Bittersweet

Nearly 5 months into our trip and we still haven't found a cafe or restaurant that we love quite as much as Bittersweet in Bruges. Jon says its the best hot chocolate he's ever had and while the coffee wasn't to my liking (which is not uncommon here) the food was excellent & the cafe itself was pretty & cosy. 





The hot chocolate was served in a special glass and you 'put together' the hot chocolate yourself. The glass was filled with steamed milk & the chocolate was served as a solid chocolate flower that you dropped into the glass & stirred while it melted. There was dark, milk or white chocolate to choose from. Such a unusual way to serve hot chocolate and apparently the most delicious!


(notice the Rooibos tea - it's sold at so many cafes, which is wonderful!)

Aeroplane Bar...

Located in Olomouc, Czech Republic, this soviet aeroplane has been converted into a bar. Its basically parked on the side of the road just near the supermarket. I'm still not sure whether it was unfortunate or not that we didn't check it out while we were there. 

So I lost the thingy that gets the photos onto the IPad...

Never fear - we will buy another one as soon as we can find one (in about a week at the latest) but meanwhile, I'll keep posting some pics from the last 4+ months

Missing these rugrats lately...





Love you guys xxx

Favourite Photo Series: St Stephen's Cathedral - Vienna, Austria

Favourite Photo Series: The hills of Luxembourg

Favourite Photo Series: St. Moritz Cathedral - Olomouc, Czech Republic

Double-helix staircase

Inspiring Travels Part 3

Ok so perhaps this would be better classified as an inspiring 'adventure' rather than travel, but any journey has similar elements (his would be of the more extreme kind) and without doubt this journey is inspiring. It's all about following your dream. Big or small.

Ed Stafford was the first man to walk the length of the Amazon. He completed his journey in August 2010. It took him two and a half YEARS. Wow. You can watch the documentary of his journey (part one) here and (part two) here, and check out his blog here.

Berlin

Sometimes, moving from place to place so often, I can forget to post about certain places we've been. Berlin was one of those places. Jon and I both loved all of Germany, but Berlin was especially fascinating. I kept thinking to myself that when Mum was backpacking through there, the Wall was still up & what a different experience she would have had to us. Of course the wall & the division of the city is now history, but there are still reminders that it existed...


East Berlin 'Ampelmännchen' traffic lights


Border guard watchtower


Parts of the wall are still standing



Holocaust memorial


One ofBerlin's 'ghost stations'


The 'death zone' between East & West Berlin

...and some artwork on the Wall...

Best of the Best - Part 1

3 months in, we decided to reflect back on our favourite things (yes it has been 4 months, but we did this at Dublin airport about a month ago, so better late than never I guess)

BEST FOOD - Cass: Deer goulash, Slovakia & Perogi in Poland. Jon: 'so many' food at Belfast & Borough markets & Goulash Man, Slovakia.

BEST ATTRACTION - Cass: undecided. Jon: Dachau Concentration Camp & Guinness brewery.

BEST HOSTEL - Cass & Jon: Global Village, Belfast. Closely followed by Poets Corner in Olomouc & Ginger Monkey in Zdiar.

BEST DRINK - Cass: Mulled wine in Ireland & 'monk's beer'in Prague. Jon: Bittersweet hot chocolate in Bruges & Guinness in Dublin.

BEST CITY - Cass: Bruges & Munich. Jon: Munich & Belfast.

BEST CAFE/EATERY - Cass & Jon: Bittersweet in Bruges.

BEST ACTIVITY - Cass: Munich & Berlin walking tours. Jon: PUB in Prague.

I think I'm in a Harry Potter movie?

Well Edinburgh turned out to be my favourite city so far. Walking through the streets you felt as though you had stepped back a couple of hundred years in time. Little cobbled alleyways linked the larger streets & Edinburgh Castle loomed above. Edinburgh was the 'birthplace' of Harry Potter and I've no doubt that a huge amount of inspiration for places described in the books was drawn from this city - somedays I felt as though I were in Diagon Alley! We even went to a cafe where JK used to write! 



(sorry in advance for all the building photos - couldn't help myself!)
















Did we dare??


Oh yes we did!

Update...

Good news is there will be a few posts over the next few days. Bad news - it took a 12 hour train journey for me to stop being so slack & catch up with blog stuff.
For now, check out what Santa brought me :)



All I can say is - Fizz Wizz!!