ROME

one thing i realized in italy was that they drink wine like water. in some cases. the wine was even cheaper than the water! we had wine with every meal.

i fell in love with pasta alla carbonara on this trip. such a simple dish but so good!

we also had gelato like 2 times every day. i never got sick of it

gracchi is a great gelato place to go to if you are visiting vatican city. they are known for their award winning pistachio gelato

gelateria dei gracchi
via dei gracchi, 272, 00192
rome, italy

one of the friends we made on this trip recommended this next restaurant to us. unfortunately, i forgot the name…but it was a great rec!

one of the famous foods of rome is the deep fried jewish artichokes. i love artichokes so i had to try it. it was interesting.

another random gelato place. we would just see one while walking and have to try it!

we used our fodor’s book for this pizza recommendation. turned out to be very popular and had a line!

this is the baffetto pizza and yes that is an egg in the middle. i pretty much LOVED this pizza. the service was kind of rude but for food this good, i don’t care. they were kind of like the pizza nazi there

pizzeria da baffetto
114 via del governo vecchio, 00186
rome, italy

this was probably my favorite gelato place in all of italy. even more than the one we had in florence which is supposed to be the best. this one just had a lot of flavors we didn’t see at the other gelaterias

la gelateria frigidarium
via del governo vecchio, 112, 00186
rome, italy

FLORENCE

on our first night in florence, we took the hotel clerk’s recommendation to eat in a particular piazza. unfortunately, we didn’t know exactly which restaurant to eat at and we happened to pick this one which was probably our worst meal of the trip. everything was just super salty!

our appetizer was pretty decent though.

when we were in rome, one of the restaurants told us about his friend’s restaurant in florence. it also had a line and we noticed that if a place has a line in front of it…it’s going to be pretty good.

i ordered the chef’s choice of 3 pastas. really good.

we also got this weird dessert on the house that was like biscotti that you dip in hard liquor. the taste grew on me.

we also had gelato at vivoli which was supposed to be the best gelato in italy. it was good, but i couldn’t really tell the difference

we tried this highly rated wine bar where we got a mini lesson on drinking wine and some appetizers

pitti gola e cantina
piazza pitti 16, florence, italy

VIENNA

whenever i travel, if i see a mcdonald’s that has something strange on the menu…i have to try it! this was a chicken breakfast sandwich. it was not that good.

we became obsessed with these magnum ice cream bars. they came in a bunch of different flavors.

at the zoo, we tried what i think is like their version of elephant ears. but these were salty/cheesy. pretty delish though!

we love trying street food and this doner kebap reminded me of japan!

this viennese restaurant we tried was sooo good!

pork and potatos

pumpkin soup – probably the best pumpkin soup i’ve ever had

the service here was really great too

(the following photos were taken with an iphone since i didnt’ have my camera this day)

we also had to try a wiener from one of the street vendors. all of the locals eat their wieners on a plate but we got ours in a bun.

some viennese coffee!

we end our trip with the best ice cream shop in vienna, tichy. i really liked these filled ice cream balls!

tichy
reumannplatz 13
vienna a-1100, austria

overall, europe is a great foodie destination. the food is so diverse and unique. there are definitely things that you can’t find in the US or just aren’t as good in the US.

i’m finally done with my europe wrap up. phew! so glad i sat down and logged everything though. it was a trip i don’t want to forget about. so much fun and so many memories! now where are we going next?????