February 16, 2010

Anita and Alan just got back from their honeymoon in the South of Chile. They sent me the sweetest email EVER. It ended with me in tears, sniffing, Seba, I love our job sooooooooo much!

One of the things this email said was that they were sad to come back to Santiago, back to reality, because they didn’t want everything to be over. So they had saved looking at their pictures for last. I feel the same way. The entire trip to Chiloe was magical. That whole place is magical! So I wanted to save something for later too. Well, it’s officially later and these are photos of the Curanto that Alan and Anita’s family hosted for the wedding guests the day after.

If you have never been to a Curanto before (GO!) let me give a quick run down of what happens. Fresh seafood is collected along the beach — shellfish, mussels, oysters, clams, barnacles, etc. Anything edible that the low tide leaves washed up was put into giant sacks that same morning. Then, the guys dug a giant hole in the ground. I would guess it was around 4 meters long, 1.5 meters wide and maybe 1 meter dip. BIG. Lots of sweat goes into making a Curanto hole. Once it’s done, the next stop is a bonfire. Then rocks are piled on top of the fire to heat them up. Once they’re hot enough, all the shellfish go in. On top of that they place fern leaves (that’s what they looked to me like in my expert botany opinion).* Then more layers of Curanto goodness go on top — a layer of leaves a layer of potato cakes called Milco** and Chapalele, another layer of leaves and then layer of snap peas, probably at least a foot thick, cover the entire things, and one more layer of leaves then typical barbecue fare like cuts of beef and chorizo (spicy sausage).

The entire thing was an experience I will never forget for as long as I live. Aside from the fact that the food rocked my world, it was just so fun — probably because I wasn’t the one hauling up 2 ton bags of oysters from the beach, but hey, I took pictures! The atmosphere was perfect. Anita and Alan’s friends busted out their musical instruments and started singing typical songs — El Gorro de Lana — also known in my world as “me voy pa’ Quellon,” because those were the words that stuck in my head and I could not get it out until like…yesterday. There’s also a special Curanto song, but the only words I remember are, “Curaaaaanto, curaaaaanto,” so I’m useless Anyway, the musical people spontaneously started singing and playing these wonderful songs (so much better than the Youtube version) and people spontaneously started dancing Cueca.

Thanks to everyone who knew the name and correct spelling of these wonderful Curanto ingredients — the leaves are called Nalca, and the potato thingy is not Milco, it’s Milcao!

So here is the view from where we, and all the guests and the bride and groom, were camping. The guys got an early start on hauling up the seafood and the rocks for the Curanto.

I don’t know how they managed to bring all the stuff up, the hill was STEEP.

And the rocks, as they are prone to be, looked HEAVY.

Alan slept in his tux. Or didn’t sleep in his tux. Needless to say, he was still in his clothes from the night before. I hear some of the shenanigans he partook in, involved a close friend of his getting IN THE OCEAN as proof of his love for the groom. You have no idea how cold it was. But that’s just a rumor, I can’t confirm

Oh oops, I think this should be the first day. This is supposedly a typical Chilote breakfast — more raw oysters, clams, etc. With a little bit of lemon and white wine. Straight out of the shells. I am the world’s pickiest eater, but I do make an attempt to at least try stuff. I generally hate any and all food that comes from the ocean (most things have weird texture and even if they don’t, seafood always tastes alive to me. It’s weird). But I figured, when in Chiloe, does as the Chilotes do and that if ever there would come a time for me to like seafood, it was would be there. I ate a raw oyster. And you know, I didn’t hate it. The slimy texture threw me for a loop, but the flavor was good!

I’m not going to lie, that was a big moment for me. I was very proud of myself. I swallowed and then did a victory dance.

So here, the fire is heating up and they are getting ready to lay the rocks down once it burns.

In the mean time, in the kitchen, the women were preparing the Milco and Chapalele. I can’t remember which was which, but both were basically really heavy potato pancakes and one was stuffed with pork or meat. Absolutely delicious but such a heavy food I felt like I had accidentally swallowed one of those rocks after eating it.

The women are basically grating raw potato and then they strained it out. After that I didn’t see the rest of the process.

Dancing, cueca and good music, on a view you can’t pay for, smelling the Curanto cooking. Priceless. There really are some things money can’t buy.

Everyone was taking pictures and watching the whole time. I am pretty sure that I wasn’t the only one who hadn’t seen a Curanto before.

Seafood lover’s paradise. Do you see how much that is?!?

Throwing some meat and chorizos into the mix.

Here goes the Milco and Chapelele.

And the delish peas.

Once it is all covered by leaves, then it’s covered by a big plastic tarp and left cooking for about two hours.

And when you take the tarp off two hours later, VOILA! This is how it looks cooked. The women went right in with plates and started taking everything out.

They spread the leaves over the tables and we didn’t even need plates. They just piled everything up on top and it was a foodie free for all.

Thanks Waffle! This picture was all his idea

You sucked the beans right out of the pod. Mmmmm, my mouth is water just remembering.

Here you can see the spread.

I don’t think these photos do the whole thing justice, but I have a couple videos we shot that I’ll post as soon as we’re back from our mini-mid-week vacation. Best kind of vacation there is

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January 23, 2010

We have a wedding in Chiloe next weekend so we are heading down a little early to explore, since I’ve never been to the area! I am beyond excited, this wedding is going to be kick ass. All the guests (including us) will be camping out that night after the reception because the whole shebang is being held on a tiny little island where only 60 people live!

Anyway, I wanted to take advantage of this blog and ask for recommendations on any specific things we should see. We only have two days before we go to the wedding island. We’re staying on Castro, so anywhere you can get to from there — tell me!

And I also wanted to make the announcement on here as well that we live on Monday and will be with limited internet access until the following Tuesday. My clients know we’re going, but I just wanted to say it again — if you need something urgently, email me before Monday!

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January 13, 2010

I cannot believe this — I’m still pinching myself. But, we entered a contest with Unique Destinations travel agency here in Chile and WON!

I swear, I fell out of my chair when I got an email with the details:

Here is what you have won:
5 Day / 4 Night Package on the Delfin II for two people
Includes: All meals on board, accommodation in a luxury suite, all excursions, transfers to and from the vessel when arriving on recommended flights, entrance fees to National Reserves.
Value: USD $4730.00

I have the best luck! So we will be going on a cruise out of Peru down the Amazon with daily stops for hiking, wildlife gawking and visiting villages. I would normally say that a cruise isn’t really our thing, but this doesn’t sound typical at all.

Look, I’m even on Unique Destination’s homepage, legit and everything!

We went on their website and checked out the boat and everything and it looks pretty kick ass. And, as Seba pointed out, now we get to fist pump in the Amazon CAN’T WAIT!

2010 (free cruise in the Amazon) > 2009 (hit by a car)

Loving the new year already!

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December 1, 2009

Esta semana Seba y yo vinimos a Buenos Aires…aunque yo estaba enfermita igual alcanzamos a ver un poco de la ciudad, comer rico y conversar con mucha gente amable en este pais. Pero lejos lo mejor de todo el viaje fue la razon por lo que vinimos –fotografiar el matrimonio de la Yael y David.

This week Seba and I came to Buenos Aires — although I was pretty sick, we still managed to see a little bit of the city, eat good food and talk with a lot of nice people in this country. But, by far the best part of the trip was the reason that we came for — to photograph Yael and David’s weddings.

Yo estaba nerviosa. Pues, nunca habia fotografiado una boda Argentina, ni tampoco una boda Judia. Pero al final parece que documentar el amor es lo mismo en el pais que sea, incluso en Argentina.

I was nervous. I’ve never photographed a wedding in Argentina, or a Jewish wedding. But, in the end it seems that documenting love is pretty much the same in any country, including Argentina.

El evento fue espectacular, tengo que decirlo. La recepcion fue en el Alvear Palace Hotel, uno de los grandes y lujosos hotels de SudAmerica, y el evento hecho por la wedding planner increible de la Yael, la Sarah Pilo. Cualquiera que se case en Argentina, la recomiendo absolutamente. Pero como es siempre el caso en todas las bodas hasta las mas grandes hasta las mas chiquitas, reitero que el mas maravilloso de todo el dia, es siempre el amor de la pareja. Estaba lloviendo en Buenos Aires pero la alegria de la Yael y el David fue como la luz del dia.

The event was spectacular, I have to say it. The reception was in the Alvear Palace Hotel, on of the big luxury hotels in South America, and the event was done by Yael’s incredible wedding planner, Sarah Pilo. To anyone who’s getting married in Argentina, I totally recommend her. But as is the case with every wedding, from the biggest, to the tiniest, the couple’s love is always the best part. It was raining in Buenos Aires but Yael and David’s joy was the light of the day.

Y bueno, ahora a ver como salieron las fotos. Voy a intentar a dar una pequena explicacion de lo que esta pasando porque las ceremonias Judias son un poco diferentes que las ceremonias Catolicas.

And now, on to see how the pictures came out. I’m going to try to explain things as I go because Jewish ceremonies are a little different than Catholic ceremonies.

Primero, la previa…

First, the pre-game…

Me gusta la simetria de una hermana en el espejo y la otra en la ventana.

I like the symmetry of one sister in the mirror and the other in the window.

El vestido y todos los detalles de la Yae fue inspirado en todo vintage de una de las ciudades mas romanticos del mundo, Bruselas.

Yael’s dress and all the details were inspired by all that’s vintage in one of the most romantic cities in the world, Brussels.

Hermosa, feliz, tranquila…

Beautiful, happy, calm…

Bueno,  tal vez no tan tranquila

Well, maybe not that calm.

Amo estas proximas dos fotos de la Yael.

I love these next two pictures of Yael.

Y listo, nos vamos para el templo.

And we’re ready and going to the temple.

…en un Merecedes Benz vintage.

…in a vintage Mercedes Benz.

En la ceremonia tradicional Judia, la novia y la familia dan siete vueltas alrededor del novio. El amor del David para la Yael me conmovio tanto a mi…y a todos los invitados yo creo, porque en ese momento nadie pudo contener las lagrimas. David no dejo de llorar lagrimas de felicidad.

In the traditional Jewish ceremony the bride and the family walk around the groom seven times. David’s happiness moved me so much…and everybody else as well, because at that moment there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. David couldn’t stop crying tears of happiness.

De ahi la nueva suegra de la Yael la da vino.

Then Yael’s new mother in law gives her wine to drink.

Y cuando termina, todos suben al escanario a felicitarles!

And when it’s over, everybody goes on stage to congratulate them!

Y de ahi, si entendi bien, la pareja sube a una pieza que representa su cuarto y tienen que entrar pisando sobre algun instrumento de casa, en este caso una cuchara, con el pie derecho que va primero.

And from there, if I understood correctly, the couple goes up to a room that represents the bedroom and they have to enter walking over a household instrument, in this case a spoon, with the right foot first.

Intentamos hacer algo como esos retratos estilo muuuuuuy viejos con todos sentados mirando directamente a la camera con caras serias. Me encanto como quedo!

We tried to do something like one of those oooooooold portrait styles where everyone sits looking directly into the camera with serious faces. I love how it came out!

Todos los detalles quedaron tan bonitos, gracias al equipo de la Sarah! Transformo el Salon Versailles del Alvear a algo magico.

All the details turned out so beautiful, thanks to Sarah’s team! She transformed the Versaille Salon at the Alvear into something magical

Las bodas Judias se hace en un formato muy divertido. El primer baile es la Tanda Jasidica, donde las mujeres y los hombres se separan a dos lados de un divisor para bailar como locos. Si te fijas bien en estas fotos, en el lado de los hombres el novio hace crowdsurfing, baila con una botella entera de vino en su cabeza, le levantan en una mesa mientras esta parado ahi, le giran en circulos en el suelo.

Despues Seba salio y me dijo, “WOAH. El novio estaba portandose como rockstar. Yo no estaba preparado para eso!” JAJA!

Jewish weddings are done in a really fun format. The first dance is the Hasidic Tanda (ummm, I have no idea what the translation for that is), where the men and women are seperated by a big divider in order to dance like crazy. If you look closely at these photos you’ll see the groom crowdsurfing, dancing with a whole wine bottle on his head, being spun in a circle on the ground and lifted in the air while standing on a table.

Afterwards Seba came out and said, “WOAH. The groom was acting like a rockstar. I was not prepared for that!”

Mientras la Yael y el David bailaron su primer baile, canto un tenor increible.

Yael and David’s first dance together was serenaded by an amazing tenor singer.

Y la fiesta continua…con todos bailando como rockstars

And the party continues…with everyone dancing like rockstars.

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November 27, 2009

We flew out to Buenos Aires on Tuesday. To someone who was sick, the journey seemed eternal. Sit in the car on the way to the airport. Sit in the terminal waiting to take off. Sit in the airplane. Sit in the taxi taking us into the city. All that sitting exhausted me completely and by the time we got to the hotel I was so dead I passed out, waking up only when my stomach started to rumble. After I put some food in my belly, it was back out for the night. And so the next three days passed.

As you can see, it’s been a little wet and rainy here. I don’t mind. Honestly, thunderstorms are something I miss in Santiago! We took advantage of the bad weather and me being sick to go to a movie. I dragged Seba, poor guy, to see New Moon. LOVED.

Then yesterday, I thought I was feeling well enough to go out tourist’ing for a little bit. HA! We tried to walk around one of the pretty Buenos Aires neighborhoods and take pictures but after about five minutes, I was all, “Seeeeeba, I need to go back to the hotel, I need to sit down somewhere.” Again, poor guy. We found a bookstore and went and stayed to read for a few hours so I could rest but we could spend a little time outside the four walls of our room.

Then we went to lunch. Picture on the left — me angrily hiding my face because I don’t feel good and Seba won’t stop taking pictures of me. Picture on the right — me, after Seba’s promised me I can have french fries.

Today is the first day I feel energetic enough to actually get up and do something. It’s downpouring rain and Seba has a cold so he’s sleeping. Ah. Such is life.

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November 5, 2009

Don’t forget to take my survey and win a pretty picture! Thank you!

So much of the feedback I’m getting is contradictory. Half the people reading the blog want more photos/tutorials/general camera-related things. And the other half wants to see less weddings and photography work. I was thinking of maybe doing something like two posts a day if I have something photography and non-photography related to write about. Say, in the mornings, if I have someone photography related, I’ll post it then, and in the afternoons, if I have something non-photography related I’ll post it then. Or is twice a day too much?

Any other suggestions on how to separate the content in a better way?

In the mean time, since I’ve really been feeling down lately, struggling with all these big decisions and feeling a little trapped, here’s a video to cheer me up, and hopefully give you guys a good laugh. It’s this absolutely absurd white girl dancing like a total idiot on the streets of Italy.

Dancing in Italy from Kyle Hepp on Vimeo.

That girl definitely doesn’t feel down or feel trapped.

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October 20, 2009

This hilarious video about Italians versus the rest of Europe made me laugh so hard because just in the week and a half or so that we were there I observed a lot of these cultural differences — though fortunately not the beauracracy thing. But, after living in Chile, I can only imagine the situation in Italy!

Thanks so much to reader Erin for sending this my way!

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I am going to continue to call her Fned for internet privacy’s sake, but just for public record, I do know her actual name. It’s pretty and I’m not telling

Seba and I actually stayed with the beautiful Fned and her handsome hubby Andre in France so we really got to know them well before this photo shoot…and it has to be said — I LOVE THEM SO MUCH. Sorry, I’m a little socially awkward sometimes, but seriously, this couple is amazing, it had to be said. I cross my fingers and toes every day that they move to South America. Anywhere. I’m not even specifically asking for a relocation to Chile, just somewhere in the general continent so they can come and visit us all the time.

Fned is actually a Mexican American expatriated to France, while Andre is an honest to goodness Frenchman, living in Paris. And they have traveled everywhere.  They’re hands down the most well traveled people I’ve ever met. When we talked about having kids there was kind of a mutual understanding between us all — yeah, I’d rather spend my money on seeing all the countries in the ENTIRE WORLD before we get to that stage. I think we’re all on the same page.

But anyway, enough about how cool this couple is, let’s get to the pictures. Here are a few from their photo shoot in Paris!

I love Fned’s style.

I photoshopped myself out of the main globe thingys but apparently I forgot to photoshop out someone’s foot in the top of the picture. But when I noticed, I decided I kind of like it there.

SO romantic! When I told Fned and Andre to kiss to they did it con ganas! Asi se hace

The photo on the right was actually a misfire but I still like how it came out. The mistakes are always my faves.

Yeah, “Mariage” doesn’t actually mean marriage in French. But I thought it was cool to have them kiss under the words anyways.

These last two are my favorites with the big columns…both in/around the same location, but I like the totally different moods that they have, one with off-camera lighting and one without.

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October 16, 2009

I’m still not sure how much of the trip that hasn’t been shown on here already, I’m going to go back through and post, but I know I definitely wanted to talk about Brussels since we absolutely loved this city.

A long time ago, back when this blog was still JMCS pre-facelift, I wrote a post that had been inspired by an expat living in Brussels talking about how much she loved it and how the city was the perfect fit for her. I talked about how I think cities are like soulmates, we just have to find the one that’s right for us — and that somedya I hoped to find my own Brussels. Someone, unsurprisingly, left a nasty comment responding something along the lines of, “A spoiled little American like you could never handle Brussels.”

At the time I though, “Ok fair enough. She doesn’t know me at all and has no idea that no, I’m really not spoiled, but then again, I’ve never been to Brussels so ‘I have no clue as to whether or not I could handle it. No sense in arguing.”

But after visiting Brussels, I’ll just say this — it’s umm…not at all hardcore. Sure, they’ve had their political issues. Though, according to Cloe, the hot Belgian bridesmaid from Heather and NIck’s wedding who we’re staying with, while they were without a government last year, the average citizen’s day to day life wasn’t affected too much. Sure, there’s the ocassional “gangsta,” walking around with his pants down to his knees, rapping in French, hanging out at the skate park. Super hardcore.

And like everywhere in Europe there were signs all over the place warning tourists to watch out for the pickpockets. Totally understandable because I’ve seen tons of gringos wandering around with their purses half open or their cameras hanging out of their bags, completely oblivious to the world — much like a certain American girl I know when she first arrived in Chile. But, if you have ever lived in a big city, Brussels really didn’t feel the least bit dangerous. Of course, we only spent three days there total but Cloe tells us that while there are dangerous neighborhoods, the city in general is quite safe. It really makes me wonder what kind of experiences the person who left that comment must have had — if by some small chance you’re still reading, I hope you’ll speak up!

Anyway, Seba and I absolutely loved the city. Again, we could totally live there if it weren’t for the cold.

A lot of our first impressions might have just come from good luck and timing though.

We arrived on a Saturday night and immediately headed out to meet with Fned and hubby. It just so happened that a celebration called “White Night,” was going on (an idea copied from Paris). This meant that all the museums and public buildings stayed open to the public until super late and then there were also other “cultural events,”  happening — like a fog machine in the street accompanied by techno music, or a display of old casette tapes with their insides ripped out.

The next morning was the marathon of Brussels (which was the original reason we had booked a flight but I didn’t end up running because my knees are still a little wonky and I hadn’t trained at all). I was so inspired seeing people coming over the finish line — they ended up in one of the most beautiful plazas we’ve seen in Europe so far, and there were tons of people cheering them on. Witnessing a few people finish who looked SO happy and proud of themselves — rightly so — made me more certain than ever that I have to run a marathon at some point!

We thought it was because of the White Night and the marathon that there were so many people out and about but again, according to Cloe, the city is always a pretty happening place. Truth. The next day, a dreary rainy Monday, the streets in the center of town were just as full.

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October 15, 2009

Now that we are home and I’m slowly but surely absorbing all that we’ve done and seen, I am able to process things a little better.

Everyone I’ve seen keeps asking me, “What did you like best?” or “Where did you eat the best food?” So I’ve decided to do my own Best of Europe ratings. They’re on a scale of 1-5 with 5 being the best.

If you’ve been to any of these places I’d love to hear your thoughts as I know every person’s experience is SO different!

People’s Style

Geneva, 5: Saw some super stylish women who honestly could have walked straight off the pages of Vogue. But, as Seba pointed out, it was a totally different style than other fashionable cities — it was style with serious $$$.
Munich, 2: Boring style, yes. But, no one looked bad.
Dublin, 2: Women dressed like prostitutes at night and wore pajamas during the day. But god help me, I love that country.
Paris, 4: Too formal for my liking and there wasn’t much originality. Every woman looked the same in skinnies, ballet flats and a scarf.
Oslo, 3: Good at layering. The end.
Florence, 3: Wasn’t crazy about Italian style. Lots of unflattering, flesh baring outfits and so much bling! I’m just not that flashy I guess.
Brussels, 4: Women were pretty stylish here.
Amsterdam, 5: After visiting Amsterdam I feel like I should go back and lower every other city’s score. The women here dress so funky and creatively but they make it look so damn good!

Food

Geneva, N/A: I couldn’t tell you if the food was good or bad. We bought sandwiches or ate at home with my cousin every day. Everything else was too expensive.
Munich, 2: I didn’t care for typical German food that we tried, however, Munich had a lot to offer in terms of international cuisine.
Dublin, 2: The “full Irish breakfast,” is heavenly, but the rest of the food is a lot of meat and potatoes. Not super exciting.
Paris, 3: Pretty expensive so we didn’t eat out a ton but when we did it was good.
Oslo, 4: We only ate in deli’s and had our hotel’s breakfast, other than that we didn’t eat out because of the cost. However, all the deli food and our hotel breakfast was so good — pure Norwegian perfection in everything they do. Florence/Turin 5: Best. Food. In. The. World. Especially Turin.
Brussels, 5: Chocolate lover’s paradise. Not to mention the world’s best french fries and waffles. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.
Amsterdam, N/A: We ate at a bagel shop and a stir fry place in the 24 hours we were there so we didn’t try true Dutch food.

Public Transportation

Geneva, 5: The whole city is extremely organized and easy to get around.
Munich, 5: Ditto.
Dublin, 4: We didn’t use it too much because the city is tiny, but it seemed to work well.
Paris, 2: If you have a weak stomach, forget it. The stench of people who haven’t showered, no wearing deodorant, is overwhelming on the metro. Funcionability was fine, albeit sometimes confusing as ripping off the map’s at the bus stops and metro stops seems to be a national French hobby.
Oslo, 5: You could set your watch by the punctuality of the buses and trains.
All of Italy, 0: Makes Transantiago feel like a heavenly dream. Buses are late or have no schedule. Outside major cities and even within some major cities on certain lines, buses run only until 6 or 7pm. Stench is just as bad as France, except they don’t have the redeeming quality of the system actually working.
Brussels, 4: A little confusing, but works well.
Amsterdam, 5: Everything is organized and easy to use.

Overall Friendliness of People

Geneva, 3: People were nice enough but a little standoffish and at times rather condescending.
Munich, 3: People seemed willing to help but more out of a sense of duty and politeness than kindness.
Dublin/Galway, 5: Some of the friendliest, happiest, funniest people I’ve ever met.
Paris, 2: Ditto to Geneva.
Oslo, 5: So nice, so cheerful. If a grumpy Norwegian exists, we certainly didn’t meet him or her.
Italy, 4: While they’re rude as hell when it comes to cutting in line or pushing and shoving in public spaces, on an individual level everybody except literally one guy, was exceptionally friendly!
Brussels, 4: People were super nice but honestly we didn’t have much interaction with them because we were with a Belgian who was our spokesperson everywhere we went.
Amsterdam, 4: People seemed nice but we didn’t have much interaction with them either since we were there for such a short time.

Mid Priced Lodging

Geneva, N/A: We stayed with my cousin.
Munich, N/A: We couchsurfed.
Ireland, 4: We couchsurfed in Dublin and then got a hotel in Galway. For a midpriced place it was well located, clean and had free internet.
Paris, N/A: We stayed with Fned!
Oslo, 5: We booked the absolute cheapest hotel we could find, which was about 10 Euros more than our hotel in Galway, but this place was amazing. Super comfy, had a fantastic and healthy breakfast, and fast, complimentary Internet.
Italy, 2: Paying about the same price as Galway, we were only able to get shithole hotels in the middle of nowhere, scuzzy, didn’t feel safe, Internet so slow it barely worked and twice they tried to scam us with extra charges. Not cool. If you want loding that’s decent — forget nice, just decent, be prepared to pay a lot in Italy.
Brussels, N/A: We stayed with a friend.

Amsterdam, 5: We were able to get a cool high-tech, comfortable, well located hotel for the same price we paid for one of our super crappy Italy hotels.

Shopping

Geneva, 3: Tons of designer and vintage designer boutiques. I went into one vintage store and played with a vintage Chanel blazer, vintage Pucci dress and shoes and a vintage Galliano blouse. It would have been a fashionist’s wet dream if everything didn’t cost at least triple what it would have in the U.S. and double the rest of Europe.
Munich, 2: Much like the fashion, the shopping was also very standard.
Ireland, 3: If you hunted through the stores you could really find some great deals. Maybe because the recession is hitting the Irish economy hard but it seemed like everything was on sale!
Paris, 4: I was lucky enough to have a local guiding me through the touristy overpriced crap to some quality boutiques. If I were on my own though, I probably couldn’t have found them! And for high fashion, obviously Paris is paradise. I saw, amongst other legendary fashion hotspots, where Coco Chanel lived and started her store, and the first Christian Louboutin boutique — where Emily’s shoes were born!
Oslo, 2: Extremely expensive.
Italy, 3: Kind of like Chile in which there isn’t much of a middle ground. There’s either really nice apparel for a lot of money, or cheap crap. However, the Zara I went into did have more of a selection and unique stuff than I hadn’t seen  in any other Zara in Europe (and I’m pretty sure I went to all of them). Also, when it came to Italian designers like Salvatore Ferregamo, the stores were huge. We’re talking like a full floor in a department store huge.
Brussels, 5: I only wish I had more time to shop there! Lots of fun quirky stores with decent prices. Not surprising in a country that gave Dries Van Noten and Ann Demeulemeester to the world.
Amsterdam, 5: Loved so many of the boutiques I went into. Price range was all over the place and so was the variety of styles. Lots of artsy fartsy stuff, but you could also find cool non-stuffy business attire too.

Livability

Geneva, 2: Too expensive, too keep up with the Jones’-ish.
Munich, 3: Everything was great but the language was tough and the culture did seem rather cold so I’m not sure what it would be like to live there.
Ireland, 4: If it weren’t for the rain and the economy, I would love to live there!
Paris, 3: For as much I we did not fall in love with the city, I did think it would be a good place to live. It’s affordable, there’s a lot going on, things seem to work efficiently. I did get the feeling that it’s a pretty closed culture though so that would make integrating tough.
Oslo, 5: Don’t know if I could handle the winters with three hours of light a day, but WOW, it was fantastic in the fall. Also, the language would be the biggest deterrent. Everyone speaks English but to find a job we would have to learn Norwegian, obviously. Yikes!
Italy, 0: Italy gets a zero, not because it’s a horrible country but simply because there is a 0% chance that we will ever move to a country less efficient than Chile. Not waiting in line is important to me.
Brussels, 4.5: Out of everywhere, I think this would be our top choice. City is cool, random, and feels very young. French is completely doable. And the cost of living isn’t out of control. My only beef is with the weather. Why can’t we find a country that’s both awesome AND warm?
Amsterdam, 4: Really loved the young, fun, liberal and modern vibe of this city. However, there are so many tourists that come just to do drugs and find hookers that I was kind of creeped out by all the weirdo men running around.

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