Snapshots & My Thoughts by Ailee Petrovic
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International

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International

Melbourne (Part II)

We packed up our bags on Sunday morning and left Melbourne, heading north to Sydney. Of course, I booked our flight leaving from the Melbourne – Avalon airport, which, to my knowledge, was the only/right one. When we arrived at the airport on Sunday, I discovered there were actually two airports in Melbourne, and we were at the wrong one. Whoops! Thank goodness the Melbourne-Sydney route is the highest trafficked one on the planet, and we were able to get on a new flight with a small change fee. Whoops!

The last few days in Melbourne were absolutely perfect. We got to spend time with the Pattens, watch tennis, and eat some amazing food. I am definitely going on a juice cleanse when I return to Texas!

On Friday, we had coffee at The Beatt Cafe, then ate lunch next door at  Mammoth. The chef is known for her creativity, evidenced by the lobster donut burger that Sasha scarfed down. My muesli was absolutely delicious too. After eating, we took a taxi to go back to the Rod Laver Arena at the Australian Open, while Greg babysat Isla (and later, Ailie, Lauren and Hayley joined too). We got to see Maria and Roger play again (both winning), then Sasha stayed to watch his idol, Novak Djokovic, while I headed back to the house to put Isla to bed and catch up with Hayley, who had been in Sydney all week for work. We ate vegan chili, drank delicious elderflower gin and tonics and talked about a million fond memories from their time in Texas.

We went to The Prahan Market on Saturday morning, bought flowers, fruit, an acai bowl from Health Bowl Cafe and drank delicious Jasper Coffee. After Isla woke up from her nap, we headed to the Fitzroy area to see the rainbow sidewalk and eat lunch at Jimmy Grants. Afterwards, we downed some delicious (and fascinating) liquid nitrogen-frozen gelato at N2 Extreme Gelato. While wandering in the area, we  went into Gorman and also got vegan cupcakes from Merry Cupcakes. At the house, Greg and Hayley made the most incredible two layer cheese board, filled with crackers, French cheeses, grapes, figs, dips, and savory chocolate. It was seriously my dream come true – that’s why there are four photos below. I am so inspired and will definitely be making my own boards when we get home.

We were so sad to leave on Sunday. The Pattens spoiled us rotten, and we are already missing their hospitality! Happiest 21st birthday to Ailie! 

Expect a Sydney post soon! Off to explore right now. xo

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Melbourne (Part I)

We made it to Australia safe and sound with only one piece of luggage missing (unfortunately, it held all of Sasha’s clothes and my makeup/toiletries)! Isla did surprisingly well on the plane, so we’re totally expecting her to go berserk on the haul home (praying this isn’t the case though). Although I am definitely far from a travel-with-young-child expert, I will share a toddler travel tip blog post when we return with some advice I’ve read, been told, and learned firsthand. 

The last time I was in Melbourne was May 2010, and I was only here for two days (visiting my closest family friends after a trip to Sydney). We landed on Tuesday morning (which was weird since we left on Sunday in Texas), and had to take a quick trip to Lululemon for Sasha to get some new clothes to wear to the tennis tournament the following day. We then spent the rest of the day relaxing by the pool and catching up with our friends.

On Wednesday, we rode with Greg into the CBD (Central Business District, which is what we refer to as ‘downtown’) and got breakfast and coffee(s) at CUMULUS INC.. Afterwards, we walked to the Australian Open and watched Maria Sharapova, Serena Williams and Roger Federer (my favorite!) play, then ate lunch at Cucina di Casa, and hung out around the grounds watching Andy Murray. When Roger won his game,  we  walked along the Yarra River back into town, through Federation Square by Flinders Street Station, and went to Little Cupcakes for some post-dinner treats. Afterwards, we went back to the house for delicious dinner cooked by Greg.

On Thursday, we went back to Lululemon (bag only arrived in the evening), then ate lunch at Pantry, which was delicious. Afterward, we went to Brighton Beach to lay out, splash around and photograph the colorful huts, then walked back to Church Street where we spent some time window shopping (my favorites were Gorman and Country Road!), before having a drink at Brighton School House (Detox juice and Mojito both highly recommended). Ailie (pronounced the same as my name) drove us back home afterwards, moving through St. Kilda and Toorak, then going home for dinner. Greg (or Mr. Greg, as I called him my whole life – he’s like my second dad) is truly the best chef ever, and he pulls out this delicious himalayan salt block out, adds basil leaves, mozzarella cheese and cherry tomatoes, which absorb the salt. You eat each together after 5+ minutes of being on the block, and voila – the best caprese salad you’ve ever eaten! I definitely will be trying this when we get back home!

Today (Friday already!), we’re having a slow morning because it’s pouring rain. We’re going to go out for lunch, then do another day of the Open. We’ve got tickets to see Roger play again, and Sasha has a ticket to see his tennis obession (Novak) play at Margaret Court. He’s so excited. I’ll share a recap of the rest of the week in a few days!

Let the photo oversharing begin!

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Final Days in Russia

We landed in Houston yesterday after traveling for 18 hours from St. Petersburg to Frankfurt back home. The two flights we took on our trip back to Texas were infinitely better than the ones going to Europe, as Isla slept much longer (thanks to Frozen being played on repeat) and I didn’t get sick. Isla will probably be battling jet lag for a few days, as I think it’s much easier for adults to acclimate than it is for babies. I cannot (repeat: cannot) believe that we will be celebrating her first birthday on Thursday and throwing her a confetti-themed party on Saturday. It makes me want to cry, so let’s not talk about it for now.

The last two days in Russia were spent doing something I’m normally not the best at on a site-seeing vacation: relaxing. We saw a few historical monuments (but did so leisurely), and it wasn’t on purpose. It wasn’t until the eleventh hour that we realized our planned day-trip cannot work because the palace is closed for a private event, so we decided to seize the opportunity to leisurely stroll through the city, eat our favorite frozen yogurt, drink our favorite cocktails (to go) and eat at our favorite restaurants. I am going to publish a detailed St. Petersburg travel guide to add to my City Guide collection, and I cannot wait to share all of the must-sees of this gorgeous Russian city.

Some of the highlights from our last two days in the city included:

  • Going to Vasilyevsky Island and taking our first family photo of the trip next to the Stock Exchange and Rostal Columns on the Strelka.
  • Eating lunch at Restoran, which seriously looked like a Restoration Hardware catalog and I was gushing over the decor the entire time we were there – the food was delicious too!
  • Walking around the Peter and Paul Fortress, including the beach area and the famous cathedral.
  • Playing with Isla in Alexandrovsky Park, where she made the longest walks we’ve ever seen – this shocked us, as her walking progress had halted since we got to Europe. She had one epic tumble at the end, and we called it quits for the day.
  • Getting frozen yogurt for the third time at Egurti (please see the Russian name for this to better understand our constant confusion!).
  • Eating at Leica, Cafe Idiot and Furtuk (again – love it!) – the food in St. Petersburg was phenomenal. I am starting BBG immediately.
  • Visiting the beautiful Kazan Cathedral, which was holding a service, so we lit candles, walked around and quietly left.
  • Exploring a Russian grocery store (Stockmann) – we bought lots of dried mango and granola bars, both which were delicious. It’s quite interesting not being able to read food packaging whatsoever.

Sasha and I recapped our trip during the long journey home yesterday, and we made a lot of wonderful memories over the last 10 days. We laughed and laughed when we both had Isla’s new obsession with waving to everyone at the top of our lists. She would literally wave incessantly at every single person in a cafe until they waved back. It was the funniest thing. Europe really brought out her friendly side.

What are your thoughts? Would you ever visit St. Petersburg? Where is the favorite place you’ve ever visited?

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Welcome to Санкт-Петербург!

It’s late here in St. Petersburg, and we’ve just finished our second full day. We arrived on Tuesday at our hotel around 4pm, so we just wandered around the city after unpacking to get our bearings. My crazy itinerary (see this post on planning) has a number of restaurants picked out from various sources (Trippy, Lonely Planet, TripAdvisor, etc.), and I had Fartuk lined up for dinner that night. We wandered the streets aimlessly looking for a Fartuk sign, only to eventually turn on Data Roaming on my phone in order to see the actual street address. It turns out all restaurants are written in Cyrillic (like St. Petersburg is in the blog post title)… cue lots of confusion in trying to find the Latin-names. Sasha speaks passable Serbian and his parents both read and write in Cyrillic, but unfortunately he doesn’t. So far, we have played lots of charade with people at stores and in restaurants. There is not a lot of English spoken here, which is exciting but confusing all at the same time. I love the thrill of this though (except probably in high stress situations, which we hope to avoid!).

Anyways, our meal at Fartuk was one of the best we’ve both ever eaten, and the atmosphere was perfect too (seriously considering scratching future plans to go back). Come to find that a ton of restaurants here in St. Petersburg are très trendy – the Russians know what they’re doing on the food scene. I’m going to do a detailed St. Petersburg travel guide when I get home, but to rattle off a few of the things we’ve enjoyed so far:

Europe (1 of 1) Fancy a glass of … umm, bubbly? Any guess how to pronounce that?

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Au Revoir, Paris!

I’m not sure if you’ve heard the phrase “When we make plans, God laughs,” but I’d like to adapt it slightly for our trip: “When we make plans, Isla _____.” This morning, our grand plans to get out and about early were thwarted by Isla sleeping until 11am after going to bed later than normal last night. Normally, I would be anxious to get the day started, but I was admittedly very tired, so we lay in bed until 10:30 and then got ready so that we could scoot our as soon as Isla woke up. We ate breakfast at the apartment, then went to Le Fregate for coffee before deciding to nix Le Musee D’Orsay and go to Le Marais. We stopped for an obligatory photo on the Lock Bridge, then wandered by Hotel De Ville on our way to lunch. We intended to eat at L’As Du Fallafel, which is very famous and delicious, but it was closed for the French holiday, so we ate at my favorite – Chez Marianne. I ate there all of the time when I was living in Paris, as it was affordable and you got a lot of food (bonus!).

After lunch, we looked at the time and realized that the walking tour we wanted to go on (with Paris Walks) started in 30 minutes, and we were a 40 minute walk from the starting point. Cue us speed-walking through the streets, anxious to get the Vavin metro on time. Arriving just a few minutes late, Isla woke up promptly as the tour began and was ready to roam around and not be held or confined to her stroller. So alas, we dropped out of the Hemingway tour (sob, sob, sob), got gelato and yogurt again at Amorino, bought Isla some new French shoes at Catimini, then went to roam Luxembourg Gardens.

After almost an hour of Isla making new friends all around us (photo evidence below), we walked back towards the apartment, stopping for a few necessities at the Monoprix, then having dinner at Cafe de Paris, where I ate with my dad when he visited me in 2009. Dinner was so tasty (Sasha’s favorite meal in Paris), but we were both ready to rest our feet (mine very blistered at this point). We came home, packed, then did Isla’s bed routine and put her to sleep in her BABYBJORN travel crib (which we adore).

We’re getting picked up by a car at 3am tomorrow to take us to the airport, so prayers for Isla’s mood for the rest of the day are appreciated. We didn’t book that early of a flight months and months ago, but flight schedules change and we can’t control them!

I hope everyone in the US had a wonderful Memorial Day! xo

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