Ailee Semple – Page 2 – Snapshots & My Thoughts by Ailee Petrovic

Wanderlust December 26, 2012

Joyeuses Fêtes from Paris

Our last stop on the trip was Paris – one of my favorite places in the world. I had an internship in The City of Lights two summers ago and I fell in love. We only had 25 hours in Paris, so it was a non-stop sightseeing tour of my favorite places. I absolutely adored showing Sasha my favorite vegetarian restaurant (L’As du Fallafel), smoothie place (Le Paradis du Fruit), coffee (Les Deux Magots), neighborhood (Le Marais), museum (Georges Centre Pompidou), and, of course, building – La Tour Eiffel. It’s magnificient.

In front of Notre-Dame

Getting Ladurée gifts for friends

The Louvre

Les Jardins des Tuileries

Hot wine on Les Champs Elysees

L’Arc de Triomphe

My two favorites (my ring stayed in Texas!)

Snapshots December 20, 2012

Cappadocia, Turkey

We’re in Athens now, and I absolutely love it. We heard a lot of negative things about the city, but we don’t agree with them at all. One place we didn’t hear one bad word about is Cappadocia, where we spent the last two days. It’s in the middle of Turkey, on the Asian continent. We stayed at Gamirasu Cave Hotel, which was literally the coolest hotel I’ve ever been to (see pictures below). One the first day, we went to an underground cave city that is five levels into the ground. It was built in 400 BC, and later used by Christians to hid from Muslims during war times. We ate the most delicious meal at the hotel and called it a night after Sasha built a very impressive fire (Instagram pictures to prove it). The following day, we slept in and then had a driver take up to the Goreme Open Air Museum, Pigeon Valley, the Ugurp Castle, and Imagination Valley – all of which were breathtaking. Lots of pictures below as evidence!

Hot Turkish red wine – absolutely incredible

Snapshots December 19, 2012

Day Two in Istanbul

I’m playing catchup with pictures, as we don’t have the best wi-fi so it’s hard to upload pictures. Sasha and I just arrived back in Istanbul after spending two days in Cappadocia, which is in the middle of Turkey (Asian continent). It was incredible, and I’ve got lots of unique pictures to share tomorrow. As for now, I’m posting the photos from our second day in Istanbul. We did a private tour with True Blue Tour in the morning – Yilmaz was the nicest, most knowledgeable tour guide. We rode up a mountain on the Pierre Loti cable car, drank authentic apple tea, went inside a mosque and learned all about Islamic rituals, got a personal tour of the Egyptian Spice Market (met the Turkish Al Pacino – see pic below), tour a boat tour along the Bosphorus, then we on our own for the rest of the day. We bought hot chestnuts from a street vendor, walked through the Grand Bazaar, ate at the amazingly delicious Amedros Cafe, then bought lots of presents for family at the markets. We walked back to the hotel after dark and ate locally, given that we had to be up at 5am to go to the airport in the morning. I’m totally ready for friends to plan a trip to Istanbul so I can share lots of tips! More pictures to come tomorrow.

Best halloumi cheese and portobello mushroom dish on planet earth!

Wanderlust December 16, 2012

Istanbul Bucket List

What an amazing first day in Istanbul. So many wonderful bucket list places checked off: Hagia Sophia, Basilica Cisterns, the Hippodrome, the Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace, and Gulhane Park. We drank lots of Turkish wine and coffee, ate local foods (amazing cheese!), and walked until our feet were killing us. We’ve got a boat tour of the Bosphorus and the Grand Bazaar, so expect many more pictures. Instagram photos first…

And the non-Instagram pictures…

Wanderlust December 15, 2012

Touchdown Istanbul

After some of the most stressful travel hours of my life (an experience in Manila tops the list), I’m finally in Istanbul – and from what I’ve seen so far, I love. Due to Expedia’s incompetency, Sasha was not able to get on his flight in Accra, Ghana, so he is not here yet. He’ll arrive bright and early (after booking another flight). Tomorrow’s itinerary (yes, it’s printed) is jam packed. I’ll be posting pictures regularly.

xoxo