Well friends, I don't know how well it bodes for the next leg of this adventure that I couldn't keep up with my blog while in the UK and Germany. However, in many ways this first part of the journey was a very personal one, and therefore not something that I felt the need to document in a public way.
Needless to say, after a few days in London, a week in Berlin, and a handful of days in Newcastle and Edinburgh, I am feeling quite a lot of things and am balancing the wait of a few far-thrown decisions. But, coming back down to earth for a moment, here are some of the highlights of the past two weeks:
Corinne and I are actually able to find one another, sans phones, in the GIANT train station in central Brussels! What a way to start our adventure! Corinne is also deliriously tired at this point, because she hasn't slept in like two days. What a trooper!
Since we only had part of a day in Brussels, and both of us were pretty much immediately smitten with the city, we decided to take some frantic pictures and do some quick exploring. And buy some Belgian chocolate for our train ride, of course.
Beautiful downtown Brussels! It was pretty cold and rainy, but compared to the weather I left in London, it wasn't so bad!
Museum in Brussels. Shortly after this,we were picked up by our host Astrid, who was one of the most lovely, warm, and generous people that I met on this trip.
We nipped off the train in Cologne to get a look at this incredible cathedral on our way to Berlin. Corinne was terrified of it and refused to take any photos! It was the most intimidating, beautiful, stark church I've ever seen!
Once in Berlin we had some lovely wanders with my old friends from Edinburgh, Chris and Jenny, who have a lovely flat in the city. As soon as we arrived we were off to the Turkish Market to stuff our faces with fried plantains, beans, and various other delicacies. Poor Corinne was still delirious at this point, as we had only been able to snag 5 hours of sleep in Brussels before our train left.
Jenny took us on an amazing walk around the city to look at some of the history and some of the most amazing graffiti I've ever seen!
The wall. Jenny's flat is on the east side of town, so we were able to cross where the wall used to be and have a look at this section, which is the only remaining part of the wall that still stands. There are cobblestones that run across the city, embedded in the pavement to mark where the whole wall used to stretch. What a heavy, bizarre, intense city.
More amazing socio-critical graffiti!
We played a lot in the photo-automat. I don't even know where the pictures we took in there went, but these were just as funny!
After a few days we went to stay with a lovely French painter, Etienne, who is a friend of Corinne's friend. He had a gorgeous flat in Neukolln, which was amazing because it's a very immigrant-populated part of town, and was an amazing crush of cultures. This is the view from his balcony.
We cooked delicious dinners every night at Etienne's flat. Produce and food in general is so cheap in Berlin! Spinach, sesame, gouda cheese and sun-dried tomatoes, potatoes baked with olive oil, courgettes and aubergine, oh my!
After 7 days of wandering, eating, seeing silly German films in a theatre in the park, markets, and successfully busking on the street corner, I left Corinne in Berlin and headed back to the UK.
And, somewhat hilariously, this is the only photo I took in Edinburgh. Me and Irina are watching an amazing Romanian film and lamenting how freezing and rainy and miserable it is outside for summertime.
And now I'm in London, preparing to head to India tonight! What a whirlwind!
Needless to say, after a few days in London, a week in Berlin, and a handful of days in Newcastle and Edinburgh, I am feeling quite a lot of things and am balancing the wait of a few far-thrown decisions. But, coming back down to earth for a moment, here are some of the highlights of the past two weeks:
Beautiful downtown Brussels! It was pretty cold and rainy, but compared to the weather I left in London, it wasn't so bad!
Museum in Brussels. Shortly after this,we were picked up by our host Astrid, who was one of the most lovely, warm, and generous people that I met on this trip.
We nipped off the train in Cologne to get a look at this incredible cathedral on our way to Berlin. Corinne was terrified of it and refused to take any photos! It was the most intimidating, beautiful, stark church I've ever seen!
Once in Berlin we had some lovely wanders with my old friends from Edinburgh, Chris and Jenny, who have a lovely flat in the city. As soon as we arrived we were off to the Turkish Market to stuff our faces with fried plantains, beans, and various other delicacies. Poor Corinne was still delirious at this point, as we had only been able to snag 5 hours of sleep in Brussels before our train left.
The wall. Jenny's flat is on the east side of town, so we were able to cross where the wall used to be and have a look at this section, which is the only remaining part of the wall that still stands. There are cobblestones that run across the city, embedded in the pavement to mark where the whole wall used to stretch. What a heavy, bizarre, intense city.
We played a lot in the photo-automat. I don't even know where the pictures we took in there went, but these were just as funny!
After a few days we went to stay with a lovely French painter, Etienne, who is a friend of Corinne's friend. He had a gorgeous flat in Neukolln, which was amazing because it's a very immigrant-populated part of town, and was an amazing crush of cultures. This is the view from his balcony.
We cooked delicious dinners every night at Etienne's flat. Produce and food in general is so cheap in Berlin! Spinach, sesame, gouda cheese and sun-dried tomatoes, potatoes baked with olive oil, courgettes and aubergine, oh my!
After 7 days of wandering, eating, seeing silly German films in a theatre in the park, markets, and successfully busking on the street corner, I left Corinne in Berlin and headed back to the UK.
And, somewhat hilariously, this is the only photo I took in Edinburgh. Me and Irina are watching an amazing Romanian film and lamenting how freezing and rainy and miserable it is outside for summertime.
And now I'm in London, preparing to head to India tonight! What a whirlwind!
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