Brighton photo diary

Where have I been?

Oh my... Last time I wrote a blog post was on 3rd June. Funnily enough one of my goals for this academic year was to write each week. Clearly, it's going well. I was going backs and forths in terms of whether to return to blogging or not, but I reckon I need an outlet for my creative juices and journaling on paper is not really my thing, so here I am.

It's only right to restart my blogging adventures with what I've been up to for the past five months. And I've been up to A LOT. LOADS. Life is very good now. I'm probably at my happiest point in life so far. It doesn't mean that I don't have any problems or worries, but I'm at peace with myself and enjoy what I'm doing. That's what happiness is, right?

July: I'm working at a summer school. 7 weeks of teaching maths to international students. I am surrounded by the beautiful English countryside, fed three times a day and earn decent money. A trip to Alton Towers is the highlight of my time there. I even manage to make some progress on my dissertation. It's not all roses though as I am suffering from bouts of anxiety and stress. A trip to Wales helps me to relax a little, but I am counting days to going back home.

August: I have about a week before INSET days at school. We go on an incredible trip to Scotland. Mr Magic's dream to visit Edinburgh is realised and we even manage to see a couple of shows at the Fringe. I lose tickets to one of the performances, but we are let in regardless, thanks to a handwritten note from the box office. We go on a hike, on a lake trip and visit a crannog.

September: I start a new job at a private school. The staff and children are lovely. There is free lunch. I start to remember why I wanted to teach in the first place. No more stress and excessively unruly pupils. I submit my dissertation. My parents visit for a couple of weeks, a visit I nickname invasion. Mum is impressed with my flat and dad decides to improve the state of my bathroom. At the end of the month, I get a puppy.

October: Riki has become the centre of our lives. I try to train him a little, but after he learns to sit, he is resistant to learning another command. We attend puppy classes and start looking for doggy daycare. I don't have a moment for myself, but Riki brings me so much joy. Mr Magic is the most wonderful man in the world and I am excited to spend my life with him. My car battery dies.

November: Two-week half term is a blessing and a curse. Loads of time to relax, but it's also an awful lot of time to fill with activities. I go on a solo trip to Bristol (with Riki) which is a much-needed break from Kent. Emily visits and for the first time, we don't have to work on our masters. I try to refocus my life.

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Here we are then. Last five months in a nutshell. I am so excited for the future and everything seems to be falling into place now. I'm going home for almost three weeks over the holidays which will be great, although as I've found out taking a dog over is not such a straightforward affair. Anyway, I'm back. To be fair, I haven't been that far, just extremely busy with organising my life. Working part-time and having my own business is very time-consuming and I have so many ideas I want to develop in the coming months that 24 hours in a day are not quite enough! But I'm looking forward to squeezing in some writing time (it's 3:10am at the moment, don't ask why I'm up at such ungodly hour) and pouring out my thoughts into the bottomless pit of the internet.

Till next time!

Brugge.

I want to share with you a few highlights of my recent trip to Bruges in Belgium. It is a small city (well, with a population of the Isle of Wight, so not so small by my standards) in West Flanders. Bruges does not have an international airport, so it's best to fly into Brussels and maybe also walk around the capital before catching a surprisingly clean and comfortable train to Bruges.

I really recommend visiting Bruges, it's such a beautiful place. You probably don't need more than a couple of days to see the main city highlights. We've spent less than 48 hours there and I feel we had a good look around, visited a few museums, churches and had far too many chocolate truffles. We also got to experience a dubious quality of service in Belgian restaurants, travelled by tram (in Ghent) and went up the tower featured in In Bruges. These were really intense two days I have to say.

Without further ado, here are my top 5 things to do and see in Bruges.

1 Canal boat tour: Yes, I know, that is really touristy, but it does allow you to see some beautiful views from a different perspective and even see some places that you might not get to otherwise. The driver provides a commentary on the main sights which is quite informative actually. I think this is €8 well spent for 30 minutes of relaxing on the water.

2 Begijnhof: Come in early morning when there are very few tourists around and the place is completely silent. It's like stepping into a different world. There are no beguines living there anymore, but the place is looked after by Benedictine nuns (some of which we've seen at Mass, they were awesome - and most of them really fragile).

Beautiful painting of the Blessed Sacrament at the back of the church in Begijnhof -
the tabernacle is on the other side of the wall!

3 Night walk around the city centre: By dinnertime, the tourists tend to disappear from Bruges, since it does not provide any particular night-time entertainment. It makes it a perfect time to walk around slowly, without bumping into people all the time. The main sights are illuminated and it's just lovely to enjoy a walk in the warm air of the evening.

4 Holy Blood Basilica: This was such a beautiful site to visit, surprisingly peaceful given that it right in the centre of Bruges and is supposed to be one of the main attractions. In any case, it is well worth a visit, you might even have a chance to see the veneration of the relics kept in the basilica. Make sure you go to the lower chapel as well, it's so different from the main church and so peaceful.

5 Local beers: I'm not a big fan of beers, but I have to objectively say that Belgian beers are delicious. There are so many varieties that everybody is bound to find something to suit their taste. There is only one beer produced in Bruges itself, the Brugse Zot, and if you are keen, you can even visit the brewery to learn more about beer production. Warning, it involves climbing up and down over 200 steps, some of them quite narrow and steep, so might not be for everyone. I found it more tiring than climbing up the Belfry Tower (366 steps).

That's it, a snapshot of a lovely trip over the long weekend (hooray for bank holiday falling on the warmest weekend since for ever). Have another picture from the top of the Belfry Tower (it's nothing like what you see in the movie in terms of interior though).

Eesti.

I've realised that my trip to Estonia happened over a month ago, but I haven't shared any pictures or thoughts from that adventure! So here you are, have a look at mostly Tallinn.

Estonia is a small country in Northern Europe with a population of 1.3 million. Below you can see the size of Estonia compared to the UK. Estonian is the main language spoken, but for historical reasons, there is a big Russian-speaking minority there as well. Some parts of the country are mainly Russian-speaking: essentially, the more East you go, the more Russian speakers you meet. In some places people speak Russian only.

Source: http://www.ifitweremyhome.com/compare/GB/EE

Estonia welcomed us with snow and some seriously cold temperatures. But that wouldn't stop us from exploring the city centre which turned out to be absolutely charming with its little cobbled streets.

We've made three amazing discoveries in Estonia, two culinary and one cultural. First one was Rukis, a cafe in the Old Town with an amazing selection of cakes, tasty light bites and really classy decor. If I could, I would spend hours there, such a cosy place, with nice staff and those cakes!

The second culinary discovery was rather sketchy at first... Really sketchy.

But the reviews on the internet said not to be put off by the entrance, so in we went and discovered most delicious pancakes for about 5 euros each. It was absolutely perfect and is definitely a place that I will visit again if I come to Tallinn again.

The third discovery was Seaplane Museum. On entry, I thought I was transported to the depths of the sea.

I'm not a maritime enthusiasm, but there was so much to do there! There was a shooting simulator (7% accuracy), a submarine simulator, an actual submarine that you could enter, a plane simulator (which I managed to crash twice), a place to take picture in various uniforms and, most importantly, some longboats, which was the real reason I wanted to go there.

I don't think Estonia is a place that comes to people's mind as a trip destination, but definitely go there if you get a chance. A couple of days would be sufficient for Tallinn itself, maybe couple it with a trip to Helsinki (you can easily get a ferry across the water) or St Petersburg if you sort your visa out beforehand. And maybe avoid Estonia in the middle of February, unless you like cold or are a fan of wearing thermal clothing. As charming as all the snowy landscape was, I think I would appreciate  everything even more in positive temperatures.

#villagelife

Patchy internet connection over the last week or so meant that I had to embrace analogue past times. Cycling, walking, reading a newspaper on the patio, drinking excessive amounts of tea and coffee, thinking about the next year, swimming in the pool and baking cakes.

In the last week, I've become fixated about cows, geese, chickens and horses. I don't see farm animals very often on my little island, so observing the daily moves of a pair of calves was a fascinating experience. I've seen farmers calmly and patiently tending to their land and animals and it reminded me how simple life can be.

But the countryside is not only its flora and fauna, but also all those sleepy little towns and villages where even the butcher's is shut down during summer, where the only people out on the streets are a group of camp children with melting ice cream and some mildly drunk bearded men talking philosophy. Towns and villages with the loveliest women working at a post office and delicious freshly caught fish available at a scruffily looking fishmonger's. 

I'll make a quick visit to Warsaw this week and I'll be interested in the contrast with this idyllic village life and a business of a city. I am not a fan on the Polish capital, not only because it's hard to find such blissful peacefulness over there. But everything is good in moderation. And hopefully I'll get a chance to get a taste of its apparently buzzing vegan culinary scene.

Walking.

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Every time I go for a walk I discover yet another thing to think about before my big walk, which is TOMORROW. I've sorted out my boots, socks, leggings and a raincoat.

I bought a backpack with a bladder, which is like a water pouch with a long flexible straw. I've been walking with a water bottle so far, and reaching into a backpack every single time I need a drink (and it is rather often, I'm a thirsty person) is just not convenient at all. I've opted for 18L backpack, seems like an optimum capacity for the day. It holds my 2L bladder, a raincoat and a stash of food for the day.

It might not be the fancier backpack out there, and the packing solution is not the most efficient, but it will do, and I've grabbed it in TKMaxx for £20, so cheap and cheerful ;) But I'll probably upgrade to something better in summer.

Food planning is a complicated aspect of the day's logistics. My favourite snack is peanut butter and cucumber sandwiches: the nut butters gives good energy and the cucumber is refreshing. Dried apricots are a must, plus a high protein bar. Don't forget a banana. The worse possible thing that could happen is that I RUN OUT OF FOOD. That would  be simply tragic. So most of my backpack's weight will be snacks to get me through those 26.5 miles.

We're supposed to have perfect weather tomorrow, so I'm packing sun cream as well. I burn so easily that the whole day in sun without protection would be simply silly. At least it's not supposed to rain, it would be so grim to walk in the rain.

Last but not least, I'm packing a battery pack in case my phone runs out of power before the end of the day.

Tomorrow the day starts after 5am, because I need to pick a few people up from around Newport before making our way to the start of the walk. I'm not sure how I'll survive 14 hours that will follow, but let's hope for the best. I think I'll be too excited to think about the tiredness. 

I'll be posting walk updates tomorrow, so watch out for those on my Facebook page!