#actually working at a flower shop right outside of a cemetery during these days is scarier than any halloween related thing. tough skin and

[lunaticamic]

doing my french homework at work. i’m #practical

[sopafa]

The other side of the immortality P2

WARNING: HEAVY ANGST & MAYOR CHARACTER DEATH

SUMMARY: Douxie sees his friends grow old and die. It's harder than it looks

R18+

It had been 6 months.

Six. Fucking. Months.

It was not enough time to whole process the departure of the trollhunter when Clara went next.

Since the day the Wizard digested the fact that the trollhunter was not around anymore, he purposed himself to spend more time with his beloved ones. So he started to visit Tobias & Darci, Aja & Steve, and Eli & Krel houses. He liked to still talk to them, but if he had to be honest, he liked to spend more time with Claire.

Deep in his heart, he knew that he had always appreciated more Claire, after all, she had been his apprentice, he had reached her how to use and control her magic, and she was as a little sister to him. Even when her complexion was covered with wrinkles, even when her hands shake for the age, and her hair didn't look the same; she was still his little sister. And he loved her.

Douxie liked to spend time with her.

He visited her, and each day he took the time to call her, just to say "good morning" and "how have you been feeling?"

Douxie got a vacation period. It was short. Less than a week actually. But he used that time to go and spend the days on Claire's side. So he made a little backpack and went to visit her. He stayed in her home for 6 days. He took care of her -and Jim's- grandsons while some of their children -that now were adults- thanked him to help them, and visit her.

The Jim memory was still strong living inside the house. A little spot on the living room had some pictures of him, and a couple of flowers and candles were always decorating it. Claire always talked about him, a melancholic tone on her voice, and sometimes a couple of tears rolled through her cheeks.

Douxie had won an important place on the shadow witch's heart. He made her smile.

Like, truly smile.

With his goofy and dumb attitude, he painted a sweet smile on her lips. And each morning, during breakfast, he told her that she looked beautiful, even when she was still in her pajamas, or if she hadn't taken a bath in days, even when she smelled like raisins and cookies because for Douxie's eyes, she actually was still the same Claire.

One day, Enrique Jr. -one of their grandsons- asked him if they could get some ice cream. Douxie, as the best uncle he was, obviously accepted, and took all the children with him. The teenager and the other 5 children went to a little ice cream shop near the house, Hisirdoux does not remember what the kids ordered, but he can't forget the single cup of lemon ice cream that he asked for Claire. She didn't go with them, she was too tired to walk to the shop, but she asked her Teach to bring her something. Douxie knew that lemon ice cream was her favorite. He paid for the desserts before returning with a bunch of happy children.

When he went to Claire to give her the ice cream, she only took two spoonfuls before asking him to save the cup on the fridge for later. Douxie didn't hesitate and did what she asked.

The next day Douxie had to return home. He had work, and a bunch of other stuff on his hands, but at least he had spent a beautiful "week" with Claire.

Two days passed. Tree maybe.

It was a Wednesday. That's the only he can remember.

He woke up early, he went to open the book store, and it was around 7.13 a.m. when a call came to his phone.

"Hisirdoux" It was NotEnrique.

"Oh, hello man." Douxie complain inside his head, that channeling only called him when he needed something, so he started to create a list on his mind of the possible things he could ask him.

"It's Zoe and Archie there?" He looked at the backdoor that connected to his department.

"Yeah, why?"

The tome of NotEnrique changed.

"Its Claire." The smile of his face erase "She is not longer with us"

Silence.

"Douxie? You know what I mean, right?" The voice of NotEnrique started to brek "My sister is gone".

And he was on autopilot again.

He clung to the phone on his hands and walked to his department, he opened the door of his bedroom without caring waking up Zoe, and he kneeled on Archie's bed.

The familiar looked at him.

"Claire passed away". He said, with the voice of NotEnrique sobbing trou the phone speaker.

"Oh, no..." Archie and Zoe shared a look.

He took the same backpack of the trip he had done a week ago and changed the clothes inside. Archie prepared some food for the road, and Zoe took the keys. They were going to Arcadia.

They were going to go see Clair.

The trip was quiet, Hisirdoux put on his headphones and listened to some music the whole way, but again, he couldn't cry.

When they finally arrived they didn't let him see her body.

"They are preparing her for the coffin. The embalmed is a process that can't be stopped". Someone explained him.

He found NotEnrique in minutes.

"How-" Douxie started.

The channeling bit his lips before start "She did not wake up. She passed away sleeping. And she was- she was so peaceful- Her look was-" The wizard nodded.

"When are we going to be able to see her?"

"The wake starts tomorrow, 5 a.m. For now, why don't you come with me to the house? All her grandsons and kids want to see you".

They asked him if he was fine. They asked him so many times.

But in this time, he told the truth.

"I'm not fine. But I do not believe that she is gone" Douxie said. "I know when I figure the new, it's going to hurt. I know it. And I want to cry, because if I let this accumulate, as I did with Jim..."

"Hey" Blinky put a hand on his shoulder. "I know what that feels. But can I tell you something? It is better to broke in here, to have a meltdown in here. Where we -your family- are, so that way we can help you, and be with you. So take your time, but leave us help"

Aaaarghhh nodded, and Douxie felt appreciated for that.

He woke around 3.30 a.m. He took a bath and dresses in the same black suit he used before. They were in the car at 4:30 and whey arrive at the mortuary at 5.

On the day of Claire's wake, it was raining. I huge storm with thunders and lightning received the new day, as a way of the universe to cry about the Witch's death. Douxie believed that it was beautiful, and yet, too out of a movie to be real. Ironic, right?

There was no one inside when they arrived. Obviously, who crazy idiot would be on a mortuary at fucking 5 a.m.?

Well, only two wizards, their cat-dragon-familiar, and two of the passed away's children.

In the beginning, Douxie couldn't get near the coffin. He just, couldn't.

But after a moment, he did.

It was just as NotEnrique had said. She looked so peaceful, and a sweet smile was drawn on her lips. She didn't look dead. She looked asleep.

But even after seeing her, Douxie couldn't digest the news.

The ceremony before the burial was around 1 p.m. By that moment, the rain had stopped and a blue sky shined outside, trolls and humans were inside the church to commemorate her fellow, and Zoe took Douxie's hand when they got in.

The whole ceremony he couldn't lease a single word of that the pastor was saying, he just sank in his thoughts, remembering all their moments together, and their last week...

That's when he broke.

Zoe saw him sank his head between his hands, and start sobbing. Fat tears and laments of sadness escaped through his body. She hugged him during most part of the ceremony.

At least, until the pastor asked to her family to came in front. NotEnrique and Douxie were also asked to join, and put their hands upon the coffin. They prayed some last words, and then Douxie listed it.

No blast or spots of blue magic came. No broken windows this time. Nothing but true sad emotions.

Douxie does not remember what happened next, but Blinky does.

The wizard clung to the wooden box in front of him, and kneel to it as if his feet didn't work anymore.

The ceremony ended and he was still there, clinging to her side, sobbing strong and fast.

But they needed to move the coffin. They needed to translate her to the cemetery. And they couldn't do it if Douxie was still held in it.

It took both Aaarghh force and Blinkus 6 arms to pull him out. Blinky hugged him by the back, to stop him to return running to the coffin, and slowly he seated up on the floor, pulling Douxie with him.

Hisirdoux saw how they slowly took Claire off of the church, he saw it through the whole way, and he screamed between sad sobs, he didn't care about making a scene. He needed to be on her side. He needed to say goodbye.

BUT HE DIDN'T WANTED TO SAY GOODBYE.

When they downed the coffin inside the grave, he left a white flower in it.

They asked to leave a ground fist, but he couldn't do it.

"I will always going to give her flowers, she loved flowers. But I'm not going to put a ground fist, because you're asking me to bury her. And I'm never going to do that".

The worst part was after the funeral when all the kids asked him to make them something to eat. So, he did, he opened the fridge, searched for some frozen meals in the freezer, and when he saw the cup of lemon ice cream, half-eaten, still with the plastic spoon that he had given her.

Since that day, Douxie never ate Lemmon ice cream again.

In memory of C.A. & P.M.  My own Jim and Claire.

[otomeramblings]

Moments when he realizes he loves you: Omi

Pairing: Omi x Reader

Pronouns: written in 2nd person; remains gender neutral

From Omi's general demeanor, I think we can all agree that he's more of a giver than a taker in all of his relationships, so it isn't surprising that such behavior would also be reflected once he is in a romantic relationship. He has a very nurturing nature, so he loves it when you rely on him because it lets him know that you trust him with your troubles. Whenever you go to him when you need help (no matter how trivial the situation might be), his chest puffs out with pride at the fact that you see him as someone dependable. Before you started dating, the first time you confided in him and let yourself cry in front of him it broke his heart in such a way that it made him realize how much he had begun to care for your happiness and well-being.

Since he dropped his old life as the “mad wolf”, Omi has really come to appreciate habits in his everyday life, he likes the security and the simple contentment that come with them. Because of this, he gets great satisfaction from going shopping together with you, grocery shopping in particular. He enjoyed it when he lived at the dorms, when you accompanied him during his trips to the store to get enough supplies to feed over 20 people. But if you were to ask him, your first trip to the store after you had moved in together was the particular instance that came to mind. You had been working around tirelessly and had decided to make a run to the store to get food to prepare your first dinner in your new apartment once the sun had started to set and your stomachs had started rumbling. The store was within walking distance but you didn’t account for the rain that started pouring down when you were halfway there; you had to rush to get there but you couldn’t avoid getting drenched even after Omi had tried to cover you with his jacket. So there you where, deciding if you wanted to be healthy and buy fruit for dessert or if you’d say, fuck it, we should go big and buy cupackes to celebrate. And he couldn’t help the fond smile that adorned his features while looking at you, you with your hair matted and sticking to your face and half drowning in his jacket, because if that moment was (hopefully) was an example of something that he’d get to experience for the rest of his life, then he couldn’t thank his lucky stars enough.

Now, as I said, he’s a very giving person. But that doesn’t mean he’s not thankful when you turn the tables on him.

Omi doesn’t get sick very often, but when he does, it usually leaves him out of commission for a couple of days. He’s the type to say that he’s fine because he doesn’t want anyone to worry about him. That said, he can’t deny that there’s something incredibly endearing about seeing you fussing over him when he gets like this. at the beginning stages of your relationship he used to feel a bit guilty about monopolizing your time and attention, but after you continued to reassure him that you wanted to care for him, he started to see things from a different perspective. Now that he pushes that guilt aside, he can’t deny the warmth that spreads through his chest whenever you bring him food and water and try to help him drink and eat, or when you take his temperature or run your fingers through his hair with touches so gentle that you’d think he was made of delicate glass.

Another thing that makes omi feel as if he were walking on cloud nine is seeing you get along with his family. He remembers one specific occasion when you two had scheduled to have dinner with them and since you were working and he had rehearsal with his troupe, you both had agreed to meet up outside the house. What he didn’t factor in was the fact that rehearsals would end up running late. In the end, you had to meet up with his family without him for an hour and half. He rushed out on his bike as soon as they wrapped things up since he didn’t want to make things uncomfortable for you. But once he arrives, he realizes he didn’t have anything to worry about. You’re finishing setting the table with his father while his younger brothers talked to you excitedly about something. You then reached out to ruffle the hair of his youngest brother and you all stuck out your tongues playfully at each other. He had paused on the doorway and his father was the first to take notice of him and ushered him into the room. Giving him a pat on the back, his father had whispered in his ear “you better not let them slip away, they’re a keeper.” Looking at your bright smile while his brothers dragged you to the main room to show you something, the only thing he could muster up was a soft “I know”

Now listen to me. We all know that Omi has many regrets about his past and that he doesn’t like to talk about it much. After he opened up to you, he’s honestly worried that you would look at him differently; he wouldn’t blame you, but it would still hurt. You don’t let this revelation change anything, of course, and he’s always grateful to have found someone who accepts him so wholeheartedly. In relation to this, there’s one thing in particular that never fails to make him melt: whenever you kiss the scar on his chin. You used to do it before he told you how he got it, but you doing it with this new knowledge always gets to him because it’s your way of sending a message, a message that says that you love him for who he is, every part of him, even those parts that he doesn’t love himself. The first time you did it right after he told you, you were laying down together, with his head on your chest while he tried to calm his racing heart after waking up from a nightmare; and you had grabbed his hand and kissed his knuckles, the skin rough after all those years of fighting. Then you proceeded to place kisses over his face: on his forehead, on his eyelids, on both of his cheeks and finally on his scar, and each of them felt both as light as a feather and as warm as your love for him. His last thought before falling asleep, as he buried his face on the crook of your neck and as he listened to the calming sound of your heartbeat, is how he had never felt as safe as he did that moment in your embrace.

On a similar angsty note: let’s talk about Nachi, shall we? when he opened up to you about his past, he also told you about his friend and what had happened to him. what he didn’t tell you, though, was that he had started to tell Nachi about you as well. Periodically, Omi likes to leave new flowers in Nachi’s grave and to just update him about what’s been happening in his life. It was during one of those visits that Omi told him about you, about the time you spend together, pointing out various things he liked about you, and only when he quieted down, and the only sound around him was that of the rustling leaves being moved by the slight breeze, was that he realized that he was smiling from ear to ear and the only thoughts occupying his mind were how much Nachi would have loved to tease him for sounding like a love-struck puppy and how he wished you two would have had the chance to meet. And after some time, you do get to meet Nachi. Once Omi feels ready to introduce you, he takes you to the cemetery to finally meet his best friend. you’re nervous, of course, but following Omi’s lead, it doesn’t take you long to warm up and start talking to Nachi on your own. You talk about yourself, and you talk about Omi, about how kind and strong he’s become, about how happy he makes you and about how happy you hope to make him in turn. At that, Omi slips an arm around your waist and kisses the top of head, a few tears escaping from the corners of his eyes, and he breathes out “you already do.” The sound is faint and slightly choked up, but it sounds loud and clear in your ears, and the only thing you both hope is that it sounds that way for Nachi, too.

Note: It’s 3am and I can’t believe Omi took over my brain in such a way. But yeah, anyway, I’m thinking of maybe writing something like this for other characters and I can’t promise it will be soon since I write when inspiration strikes but if you want any character in particular, my askbox is open

Edit: re-posting this to see if it will actually show up on the tags this time -.-

[handeaux]

17 Curious Facts They Never Tell You About The Tyler Davidson Fountain

Since 1871, the Tyler Davidson Fountain has symbolized Queen City pride, gracing Fountain Square, the civic heart of our city. And yet, as this icon approaches its 150th birthday, many Cincinnatians remain unaware of some of its most curious lore.

It’s a drinking fountain. Yes, the Tyler Davidson Fountain is a work of art but it was designed as a drinking fountain. You can still get a drink from the four statuary spigots surrounding the Genius of Water. The basins under each drinking fountain were intended to provide refreshment for horses and dogs.

Originally, each drinking fountain had an attached drinking cup. Into the 1800s, before the germ theory of disease caught on, all drinking fountains had metal cups on chains for drinking purposes since slurping from a spigot was considered unseemly. At its dedication, the Tyler Davidson Fountain was equipped with specially designed bronze cups. As late as 1987, at least two of these cups were reportedly still chained in place, although cups at other local fountains had been removed for hygienic concerns.

The fountain once provided ice-cold water. Underneath the fountain, as originally installed, was a cooling chamber, filled with ice and lined by a network of 2,000 feet of pipe through which the water for the drinking fountains flowed during the summer months. This underground ice chamber measured twelve feet deep and ten feet square, entered through an iron door in the surface of the esplanade.

The fountain is a monument to Temperance. The Tyler Davidson Fountain is among many Victorian monuments known as Temperance fountains. It was intended to keep Cincinnatians out of the downtown saloons. When Henry Probasco and his brother-in-law and business partner, Tyler Davidson, envisioned the fountain in the 1850s, the only way to get a drink of water in downtown Cincinnati was from a saloon or coffeehouse.

The fountain’s donor ended up broke. Henry Probasco was among Cincinnati’s richest men. As a partner in Tyler Davidson & Co., wholesale hardware merchants, he built a magnificent mansion in Clifton named Oakwood and collected art and rare books. Twenty years after he paid for the fountain, his money was gone and he was beset by creditors. He sold off the house, the books and the art. Only the intervention of friends, who arranged a job as president of Spring Grove Cemetery saved Probasco from complete destitution.

The fountain’s rededication plaque is on display in Green Township. When the Tyler Davidson Fountain was rededicated for its 100th birthday in 1971 a bronze plaque mounted on a pedestal was added, explaining the history of the fountain and the generosity of Frederick Hauck, who paid for the restoration. During the 2006 redesign of the Square, the pedestal was placed in storage, where it was discovered by a representative of the German American Citizens League, who talked the city into donating it. It is now on display outside the League’s museum on West Fork Road in Monfort Heights.

The fountain’s bronze is army surplus from Denmark. In 1864, on his way to unifying Germany, Otto von Bismarck of Prussia defeated the Kingdom of Denmark in a dispute over the Duchy of Schleswig-Holstein. To recoup the costs of the war, the Danes held a national garage sale. The Royal Bavarian Bronze Foundry in Munich purchased many old bronze Danish cannons. Twenty-four tons of this Danish scrap were melted down to create the Tyler Davidson Fountain.

The fountain’s sculpture was considered radically avant-garde. Legend has it that sculptor August von Kreling designed the fountain one beer-soaked evening at foundry owner Ferdinand von Mueller’s house in Munich. Seized with inspiration, von Kreling sketched his concept for a fountain on a tablecloth, using a lit cigar as his pencil – to the horror of Frau von Mueller. The design was radical because it features actual human beings instead of mythological deities or legendary figures. The foundry owner loved the innovation but could not find a customer for the unconventional design until Henry Probasco wandered into the shop 25 years later.

Fountain Square is, technically, one of Cincinnati’s public markets. Sometime before 1815, a market was constructed along Fifth Street when that thoroughfare was essentially the northern boundary of the city. By the 1860s, the Fifth Street Market was occupied almost entirely by butchers and almost everyone agreed it was pretty disgusting. When Cincinnati decided to build Fountain Square on the site, the butchers sued and their case went all the way to the Ohio Supreme Court. The butchers lost and, three days later, the city sent an army of workmen, guarded by a battalion of police, to demolish the old market. The butchers claimed that an early deed mandated that the location was to be used as a market in perpetuity. The city obliged by installing a little metal cart for selling flowers. Every year, the mayor ceremonially bought one flower, for one cent, to maintain the terms of the deed.

Fountain Square once featured public potties. Old photos of Fountain Square show a massive metallic pillar at the eastern end of the esplanade. This structure was functional as well as decorative – it provided ventilation for a “comfort station” or public restroom installed under Fountain Square in 1907. The downtown restrooms were so successful that the city built some more at Peeble’s Corner in Walnut Hills.

A prehistoric earthwork once covered Fountain Square. Robert Clarke, in his book about prehistoric earthworks constructed by ancient inhabitants of the Ohio River valley, described a huge elliptical mound extending from the west side of Race street nearly to Walnut, and from a little above Fifth Street to a little below Fourth Street. This mound appears on Daniel Drake’s 1815 map of the city.

You can find a piece of the fountain in England. Although Ferdinand von Mueller (often Anglicized as “von Miller”), director of the Royal Bavarian Bronze Foundry, gave Henry Probasco exclusive right to the designs created by August von Kreling for the “Genius of Water” and associated sculptures, he did sell one piece to another customer. A copy of the young woman giving her father a cup of medicinal water was erected in 1885 near London Bridge. Ten years later, it was moved to Clapham Commons, south-west of London within the Borough of Lambeth, where it overlooks a drinking fountain to this day.

The hands of the Genius of Water are replacements. When originally installed, the Tyler Davidson Fountain was supplied by two different sources of water. The drinking fountains pumped water from the normal city pipes running along Fifth Street. The decorative fountains up above got a direct feed from the huge water tanks once located atop Mount Auburn. That high pressure made a spectacular display, but also carried along a lot of mud which, in less than a year, clogged up the fountain. A clumsy plumber in June 1872 attempted to improve the flow by reaming out the delicate openings in the hands of the Genius of Waters. The result was a disaster, with waterfall-like spumes deluging the esplanade. The Royal Bavarian Foundry had to send replacement hands for installation. It was reported that the original bronze hands were donated to one of Cincinnati’s medical colleges.

Henry Probasco donated another landmark fountain to Cincinnati. Well, technically, Probasco donated a fountain to Clifton, which was an independent village at the time. Probasco served as mayor of Clifton before that suburb was annexed by Cincinnati and his grand estate, Oakwood, is located there .Probasco’s second fountain is located on Clifton Avenue at the intersection with Woolper. The Clifton Probasco Fountain, bronze and 10 feet high, is designed to allow comfortable drinking by humans, horses, dogs and birds.

Cincinnati has another sculpture cast at the Munich foundry. The bronze statue of a Civil War soldier known as “The Sentinel” in Spring Grove Cemetery was also cast at Ferdinand von Mueller’s Royal Bavarian Foundry. It predates Fountain Square. The lonely soldier was sculpted by Randolph Rogers and cast in Munich in 1865.

In honor of Henry Probasco’s gift, Fifth Street was renamed Probasco Place. Almost as soon as the Fifth Street Market was demolished, Cincinnatians began referring to that portion of the street as “Probasco Place.” City Council attempted to make the name official after the fountain was dedicated in 1871 by asking the city solicitor to draw up an ordinance extending the designation from Vine all the way east to Main. Although the newspapers and several businesses referred to “Probasco Place” in print until 1880 or so, usage eventually drifted back to “Fifth Street.”

Nobody really knows who the naked woman is. Way back in 1875, just a few years after the fountain was dedicated, Mr. Daniel J. Kenny, an advertising salesman for the Cincinnati Gazette, published a remarkably useful book titled “Illustrated Cincinnati: A Pictorial Hand-Book of the Queen City,” within which he opines that the semi-nude woman leading her joyfully unclothed boy to the bath is, in fact, Thusnelda, wife of Arminius (aka “Herman the German”) who defeated Rome’s legions at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 A.D. Which is all well and good, but there is a competing theory that this maternal beauty represents one Lola Montez (aka Marie Dolores Eliza Rosanna Gilbert, Countess of Landsfeld) an actress of Irish and possibly Spanish extraction who was the mistress of King Ludwig I of Bavaria, who was the patron of Ferdinand von Mueller’s bronze foundry. The bottom line is, sculptor August von Kreling didn’t tell and isn’t telling.

[kayleygoestolondon]

The Great European Adventure

Warning: buckle up and hold onto your butts because this is going to be a long one, folks. I haven’t done an update since mid-February, so I need to write about a few of my London adventures before I dive into my Easter vacation. 

February/March:

I participated in the March 4 Women, which is a celebration tied to International Women’s Day. There were thousands of women there and the rally included some famous women who came to speak about gender equality. It was an awesome experience, despite the typical London rain, and I even made it into a Buzzfeed article about the event. I’m proper famous now. Have a game of “Where’s Kayley” if you wanna waste a few minutes and see all the hilarious signs from the march. 

I attended two live tapings of QI, which is a British quiz show that I became obsessed with after moving here. It used to be hosted by Stephen Fry, but he was replaced a couple years ago by Sandi Toksvig, who I’m also obsessed with. The show is hysterically funny and has lots of great celebrity guests. A friend and I got free tickets to be part of the studio audience so we went to two different episode tapings. It was a really cool way to spend an evening and something I never would have been able to do if I didn’t live in London. I’m now impatiently waiting for the episodes to be released next season so I can see if my cackle-laugh is distinguishable in the audience. 

England is entirely incapable of handling any snow at all, so when the “Beast from the East” (lol), also known as “Snowmaggedon” (even bigger lol) happened in February, my school was closed for TWO DAYS. I was housebound for four days as the country had a collective nervous breakdown over what was basically three snowflakes and some chilly wind. 

I went to see School of Rock on the West End, which was a great show. I love the film, and even without Jack Black the theatrical version was pretty awesome. Still waiting to see Matilda and Aladdin!

Still surviving the mad preparation for SATs at school. I go back to work tomorrow, and we’ll officially only have four more weeks until the exams. At this point, I can’t wait to get them over with because I’m so sick of administering and marking practice tests. I’m optimistic that my students will do well, but there is a massive amount of pressure on them to succeed, so I’ve got my fingers crossed. 

Now, onto my great European vacation. I went to 5 different countries in less than two weeks, which was overly ambitious, but I made it back in one piece (albeit significantly poorer). 

SWEDEN:

I flew into Copenhagen and took the train into Lund, Sweden, where Carina and her family picked me up. Back in 1990, my grandparents hosted an exchange student from Sweden who lived with them for a year. That was Carina. Ever since then, they’ve kept in touch. Last summer, Carina, her husband, and her two daughters came out to Canada to stay with my grandparents for a few weeks and tour the country. I got to meet them all for the first time, and since then I have been hoping to go and visit them in Sweden. I was with them for Easter weekend and they were the most amazing hosts. I was definitely spoiled - the Easter bunny even found me while I was there :) We went into Malmo, which is one of the bigger cities in Sweden, and also went to the seaside. The weather was horrifically cold while I was there... obviously not compared to Canada, but compared to what I’ve been used to, I nearly froze to death. It was a lovely weekend and it was really nice to spend a holiday with family. I tried some traditional Swedish things, like herring (which I enjoyed) and schnapps (which I did not). Linn and Klara attempted to teach me some Swedish, of which I can only remember the words for “dog” and “puppy��... so I’m basically a linguistic prodigy. 

DENMARK:

I took the train back into Copenhagen on Monday the 2nd. It was cold, but thankfully the sun was shining. I did a walking tour around the city and learned a lot about Danish history. The harbour there was especially beautiful. After the tour, I went on my own and found the famous “Little Mermaid” statue. I knew in advance it was going to be a massive letdown... which it was. It’s tiny and covered in graffiti. Great job on your major tourist attractions, Copenhagen. I also had a famous Danish hotdog and obviously for me that was a key moment of the day. The next morning, I went and checked out their National Museum before catching my flight to Amsterdam. Overall, I loved Denmark and Sweden. The Scandinavian countries are incredibly expensive, but really beautiful and welcoming. I was so enamoured with all of their colourful buildings. 

NETHERLANDS:

When I landed in Amsterdam, I met up with my friend Robyn at our AirBnB. She’s a Canadian teacher working in London too, and we did the rest of the trip together. Our first night in the city, we went for dinner at a fondue restaurant next to the place we were staying in, and I ate way too much bread and truffle cheese. Just kidding... there’s no such thing as too much bread or cheese. The following day, we went on a walking tour, went to the Anne Frank House, and then ended the day with a tour of the Heineken Brewery and dinner. It was an amazing day. The Anne Frank House was a pretty powerful and moving experience. 

The second day, we did a trip out to the Keukenhof Flower Gardens. I have never taken so many photos of tulips in my life. We finished the day with a canal cruise around the city. Our last day, we visited the Van Gogh Museum before getting on the train to Bruges. Van Gogh is one of my favourite artists of all time... the only thing that was missing was Starry Night :(

BRUGES:

Out of all the cities I’ve visited in Europe, Bruges is among the top 5. I found it very similar to Prague in terms of medieval charm. Bruges was never bombed or destroyed during the World Wars, so most of its buildings are original. We also finally had some nice weather, so that helped. We did another walking tour (our standard first activity in any city), checked out some markets and shops, and went to the Chocolate Museum. Yes, there is an actual Chocolate Museum in Bruges, and yes, it is as delicious as it sounds. It’s almost possible that I ate too much chocolate that day... almost. Our second day, we climbed up to the top of the Belfry (366 steps!) and got an amazing view of the city. It was cool to see how the bells worked, even though being right beside them when they ring is enough to blow out your eardrums. Then we rented bikes and did the Windmill Path around the outside of the city. We biked out of Bruges and into a nearby village called Damme. It was gorgeous, and I didn’t fall off my bike, so that was a solid day. 

VIMY (FRANCE):

That evening, after our biking, we hopped on a train to make our way to Arras, France. The idea was to get to Arras so that we could go to the Vimy Memorial the next morning. We made it as far as Lille, where we were supposed to catch a connecting train, before we ran into our first obstacle. There was a train strike going on in France, which meant our train to Arras was cancelled. As were all other trains. So at 8 PM on a Sunday night, we found ourselves stranded in the Lille train station. We tried to rent a car, but all they had was a manual, which neither Robyn nor I could drive, so we were forced to find a crappy hotel room in Lille. On the walk there, a group of street children tried to pickpocket us. Not a great first impression of France. In the end, I guess the important thing is that we were safe and we didn’t lose anything important. We had to spend a bunch of extra money on renting a car the next morning to get us to Vimy, but it was more than worth it. The day we were at the memorial was actually Vimy Day, so there was a special ceremony. It rained (of course), but we still went and explored the Canadian cemeteries and the reconstructed trenches and tunnels. I have never been more proud of being Canadian, and it was so humbling to see the way our military contributions are still honoured in France. 

BRUSSELS:

The last stop in our trip. Brussels was interesting, but not nearly as beautiful or charming as Bruges. We did a walking tour, got rained on (classic), and had an awesome dinner before trying out some Belgian beers. Belgium is very proud of their beers - almost as much as their chocolate - so it seemed only appropriate that I have a few on my last night there. I also had a waffle or two :)

ONWARD:

Tomorrow is my first day back at work in more than two weeks. I’m mostly ready to get back into a routine, but more importantly, ready to earn a paycheque again. I loved my trip, but I’m also happy to be home. It’s weird how much London feels like “home” now. At the moment, I don’t have any upcoming trips planned besides going back to Canada in August. I can’t wait!! The countdown is on.