Milli Stephania

Paris|Mona Lisa, I See You

Posted on January 24, 2016June 25, 2016 by Milli Stephania in Milli Stephania, Travels

This is the part that I hate the most, all my days start to blend together. I arrived with a journal like I usually do when I travel. I start writing everything in detail, it makes my blogging easier, but then it all goes to the shits.
It was time to visit the infamous Louvre Museum, the home of Mona Lisa and Venus De Milo. Seeing them in person, was a once in a lifetime experience. We bought some croissants, which were delicious for breakfast, and got to the museum as early as possible. We wanted to avoid the crowds, we bought our tickets and bee lined our way to the audio tour guide booth. Getting that audio tour was the best thing we could have done, it broke everything down with full details and back stories. Which saved me and all of us from walking around not knowing what was going on. I loved the rooms fulled of gold, the crowns, all the royalty…how beautiful. It didn’t take long for the crowds to take over, and I noticed a lot of asians came on packs and seemed to be the ones who were the rudest. It wasn’t my favorite feeling, and when it came to the Mona Lisa, the crowd was insane. Everyone kept pushing, having no consideration for anyone else around them. Wack.

She truly was more beautiful in person, I admired her from afar, glad I had my glasses with me. When I finally got to the front, I just stayed there and stared, got my picture and let others have a chance.
After the Louvre it was time for dinner, we walked into a restaurant that head stem punk decor. I feel like all I do is use the bathroom, the french barely believe in water. If you want water, you have to ask for it, as for wine, it’s always there waiting for you.

I decided to try something different, and ordered a salmon and avocado tar tar. It was good, but not as banging as the pizza Christopher ordered. I like that we all order different things and start passing our plates back and forth, it gives us the chance to try everything.
After dinner we headed to the highest point in Paris, the view is absolutely stunning. Sacré- Coeur is a church on top of a hill. It took a little bit of a hike to get up there, but once we got up there, the view was well worth it. By the time we got to the top my feet were killing me and all I really wanted was to teleport back to our flat, and soak my feet.

Paris|Every Hour on the Hour

Posted on January 23, 2016August 6, 2016 by Milli Stephania in Milli Stephania

Time to wake up early, instead of heading out, we decided to stay in for a nice breakfast. Fitgi and Ramon picked us up a baguette and some cheese, while I cooked up some eggs and set up the table. I love how bright our flat is, and I loooove when you just sit around and heave a meal with loved ones—together.
The goal for today, visit Notre Dame. Nikki has been boss about coming up with an itinerary for this trip, and even though we haven’t followed everything to the dot, we pretty much tried our best to keep up on schedule. Notre Dame was beautiful, before we even got inside there were packs of tourists everywhere. Everyone taking their selfies.

I got sidetracked with a tour guide who was so animated with his speech. He made learning fun, something I never got while I was in school. He spoke about Napoleon’s honoring for empire, how he basically dissed the pope right in front of everyone. Bad ass.

The interior was stunning, the stain glass windows, the altars. I lit a candle in honor of my cousin Jasmine and said a little prayer for her. Knowing that she’s in a better place now, watching over me and everyone else in my family. ( I actually learned that one of her cousin’s recently visited the Notre Dame as well, and lit up a candle for her as well… 2 for 2, go Jas!)

After the church, and no, there was no hunchback, we walked in to a tiny little bookshop. It was so cozy and unfortunately we weren’t allowed to take pictures. Not that it stopped Nikki from taking a few anyway.

Now that it’s dark outside, there was no choice but to visit the infamous Eiffel Tower, or as the french, Tour de Eiffel. It was marvelous in all it’s glory. We got there right on time. Many people don’t know this, but the’re a light show every hour on the hour. It was dark and the lights just made everything so magical, I almost forgot how cold it was.

Paris | Sad Kind of Beautiful

Posted on January 22, 2016February 2, 2016 by Milli Stephania in Travels

Well, Hello France!

Surprisingly enough finding our apartment wasn’t difficult. Thanks to Estelle, our host, who left instructions on how to arrive. We took the RER-B (the train) to Châtelet-les-Halles, were we jumped on the 11 and got off at Goncourt. The metro was pretty simple, just like the trains of NYC, there are signs and arrows leading you. Once we left the train it was almost 3 blocks away. The apartment is nice and bright, and I’m glad I had all the instructions and codes to get inside, especially since we got here earlier than our check in time.

Estelle has left a welcoming note,there’s orange juice in the fridge and a bottle of red wine in the counter just waiting for us. Thank you!

We’re all exhausted, hungry and just waiting to jump in the shower, wash our asses. The men keep cracking up because the shower is so much smaller than we’re used to and they look humongous inside of it.

It’s time to get breakfast and it’s also time to bundle up. It’s cold and drizzling here, now what should we eat?

I ordered croque madame, with grilled ham, cheese and a fried egg. I ordered a potato soup that was delicious and everyone started dipping their bread into it. Café Bonne Biére was warm and toasty. We strolled through the streets to visit our first museum.

Centre Pompidou, the outside looked like the bones of the building. Pipes everywhere. Inside there were sculptures and paintings everywhere. Pablo Picasso being one of the infamous and many others, some more disturbing than others.

It was raining, and even though it was wet and cold, from how high I was, the view was beautiful. I’m glad I packed about 3 pairs of glasses with me, because without them, I wouldn’t be able to take in everything.

After we got back to our flat, we noticed that the cafe we munched on earlier, was the same one that was the first target of the shootings a few months ago. The Paris attacks reflected in monuments full of flowers, candles and memorials. It was a sad kind of beautiful.

In All of Our Travels

Posted on January 21, 2016February 2, 2016 by Milli Stephania in Milli Stephania

One day away from the big trip. I just got to Chris’s house, I’ve had about 8 margaritas with my coworkers. Right now Chris is weighing all of our luggage, making sure all of our bags weigh less than the regulated 44 pounds.

We’ve arrived at the Bolt bus. Nikki got here exactly on time, especially since the bus moved at exactly 4:01pm. Right on the money.

Ramon’s house, it’s cold in Boston. We headed to the liquor store and the dumb broad refused to sell me wine, yes I forgot my id, but there was 4 of us and and didn’t let anyone of us buy it either, all because I was the one holding the bottle.

We ate from a Brazilian restaurant that had steak on the grill, delicious!

Fitgi’s flight arrives at midnight and we’re all drinking beer, still a little upset I didn’t get my wine. While Ramon picks up Fitgi we all took turns reading some Edgar Allen Poe’s poems to each other, we’re just so damn cute that way.

Breakfast has been served. The streets of Boston are weird, they’re all triangles and the only thing we’ve seem to find is Salvadorian food. Chris and I split a chicken quesadilla that was sloppier than it needed to be. Fitgi headed to Walgreens and bought a last minute European adapter, alongside coloring books and an Cosmopolitan for spice sex tips.

She tempted us with all the the snacks and we ended up taking a trip for ourselves. I’m addicted to White Cheddar Cheez it’s and Chris is already destroying them all. We’ve arrived at the airport and we’re either hungry or in need of a drink. I’ve ordered merlot because, hello—–wine!

Reykjavik, Iceland. Those five hours in the plane were butt numbing. The flight attendants were sweet enough to let us know that if we looked outside we might see the Northern Lights, one of the things I have on my bucket list. Almost everyone tilted to the left side of the plane, and since I was seared on the right. I asked an awesome couple if I see through their window. I apologized for being annoying, but they didn’t seem to care, they asked if I saw it, I didn’t. All I saw was what may have been an outline of a cloud, but I saw nothing, especially anything in a green glow. Maybe it’s for the best, that sight deserves it’s own trip. Maybe next year.

I only wish we had enough time to visit the Blue Lagoon, or anything for that matter. Instead we’re killing 2 hours at the airport, roaming gift shops. Everything looks so nordic especially the men who look like hunks in their blonde beards and man buns. Yum.