Pascuals in Europe Pt. II

One of the major disadvantages of living abroad is that you see your family on average once per year, depending on how far away you are from them. I've accepted and lived with this fact for a few years now, but saying goodbye after spending time together has not gotten easier. It never does. Who likes goodbyes, anyway?! I hate 'em. But so ist das Leben.

I'm thankful and blessed to be able to have spent my summer hols with my family in Europe just this past month. In 2012, we visited Rome and Paris together. This year, on Mama Pascual's request, we visited London, Amsterdam, BS and Berlin. The obvious highlight for me was showing my family the city where I live, Braunschweig aka BS, and Germany in general. After all, I've come to call Germany home. Though it felt absolutely surreal while my family was in town, I loved every minute of it. Now whenever I talk about my life, they'll actually be able to picture it, which makes me genuinely happy beyond words.

Manchester 2014

I'd been to England once before. Back in 2010, I spent eight hours frantically running around London on a stopover flying home to Toronto from Mumbai. This time around, with the lovely Ali Wilson as hostess, I had my first glimpse of a "big" city in England. And what I really enjoyed the most was experiencing the city from less of a tourist's point of view. After all, who knows where I'll end up in 2 years? (sly face)



The fun-filled weekend began when Ali made us bacon, egg and cheese sandwiches for brekky on Saturday morning. But before that we did a big grocery shop at Tesco which was pretty much the English version of Germany's real and Canada's Real Canadian Superstore. I could've stayed in that supermarket for hours gawking at all the goods we can't get in Germany, *sigh. Oh, the endless array of cider, cheddar, peanut butter and biscuits to choose from! Note to self: Find out what Banoffee Cake is.



What patriotism!! ^^

The Alps / Munich 2014

5 days.
Braunschweig --> Munich.
Crashed at a fellow Canadian's place (the hospitable Kelsey Kappel).
Visited my first concentration camp in Germany (Dachau).
Munich --> Füssen --> Hopfen-Am-See
Stayed in a lovely apartment overlooking a lake for 3 days.
Went on nearby day-trips (i.e. Neuschwanstein bka the 'Disney Castle').
Took a cable car up to Zugspitze (the highest point in Germany).
Remained speechless for a few hours.
Ate traditional Bavarian food that wasn't über salzig!
Enjoyed daily highs of 20 Degrees.
Spotted onion-topped churches.
Fell in love with the Bavarian countryside.
Rushed back to Braun Town.
Urlaub zu Ende.

Kiel 2014

It's true what they say: Kiel isn't the most beautiful city you'll ever see. Nevertheless I had a wicked time there! I spent a weekend in Kiel last month and had a grand ol' time biking up the Kieler Fjord and along the North Sea-Baltic Sea Canal. 43km round-trip ya'll! And it was a windyass day too!! 'Course I also had to eat as the Kieler do and stuff my face with seafood and Fisch im Brötchen. Without a doubt do I plan to visit Kiel again during Kieler Woche this summer.

Dresden 2014

It's been a minute, ya'll. Time has been flyyyyying by. Since I last wrote, I've been working like crazy and to keep sane, I've needed to make weekend getaways here and there. Hence, not having enough time to write bloggie posts. I spent a very cold weekend in Dresden last month, and it was zooper! Among my favourite sights: the oldest porcelain artwork in the world (a 102m long yellow mural called Fürstenweg), as well as Kunsthof in Dresden Neustadt (an artsy courtyard that has FUN written all over it).

And this weekend I'm off to Kiel. Helloooooo, Baltic Sea! Next month I'm off to Leipzig, juhu! It's true that I've come to live for the weekends but what can you do. It won't be forever. Let's just say big things are about to happen. Plans are being concocted as we speak! It's about cot damn time I started focusing even more on what I need to do to pursue the career I really want to pursue. As sissy put it, #upandup!

Munich 2013

19th Oct 2013 // Just a day-long traipse around München with the ladies... much love to June for hostin'!

Belgium 2013

Antwerp > the Dutch & Belgian coast (Breskens > Oostende) > Bruges > Ghent > Ypres > back to DE

Toronto 2013

It took forever and a day, but here it finally is. There were just so many pictures to sift through! While sifting, I realized most of the pics I took were of food (go figure). How could I not take advantage of having every type of food in the world at my fingertips?! #noexaggeration I made the bf try all your typical Canadian stuff like nanaimo bars, poutine, peameal bacon sandwiches as well as butter tarts. None of them really blew him away. Dry. Not surprisingly, however, his fave food turned out to be roti!

Family Reunion in... EUROPA!

'Twas a crazy family reunion, indeed! We all met up in Rome, stayed there for a few days, then Ryan-aired to Paris for another few days together. Because I had already been to Rome and Paris before, it wasn't necessary for me to see certain sights again (e.g. the Colosseum, the Vatican, etc). Although back in 2009, I only had time to view the Eiffel Tower from the bottom. This time, we went all the way up to the top! That was my MMM #1. MMM #2: The 'rents frantically searching for filter coffee in a city (or country, for that matter) where espresso bars can be found within 50 metres of each other. Womp!!!

Berlin 2012

The one & only Erika America and her fiancé Mike visited Berlin last week and since I live only two hours away from Berlin, how could I not meet up with them?! Boy, did us 4 have a ball of a good time! Yup, we were a group of 4 because my André surprised us all and showed up unexpectedly on the 2nd day! Best surprise of my life!!!!!!!

We ate at my favourite hummus joint in Prenzlauerberg, hit up the Currywurst Museum, spent a day biking around Potsdam checking out crazy castles... we bar-hopped in the Rosenthaler Platz area and ate Turkish gozleme at the Maybachufer Markt... and when the engaged kids & André had to leave, I spent an extra two days in Berlin exploring Tiergarten (where I randomly stumbled upon an annual gay festival) and the Kreuzberg 'hood by bike. I also embarked on my quest to find an affordable but decent hairdresser (successful) as well as a cheap sushi joint (semi-successful). Ich habe viel Spaß gehabt!

I received the biggest surprise of my life earlier this month when we hopped in a car and André drove us straight to Amsterdam! Ill-prepared but super stoked, we spent 3 glorious days in the city and biked our arses around for 2 of them... hittin' up Vodelpark, food/flea markets, little cheese shops, the Anne Frank Museum, the Red Light District, mysterious coffee shops (bahaha)... enjoying every minute of exploring through all the narrow cobblestone streets in the “bike capital of the world!“ It's funky, it's a mixed bag of people, it has a liberal kinda laid-back ‘tude... I've straight–up fallen in ♥ with Amsterdam.