London has been the setting for a great many stories, and as we're nearing the final chapters of our trip, how could we not include a stop here to take in a few things old, new, and possibly true.
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There are places in this world where the mere mention awakens the inner-traveller, stirring up wanderlust, and a desire to learn more about the story and mystery hidden between the syllables of a name. These places become a must see. We took a day out from Belfast to explore the beautiful rugged coast of Northern Ireland and to visit one these special places for us...the Giant's Causeway.
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Icelandic food is fresh, fun, creative, and...EXPENSIVE. Usually, we're able to find some local cheap options, but not here. We had to swallow the cost, along with the delicious food, and chalk it up to part of the experience of being in Iceland.
WARNING: For those who are squeamish, DO NOT scroll to the end. Stop after the pink cake (Glassenkaka). There's a sheep's head that even I couldn't watch Jimmy eat.
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Although the temperature was a mild 10 degrees Celsius, it felt down right chilly after our time dabbling in the Southern European sun. Our cold gear made a final encore appearance. Donning winter jackets and thermal layers, we took to the streets of this unusual city that has summers of continual daylight, homes heated with geothermal steam, and the occasional whiff of sulfur in the air.
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The Golden Circle is a popular loop from Reykjavik that goes around the south part of Iceland and showcases some of the best sights the island has to offer (although, there are a ton more to see). After a full day of walking along lava-strewn terrain, witnessing water in all forms of its natural state, and experiencing a little continental drift, we learned a very important lesson. Everything in Iceland is epic.
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Unlike our time in Munich, there's more variety here in Berlin when it comes to food, but we still loved the wurst the best.
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Beautiful Berlin. It's a city that wears its scars for all to see and manages to find beauty and life in even the most abandoned places. Some buildings and statues have kept their bullet holes as a memorial to the past, but other structures have changed. The last remaining stretches of the Berlin Wall are now more paint canvas than cold barrier and old forgotten locations have found new purpose as gathering places for a new generation of Berliners.
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We expected to see a city of grim Gothic spires and buildings clad in moody, soot-covered stone. Instead, we found Prague to be a city, full of color, art, and music. We also managed to fit in a day trip to an old mining town called Kutna Hora to see a chapel decorated with human skeletons. Parents with children, this is your warning. Bones lie at the end of this post.
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Czech food feels like it was created to fill people up on a cold winter's eve. The meat is heavy and sounds freshly hunted (duck, wild boar, even deer). The bread dumplings are starchy, sauce-soaked delights. The vegetables are either root vegetables or pickled to last. There's no skimping on the salt and spices either. Sitting down to a Czech meal means sitting down to a very hearty feast!
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Before this trip, we'd never heard of Rennes. Our stop in this city was one of practicality. We needed a base of operations that had an airport to fly into and good connections to Mont Saint-Michel and Paris. There wasn't even a footnote about this place in our guidebook, and we prepared ourselves for the fact that there might not be much to do here. Rennes was actually an enjoyable little French city (minus the helicopter and fully-geared police erecting an anti-riot barricade the first day). Even the most practical of decisions can still have room for a few surprises.
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Up in the north of France, there is a tiny island (population 44 people) capped by an abbey and surrounded by changing tides. In the old days, the island was only accessible when the tide was out, allowing people to make their pilgrimages and bring supplies, but even then, the muddy surroundings could be dangerous. Now, there is a bridge connecting the island to the mainland and guided tours to help people safely navigate the mud flats. If you can believe it, we took almost 20,000 steps exploring the alleyways, ramparts, muddy beaches and rocky shores. It may be small in size, but that didn't mean we weren't exhausted by the time we were done.
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Seville was the city of tasty tapas (or what I like to call Spanish dim sum) and had some of the best desserts on the trip. We had a lot of fun choosing little plates of Spanish morsels and ending our meals with shareable portions of desserty sweetness. With the smaller portions, there was a lot more we could try!
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