Happy Friday!

Are you guys doing anything good this weekend? A. came to my place today craving peanut butter cookies so we ran out for supplies to bake some. We used this recipe, but added a few tweaks including some mentioned in the recipe's comments like more flour, chocolate, and vanilla extract. But holy jeebus, instead of 24 cookies we ended up with 64! Thank goodness they turned out yummy.

I also have a little belated goody for you all. We finally made our Europe photos public! ('Bout damn time, huh?) So click on to see all that we saw and loved in Berlin, Prague, Munich, Paris, Barcelona, Cannes, Florence, and Rome! And I hope you all have a wonderfully sweet weekend, my little monkeybutts.

Where We Stayed During our European Travels

It's long overdue, but A. has written this round-up of all the places we slept in during our backpacking trip through Germany, the Czech Republic, France, Spain, and Italy. Some were wonderful splurges and others were cheap as hell, but they all gave us some interesting stories to tell. I was just excited to check out different hotels, get over my fear of staying in a stranger's home, and see what it'd be like to sleep during an overnight train ride into Paris. I'll chime in with some thoughts and answer any questions in the comments section.

In order to keep the trip costs down during our 23-day European vacation, we tried a variety of different lodgings. We tested out a couple Airbnb offerings, stayed in some cheap hotels, went totally budget with shared rooms in hostels and treated ourselves to a couple nice stays along the way. Here is a brief rundown of everywhere we stayed:

Hüttenpalast Hotel, Berlin, Germany

I wasn’t sure how to explain what this hotel was. On my Facebook status, I described it as treehouse + trailer park + warehouse + tea party. While this hotel had regular rooms, Dorkys wanted to try their more exotic offerings. The experience was a lot like indoor camping; a very large eccentrically decorated room contained a variety of vintage trailers and wooden cabins. We slept in one of the cabins that was just large enough to fit a double bed. The bathroom was shared.

Pros: Clean, quirky, friendly, the bar a couple doors down was a cool locals joint
Cons: Everyone can hear the noise you make, no airflow, it was slightly removed from the tourist part of town (this would be a pro if I were on this trip by myself)
Cost: $75 per night

Hobrechtstrasse 66; 49-030/3730-5806; huettenpalast.de

Michelberger Hotel, Berlin, Germany

We stayed in a room that wasn’t much larger than the one we had at Hüttenpalast, but at least this one had a shower, toilet, and sink mashed in there. The shower had a window so that anyone chilling on the double bed would have a nice show. Good way to force the issue with an unsuspecting travel partner. The vibe at the hotel was very social, with the charming common areas providing great places to meet other guests. There were several clubs, attractions, and restaurants within walking distance.

Pros: Clean, cool, social, close to the action.
Cons: The pillows felt like they were only filled by three cotton balls.
Cost: $83 per night

Warschauer Strasse 39/40; 49-30/2977-8590; michelbergerhotel.com

Jaeger's Hostel, Munich, Germany

After stepping into this hostel, I immediately felt very old. Music was playing and the bar stools were full. Our room had two bunk beds in it. We took one while a young backpacking couple from South Africa took the other. It wasn’t such a bad stay until our roommates were replaced by two South Korean boys who decided to wash their clothes in the sink, leaving the floor of the bathroom covered in water that smelled like industrial bleach. When we tried to clean our clothes the civilized way, the hostel’s dryer simply refused to do its job and they didn’t offer us a refund. We had to finish the job at a laundromat a few blocks away. Apparently doing laundry in Europe is expensive. One euro for 10 minutes of drying? Yeow!

Pros: Close to the train station, one free shot per person upon check-in.
Cons: It’s a hostel, the wifi didn’t penetrate into the rooms.
Cost: $28 per night per person

Senefelderstrasse 3; 49-089/555-281; jaegershotel.de

Train sleeper car, Munich, Germany to Paris, France

We justified this experience as just that, an experience, but we were actually just forced into sleeping on the train because the route we originally wanted was sold out. We slept in a compartment with six bunks, three on each side, and we took the top two. I was originally looking forward to the rocking motion of the train putting me to sleep, but by about the third hour of tossing, I was over it. It was hot and uncomfortable, and the train had a few stops along the way that interrupted what little sleep was possible. Realizing that you’re inadvertently leaning against a very removable railing that is barely preventing you from falling seven feet to the floor is also poor for sleep.

Pros: It's a story I get to tell in which I came close to death, but survived.
Cons: Did you not read?

Airbnb: Yassir H., Paris, France

Our first Airbnb experience was a good one; we stayed in a lovely one-bedroom apartment in Montmartre owned by a student. He gave us the bedroom and took the couch in the living room for himself. As luck would have it, he had to leave town for a few days while we were there, so we ended up with the whole place to ourselves. This proved to be convenient when I suddenly got sick and had to stay in bed an entire day.

Pros: Cheap, toned our calves and asses with the 7-floor walk-up.
Cons: Had to share the place with the owner for a couple nights, brand new towels left red lint all over privates.
Cost: $74 per night

Rue Damrémont; airbnb.com

Silken Diagonal Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

We decided to treat ourselves halfway through the trip, so we splurged on this snazzy hotel. The room was large, with a glass bathroom. As a cool perk, the hotel is situated right next door to one of Barcelona’s modern landmarks, the Torre Agbar, which we quickly took to calling “the dildo.” Though, to be honest, it looks more like a vibrator. Even more useful was the hotel’s proximity to Barcelona’s nude beach, Mar Bella, which in contrast to common nude beach reputation actually has a fair amount of attractive young people.

Pros: Very stylish.
Cons: Have to travel a bit to get to the touristy stuff.
Cost: About $165 per night.

Avenida Diagonal, 205; 34-934/895-300; hoteles-silken.com

Hostal Residencia Australia, Barcelona, Spain

This was a tiny 4-room hotel with a shared bathroom. In my defense, this was a last-minute booking. The proprietor, a native of Australia and Spanish guitar enthusiast, was fucking weird. He referred to the stuffed animal on the front desk as “Mr. Wombat” and, in the span of a few minutes, managed to refer to it several times as if it had its own personality and could actually tell me things if I directed my questions to it. Luckily, we only spent one night there before skipping town.

Pros: Really close to La Rambla and the Gothic quarter.
Cons: Mr. Wombat
Cost: $82 per night

Ronda de la Universitat 11; 34/933-174177; residenciaaustralia.com

Hotel Chanteclair, Cannes, France

The proprietor of this hotel is Danish and he decided to try something new, so he bought a shitty hotel in Cannes. To his credit, it looks like he’s been working at slowly improving it. Situated equidistant between the two notable beaches in this overpriced hive of rich people, it was a decent place to stay when you know that you’re paying a tiny fraction of what everyone else is to “enjoy” this culturally washed-out famous-because-it’s-famous former fishing village. The room was old and basic, with a shower stall and a sink, but a shared bathroom. Unfortunately, we were eaten alive by mosquitoes.

Pros: Steps from an open-air market, the stares from the rich people as they wonder how the hell you got there.
Cons: Mosquitoes! Arrrghhh!
Cost: $80 per night

12 rue Forville; 04-93/39-68-88

Hostel Archi Rossi, Florence, Italy

We expected a slightly better experience than Jaeger’s and we were right. The vibe of this place was much more sedated, despite having every inch of their corridor walls covered in writing from previous guests. If you have a thing for Korean women, stay here. While we shared our room with four others, everyone was quiet and respectful. The single best thing about this hostel was the free breakfast. I can’t tell you how much hassle it circumvents during budget travel to have your breakfast just handed to you. It just starts the day off right.

Pros: Free breakfast!
Cons: It’s still a hostel.
Cost: $35 per night per person

Via Faenza, 94r; 055/290-804; hostelarchirossi.com

Airbnb: Giuseppe A., Rome, Italy

We ran into our first trouble with Airbnb when we tried to check into the apartment and our host was nowhere to be found, nor did he pick up his phone. Standing out in the sweltering heat as we waited for him to show up was unpleasant, but once we got inside, it was a nice experience. My best analysis of the situation was that the host had recently moved to a new apartment and had kept his old one to rent out and make a few extra bucks. We ended up sharing the large apartment with a shy older couple from Norway.

Pros: At least checkout was easy.
Cons: No wifi, Rome sucks.
Cost: $81 per night

Via Giovanni Giolitti; airbnb.com

UPDATE: I've added my thoughts on each lodging in the comments below so be sure to check them out!

Exploring Cannes, Florence, and Rome

I'm that weird breed of human that actually feels guilty when she's relaxing so when our hectic day-to-day pace slowed down midway through Barcelona, I felt as though we were missing out on mandatory sightseeing. I mean who goes all the way to Spain to stay in their hotel room and watch TV when we could be climbing Montjuïc? So I'd make up for it by waking up at the crack of dawn to be productive,  check my emails, send off pitches and secure some freelance work while A. slept in. And by slept in I mean I left him alone until 9 a.m. because hello! How much sleep does a person really need anyway?

Well somewhere between the U.S. Open and our trips to the nudist beach Mar Bella, I allowed myself to chill out. And that continued into Cannes because honestly there's not much else to do there other than hit the beach and wonder what on Earth brought you to Cannes if you're not a celebrity, swimming in hedge funds, or docking your big fancy boat. The streets were lined with stores catering to the boojie set: Prada, Miu Miu, Chanel, Rolex, Bulgari, on and on and only broken up by the luxury hotels that fronted the sea. The olive on top was the Festival de la Plaisance that was taking place while we were in town, which filled the city's port with white tents and luxury yachts for show. And there I was, in my Old Navy shorts and 2-for-$5 flip flops, an outsider shyly enjoying the scenes playing out before her.

That said, I decided that if there was ever a time when we should go on a nice dinner date, it was definitely while we were in the French Riviera. So on our last night, I whipped out the mascara, A. his button down, and we went out for a stroll and food - at McDonald's. Okay, kidding. We only had fries so I could munch on something while we waited for the evening to arrive before slipping into Modo Mio (43, bis Rue Félix Faure; 33 (0)4 9399-0855; modomio.fr). My risotto and prawns tasted fine, but I loved the Riesling substitute they whipped up for me: a French kir cocktail made with white wine and peach nectar.

So two weeks into our trip I'd finally pulled out the little black dress that I knew would take me from frazzled backpacker to flirtatious girlfriend. And I don't think it cost me more than 30 bucks at H&M.

Even though there was more to see in Florence, our schedule truly picked up on our last day there, which is when I'd made reservations for both Galleria dell'Accademia (Michelangelo's David! Bartolini!) and Galleria degli Uffizi (Botticelli's Birth of Venus!). Before that we'd just wandered along the cobblestone streets without much planned...except for that time I made us walk all the way across town in search of a particular gelato shop around 10 p.m. and in the process bypassing, oh, about five other perfectly good options. We ended up choosing a gelateria a block away from our hostel after a) we were unsuccessful in our mission, b) Dorkys started getting tired and cranky and c) all the places we'd previously passed by had closed. We did find Vivoli Il Gelato (Via dell' Isola delle Stinche, 7r; 055/292-334; vivoli.it) the following day (turns out they were closed the day before) and I still dream about that coffee/chocolate-nutella combo that A. and I created.

Other fun places we checked out: colorful notebooks at Made in Tuscany (Via delgi Alfani,129), raspberry sorbet at Festival del Gelato (Via del Corso; 055/294-386; firenzegelatofestival.it), expensive artisan stationery at Papelerías Signum (Lungarno degli Archibusieri, 14r; 055/289-393), and a dip into our childhood at the impressive toy store Dreoni Giocattoli (Via Camillo Cavour 19; 055 216611; dreoni.it).

Seeing the places I'd learned about in school 10 years ago reminded me of how much I enjoyed architecture history. I.M. Pei's glass pyramid at the Louvre, the Notre Dame, Antoni Gaudi's work throughout Barcelona, Brunelleschi's Duomo for the Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore, these were all places that only existed in books and pictures for years. At the end of some days, A. and I would spend time researching and talking about the spaces and faces behind these works of art and our re-learning of sorts grew once we entered Rome.

There's no need to say just how much history -  and, to my atheist boyfriend's dismay, religion - runs through the heart of that city. We walked through the sprawling Roman Forum - parts of which are still being excavated - and the Colosseum across the street. A. was excited for the latter, but at this point I was beginning to feel the wear from all the heat, walking and traveling we'd been doing. Of course on our last in Europe, we plowed a day-long 4-mile path straight through Rome starting in Vatican City and ending at our Airbnb stay. We covered as much as we could along the way and my favorite moments included feeling in awe and somewhat small after walking into the Pantheon and marveling at the coffered dome and oculus, making a wish at the Trevi Fountain (though I'm pretty sure I threw my coin in all wrong), and then climbing up to the nearly-empty Piazza del Quirinale to watch the sun set behind St. Peter's Basilica in the distance.

We stopped to rest at Piazza della Repubblica to watch the traffic make its way along the roundabout and were treated to an Italian's tirade against the Roma, or Gypsies. See that's the thing. You could fly halfway around the world and color a place beautifully romantic, but social issues will still be very much alive and well no matter where you go. So we sat on the steps that final night recounting pieces of our three-week tour through Western Europe while this man poured out his feelings for blocks and back until we got up and finished our trek back home.