecture and design of each one. Some have beautiful carved angels or saints on top watching over. There are some that are a few hundred years old but there are also some fairly recent graves (the most recent we saw was about 30 years old). You can see inside some of the mausoleums and you’ll find a seating area for family members/friends to visit. Some are so elaborate that they look like a church inside!

The famous Eva Peron was buried in the Recoleta Cemetery. Hers is the most visited gravesite in the cemetery and there were a lot of people surrounding it when we arrived.

The architecture is so amazing on each grave. It’s hard not to take a picture of every single one!

I highly recommend visiting the Recoleta Cemetery if you visit Buenos Aires. You wouldn’t want to miss it, I promise! I’ve never seen anything like it.

Recoleta Market

Posted by Claire on Oct 22, 2011 | 0 comments

This morning in Buenos Aires, my mom and I ventured to the Recoleta Market in front of the famous Recoleta Cemetery. There were over a hundred different booths with amazing handcrafted goods. Everything is very reasonably priced and you can usually bargain a little. I bought a few pieces of jewelry and a wire tree sculpture.

There are also quite a few booths that sell fresh fruit, juice, and pastries. If you go, be careful not to buy from the first booth you cross. My mom paid twenty pesos ($5) for orange juice (which tasted gross) and the next booth we came to was selling delicious-looking o.j. for just eight pesos ($2)!