Moulesin' & fritesin' in Bruges

A work placement for my program landed me in Brussels for a month this summer, so I tried to take advantage of the temporary homebase by sightseeing around Belgium in my spare time. I'd never even been to Brussels before so it was great getting to know the city.

We took the Eurostar to Brussels on a Friday night, then hopped on a local train Saturday morning to check out Bruges for the day. In typical fashion we did absolutely no research before our daytrip, and with no Belgian cellphones our ability to come up with a plan on the spot was rather limited. We managed to follow the crowd of other tourists leaving the train station and made our way to the tourist information centre with little trouble. If you find yourself with no map, no plan, and no 4G in Bruges, there is a tourist information centre about a 10 minute walk from the train station in the Concert Hall building. It's a good starting point for the most touristy part of the city anyway so it's definitely worth stopping by if you are unprepared and disorganized like us :)

They know how to do flower boxes in Bruges.

Once we got ourselves orientated, we set off on our own little walking tour. Bruges is laced with pretty little canals - and they don't smell nearly as bad as Venice's! and we were there on a crazy hot day! We weaved our way through the little streets - and tourists taking pictures with their iPads - and found a cafe just off one of the main streets to get some lunch. The restaurant we found was not noteworthy - especially as it did not have mussels on the menu! Tragedy!

The restaurant I WANTED to eat at... Pat likes to decide we're on a strict budget at the most annoying times.

After a few snacks and some Belgian brews we hopped on one of the twenty or so boats that take tourists around the canals. We probably waited in line for almost 45 minutes so I would not recommend deciding to do the boat tour at 2 pm on a Saturday in July! For 8 euros each though it was definitely worth it, and is only 30 minutes so you get a nice perspective of the city without spending too much time sitting around.

I got grossed out when spray from the boat landed on me so I can't even imagine swimming in the canals, but this was a cool public swimming spot!

Belgium seems to have a strange fascination with little statues of people doing weird shit.

After the boat tour we did a nice big loop of the city, starting at the "Lake of Love" - I think called Minnewater - and then walking east up the the outskirts of the main tourist area and cutting in to finish at the Grote Markt or Grand Place, and then back down to the train station.

Fear not - I made Pat find us mussels before we could leave!! ah-mazing.

Bruges' Grand Place - not quite as impressive as Brussels' but still smokes anything Canada has ever come up with ;)

Heavy metal concert in the main square in the middle of the day? Super weird combo with the elderly tourists and families wandering around with ice cream cones!!

Bruges clearly has a reputation as a prime tourist destination for a reason. It's very charming, the food and beer are both excellent, and the city is very cute with lots of little streets to meander down and explore.

Fun little alleyways away from the hoards of tourists!

So overall, Bruges lives up to the hype. Would I go there again in peak tourist season? Probably not, but for how many people there were it was still really enjoyable so that's a testament to how much I liked it. I definitely wouldn't advise spending more than one day here though if you're crunched for time.

Coming up next - Blankenberge, BRUSSELS ITSELF lol, Montenegro, Croatia... I'm a bit behind oops.

Au revoir!

Sheep & rain - the Lake District

Top of the hiking trail above Grasmere

My parents and sister came to visit at the beginning of May. They had never been to the UK before, so we tried to make the most of their short six day trip by squeezing in a trip up to the Lake District. Full disclaimer - I had really wanted to make my way up there anyway so may have used their visit as an excuse to get my act together! :)

Getting up to the Lake District was not as horrible as I had been expecting... I booked our train tickets a few months in advance so I managed to get a quite reasonable rate for first class (ballin'! shotcallin'!) on Virgin Trains from Euston to Oxenholme, which is on the outskirts of the Lake District. We rented a car in Oxenholme, stopping first in Windermere, and then heading up to Grasmere to stay at Moss Grove Organic, an amazing B&B right in the heart of Grasmere (note: I think everything is 'right in the heart of Grasmere' as it is positively tiny! but super cute!)

I'm not sure if I just missed the boat on things to do in Windermere, but I wasn't overly impressed by the town. It seems very touristy and other than boat rides on the lake we didn't find too much to do while we were there for a few hours. We grabbed a quick bite to eat and then hit the road for Grasmere.

I should note driving on the "wrong" side of the road on tiny, twisty country roads with my very vocal family was NOT the highlight of the trip, but we survived so I guess there's that ;)

We rented 3 rooms at Moss Grove - all of them were spacious & comfortable. My only complaint had to do with the not-so comfy mattress but I suppose I can sacrifice a bit of comfort for the environment! The materials used to restore the B&B and all of the products they use are organic and / or environmentally conscious which I thought was a really nice touch. The fresh, homemade breakfast that we woke up to each morning was also AMAZING. I cannot even begin to describe the owner's homemade pastries - so delicious... and fresh bacon and sausages and OLIVES. Anyone who put olives in the breakfast buffet is a winner in my book.

a lake in the Lake District! fancy that!

We managed to sneak in one hike Saturday morning before the rain really picked up. Grasmere village is at the north end of Grasmere (the lake), so you can loop around the lake on one trail or fork off and head up into the hills. I have no idea what the trail we ended up on was called but they're all out in the open - no trees in the Lake District! - so it's impossible to get lost. We just kept heading up until we reached the top of the main hill overlooking Grasmere. It was a fantastic view - but as soon as we got to the top we saw the wall of rain moving quickly towards us. We didn't stick around for too long and headed back down to the village.

We had a classic pub dinner at Tweedies Bar one night, ate at the Jumble Room for lunch on Saturday after our hike, and had another delicious dinner at a restaurant whose name I can't remember! It was literally right across the street from the Moss Grove and I wish I remembered the name as it was so so good!

Winding stone walls meander across the hills

Unfortunately we had absolutely miserable weather the remainder of the weekend, but the hotel had a cozy great room with board games and we coped pretty well by breaking up our naptimes with meals :D

We checked out Sunday after breakfast and made the drive across to Newcastle. One of my grandmothers was originally from Newcastle so we did a quick little visit to the family home and then let my parents experience a true Sunday roast at a local pub.

We dropped off the rental car at the airport in Newcastle and caught a quick flight back to London. Door to door though I think the super fast Virgin train from Oxenholme is quicker than flying.

So finally we've managed to check a few more places off the list around the UK! Pat's mom also came to visit in May so he took her down to Cornwall in SW England, and we also did a little day trip to Bath in June. Wales, Scotland and the Cotswolds are still on my list for the UK! I'm sure we can cross all those off in a few days?! ;)

I'm currently finishing up a work placement in Brussels, then we are off to Montenegro and Croatia for a nice little vacay with some friends. CAN'T WAIT.

May in Madrid

We headed off with another couple to the lovely city of Madrid for a weekend in May (I'm a tad behind I know...) We had been brainstorming get-away ideas and landed on Madrid as most of us had never been there. I was in Barcelona and San Sebastian several years ago during a little Eurotrip with friends during university, but had never strayed too far from the coast. I worried that the heat would be stifling, but it ended up being bearable - I would not go much later than May though! Let's just say there were plenty of ice cream breaks on this trip.

We arrived VERY late Friday evening, our flight was a bit delayed and we had booked a late one to begin with - there may or may not have been an incident involving churros Saturday morning at 4 am... They were absolutely delicious but if I am ever diagnosed with diabetes those will receive the bulk of my blame.

The AirBNB we stayed at was awesome - very old / authentic / cute - unfortunately I can't for the life of me find the listing (our wonderful friends pretty much booked everything for us! Apparently some people like to book travel more than a few days in advance ;)) I love being walking distance to restaurants and cafes though - it makes such a difference in terms of really experiencing the city when you can walk everywhere.

Pals at the Palace!

The Royal Palace of Madrid was only a 15 minute walk from our apartment, so we popped in for a quick tour on Saturday morning. I'm terrible at appreciating art / museums / historical sites so I would say skip this one, but for anyone more cultured than me it might be worthwhile! It does have a really nice view out over the city as it was built on the edge of a small cliff in the centre of the city. I can imagine the cool breezes must have been a welcome relief in the heat of the summer back in the day :)

View from the Royal Palace

Exhibition in the park

We did hop on the metro a few times - especially to get out to Parque de El Retiro. This park is definitely a must-see and I would recommend spending a few hours there. You can rent paddleboats to float around (what I *think* is a man-made) lake. There are ice cream vendors (yes!), a pretty glass building that seems to be a multi-purpose building for art exhibitions, etc. It's also just nice to wander the park's shady boulevards - especially if you're there in the heat of the summer.

Parque de el Retiro

The Museo del Prado is probably a good thing to fit into your itinerary as well :) We unfortunately did not give ourselves enough time to go in, BUT we learned some very useful information on our wander past... If you go after 6 pm Monday - Saturday (open until 8 pm) and between 5 pm and 7 pm Sundays and holidays, you can get in for FREE! You do have to join a huge line, but do not be scared off by its size. Trust. We were walking by just as the line started moving and it goes super quickly so it's definitely worth it if you are on a tight budget. You may still have to pay for the (optional) guide but it's better than 23 euros for the entry + guide! There are also some fun street art vendors set up near the line to wander through while you're waiting to get in.

Sunday market

After a busy Saturday trying to squeeze in all of the sights, we managed to drag the boys around for a little shopping on Sunday. It's nice to be away from the awful exchange rate with the pound once in a while :) I managed to find two dresses for two weddings we are going to this summer at El Corte Ingles - a very typical department store but the prices were excellent and it was fun to check out different brands. I sometimes forget to stray off the high street in London when I'm shopping and everything starts to get repetitive after a while. That reminds me - the high street deserves its own post at some point.

"boccadillo" mmmmm

Anyway, other than some sightseeing and shopping, we mostly relaxed in cafes, ate delicious tapas and drank lots of cerveza! I love Spain's vibe and I'm anxious to go back again. Pat is desperate to visit Barcelona so I think after seeing Madrid we may have to bump it up the list a little! I may veto any trips during the height of summer though... I can't handle the heat!

Irish Road Trip - Part 2

This may be the most drawn out series of posts in blogging history, but let's finish off part 2 of our Irish road trip... So I left off in the Killarney, right before we headed to Limerick. We stayed at a very cute B&B about 10 minutes outside of Limerick City. The owner was very quirky but an amazing cook, and we ate HUGE breakfasts both mornings. I love Irish soda bread. Limerick City itself is definitely not worth the visit, but it's a convenient stopping point between the south of the country and Galway, with a few sights worth fitting in.

Probably the most random place we stopped on our whole trip was the Flying Boat Museum in Foynes along the banks of the Shannon Estuary. Apparently these (literally) flying boats used to take off and land from Foynes to get to North America in the early days of trans-Atlantic travel. It was nuts reading about how they'd navigate from Ireland to Newfoundland using ships' lights - if it was too foggy or snowing they'd have to fly lower and risk hitting WAVES! The museum is really well done and very entertaining - and you get to walk around inside the Yankee Clipper! The seats are so luxuriously spaced, it's amazing.

We also headed east to the Rock of Cashel, in the heart of Co Tipperary. As you can see from the pictures we lucked out with yet another absolutely stunning day and if you are driving by this area it's well worth the visit. We stuck around for a guided tour and it definitely added a whole other dimension to the visit.
The buildings are crumbling due to a combination of age, wind damage, and - if I remember correctly - some attacks. There was one giant stone cross that had blown across the hill in a storm! I think the site also gets shut down frequently due to weather and the risk of getting clobbered by falling stone so I would recommend calling first if the weather is at all windy. It's on an isolated hill with no protection so it must get fairly brisk up there often!

Below the Rock of Cashel

Very pretty vantage point to look out across Co Tipperary

We stopped in Limerick City only once and were fairly disappointed. Again - not worth the visit!

Views across the Shannon River in Limerick City

After our second night in Limerick we headed out to County Clare for the part of the trip I was most looking forward to - the Cliffs of Moher! There's a reason why these are the "most visited natural attraction" in Ireland, they did not disappoint. Our visit probably wasn't hurt by the blue skies & mild weather either! You do have to pay to get into the 'park' but it's well worth it. There are tiny little paths that wind along the cliffs' edge (a little too close to the edge in some areas in my opinion) so you can make a full day of hiking out of it if you plan ahead. There are neighbouring villages that link up to the path where you could stop for lunch. We definitely regretted not being more organized and taking advantage of the full day hike! We still managed to wander around for a few hours, taking in the view and the crazy daredevils standing on precarious ledges. It took me a while before I could look over the edge without getting dizzy. The first picture has some other people hiking on the path to give you an idea of the scale of these cliffs, just enormous.

We finally managed to drag ourselves away from the Cliffs and headed towards Galway City for the last two nights of our trip.

Galway City is really, really cool. There is live music EVERYWHERE and the whole area seems to have retained such an authentic feel (that I think Dublin has lost!!) The city is also an excellent gateway to Connemara National Park, Diamond Hill is one of the coolest hikes we have ever done!

The view from the top of Diamond Hill (Connemara National Park)

In Galway City we stayed at the Park House Hotel, I would not recommend it I'm sure there are much more interesting options you can find. It felt like a very tired and dated Best Western, but it was in a great location in the city centre. We had one of the BEST meals I've ever had though just outside of Galway, in a restaurant recommended by our Lonely Planet called Mitchell's in Clifden. I had super fresh mussels & fries, while Pat had an amazing salmon salad creation. I'm still drooling thinking about those mussels.

On our way back to Galway City from the Park, we took a slight detour to check out another recommendation in the Lonely Planet. There is an area along the coast with white sand beaches and turquoise water called Dog's Bay Beach near Roundstone. It must be amazing in the summer when the sun is out and the water has warmed up a tiny bit! Absolutely take the time to stop here and walk around a bit - even if it is slightly out of the way.

See a sliver of the white sand beaches in the distance - the water was bright blue even with storm clouds rolling in!

We slowly made our way back to Galway City, stopping occasionally to check out the sheep dotting the landscape.

Mind the sheep!

On our last day of the trip we had to make the drive across the country (lol!) from Galway to Dublin for our flight back to London :( It was nice to be back on normal highways, but we didn't find too much to check out on our way across. The ruins at Clonmacnoise were pretty cool though and a nice stopping point midway across. We also stopped in Athlone for lunch which seems to have a burgeoning foodie culture - there were so many options! The fresh, homemade food at the Left Bank Bistro was delicious and we made the most of our last day of vacation gluttony before heading back to the real world.

We had a slightly frazzled last few minutes as we coasted into the Dublin Airport with the fuel gauge welllll below empty. We had paid the rental car company ahead of time for a tank of gas in case we were in a rush to catch our flight home, so being typical Pat and Emma we were determined to use up every last drop of the overpriced gas. In hindsight it probably would've been worth it to stop and put 5 bucks in the tank for peace of mind, but thankfully we made it and didn't break down in the middle of the busy six lane highway going towards the airport!

All in all, it was a great trip. Other than the crazy roads, Ireland is a great country for a weeklong road trip. We regret not seeing Northern Ireland and especially the Giant's Causeway, but I'd be more than happy to make a return trip in the future!

Stayed tuned for recaps on our short trip to the Lake District and Madrid... I'm heading home to Canada for 10 days at the end of June and then moving to Brussels for a 4 week internship this summer so busy busy!! We are running out of weekends for the remaining 3000 trips on our bucket list this year...

Irish Roadtrip - Part 1

Whoops! I managed to skip over a whole month or so, I blame exams and family visits :) Since my last check in we have squeezed in a few trips - our Easter roadtrip around Ireland, a visit to the Lake District with my parents, and finally a weekend in Madrid - so there's lots to catch up on!

But first, Ireland...

My wonderful illustration to show our route

We managed to get away to Ireland for just over a week around the Easter holidays in early April. This was the long trip that we had debated back and forth for months on - Turkey, Tanzania, and Eastern Europe were all thrown around as options. We waffled around for a bit too long and all of a sudden flights and hotels had skyrocketed, but Ireland was an excellent choice in the end and it was nice to get away somewhere without the hassle of a long flight and language barrier (I may be getting old...)

We landed in Dublin on Good Friday and headed straight to the heart of the Temple Bar area (Dublin's liveliest neighbourhood apparently.) Fun fact: bars in Ireland aren't open on Good Friday!  Despite the quiet first night, we had a great two days in Dublin and managed to check out most of the sights. I wasn't enamoured with Dublin – it was definitely a lot smaller than I was expecting – but I will admit we didn't venture far from the city centre so it might be nice to return one day and see a few of the less touristy areas around the city.

We stayed at the Morgan in the Temple Bar area – it was fine. If you can get the bed & breakfast at a good rate, the breakfast buffet is tasty, but expensive on its own. The hotel had a fun vibe & was definitely in the heart of the city, however, if you’re looking for a good night’s sleep our room right above the main bar area so consider yourself warned!

Our first stop on Saturday was to see the Book of Kells at Trinity College. I thought it was absolutely not worth the wait + 10 euro entrance fee but Trinity college itself has pretty grounds with Ivy League-style manicured lawns and old stone buildings. 

We then headed over to the Guinness Storehouse in west Dublin which was very impressive. The Storehouse has 7 stories of Guinness history, brewing info, and fun bar spaces to try the different styles of Guinness. It is VERY touristy and definitely doesn't take you through the actual Guinness factory – but it was still cool to see. 

Guinness Extra Stout over a grey Dublin sky - delicious!

Warning: if you’re planning to go to the Storehouse on a weekend or holiday, book your tickets online ahead of time – you get to skip most of the line if you book ahead which is definitely worth it as we waited in line for over an hour. Also note that the line on the outside is only about half of it – once you get inside you have to wait for another good half an hour or so! It was still worth it, but when you’re tight for time it’s so demoralizing when you finally get through the doors of the building and see another thousand people still waiting in front of you! We made it though and it was an excellent excuse to sample some of the Guinness varieties ;) 

Afterwards we managed to meet up with a few friends who also happened to be in Dublin and got a much more authentic Temple Bar experience on the Saturday night!

One of the vistas from the Wicklow Way

After a quick 36 hours in Dublin (which I think was more than enough to be honest) we picked up our rental car and headed south to the Wicklow Mountains to fit in some hiking before reaching Cork that night. The Wicklow area is so beautiful – and apparently where they filmed PS I Love You! – so I would definitely recommend spending some time in this area. There is a really good set of trails that you can meet at any point, or do the whole 127 km over a week or so! We only hiked around for a few hours, but I would love to go back and do a bit longer.

The stunning view from the Wicklow Gap

After a quick lunch at a small local restaurant, we finished the rest of the drive to our next hotel in County Cork, Castlemartyr Resort, This place was a bit of a (okay huge) splurge, but we really wanted this to be a relaxing vacation so we semi-justified it (kind of... not really though...) The resort was amazing, the rooms beautiful, etc. but I think it would be better for a family vacation or golf trip than just a few nights away. Other than the spa there isn't much going on at the resort itself, and you have to get in the car to get to more interesting hiking trails – or about 30 mins into the city of Cork. 

We found a great trail in Ballycotton that I'd highly recommend - even though it was shrouded in fog for the entire day - and had a DELICIOUS fresh seafood lunch at the Inn by the Harbour afterwards. The picture below doesn't adequately show the steepness of the cliff off the side of the trail plunging straight into rocky ocean below!

Coastal trail in Ballycotton

Not the greatest quality picture - but how stunning would this be for a wedding reception?! ;)

The next day we reluctantly checked out of the Castlemartyr and headed to Gouganebarra Forest via Cork city. The city of Cork is very cute - the English Market was fun to explore for a bit - but we definitely did not give ourselves enough time to fully appreciate it. We'll just have to go back :) 

One of the colourful entrances to the English Market

I had hoped that driving through Gouganebarra would take us a little bit off the beaten track. It was very pretty, but in hindsight we should have probably kept going to the Ring of Kerry - I really regret missing out on that drive! Gouganebarra was also unusually dry for this time of year – have I mentioned it was hot and sunny our entire trip?! - very weird for Ireland in the spring apparently. The forest itself was more of a dry scrubby brush, but there is a cute little lake with an old church at the entrance to the park so we weren't totally disappointed.

Not the lush green forest we were expecting!

After checking out Gouganebarra we headed towards Killarney. It was only a slight detour and we hoped it might give us a taste of what we were missing on the Ring of Kerry, so we plugged it into the GPS and away we went. I should add that the roads between Gouganebarra and Killarney are single lane dirt tracks at some points, so any time we encountered traffic headed in the opposite direction we had to do the awkward dance of each car trying to find somewhere to pull over and back out of the way. It was a long and tiring drive, but we definitely got a taste for authentic Irish road tripping!

The views made the perilous drive more than worth it!

The town of Killarney was quite small, but there were several local ice cream shops dotted around the high street so I was happy we made the effort to check it out :)

From the town we made our way to Muckross House, near the entrance of Killarney National Park. The grounds were beautiful, and while we didn't go inside, the outside looked like a longer visit might be worth it! We were in a bit of a time crunch to make it to our B&B in Limerick by a reasonable time, so a quick walk around had to suffice.

Muckross House with Killarney National Park in the background

There is also a huge lawn and small lake which was covered in families out enjoying the spring sunshine. 

Muckross House grounds

We left Killarney to rush to Limerick to check into our B&B for the next two nights, but I think I will leave it there for now and call this 'Part 1', Part 2 I'll cover our time around County Limerick and County Galway (my personal favourite!)

Cheers!

The Grind

Real life has taken a bit of a backseat this month. Note that I define 'real life' as everything not involving school / work :)

My group made a science blanket for a term project! This picture is hilarious.

My second semester here in the UK ends this week, so there have been a lot of busy days finishing up final projects and essays. Starting today we *technically* have a month off, but their system is outrageously evil and plants exams right at the end of this month-long break! Pat and I had intentions of doing a fun trip to Tanzania or Turkey, but have decided to be boring (and also a bit more fiscally responsible) and have booked a trip to Ireland for a week over Easter. Pat's grandmother was born in Ireland and we have always wanted to visit, so we figured if not now - when?! (Also this assuages my guilt slightly that we haven't ventured past the Greater London area in terms of travelling around the UK and Ireland in the past 6 months!)

The plan

We will be renting a car in Dublin - don't worry, we paid to upgrade to an automatic as learning how to drive on the WRONG side of the road plus driving a manual would be asking for trouble. From Dublin we head south to Cork, up to Limerick and Galway, and then back over to Dublin to finish off the circle over the course of about 7 days. I'm so excited to see the Cliffs of Moher and eat lots of fresh seafood... and learn how to properly pronounce 'Moher'.

So many people have recommended going to Northern Ireland, especially to see the Giant's Causeway, but I don't know if we will be able to fit it in on this trip. We have booked some actually nice hotels (no hostel bunkbeds on this trip! movin' on up in the world) so it may be tempting to just sit and relax. I bought The Girl on the Train and it is KILLING me to not start reading it, I've heard that you can't put it down once you start so I have to save it for the trip and not destroy my productivity for the next few days.

My parents are also visiting at the end of April so it's going to be a fun month or so ahead (minus the whole 'exams' thing)! I should probably start studying... Wish me luck!

Instead of studying I'll just take pictures of my stack of notes. That sounds productive.

Casual Jaunt to the Alps

We headed out to the Alps last weekend to fit in some skiing before the end of the season. My friend is studying in Switzerland so we landed in Geneva, met up with her, and then drove across the border to Chamonix-Mont Blanc. The original plan was to stay on the Swiss side and ski at Verbiers but with the Swiss Franc going straight up and the Canadian dollar going straight down, we ended up in France to try to save a bit. It was still a crazy expensive weekend but I’m glad we went! If we ever move back to North America it’ll be tough to justify travelling all the way to Europe to go skiing so at least we can say we skied in the Alps once :)

Brief clearing of the clouds during lunch one day

The sun trying to poke through the clouds (relatively excellent visibility at this point I might add)

Cheesy goodness for lunch (the table next to ours was enjoying champagne with their meal...)

My friend found a very cute airbnb in the tiny town of Passy, about a 20 min drive from Chamonix. The owners were super nice and even provided hot chocolate, milk and cornflakes! It was convenient having rented a car but I think if I were to do it again I’d ditch the car and stay right in Chamonix. I’m not sure that we ended up saving any money staying a bit further out of town, and the drive was tiring after long days skiing! There is definitely some value though in staying in a very charming & authentic little village - with fresh croissants a 30 second walk away.

View from our airbnb (there are giant mountains hidden in the clouds!)

Blue skies!

We had pretty typical luck with the weather while we were there. We actually only saw the Alps for a couple of hours in the late afternoon on one day! The visibility was so low that we could have been skiing anywhere, but I’m thankful that we at least got a few glimpses. The area is so stunning. Sunday was even more ridiculous - it poured rain ALL day, even at the top of the mountain. It was a pretty miserable day of skiing but it also meant no line ups at the lifts and lots of fresh powder from the overnight snow, so you win some you lose some :) Wringing out our clothes at the end of the day was not a win.

'Liftie'!

One of my favourite shots from the weekend!

I’m still very undecided about Switzerland. It’s beautiful and has the lake and the mountains and the culture, but the people are not my favourite so far. No one is overly friendly or accommodating and the prices are absolutely outrageous. It is stunning though!!!

Enjoying $10 bottles of water & $15 bowls of soup at a cafeteria on the mountain!

Sneaky mountains

Strolling in Geneva (I have yet to figure out why they do this to all of the trees in Europe)

We had a few hours to kill before our flight back to London on Monday so we wandered around downtown Geneva and tried to see a bit of the city. I would’ve liked to do the UN tour but it was closed for the day for a special event haha typical!! Apparently the Red Cross Museum is really cool but we failed to plan anything in advance and just weren’t organized enough to fit it in.

Anyway, we have a weekend in Madrid lined up for May already! (Obviously we are going with someone else far more organized than me as the flights & airbnb are already planned!!!) Now to figure out where to go for Easter... Big problems, I know ;)

I think you only start to feel at home in a city when you can recognize landmarks from above :)