(You are going to need to scroll down a bit if you are just here for photos.)
What better way to start a new blog, than with a blog post discussing another first of mine? No, please don't go there. And no, I'm not doing the Youtube 'First Time' tag in written form (although that isn't a bad idea). I'm here to write about my first vacation. Well, that's a lie. Technically it's my second. But the first consisted of being cooped up on a farm in Ireland for a week. Which may have been great, if it had not been for the flu. Yeah, this time was far more thrilling. Before we get started you should know something about me, I don't exactly excel at being out of my comfort zone. Yet last week I managed the impossible - I not only stayed with a friend for 4 days, I travelled abroad alone, went on a plane for the first time, and did something that I desperately wanted.
Was it tough to gather the courage to do such a big thing? Of course. A friend of mine sent me a quote a few months back, and it has stuck with me: "Normality is a paved road: It's comfortable to walk, but no flowers grow on it." I often found myself repeating it when in need of a little pep talk over the course of the past few weeks. A pep quote, if you will. So punny. (It's a rather ironic quote really, given the fact that I have a phobia of grass. Yup, you read that right. Boy, oh boy. This first post is already riveting.)
So I sent off for my passport, and the rest as they say, is history.
Was it tough to gather the courage to do such a big thing? Of course. A friend of mine sent me a quote a few months back, and it has stuck with me: "Normality is a paved road: It's comfortable to walk, but no flowers grow on it." I often found myself repeating it when in need of a little pep talk over the course of the past few weeks. A pep quote, if you will. So punny. (It's a rather ironic quote really, given the fact that I have a phobia of grass. Yup, you read that right. Boy, oh boy. This first post is already riveting.)
So I sent off for my passport, and the rest as they say, is history.
Day One:
You are likely here for photos, so let's go. It started with.... Oh. Well, the first day lacked photos. Now that's anticlimactic. I flew out at 7:55am, which wasn't as bad as I thought. Landed at 10:25am German time, awkwardly cuddled my best friend, and off we went to Primark. Yes, that soon. She has a shopping problem, I support it. It's a whole thing. Primark in Cologne is hell, but glorious. It depends on whether you are the marathon shopper or the one getting dragged around in circles. We spent close to 3 hours in there and I left with a dress, and some pyjamas. One dress and pyjamas. I suck at shopping. Oh, and some shoes. Which killed my feet but looked so very pretty. We then had the hour long journey back to hers and ate pizza, watched Grown Ups 1&2 (Good, but I don't know whether I could re-watch them), and talked about boys. Literally. We are women, come on.
Day Two:
First, food. No, no. First, the restaurant we ate at. It was beyond pretty.
Now the food...
Strangest breakfast I have ever had? Yes. But it was after midday, so.. brunch? Esma (my friend), ordered the top photo. Chicken kebab, with some very peculiar sides. I had the bottom, which was a dish filled with pasta, mushrooms, broccoli and cheesy goodness. It was odd, but delicious.
We then wandered the streets for a short while. I took one too many photos, but it was all so overwhelmingly beautiful, how could I not?
(Ah, yes. I also tried frozen yoghurt for the first time. There were brownies and blueberries in it. Two words: mouth orgasm.)
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We bought a cupcake from this little place:
I bought some food gifts for the family waiting at home, and then we headed off to a mall. That's right, a mall. I'd never felt more cool. (Or American, ironically.) And I ate the cupcake in the car. It was one good cupcake.
I lapsed in photo taking when at the mall. Partly because there was quite a few people so I felt a tad uncomfortable taking photos, and secondly because I had a minor allergy attack which resulted in feeling a little run down after ward. Nevertheless, we had fun. I once again failed in the art of buying bags of clothes, but hey, we found sunglasses that the 80's want back. So it evened itself out.
After a quick stop to visit Esma's mum -- who, by the way, is one of the nicest and most welcoming human beings I have had the pleasure of meeting. It's no wonder she has such a kind-hearted daughter -- and then we headed off to the Netherlands to catch dinner and a movie. Basically, we had a date night. For food we ate Burger King, which was as exciting as it was healthy. Fries are delicious in any country. We got attacked by bees which was less fun, but almost hilarious. And then we headed into the cinema.
It took a tiny bit of persuading the previous night, but I talked my dear friend into watching Ant-Man, which was an astounding success, thank god. We both loved it. If you are debating watching it now or in the near future, I highly recommend it. But I'm not a reviewer yet, hey, I know.. Check out my boyfriends review on somewhatnerdy. You can even click here and it'll take you directly to the review. He's gods gift to the movie reviewing community, so I would definitely recommend you showing him some love. Anyhoo, back to the date night. The cinema was incredible, I only wish I had the balls to take a photo of it. It had a red carpet. A red carpet. Incredible stuff. The only down point was the stale popcorn. It was a rather late showing though, so I'll let that one slide.
The view on the way home was incredible, and it was the perfect end to a perfect day.
An overview of day three and four will be up tomorrow.
Thank you for reading!
Have a wonderful day.
- Anne x
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