Through the Looking Glass

Middle East. Europe. The USA. Canada.

European Encore - Paris

So here I found myself for the fourth time, in the city of Paris. And just like the past three occasions, I fell for her again. It’s not unlike any other love story, not without danger or peril - being that I had to report my credit cards stolen. But like other great love stories, it’s wasn’t without a happily ever after… yes, I never had my purse stolen, I just misplaced it. 

A lovestruck fool some might say, but I couldn’t remain angry at Paris. While this time she nearly robbed me blind, I found that only more attractive - could the city’s ‘gypsies’ of modern and old times be more of an appropriate metaphor. 

It only came as a reason to forgive - but I’ll never forget, the beautiful La Ville-Lumiere.  

I’ll see you again soon. 

7. Sainte-Chapelle 

17 & 18. Catacombs… bit blurry. 

In Belgium… Part two

Brussels was certainly rainy and grey, but it had a lot more to see and to do than I realised - I enjoyed the Comic Strip Wall/Comic Book Route (a trail of ‘Comic Book’ scenes/characters dotted throughout the city - although we only found a few), the 1 euro waffles, and the little peeing boy statue :-)

I would definitely go back to explore more (especially to see the Atomium from the World Fair that was held there in 1958) and eat more waffles while I’m at it!

2. Flea Market

3. The Waffle Van Man. Yum!

6. Old Town Square

10. St. Michael and St. Gudula Cathedral

12. Tintin Comic Strip Wall

13. Manneken Pis Statue, or the Peeing Boy as he’s known!

14. A bit of Berlin in Brussels

17. Cubitus Comic Strip Wall

terrysdiary: Gaga holding hello kitty flowers. Lady Gaga holding her ‘Hello Kitty’ flowers, gets me excited for Gaga in July and Japan in (hopefully) April next year! Yay!

terrysdiary:

Gaga holding hello kitty flowers.

Lady Gaga holding her ‘Hello Kitty’ flowers, gets me excited for Gaga in July and Japan in (hopefully) April next year! Yay!

In Belgium…

The optimist in me (I want to say eternal, but that’s not true) tried hard to overlook the rain and the cold in what was suppose to be beautiful Bruges and enjoy it. But once we found out the Chocolate Factory was closed I was beginning to agree that Bruges was pretty shit. 

But of course, this was not true! No, not at all! Although it was rainy and cold, the beauty of Bruges radiated through in other ways. In fact, I have to say it was probably some of the most fun I had while I was away with Carlie - no thanks to fabulous new friends and amazing food! 

 

, 

1. The Bonne-Chiere windmill

2. The Belfry (which was also closed)

6. Amazing chicken stall at the market!

9. Grounds near the Church of Our Lady and the smallest bridge in Bruges

10. & 11. Tarts

13. THE best pasta/spaghetti I’ve ever had

14. THE street of THE best pasta/spaghetti I’ve ever had

Just to Reiterate

If I just keep watching this I’ll be okay, cracks me up every time!

So I think I’m a pretty reasonable person, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to say that. I have my own personal opinions about life (broad I know), but I still think I have moral fibre - I’m patient, if at the very least tolerant, empathetic, I am polite and I have a sense of humor. I know right from wrong (yes sometimes ‘societies demands’ are actually just). Although I may come across as uptight, those who know me well, would know that’s probably more of a result of personal experiences in my life. When it comes to relationships, I like to think I try to take a genuine interest in people and make the effort to stay in touch with people. But my patience is wearing thin, and I am no longer tolerant to the fact that more often than not I’m the one who initiates conversations (yes, Facebook private messages and comments, cause as much as I might dislike it, let’s be honest, it’s not going away. And isn’t that the point?!), and never receives a response. I admit, my replys are often late, really late sometimes, but I always ensure I respond as well. It just leads me to conclude that most people don’t give a shit about me. No this is not an attention seeking thing, it’s not ‘omg, you guyz dont care bout me. Im gunna kill myself now.’ It’s, I’m done trying to make conversation with you because I actually had a genuine interest in your lives, and sick of you never having a genuine interest back. That’s not a friendly thing to do, or even a family thing to do! You can’t claim you miss me, or that I’m beautiful because you wouldn’t even know if I truly was on the inside or not. Clearly I’m not referring to just any old ‘acquaintances’ either. But while I’m at it, I might as well get this off my chest too… I didn’t have Facebook when I was 4 to say, ‘fuck yeah, birthday in coral bay!’. I didn’t have Facebook when I was 14 to quote Gyroscope lyrics and how I was in love with them. And I wanna promise myself I won’t have it, or at least use it when I’m 24, cause I’d better not be in this fuckhole town. Which if you missed the point, means I’m sick of people claiming shit on Facebook. Oh, your going to Bali, big whoop! I know I used to do that, but I was doing it out of excitement and hoping some of my ‘friends’ would share in my excitement, but obviously not. So stop bragging about it, you stupid fucks! Which furthermore leads to Internet meming. Yes, travel and tattoos are currently trending, just like ‘so smashed’ and ‘fuck yeah bdo/gtm/southbound’ do too. That’s all you are proving to me, that your only doing it to claim on it, brag about it, not that you could actually give a shit what language they actually speak in the Netherlands. Particularly for the ‘travelers’ amongst you, each to their own for sure. But just let me give you a big tip now, how’s about you don’t waste your money on a plane ticket and just go out/sit in the pub at home - CAUSE THAT’S ALL YOUR DOING THERE aka ‘I’ve been smashed in Spain all week’. And just lastly, fuck you arseholes who can get British passports and either don’t use them, or otherwise deserve them. I’ve now solidified my name as an uptight bitch who thinks she’s better than everyone cause she doesn’t party all the time and is interested in ‘culture’. But if you actually took the time to be genuinely interested you’d just know I’m frustrated… Among other things, such as I really wish I could break dance. At least I have my own plush Boo, and only my best friends would know Boo and my iPod are all I need (when I can’t be with them, of course). And no, I’m not bragging about my Boo plush, I’m giving thanks to my wonderful friend who got it for me, and thanks to my amazing boyfriend who’ll always be in my heart - cause I know they’ll be interested to know :-)

So I think I’m a pretty reasonable person, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to say that. I have my own personal opinions about life (broad I know), but I still think I have moral fibre - I’m patient, if at the very least tolerant, empathetic, I am polite and I have a sense of humor. I know right from wrong (yes sometimes ‘societies demands’ are actually just). Although I may come across as uptight, those who know me well, would know that’s probably more of a result of personal experiences in my life.

When it comes to relationships, I like to think I try to take a genuine interest in people and make the effort to stay in touch with people. But my patience is wearing thin, and I am no longer tolerant to the fact that more often than not I’m the one who initiates conversations (yes, Facebook private messages and comments, cause as much as I might dislike it, let’s be honest, it’s not going away. And isn’t that the point?!), and never receives a response. I admit, my replys are often late, really late sometimes, but I always ensure I respond as well.

It just leads me to conclude that most people don’t give a shit about me. No this is not an attention seeking thing, it’s not ‘omg, you guyz dont care bout me. Im gunna kill myself now.’ It’s, I’m done trying to make conversation with you because I actually had a genuine interest in your lives, and sick of you never having a genuine interest back. That’s not a friendly thing to do, or even a family thing to do! You can’t claim you miss me, or that I’m beautiful because you wouldn’t even know if I truly was on the inside or not.

Clearly I’m not referring to just any old ‘acquaintances’ either. But while I’m at it, I might as well get this off my chest too…

I didn’t have Facebook when I was 4 to say, ‘fuck yeah, birthday in coral bay!’.
I didn’t have Facebook when I was 14 to quote Gyroscope lyrics and how I was in love with them.
And I wanna promise myself I won’t have it, or at least use it when I’m 24, cause I’d better not be in this fuckhole town.

Which if you missed the point, means I’m sick of people claiming shit on Facebook. Oh, your going to Bali, big whoop! I know I used to do that, but I was doing it out of excitement and hoping some of my ‘friends’ would share in my excitement, but obviously not. So stop bragging about it, you stupid fucks!

Which furthermore leads to Internet meming. Yes, travel and tattoos are currently trending, just like ‘so smashed’ and ‘fuck yeah bdo/gtm/southbound’ do too. That’s all you are proving to me, that your only doing it to claim on it, brag about it, not that you could actually give a shit what language they actually speak in the Netherlands.

Particularly for the ‘travelers’ amongst you, each to their own for sure. But just let me give you a big tip now, how’s about you don’t waste your money on a plane ticket and just go out/sit in the pub at home - CAUSE THAT’S ALL YOUR DOING THERE aka ‘I’ve been smashed in Spain all week’.

And just lastly, fuck you arseholes who can get British passports and either don’t use them, or otherwise deserve them.

I’ve now solidified my name as an uptight bitch who thinks she’s better than everyone cause she doesn’t party all the time and is interested in ‘culture’. But if you actually took the time to be genuinely interested you’d just know I’m frustrated… Among other things, such as I really wish I could break dance.

At least I have my own plush Boo, and only my best friends would know Boo and my iPod are all I need (when I can’t be with them, of course).
And no, I’m not bragging about my Boo plush, I’m giving thanks to my wonderful friend who got it for me, and thanks to my amazing boyfriend who’ll always be in my heart - cause I know they’ll be interested to know :-)

Amsterdam

I am out of creative title names. Especially when it comes to Amsterdam - I’m not gonna play on the name.

But I will just admit that I can’t believe how blind I was when I first visited Amsterdam. No, I was not off my head, I was just actually blind, or ignorant or on a silly tour and did not see - the clear canals, reflecting the crisp blue sky sliced with jetsteams. I didn’t see the tall and narrow houses, with their hooks at the top of the façade and their dangerous, yet purposeful angles, that their built on, to be able to hoist their furniture through the windows when moving in or out.

I may have nearly been run over by bicycles on both occasions too, but this time I seen the bikes coasting past the tall, narrow houses, leaning on their deadly angles, reflecting in the clear canals with a twin sky. The romanticism in it all might as well have been visible too, it was that thick in the air. You could’ve whipped the jet steams into love heart outlines, and watch the cyclists glide past the tall, narrow houses, on their hazardous angles fall over themselves in love, and finally plunge towards the canals, smashing them into a thousand pieces.

That… does make me sound like I was tripping balls. But that’s just how taken I was with Amsterdam. One can’t bring the place up without discussing the Red Light District though, but I think this is one blind eye, that works in the cities favour. The Red Light district is more than just ‘a laugh’, it means that some women that need to support themselves - put themselves through studies, support their children - can do so in a more secure environment and an anonymous way. By no means am I saying this is something I’d like to do, or like to see more of, but let’s face it, this is what some people do for a living, and at least they can work in the ‘safest’ way possible. 

As for the drugs… well it’s just not my thing either. Again each to their own (well I have plenty more defined opinions on that matter, but there’s a time and a place), but I’m glad to see that most people seem to appreciate that there’s so much more to this gorgeous city than meets their blind eye.

4. Narrow houses :-)

7 & 8. The Begijnhof - wiki it
 

Reliving the Glory Days Even though we didn’t see them in Europe, we did see this tour in Philadelphia. And it’s not the only thing that’s made me reminisce this week…  Firstly my thoughts of ‘smile[ing] playing music and driving in my car’ are not quite how I imagined. For starters, my radio/cd player is broken so there’s no music to smile about. I have to deal with idiots on the road, pay for petrol and pay for parking. Ugh, I just wanna take the bahn! I also created a Wish List of music I’m slowly going to download from iTunes (yes, I do the right thing and purchase music), some of which I purchased already, and one of which was Titanium by David Guetta featuring Sia. I didn’t realise until I listened to it, that the last time I heard it I was walking under the Brandenburg Gate with Carlie, while a group of people had it cranking while taking photos next to their stretch hummer in front of the gate. I said to Carlie, something about that moment being amazing and it’s incredible the places you find yourself. Who would’ve thought! Before getting choked up. And as you might’ve seen coming, I got a little or a lot choked up listening to it for the first time since then as well.   I always knew it would be hard coming back, I knew it would be a struggle to be able to fit back in, if at all. But some of the hardest parts are just thinking how much I miss those places - I miss Berlin so very much, and New York with all my heart as well. And the food! I’d smash a peri peri chicken on a park bench right now for lunch, I’d love a pork knuckle or schnitzel in Munich for dinner, polish off a Ben’s Box of Ben’s Cookies for desert, have two slices and a soda at Two Bro’s for a midnight snack in the city that never sleeps, toast a bagel and dig in to some ihop pancakes for breaky the next morning, and then get me a pizza salami back at the Hauptbahnof in Berlin. How much I miss walking to our Bedford Ave L line subway station. How I miss feeling like the only person on earth when I look out at Lake Louise. And how I miss just staring, only staring at the luminous Brandenburg Gate at night. How I miss feeling alive!  Everyone says, it’s back to reality for me now. This is not my reality. This is not my idea of what my life should be at all. As I said, that’s fine for some, but this really is a means to end. And the end will be the beginning of my next adventure (that I hope to share again with Brett and one or two others) and my adventure will then lead me on to the next stage, where life truly begins.  Last but not least. Thank you Brett for buying me such a special gift, allowing me to look back on such a special time in our lives - that night, and our entire trip :-) 

Reliving the Glory Days

Even though we didn’t see them in Europe, we did see this tour in Philadelphia. And it’s not the only thing that’s made me reminisce this week… 

Firstly my thoughts of ‘smile[ing] playing music and driving in my car’ are not quite how I imagined. For starters, my radio/cd player is broken so there’s no music to smile about. I have to deal with idiots on the road, pay for petrol and pay for parking. Ugh, I just wanna take the bahn!

I also created a Wish List of music I’m slowly going to download from iTunes (yes, I do the right thing and purchase music), some of which I purchased already, and one of which was Titanium by David Guetta featuring Sia. I didn’t realise until I listened to it, that the last time I heard it I was walking under the Brandenburg Gate with Carlie, while a group of people had it cranking while taking photos next to their stretch hummer in front of the gate. I said to Carlie, something about that moment being amazing and it’s incredible the places you find yourself. Who would’ve thought! Before getting choked up. And as you might’ve seen coming, I got a little or a lot choked up listening to it for the first time since then as well.  

I always knew it would be hard coming back, I knew it would be a struggle to be able to fit back in, if at all. But some of the hardest parts are just thinking how much I miss those places - I miss Berlin so very much, and New York with all my heart as well. And the food! I’d smash a peri peri chicken on a park bench right now for lunch, I’d love a pork knuckle or schnitzel in Munich for dinner, polish off a Ben’s Box of Ben’s Cookies for desert, have two slices and a soda at Two Bro’s for a midnight snack in the city that never sleeps, toast a bagel and dig in to some ihop pancakes for breaky the next morning, and then get me a pizza salami back at the Hauptbahnof in Berlin.

How much I miss walking to our Bedford Ave L line subway station. How I miss feeling like the only person on earth when I look out at Lake Louise. And how I miss just staring, only staring at the luminous Brandenburg Gate at night. How I miss feeling alive! 

Everyone says, it’s back to reality for me now. This is not my reality. This is not my idea of what my life should be at all. As I said, that’s fine for some, but this really is a means to end. And the end will be the beginning of my next adventure (that I hope to share again with Brett and one or two others) and my adventure will then lead me on to the next stage, where life truly begins.  


Last but not least. Thank you Brett for buying me such a special gift, allowing me to look back on such a special time in our lives - that night, and our entire trip :-) 

European Encore: Cologne…Köln

I had such a fantastic time in Cologne! There was awesome shopping and such fun night life, it was clean and well connected by public transport - like any wonderful German city is. And the Cathedral, well! I’m not saying it to brag, I’d be lying if I didn’t admit I’ve seen a few churches and such. While Notre Dame in Paris remains my favourite for its interiors (although, I’ve been there twice, and stupidly not been inside the Sagrada Familia, which I hear is amazing and have seen those amazing pictures), the Cologne Dom was an absolute neck breaker and my favourite cathedral/church in terms of its exteriors.

It was pretty exciting for my beloved sister to see, being only her second cathedral, and even more exciting to see her reaction to it. And I’d be lying if I didn’t admit, it was a little funny seeing her trying to scale the spiral stair case of one of the towers of the Dom. Carlz made a great effort getting to the landing on which the bells were situated, but as I said, it wasn’t without the effort; the spiral staircase was dizzying and seemed never ending! After calming her down on the landing and trying to convince her that she should still think about going to the top of the tower, the giant bells rang - with no warning, right next to us! That was the sign, she would not be climbing to the top!

I decided to brave the rest of the stairs on my own, and go to the top of the tower for the 360 views of Cologne. The remainder of the spiral stair case was short and sweet, but it was the steel stairs, in their steel cage, that felt like it was rattling in the wind, in the semi open tower that really made me… shit dacks. As I held on to the railing of the stairs with one hand, and held onto my beanie (to make sure it didn’t fly off in the wind) with the other, I was talking myself out of it and into turning around in my head, when my mouth started uttering the words ‘it’s okay, you can do it, come on, come on, come on’. 

And so I did! And the views of the city and the rest of the cathedral (cause it’s so darn big) were breathtaking. Mostly cause it was so blustry up there! But the views were actually pretty amazing! 

But as I said, the Dom was not the only thing worth seeing or doing in Cologne. The shopping was fantastic (anyone for three H&M’s within 100 metres of each other) and we had a fabulous night out, enjoying all night ‘Happy Hour’ and dancing up a storm to the likes of the Backstreet Boys, in the lively student district. And I’d do it all again!

 

1. Last glimpse of Christmas

2. The Cathedral!

5. That steel staircase

6. Looking up the tower

7. views over Cologne

11. ‘could you please take a picture for me?’

13. The ‘Confetti’ window inside the Cathedral

Enter Galactic

So, after just under two weeks of returning home, I’ve find myself securing a contract position at a company I used to work for in 08/09. Whilst it’s only up until the end of June, I’m feeling pretty relieved to be returning to the workforce, and I think returning at this capacity will be the perfect way to ease back into it. I’m also feeling like this happened for a reason - Ahem, ref: ‘thank you for your application however, you were unsuccessful’, from Flight Centre. If traveling abroad for a year can’t secure you a job there, f’d if I know what does! Probably a TER score; what would my teachers say to me now?!! Haha, ah well, I think I could’ve done a great job, but your loss, take your measly minimum wage salary and..! Wait I should not spoil this post with such undignified behaviour!  

The point is after purchasing the Jeffrey Campbell 99 Zip wedge in the ‘other’ Cosmic print, I’ve now decided to congratulate myself by finally purchasing the show stopping Lita’s in the original Cosmic print. And I qualified for FREE Fed-ex international EXPRESS shipping! Which means I should see these puppies in 1-4 business days (apparently). Looking forward to it! 

You (so probably one or two of you) can also look forward to seeing some more of my ‘European Encore’ photos and other bits and bobs about what I’m doing to keep myself sane after our amazing trip!