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Europe Trip!
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  • Europe Trip!
    1

    Exploring Antwerp again!

    6 февраля 2024 г., Бельгия ⋅ 🌬 11 °C

    After a much needed rest, we decided today was another day for exploring! First stop was obviously Chocolate Nation. And a chocolate nation it was. I have never been to a place with that much chocolate and happiness ever. It was a museum which described how chocolate was made, why Belgian chocolate is superior, who the famous chocolatiers are etc... We got to try so so many chocolates which I would die to do again. it was SO GOOD and SO DELICIOUS. Afterwards, we hopped up and took a train to Groenplaats (a pretty shnazzy square) the reason we went there was to go see Brabo, a big famous statue in the middle of the square. There’s a whole bunch of history around him and why he’s throwing a dude’s hand, but that’s for your own research. After chilling with him for a bit, we couldn’t help but notice the huge cathedral there as well! Very big, very cool. We then went to a nice little Italian place for lunch, where my two uncles (Janneman and Jonathan) joined us! It was the first time seeing Janneman so that was nice! After some catching up Jonathan decided to be the most qualified tour guide ever and show us around the place. He took us to a place called Vleeshuis which directly translates to meat house. Where back in the day…they sold meat. Anyway after that thrilling experience we went to the MAS - a big museum with nice views. We went all the way to the top before heading to Janneman’s cafe! Being the nephew of the guy who owns the cafe means free drinks woo! We skipped out on dinner because we were still way too full from lunch oops. Opa Jan and Ina joined us there for a bit before we all rode the bike home. Traffic here is bonkers but we made it! ZzzzzЧитать далее

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  • Europe Trip!

    Just a liiittle bit more Antwerp

    7 февраля 2024 г., Бельгия ⋅ ☁️ 5 °C

    Today was basically our last day in Belgium nooo :(( we spent the morning going shopping for ingredients to make Sarah and I’s soup! (Well, more of a chowder but shh) travel note: finding chicken stock in Belgium is particularly challenging. Anyway we got back and started cooking up a storm. I showed Ina just how extraordinary I am at peeling potatoes. Some chopping, peeling, and stirring later, it was lunch time! It was so good having everyone there at the table :)) People went for seconds which means it wasn’t inedible yay! Then we went back to the Meir where we had some last minute obligatory waffles and did some shopping. I got my samson melk and prince mini stars - both of which are what I lived on years ago. A smidge more shopping later and we went back home for the last supper. We had stroofvlees and fritjes (meat and chips) which is just what we needed to wrap things up. We hung out with Opa Jan for a while after dinner to say goodbye for the last time before we went to England :(( way too many chocolates later and we were back home and zzzzЧитать далее

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  • Europe Trip!

    Bye Belgium :( Hello London!

    8 февраля 2024 г., Англия ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    Time to go! We got up super early to get to Antwerp international airport which is by FAR the smallest airport I’ve ever been to. Like even Hobart airport is significantly bigger! We waited around for a while before hopping on our 1 hour flight to London! It was a bit of a bumpy ride with some not-so-good weather but all good we made it safely into London city airport! There is no better feeling than seeing your bag come off the carousel first. We tried our best to figure out the whole London train thing with zones and lines and districts blah blah blah, but we somehow managed to get to Paddington Station! We had to store our luggage somewhere before we could check in to our air bnb so we found a place nearby and headed for a walk through Norfolk square gardens to Hyde Park. Side note: London weather stereotypes could not be more true. Super gloomy and rainy but ah wellll. We headed back to the storage place and back to Paddington station to catch a train to our air bnb! When we got there we crashed before heading to West End for our first show, the Lion King!! Man we were so excited. We caught a train to the Lyceum Theatre and wowee that was awesome. The stage was absolutely beautiful and I have no idea how they managed to make it feel so so real. I was so tired I was dozing off in the second act, not because the show was bad! Just because big big day hehe. After the show we headed back home on a bus and straight away zzzzЧитать далее

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  • Europe Trip!
    111

    Full day in London!

    9 февраля 2024 г., Англия ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    Full London day woooo! Cloudy with a chance of even more clouds. But that didn’t stop us! We went to the Camden markets and strolled around there which felt like we could go on and on forever. I bought some socks! But those markets had absolutely everything you could dream of, including a burger the size of your head. No seriously we saw these people get a burger and it was. Ginormous. Anyway fun little highlight. Then we trained to Kings Cross Station where the plan WAS to go see the 9 & 3/4 shop but it was being renovated :(( so the next closest thing to witches hats were fluffy hat guards at at Buckingham Palace! Not really too much to say. It was a cool building with a cool statue and fluffy hat guards. But then we made our way over to Westminster Abbey and Big Ben - both of which definitely lived up to their name! On the way there we passed through St James’s park which meant seeing pelicans and feeding squirrels! Big highlight for sure. We contemplated going on the London Eve but London weather was being London weather so we decided not to. We went to Covent Gardens for a big shop in the huge mall, we also saw some super cool opera and a string quintet gigging! Man that was cool. Then it was tiiiiime! Time for Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club!…almost. We stopped off at a few bookshops on our way there just because we had some spare time. After a good read we went to go see Philip Lassiter and his funk band and wowzers that was something I’m never gonna forget. Best jazz club I’ve ever seen and out of this world playing. I even got a photo with the guy! We went to his 1st of 2 sets so we had time to go to a local pub afterwards. These English pubs sure know what they’re doing. We headed home after and we both crashed zzzzЧитать далее

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  • Europe Trip!
    11

    More London!

    10 февраля 2024 г., Англия ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    Another exciting day today! Today was music shop day wooooo! We woke up and headed straight towards heaven. Otherwise known as Phil Parker LTD. We stopped on the way for some brekkie and turns out this one cafe sells Vegemite! Time for a taste of home. We walked a little bit more and there we were! I quite literally spent hours in that shop. I don’t know exactly how many trumpets and mouthpieces I tried out but it was more than I care to admit. (Warning: I’m about to go full trumpet nerd) I came in looking to try a whole bunch of mouthpieces made by a specific brand which isn’t sold in Australia, and turns out they had one of that brand’s trumpets as well! The brand - Lotus - is super famous and I tried every single mouthpiece they had before settling down on one. Genuinely one of the hardest choices ever. I probably would’ve died if I walked out of that shop if I didn’t end up buying something. Anyway something like 4 hours and £200 later and we were off! Off to go see the Tower of London. We only stayed for a bit before going back to the air bnb to chill before seeing Wicked! A little snooze and then it was time to go to the Apollo Victoria Theatre. We got dinner nearby at this yummy Pakistani restaurant before going inside the theatre and WOW this was a very very shnazzy theatre and the show was well…wicked! Vocals: on point. Acting: on point. Music: on point but a smidge too soft. Still a VERY good show. One bus back to air bnb and zzzzЧитать далее

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  • Europe Trip!
    1

    Last day doing stuff in London

    11 февраля 2024 г., Англия ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

    Today was basically our last day for the entire trip! :(( but that’s okay because we started off the day with something fantastic: Lord’s Cricket Ground! We were running a little late so we took an Uber there. When we got there we entered the gate and went straight into a museum. It was so so cool to see all of these legendary players’ gear and stories, and to learn a whole bunch! Now I know why the ashes are actually called the ashes. After a few more people from our tour group rocked up, our tour guide introduced himself. When I tell you that he was the most perfect cricket fanatic, kindhearted, British gentleman ever, please believe me because he really was all of those things. He knew absolutely EVERYTHING. He showed us all around the stadium, whilst telling us all about the rich history of the grounds. And to make it even better London weather decided to switch things up a bit and show some sun! Best. Tour. Ever. We’d also booked in a ‘cream tea’ (basically scones and drinks) at Lord’s tavern which was AMAZING and made me feel the most British ever. Then we strolled down to Abbey Road Studios and the crosswalk. Honestly, the crosswalk is very hard to distinguish. Like the only reason we knew it was THE crosswalk is because it was pretty crowded. Also poor traffic, constantly stopping for people to take photos haha. Then we decided to go to 221 B Baker Street - where apparently Sherlock Holmes lives. I don’t know anything about Sherlock so I was kinda just following Sarah but hey! There was a cool house with a cool little souvenir shop with a bunch of Sherlock stuff so I guess we were in the right place. Then it was time for me to be introduced to Harrods. I also had no idea what this magical place was at first but wowee that is a place and a half. With everything being costing an arm and a leg. Then to kill time we checked out both Leicester Square and Trafalgar Square, both of which were insanely busy. There were a whole bunch of Chinese New Year celebrations happening which were pretty cool. Then it was time for our final show on West End - Frozen! Now I’m not much of a big Frozen fan but oh. My. Goodness this show blows Wicked and Lion King out of the park. It was genuinely perfect. Like it was the most specky, the most entertaining, most energetic show ever. And the BAND ahh it was the perfect level and genuinely made me listen to the frozen soundtrack. So so good. It’s gonna be hard to let it go. Pun absolutely intended. Then for our last dinner in London we decided to be fancy by going to…another pub. Totally worth it. Some munching and crunching later, we took a bus back to the air bnb and zzzzzЧитать далее

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    Окончание поездки
    17 февраля 2024 г.