lake forest

Regardless of what I've read, seen, or heard from anyone else, The Great Gatsby has always struck a chord with me. It's a novel that I forget then reread and then choose the same favorite quotes accidentally. Every time.

The Paris Review recently published a piece in which the author believed to have visited the town "Where Daisy Buchanan Lived." I'm silly about these kinds of things, so of course we drove up.


I should have seen this coming, what with the golf course as the article's feature photo; but when I got there.. it was mostly just a golf course. The bemused country club attendants showed me where I could take this gloriously lit photo, but the sky was paler than an April morning.

But nevermind. Adventures end when you let them, and we weren't ready.


We found the most picturesque pond, fresh with wildflowers and dotted with the drizzling rain. It was regal, enchanting, and everything I pictured Daisy to call home.

café des 2 moulins

I've already established that I love visiting film locations in person. And Paris is the perfect location for that sort of thing. Funny Face, Before Sunset, and Charade are just a few of my favorite movies set here. Of course for me, when I think of Parisian movies, the first movie that comes to mind is Amélie.







For those of you who haven't seen the film (do you exist?), the Cafe des 2 Moulins is where Amélie works and many scenes are set. It was really lovely to see that Jeunet didn't change the cafe much to accommodate the film-- it still had the same retro details and vibrant energy on its own.

As my feet dangled from my bar stool and I sipped my tea, I got tons of smiles from the waiters and the barista. They knew why I was here. In fact, I'm sure they knew why most tourists were there. And instead of resenting tourists who come to crowd their famous cafe, they were very kind and proud that we had all made the long journey just to see them.

chateau de losse

Have you seen Ever After? The Chateau de Losse is in it. When I realized I was a 30 minute drive from a location in one of my favorite movies, I had to go.

Of course, this isn't the first time I've done something like this. I suppose it's really cheesy, but I adore seeing things "in real life" after seeing them in a film I love. It makes it feel real. And more often than not, the locations are so spectacular-- you understand why the producers decided to shoot on location rather than try to recreate a set.

The chateau was exactly that. It was grand yet rustic at the same time, and it felt like I'd stepped into a different era as I walked through the chateau's halls.

Perhaps my favorite thing about the chateau was the way it seemed to embody everything I'd imagined "southern France" to be. Maybe it's silly, but I'd had these daydreams of France where chateaus were plentiful but beautifully unique on their own. The stood tall, perhaps alongside rivers, and evoked a kind of antiquated nostalgia for a place you'd never been before.

montepulciano (aka new moon's volterra)

as seen during:

Among my last few days in Florence, my language partner, Giacomo, and I took a day trip to some of the tiny little Tuscan hill towns. After seeing beauties like San Gimignano and Siena, Montepulciano and Pienza were also on my list. Of course, as you can tell, there were other motives for wanting to go to Montepulciano.

For some reason, the directors of New Moon decided to use Montepulciano as Volterra (instead of the real Volterra) and it was really strange to think that a multi-million dollar film was made in the tiny, deserted town we visited. And as excited as I was to be there because I like Twilight (I'm not obsessed), the town was gorgeous and charming on its own.

Snow-capped fields in the distance, steep hills reminiscent of San Francisco, and a cute little lunch in a tiny restaurant near the main piazza. Even more than that, I loved that I got to visit the town with Giacomo. It takes a lot of patience to travel with me (I like to stop and take photos too much) but it was the perfect trip together after fortuitously meeting through a language-partner exchange. Grazie mille, Giacomo! Mi manchi!

PS - This post is also dedicated to my sister, who shamelessly indulges in this series with me, and who just got her U.S. Citizenship yesterday! (Congrats Ate! Love you).

the hills are allliiiivvveeeee

now.. the REAL reason for going to salzbug:

when i was 6 years old

my eldest sister, marelene, let me borrow her walkman

and her cassette of the sound of music soundtrack.

i listened to it on repeat.

when i finally watched the movie,

i already knew all of the words to the songs.

when i turned sixteen, i was ecstatic that i could finally sing that

i was "sixteen going on seventeen."

i was especially ecstatic when david turned 17 a month before me,

so that i could sing "you are seventeen going on eighteen"

and have the entire song be true to our ages.

now that i am 20 going on 21,

i still love the movie.

so when david and i were planning out our adventure route,

i asked to go to salzburg to fulfill my sound of music movie dreams :)

when we got there i wanted to do the sound of music tour,

but it was 38 euro per person,

and i didn't think it would be fair to make david listen

to the soundtrack on repeat on the bus

so i looked up the sites and found them on my own:

the mirabell gardens,

where maria and the kids sing "do a deer"

the above fountain can be seen here

and the plant arch thing is where they ride their bikes through :)

this is where maria and the kids stand during the same song,

as seen on the second photo of this blog post.

after running through the streets of salzburg from the abbey

to the von trapp mansion,

maria dances and sings along this house's walls

as seen briefly here, with some help

(watch it, it's funny)

there's a scene towards the end where the nazis are looking for the family

and the nuns hide the family in a cemetary.

that was filmed in hollywood...

but some tour guides say that it was filmed here.

nonnberg abbey

after maria leaves, the children go to the

abbey to try to find her.

gretl says, "we're looking for fräulein maria"

to the nun at this gate

i wanted to be liesl so badly!

so i was excited to twirl around in this

and sing "i am sixteen going on seventeen"

but it was locked :(

and i think it's just an imitation...

but it was still so cool to see!

hopefully i'll be able to go back with my family in the future :)