Glimpses of Bruges

And here I was thinking all Muppets were on crack.

Doggie! Waiting outside the supermarket which, along with every other of its kind, was closed on Sundays. This made for some very strange eats, including a packet of instant sugary oatmeal... dry. Mmm, fibrelicious.

View looking out from the entrance to the Gruuthuse Museum. What is it with male builders and towers?

Anyone agree with me that the way this sword crosses over to touch the right man's foot, combined with the nearness of the men's hands on the handle, means that THEY WERE LOVERS?

At least they're honest.

For my vegan and vegetarian readers. Well, it's not like it's being divided into beef cuts, right?

Really for my vegan and vegetarian readers this time. Also known as “I eat 200g of what seems to be pure salt”.

Beautiful Bruges.

Foreboding Bruges. The Bruges where people are still allowed to smoke inside. (That was a surprise.)

Oh holy bucket, stop the presses. I just realised that the animal in the fourth last picture HAS HORNS AND AN UDDER. I think Belgian bovines are hermaphrodites.

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Glimpses of Berlin, Part Two

The Holocaust Memorial, marking the 6 million lives lost. It’s a simple design and concept but, to me, truly moving. (I can’t say the same went for the three separate groups of teenagers who were laughing, shrieking, and jumping out at each other as they ran around this place. I was absolutely flabbergasted and wished I had an old-lady walking stick with which to clobber them all.)

Something about these hardened trails of ice disappearing between monuments seemed a bit like nature’s way of memorialising. Maybe that’s me being silly, but it’s what I felt, and this blog’s about honesty, right? (Chocolate, travel, and honesty.)

“1938 – 1945 Trains to Life / Trains to Death”, Children’s memorial by Lisa Shaefer

And now for some more light-hearted images…

Eyes on the road!

Drunk bear? Yoga bear? Whatever this fellow was up to, there were a lot of his compatriots all over town (usually right-way up, though).

Pop Tarts, must you follow me everywhere? I do not want you, Sam I Am.

Somehow, these don’t look *quite* like the macarons I’ve seen lauded all over the Internet and blog world... I shall endeavour to do proper macaron research in Paris (see below) and report back.

And now, a word from your not-so-stellar traveller: Remember to book a seat on the Thalys earlier than the day before. I didn’t realise how quickly they book up, and am now going to be spending all day (and possibly night) tomorrow changing trains constantly just to get Paris. But, as some wonderful worldly-travellers have comforted me by saying – I’ll get there eventually. Sigh.

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Glimpses of Berlin, Part One

One of the sights I most enjoyed in Berlin, and which I cannot recommend highly enough, is the East Side Gallery. It’s a 1.3km long section of the Berlin Wall which, on its east side (makes sense, no?), is covered in paintings by around 100 artists from all over the world. It is described as a “memorial for freedom”, and here are just a few of the paintings that I found striking.

And now, to more general glimpses…

It appears the Germans like their handy meal helpers too. Shh... don't tell the Omas!

Let's Go Fly A Kite, and Send It Soaring! (With the Fernsehturm at Alexanderplatz in the background.)

Pomegranate Wish Tree at the Jüdisches Museum.

When you enter the permanent exhibition area at the Jüdisches Museum, you’re offered a pomegranate-shaped card upon which you can write a wish and then hang it on the above-pictured tree. I loved the myriad different languages present all over the tree, but of course only understood the English ones.

The card that stood out to me the most was “I wish to love her forever”. As such romance-charged wishes tend to face the other way around (“I wish s/he’d love me”), this seemed, to me, strangely heartbreaking and poignant. At the same time, though, I found it a little frustrating. You want to love her? Then love her! Cripes!

The Brandenburg Gate

And a CHOCOLATE BRANDENBURG GATE. Oh yes. You are awesome, Fassbender & Rausch at the Gendarmenmarkt.

Also, I just ate half a jar of peanut butter with a spoon, and now feel both strangely lethargic and energised. ‘Tis an odd sensation…

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Glimpses of Munich

Scary gargoyles attached to the Neues Rathaus at the Marienplatz. According to Harriet, the effervescent New Zealander who led my Munich City Tour, the Glockenspiel at the Marienplatz is regularly voted one of the most overrated sights in all of Europe. I can’t imagine why; it’s so dreadfully exciting when the two figures on horseback pass each other by and one leans back to signify his defeat in the jousting battle.

And lo! A beam of sunlight fell upon my upturned face and kookaburras were laughing and I was home. Or, you know, not.

Now this is what I call a victory pose. (Shoulders back! Chest out! And swivel those hips!) I also like how his lady seems to be a little bored with his self-importance. This is at the Feldherrnhalle, by the way.

I have never seen anything like these glazed meat snacks before in my life. Am I right in thinking they are 70s-ish? So tremendously unappealing to me, but most of the trays were half-empty, so someone must like them! At the Alois Dallmayr.

At least the same counter was selling slices of cake and crème caramel. Oh wait, no, sorry, these are meat paste products too. Fiddlesticks.

Das Neues Rathaus again, with a rather more modern Vodafone store to our left.

My saving comestible grace in Munich was rye bread, as it was one of the only things I could taste. Sadly the peanut butter was beyond the reach of my tastebuds, but I do like my classy mc-classter use of my crossword book as a plate. I am so smart. I am so smart. S-M-R-T.

Don’t judge me. I just wanted to taste something. This was a spectacular fail, though, as aside from the sourness of rye bread the only thing I could taste was sugar. So eating this was like eating mushy candied vegetables, but in a really bad way. So I gave up. I must say, though, eating an entire packet of sauerkraut a few days later was fantabulous. Glorious vinegar! Now I remember why I used to sip glasses of you as a child!

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Glimpses of Liverpool, and a Story with Advice

Hello there! I have been having (what we call back in the home country) a time of it. These photos are from Liverpool about two weeks back, where I first thought I felt the inklings of a cold.

It's the Thoroughbred of Sin! (My love to anyone who gets the reference. Also, it's actually Queen Victoria. But that's nowhere near as exciting.)

Just inklings, but nothing to worry about… or so I thought. I pottered along, then made my way to Oxford whereupon the inklings developed into a rather painful throat and a lost voice. Consequently, I had to cancel my planned rendezvous back in London with H.CarryOn and S.FondueLawyer to instead book a B&B in Gatwick, so that I could fly easily and without stress to Munich from Gatwick Airport (yesterday).

As we like to shout at each other in the wayfaringchocolate household whenever the opportunity arises: PUT SOME PANTS ON! (Seriously, it was so cold, and raining. Hardly setting a good example for his grandson, is he? Unless the example is, you know, pneumonia.)

Yesterday came and, still lacking a voice, I made my way to the airport, where my flight was many hours delayed.

Dear England, thank you for your concern for my private rounded resting cushion.

But that wasn’t the issue. Friends, a word of advice about air travel when you have a cold: don’t do it. Just don’t. Ears hurt lots and lotsy on the descent. However, I was glad that this pain lasted only half an hour.

Or so I thought. Fool.

Cue getting to the hostel in Munich; cue sudden loss of hearing; cue feelings of head-in-vice and drills-in-ears and mind-in-inwards-melting. Not. Fun.

Oh my, this actually expresses the way I felt last night. Art, you complete me. (From the Icons in Transformation exhibition at the Liverpool Cathedral.)

I did learn one valuable thing though: I have been fearing lately that my attention span is becoming speck-like (not the bacon kind), but I’m pleased to announce that I managed to spend four hours in bed concentrating on every minute sensation in my ear drums. Now that’s fun!

I did manage four hours of sleep, and quite enjoyed my subsequent (to)day in Munich (details to come).

Until the worst thing of all happened:

I lost my sense of taste.

And discovered this upon getting myself pleasantly settled down to try one of my gladdifying new chocolates from a little German deli.

Readers, it’s been (as we say in the home country) tough. But we shall endure.

And now I only have the memory of your flavour, supermarket mass-produced banoffee pie.

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Glimpses of London, Part Two

I have just realised that none of these photos are demonstratively of London, and are also not “real” tourist shots in any way. Whoops. I could try to throw in a photo of Big Ben… but I’m working between computers and, in all honesty, don’t have the energy to turn on my own laptop, select a photo, transfer it via USB to my friend’s computer, and update this post. Blame the current evil cold attacking my immune system. And then close your eyes and imagine a photo of Big Ben.

The most organised spice cabinet I've ever seen. (And yes, that's a post-it saying "spices". Our absent host in London put post-its on everything. Finding cups has never been easier!)

There's a "right" choice here?

I can deal with toy groceries (particularly if they're organic)...

and, as I'm heading to Paris soon, a fake baguette set is tolerable...

but I draw the line at playing at ironing and boiling a kettle.

This comes out to about $AU8 for a packet of mint slices. Extortion! Shame on you, Selfridges.

Oh, what the hey - I lied.

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Glimpses of London, Part One

Pretty much the scariest-looking bride I've ever seen. Don't her eyes just scream "I got pregnant to make this wedding happen and yes, my bridesmaids are all wearing mustard-yellow spandex"?

Mmm, plane nutrients... Could have been worse, but then again, why do airflight folk insist on serving bread rolls half frozen? Not noms. Not.

Soon you’ll zoom all around the room / All it takes is faith and trust / But the thing that’s a positive must / Is a little bit of pixie dust…

To me, these clouds make the London Eye look somewhat like The Ferris Wheel of Doom. As in, once you get on, you never get off, or something along those lines.

It's HCarryOn! Wave! Hi! Also, those hearts in the window are solid chocolate, and enormous. What's more surprising, though, is that I didn't buy a single thing from Hotel Chocolat. O-mazing!

No, I will not shake your cake. How rude.

Hannah is Awesome #49: Okay, so there are three pictures, and three stated categories, right? I'm occasionally logical, so my head matched the pictures to the labels in order, from left to right. It's not entirely ridiculous, then, is it, that I turned to HCarryOn and said "England depicts pregnant women weirdly; it's like they have x-ray babies in their chests, not their wombs"..?

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Glimpses of Coral Springs

My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die. (Because I'm sure he never gets tired of being associated with that line.)

I feel a premonition coming on. We must wait and see what London had in store for me...

Is an Hannah in the hand worth two in the bush?

You're offering me whole wheat bread and/or real cocoa? My my my! I shall return my broccoli to the shelf, as I clearly have all the nutrients I need right here.

Duck! Duck-turkey crossbreed, even, as this fellow seems to be equipped with the red wattle that turkeys have. (Goes equally well with cranberry sauce and an a l'orange glaze... I jest, beloved vegetarian and vegan friends!)

And the shiniest pastries I ever did see.

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Glimpses of Charlottesville

You know you're in Sorority Girl Central when you find a bright pink car with Tinkerbell seat covers and a license plate reading "MYBAYB" outside your apartment. But it gets better...

Yes, the paint sparkles. SPARKLES. I didn't even know this was possible. I also wish I could put up the photo showing my friend's expression upon seeing this, but she'd probably hunt me down and cut me.

What's the bet that the pink car owner is also the type of person to buy aerosol pancake batter instead of, you know, arduously stirring together flour, milk, sugar, and an egg?

Giant mountain of ice in the Barracks Shopping Center parking lot, leftover from the pre-Christmas snowstorm. Charlottesville is looking at its third snowstorm since then this week - poor folks!

Please forgive me while I embrace my inner girly-girl. Seriously, people, the last time I wore a dress was my birthday - last May. I'm hoping this consitutes an acceptable follow-up.

Well, that doesn't leave many options with which to pay, does it?

Also, so that you all know that I’m still me and not just some girl prone to posting photos of herself in dressing rooms, here’s a story from my travels:

In Asheville, after going to the grocery store, I looked at my receipt and read the part where it gives the name of the person who served you.

Me in my head: Uscan? That’s an interesting name. I wonder what the origin is? And would it be pronounced “Oohs-can” or “Uhs-can”? Intriguing.

The next day, I bought more food (I like food). Again, I looked at my receipt.

Me in my head: Served by Uscan again! Fancy that! Uscan must be the store manager, though, as each time I’ve gone to that place I’ve used the self-check out.

*pause*

Me in my head: Oh. Wait. Uscan. U-scan. You-scan.

*sigh*

Yep. I’m awesome.

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Glimpses of Shilla Bakery, Fairfax

Jumping back in time to mid-January, L.FoodieStarbright, L.MiteMaster and I followed up our bibimbap and Korean grocery store explorations with a trip to Fairfax’s Shilla Bakery. As I’m a little bit pressed for time at the moment (hangin’ out with the band and actors by the hotel pool until the early hours of this morning made for a slightly later morning than usual, and I’ve got places to go, musical theatre groupie things to do!), I shall leave you with the following photos…

Reminded me of being back in Japan...

Mmm... algrey... But legitimately mmm, chestnut!

An eating establishment isn't an eating establishment without at least one spelling mistake.

"Really"? I should "Try It"?

Om nom nom. This was called a Chocolate Parfait, if anyone wants to go track it down.

Cake base, whipped cream, jelly centre, chocolate mousse, chocolate ganache, berries...

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