exploring & escapades

Category: Europe

I’ve lived in England for a year now; it took me that long to visit Borough Market, in spite of everyone urging me to check it out sooner. Well, the stars finally aligned, and I met some friends for lunch one afternoon during the week. I totally understand the hype now – I loved it! There were so many options, delicious bits from all over the world. I even found my favorite Greek mountain tea from Crete for sale at one of the stands (!!!). If only it were a little closer to Cambridge. Still, I’ll be back (if only to sample one of those giant meringues in my picture… Note to self: next time, bring extra cash).

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Borough Market

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Sep 22
England in the summertime is a totally different place, which even the locals know and fully embrace. Before I lived here, I had only ever travelled to Europe in the wintertime, and I never thought much of it – it was more affordable. But now that I’ve had the chance to spend bits of summer here, it’s as if I have made a trip to an entirely new place. It’s something to be experienced. Picnic blankets and warm-weather bike rides, sweating from the sun on your skin, not from the three coats you’re wearing. Punt rides where the prosecco is truly refreshing. The streets are calmer, the students, gone. I’m happy that I’ve been able to be here to feel it, this brief flash of light.

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Cambs Summer

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Sep 20
Brighton was so *interesting.* I had been pre-warned about it’s rocky beaches and crowded pier – by no means was I expecting the natural beauty of Cape Cod. And even still, it was unexpected in a fascinating way. Just the swarms of people, everywhere – literally. The city overflows, it spills entirely over the streets and to the ocean. The buzz is pervasive. One could easily forget it wasn’t all natural to the land. And the color! The carnival! The fireworks! It was a lot; larger than life. A city that wants to be a beach, and a beach that wants to be a city.

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Brighton

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Sep 15
Is this place even real? Even now, looking at the pictures, I feel as if I’m remembering some sort of dream.

The Calanques are outside of Marseille. A French friend told me about them originally. I don’t know if I would have found them otherwise. It was about an hour drive for us from where we were staying. Then, a 40 minute hike, a rocky descent, barely marked trails. And suddenly, it opened up. THAT view.

More rocky descent. A secret beach. We hid our stuff in the cliff-face. Swam out into the Mediterranean Sea, to the rock island. Fell asleep in the sun.

Maybe it was a dream. If it was, it was the best dream ever.

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Calanque de Sugiton

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Jun 28
Bonjour. Arles is most famous for being the site of some of Van Gogh’s most famous works (this street & yellow cafe, for example). To me, it will always be most famous for the gigantic lavender-rose-violet icecream I had.

Here, removed from tourism and my English-speaking safety-net, I felt truly French.

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Arles

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Jun 23
This little hidden, ancient city is straight out of a fairy-tale – castle and all! I flew into Marseille to spend a few days relaxing and “being French,” as I like to call it. Les Baux-de-Provence was our first stop. Tucked away in the mountains. Winding streets. The “glace” stand. The wine and the lavender. Yet another magical place that left me wondering if anything in my life was actually real.

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Les Baux-de-Provence

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Jun 20