here, there, and everywhere!

Perhaps you’ve been wondering where I’ve been, since I was MIA from this blog for so long.

There isn’t just one answer. Actually, there are three: Belfast, Berlin, and London!!
In the interest of bringing all of us up to speed, I’ll hit ya quick with a highlight from each place. And some pictures to boot. Sound good? Good!

Ready. Set.

BELFAST! Far and away the best part of the Belfast weekend was the Giant’s Causeway. Here’s a snippet from my journal: “We finished off with a visit to the Giant’s Causeway, aka my favorite stop of the day. It didn’t look like anything special until we got close…and then, WONDER! I still don’t know how those stones formed – what kind of geology could arrange the rocks into such perfect hexagonal slates? It was a God-sized mosaic – a natural puzzle, with no piece out of place. It kind of a had the look of Superman’s crystal palace in some places because of how the hexagons formed in long stalk-like cylinders. The ocean waves swelled to reach my height and perform great splashes, sending mist into the air and onto our faces! It was refreshing and powerful, alive and majestic. It was enduring, in a word.”


BERLIN! Let’s see here….highlights include scoping the East Side Gallery, munching my first ever Bratwurst, crashing a world premier at a film festival, chatting with Katie in a café before our movie started, surfing 24 hour public transit, and jamming out karaoke with Katie (“Surfin’ USA” was a big hit…really, it was). There’s probably a lot I could say, but the trouble is…where could I start? Tell you what: I’ll just give you MORE pictures!

LONDON! Late night pizza feast with the girls: after two long walks, two long bus rides, a flight, and Tube navigation, we arrived in London at 11:30pm – hungry. Not much was open, but there was (conveniently enough) a Pizza Hut. The guy who was working either thought we were cute or was trying to get rid of leftover food, because we got two pizzas, a liter Pepsi, cheesy bread, and chicken strips all for the price of one extra large. We walked our feast back to the hostel and ate it on the landing of the top floor by the curved banister with velvet carpet. A classy midnight snack, that’s for sure! Next highlight? Early morning coffee before the mad-map-dash began: I got up before the others and had some quiet/alone time at a nice café before the busy day started. It felt good to get an orientation on the map, to explore, to have distance, and to wake up properly (with a caramel macchiato) before the day even kicked off. Notting Hill and Westminster Abbey both top the chart, as well. By the end of the weekend, I felt as if I’d lived for 2 weeks instead of 2 days in that vibrant, catchy city. I definitely want to make it back there some day :)

So there you have it! Three cities in 500 words. But that’s not including the pictures…which are each worth 1000 words. So really this post makes for an epic narrative, all things considered. Thanks for checking in, by the way! I’ll try to keep these posts coming a little bit more regularly :)

Cheers!