Wednesday, December 24, 2014

hello from cologne

I'm in Germany! Cologne is the first of the German cities I'm visiting this trip. I'm staying in this wicked hostel, in a themed capsule queen-sized dorm bed! Best combination possible? I think so too. I'm almost sad to leave, but there are more countries to visit and cities to see. Heidelberg is the next stop, as long as I find the bus. (Finding bus stops is migraine inducing. There was a lot of panic in Ghent. Running through my head was a litany of swear words before I found the small sign signalling the Eurolines stop.)

Anyhow this is Cologne, of the famed cathedral. The detailing is incredible.

And the last of the many Christmas markets I've been to. Photos below are a combination of the many in Cologne. The one in Neumarkt was my favourite, with the canopy of lit-up stars and carousel.

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

here be a london tourist post

The good thing with jet lag - if it could be ever considered a good thing - is that I have a lot of time in the mornings. The past two mornings I've been waking up at the ungodly hour of three, where I crawl out of bed into the living room and woe at my body clock. My friends have been telling me it'll take me about a week to recover. In the mean time, I will attempt to keep up some schedule so I don't reach that stage where there are too many photos to edit that I throw in the hat. My poor laptop doesn't know what to do with so many raw files.

Starting off the day with breakfast before taking the tube to Westminster. It was a grey and slightly wet morning.

Met up with my friend at the British Museum but didn't stay very long. We came to the realisation that museums are not places to catch up. Alas, I'm going to head back there today to enjoy it at my own pace. Time to pull out that high school history list of things to see!

Because tourists. When in London, y'know.

Sunday, December 7, 2014

i'm in london

...and I'm so incredibly jet lagged. Two twelve hour flights and a six hour layover where I was mad enough to dash out of Beijing Airport and meet up with friends over coffee. (I had a sunset airport photo I was going to insert here, but I managed to delete it without exporting it because I'm brilliant like that.)

My friend lives in outer London, and I feel like I'm staying in Privet Drive, in one of those square brown houses. I'm incredibly charmed. That, and very exhausted. I woke up at 4:30AM this morning and read two-thirds of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and ate all the chocolate in this One Direction advent calendar. My friend picked me up from a tube station and presented it to me as a "Welcome to London!" gift. What can I say? She knows just how incredibly uncool I am.