Montmartre, Paris

We stayed in the Montmartre district of Paris when we visited and it was amazing. I would totally recommend staying there if you are traveling to Paris for the first time or have never stayed in that area before. Paris is SO BIG that you can't really stay in one place that is "centrally located." If you stay close to the Louvre you will be away from the Eiffel Tower and vice versa. Also Paris has a great metro system so we knew we would be able to get around easily wherever we stayed. I chose the Montmartre district because it has so much going on itself. There is the amazing basilica Sacre-Coeur, there are carousels on what seems like every corner, Moulin Rouge, that pink restaurant on the most photographed corner in Paris, the neon basketball court, the sinking house, tons of good food, squares and streets lined with local artists. It is a wonderful neighborhood. We stayed in the Hotel Des Arts Montmartre. It was a cute little hotel that was quiet, wonderfully located, and comfortable.

I recommend eating at El Nopal Taqueria such good street tacos. We might have eaten there about 3 times over the course of our stay. Get crepes from street vendors and don't forget to get flower shaped ice cream at Amorino. They have them all over Paris and I think the cheesecake is the best flavor. Okay, one more post down a dozen more to go. Not really a dozen but it feels like I still have a lot of photos from Paris. 

love, Carlee

Coat: Thrifted -Rue 21

Dress: NEX

Tights: Macys

Purse: JCPennys

Shoes: Nike

Dracula & Peles Castle + Brasov

On Friday we spent all day, 12 hours, on a day trip to Bran Castle which is the popular Dracula’s Castle. We also saw Peles Castle and Pelisor Castle and the cutest medieval town of Brasov, Romania. I booked the tour through Bucharestcitytour.com before we left. I always get a little nervous booking tours cause I think what if it’s not legit. But so far it’s been great. The tour was awesome we packed a lot into one day. And it was nice to do it with a company because you get lots of inside information and Clark likes not having to drive in a new country. 

We left at 8am with a group of about 13 on a mini bus. Our first stop was Peles Castle and the grounds. We got a tour and to explore the inside of Pelisor Castle but not Peles Castle since it was under renovation inside. The tour guide asked if I was from America and I said yes he asked if I was impressed with the castles since there aren’t any castles in America and I was like yeah. But we have seen some cool castles in Europe. These were very pretty though and in such a cool style. Peles Castle was very impressive. There was also about 15 dogs that lived on the grounds that were just sun bathing. They were filming a movie or TV show on the grounds too. I told Clark we need to look our for a movie or show that might have been filmed in Romania and we can say we were there!

We then had one hour drive to Bran Castle. The Romania countryside was very beautiful. Mountains and green fields with lots of sheep. We had a little over two hours at Bran Castle aka Dracula’s Castle. They say the story of Dracula is based on the emperor Vlad the Impaler and he lived in this castle so that’s why they call in Dracula’s Castle. It’s also in Transylvania which we know is the place that vampires live.

The inside of the castle was cool. Although very old. The stairs and wood was very worn. I think it is a very popular Romania attraction but despite our tour guide saying it was going to be very busy it wasn’t that bad. There was also a ton of stalls with souvenirs, handmade goods, sweaters, slippers, furs, antiques etc. I got the coolest wools sweater that a Romanian grandma had hand-knitted. It is so pretty.

After we visited Bran Castle we went to the little town of Brasov, Romania. It is a sweet little medieval town with a walled city center. It even has a sign up on the hill like the Hollywood sign. We spent about an hour there. Clark ate a crepe and I had some popcorn. We walked around the town square and watched kids doing backflips of the fountains edge. Totally freaked me out by the way. Once we were done in Brasov we made the 3 hour trip back to Bucharest. It was a great day though and I would definitely recommend this tour if you want to see some of the countryside of Romania. 
love, Carlee 

Can you believe that I got my Romania posts up within 2 days of being home and I still haven't gotten all my Paris posts up which was like 1.5 months ago. Whoops. 

Pants & Shoes: Nike

Scarf: gift

Coat: H&M

Purse: JCPennys

Bucharest, Romania

We spent Thanksgiving weekend in Bucharest, Romania and it was amazing. We flew out on Wednesday night after Clark was done with work and then flew back to Naples on Saturday night. We spent all day on Thursday exploring Bucharest and a good half day on Saturday exploring the city as well. The first thing we did after sleeping in a bit on Thursday was go and rent bikes to bike around the city. Biking is my favorite way to explore any city and most European cities are super bike friendly. Bucharest has so many beautiful parks that it was a great way to see some of the city. We biked from Old Town to Herăstrău Park. Which was actually about 3 miles but we took our time and enjoyed the Christmas decorations that were going up and we stopped about half way to get some coffee for Clark and hot cocoa for me to warm up. And while on this stop Clark accidentally dropped his bike lock key down a sewer grate. Needless to say we had to double locks our bikes with my lock the rest of the day. Haha

We then biked to a burger place that I had heard about when looking up food recommendations before we left, it’s called Burger Van Bistro and it is located down a little bit of a sketchy street. You definitely wouldn’t come across it if you weren’t looking for it but it was SO GOOD! I think it it might have been the best pulled pork sandwiches I have ever had. Definitely top 3! They have really good burgers too. How do I know cause we went again before we headed to the airport on Saturday and I had one.

After eating we biked to the Palace of the Parliament which is the largest parliament building in the world and second largest administration building after the Pentagon. It’s massive, very beautiful and impressive. We then biked down the main boulevard and back to Old Town.


The bookstore Carturesti Carusel in Old Town is amazing. So pretty! They have 2 sets of spiral staircases and 3 stories of books and 5 stories total with a cafe on top. They also had the cutest gifts and Christmas decorations right now. And 100% instagram worthy.

Whenever I travel to a new city I always scope out the dessert situation. Do they have great ice cream or donuts? Well I found a place called Coffeol in Old Town that has freakshakes basically milkshakes on steroids. I had the M&M and Clark had the Black Forest. So yummy. On Saturday we got ice cream at Emalias which is also great and right next door to Coffeol. We had dinner at St. Patrick’s Irish Pub one night and we also ate at the restaurant in our hotel. We stayed at the Ramada Majestic. It was in a good location but not a 4 star hotel which is what the website said it was. It was probably a 4 star hotel 30 years ago but now its a little outdated. Still nice though. 

We also explored a few cute passages ways like the one with yellow glass on top and the umbrella covered one. They call Bucharest either Little Paris or New Berlin. It also has an Arch of Triumph just a small version.

Bucharest was a really cute city. We enjoyed it a lot. It was not very busy compared to other major European cities which was nice. On Friday we took an all day (12 hours) trip to Dracula’s Castle, Peles Castle and the medieval town of Brasov which I will post about tomorrow! I hope everyone has a great holiday weekend.

love, Carlee 

Jeans: NEX

Scarf: gift

Coat: H&M

Shoes: Nike

Glasses: Firmoo