But For the Sky

Author: Claudia

  • An Umbrian Homecoming

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    Claudia
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    All of my relatives except my mother live in either Italy (dad’s side) or Austria (mom’s side), so I only get to spend time chatting with relatives, reminiscing about the past, and eating classic family meals together about once every few years. After not having been to my father’s hometown, Città di Castello, in twenty years,…

  • Yum: Gelato!

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    Claudia
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    Eating gelato at least once a day while in Italy is completely unavoidable. I am willing to risk not fitting into any of my clothes at the end of my trips there if it means I can stop for ice cream about as many times a day as I refill my water bottle. Gelaterias are…

  • Postcard-Perfect Tuscany

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    Claudia
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    After a pretty tough week back in DC, we decided to head back to Europe and finish our year-long trip up as close to originally planned as possible, with two weeks in Europe. The three of us (me, Nick, and my mom) arrived back in Rome bright and early, and we showed her around all…

  • A Bittersweet Roman Holiday

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    Claudia
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    Rome: probably my favorite city on Earth, if I had to choose only one. Our time here was emotional and bittersweet, but Rome’s beauty did what it could to try and ease the pain. We planned the last month of our round-the-world trip to be mostly a family affair. We saved Italy and Austria for…

  • Draught Beer in Hanoi: A Religion

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    Claudia
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    We’d been tipped off to bia hoi well before we arrived in Hanoi by our friend Alexis, who spent two weeks there a couple years ago and loved the city, partially because of her time spent at various bia hoi joints. Bia hoi means “draught beer”, but unlike the food in Hanoi, it’s not something worth mentioning…

  • Yum: Hanoi’s Addictive Street Food

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    Claudia
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    Oh boy, where do I begin? Northern Vietnam had hands down my favorite cuisine of the 20+ countries we visited over the past year (note: I do not feel it would be fair to include Italy in the running for this title). While we’ve loved a lot of the Southeast Asian foods we’ve sampled, Vietnam’s…

  • Hanoi’s Lively Streets

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    Claudia
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    Hanoi simply buzzes with life. At almost any time of day, you can walk outside, watch various types of delicious street food being made (more on that later), find a place to sit down on a toddler-sized stool on the sidewalk to enjoy a coffee, lemon tea, or draught beer, purchase almost anything you can…

  • Yum: Lao Cuisine

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    Claudia
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    What I loved about Lao food is the predominance of salads and appetizer-type dishes, allowing for an incredibly varied meal. Ingredients are fresh, combinations are creative, fat content is low, and we always felt satisfied and healthily full after our meals. Sticky rice is ubiquitous; it seemed no meal can be eaten without it. Food is…

  • Fashion and Hip Hop in Laos

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    Claudia
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    We found ourselves lured into the Hive Bar in Luang Prabang by the promise of a free, nightly “ethnic fashion show” followed by a “hip hop dance show”. This could go either way, we thought, but hey we don’t really have any plans for the next few hours so let’s give it a shot. What…

  • Monkey Business: Ziplining Through the Jungle in Laos

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    Claudia
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    Our first stop in Laos was a three-day adventure in the Bolaven Plateau in the southern part of the country. After an all day bus trip from Phnom Penh (Cambodia), we crossed the border and arrived in Pakse, a sleepy riverside town in southern Laos, from where the trip would start. We spent the next…