Cheers London!

Every time I've visited London, it never seems to disappoint. This past weekend was the best weather we could have had-sunny and 70, no rain! Definitely a nice surprise. We arrived late Friday night, but just in time to snap a few magical pictures at platform 9 3/4. After crashing at our hostel (no comment on this if you know what I mean), we walked around Hyde Park before our walking tour in Covent Garden. All of the parks in Europe so far make me realize how much I will miss them once I go back to Cincinnati. After walking around the park we were a little ambitious and decided to walk to our walking tour...so a little over an hour later we finally made it. London as well as a few other cities have free walking tours, and I was pleasantly surprised by our tour. Our guide had just completed his masters in British history, so we were able to have a professional and informative tour that took us to all of the main sites: Trafalgar Square, Westminster, St. James Palace, Buckingham Palace, St. James Park, and Parliament. Not too shabby, eh? That night we got to experience a different side of London on our pub crawl, but Soho at night was quite a fun time.

Another one of my favorite things when it comes to exploring a new city is to have a relaxing, less touristy day where you can see what actually living in the city would be like. So, we decided to walk to Notting Hill (okay, maybe I did just want to go here because of Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts) and go to Portobello Market. Walking around Notting Hill on a quiet Sunday afternoon was a new side of London I was quite glad to see. After that we went back to people watch in Hyde Park which is always an interesting time. A quick trip to Harrods and a pit stop for Indian food and our Sunday was complete. I couldn't have picked a better mix of things to do while in London.

Looking ahead to this weekend, it's finally SPRING BREAK! At Vesalius we get 2 weeks off for break, so I have some crazy adventures coming up. Here's the order: 4 days in Paris, 3 days in Marseille, 6 days in Morocco, and 3 days in Copenhagen. I am beyond excited for this adventure, especially Morocco. Packing for all of these places was not easy, but I just cannot believe I get to see all of these cities in the next 2 weeks. So with that said, it will be a little while until my next post, but I'll be back soon enough. Au revoir!

xx 

Kate

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Ghent

I'm back! Sorry for the gap between posts, but with traveling on weekends plus school, it's been hectic. This is just going to be a quick post about Ghent, one of the most underrated cities in Belgium. I know I say that every city I visit is my new favorite, but I promise that Ghent has been my favorite Belgian city so far other than Brussels! In my opinion, Ghent has the canals and charm of Bruges with the fashion and size of Antwerp. While we were there, we took a walking tour of the city in the morning which dropped us off conveniently next to a market with different food stands for lunch. Of course we were adventurous and tried a Dutch dessert called pofferjes-basically tiny balls of dough covered in butter and sugar. Definitely part of a balanced diet, right? After our lunch break we headed to the museum of textiles and industry followed by a boat tour on the canal. Luckily train tickets in Belgium allow you to return whenever you would like the day you purchase it, so we decided to stay a bit later and see Ghent at night. Quite a lovely day trip! So glad I got to experience this hidden gem.

xoxo 

Kate