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We went to Mt. Blanc in mid-December and everything was closed. Everything. The hotels, the restaurants, most of the cable cars. And it was snowing. And we’d come by van and it had dropped us off in the middle of this ghost town for the whole day in the cold. The snow was beautiful, but really, you don’t need to wander around seeing that much snow. We decided to take one of the cable cars up as far as it would go, since they wouldn’t go all the way up this time of year. Then, the snow rolled in. Thick, low clouds hung over the town and most of our group decided to skip the trip up the mountain because there would be too much cloud-cover to see anything. As we made our way up, at first it seemed they were right. Then, the cable car rose out of the clouds and suddenly we were on these islands of snow with clouds stretching along the base of the mountain. I looked like there was an ocean of clouds and we were up there in the sun. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Everything was so silent and there were no tourists – just us. I don’t think I can ever recreate that experience, but it made Mt. Blanc a vision of heaven for me.

Definitely worth it.

One of the best things you can do here is visit statue park. Some people may think it’s boring, but I think I got a better idea of what Budapest is about by visiting it than anyplace else. It’s more or less an abandoned lot with all kinds of Soviet statues posted around. It’s just so surreal and … odd. It’s about a 30 minute bus ride, but definitely an original experience.

I don’t reccommend Geneva for people travelling through Europe. It’s a great city, but one of the things they say about it is that the best thing about Geneva, is that it’s easy to leave! That’s why it’s a great place to live. It’s affluent, safe, easy to travel through, there’s a lot of museums and attractions around the city… I love Geneva, but it doesn’t have the stand-out touristy attractions or the character that many other European cities have. To experience Switzerland, Geneva is not the place. Go to the mountains or Basel or Luzern if you want some Swiss character. I lived in Geneva for four months and adored it, but for the traveller – spend your time elsewhere.

Venice feels like a theme park. A place like this cannot possibly be real. You don’t even understand how strange it is to walk in a place with no cars until you’ve been there. I was in Venice for my birthday and got taken around the city by a group of drunk Venetians (only one of which spoke English). I think I met more characters here than anywhere else in my travels. One of them was an old man that told us to swim to France when we got lost trying to take the boat to Murano (don’t ask me how we managed that). I didn’t really care so much about the cultural experience – the museums and churches – you can see those anywhere. The best part of Venice is getting lost in it and finding yourself in places that an island like that can’t possibly contain. Yes, so I definitely reccommend Venice!

Read The City of Falling Angels if you want to feel like you’re there and meeting some of Venice’s most famous people.