my eyes, my words and the world
we followed our grandma back to the motherland for a couple days last summer. had truckloads of dimsum, met some of my loveliest friends that i haven’t seen since locking in for uni finals, and took way too many boat trips across victoria harbour.
as a well-deserved breather after weeks of interning, varian and i took a short trip to bristol.
we started off the day by having lunch at st. nicholas market, where i got a mediterranean salad bowl from the olive works filled with halloumi, hummus, gremolata potatoes, couscous, olives, dolmades and more. this is probably my favourite cuisine, so having such a variety of mediterranean food to munch on was a real treat! varian got a filling bbq plate from low and slow, with pulled pork and mac & cheese. afterwards, we toured the eclectic range of stalls in the marketplace where i got some sea salt with mountain herbs from be natural kitchen.
having heard lots about the cafe scene in bristol, we headed to society cafe for our first caffeine break, and then full court press for our second. i must say that the 1029 lake kivu rwanda beans from full court press was some of the best coffee beans i’ve tried — with milk, the espresso shot supposedly has notes of golden raisin and creme caramel, on top of its original fruity notes such as orange, raisin, biscuit and red wine.
in order to avoid potentially overdosing on caffeine by having a third cup of coffee in a row, we went on a hunt for banksy’s art, scattered about the city. the one that was most recognisable to me was banksy’s well hung lover, in full view at the beginning of park street. we also checked out the christmas steps, a narrow walkway that was lined beautifully with vintage shop fronts and fairy lights.
heading down to the harbour, we attempted to visit the brunel’s ss great britain, but the journey there was oddly complicated (there were no bridges to help us cross the canal) so we just admired it from afar. we headed back to where we came from and walked around the bristol cathedral and bristol city council, where there was some sort of carnival taking place.
no trip to bristol would be complete without checking out the clifton suspension bridge. we climbed uphill to the clifton observatory to view the iconic bridge from afar, but it started raining so we took shelter at the royal oak and conveniently got some small plates as an early dinner. after it stopped raining, we found some gems of books in the last bookshop and got them for as cheap as £4 each.
before we caught our coach back to london, we visited the famous mrs. potts chocolate house and shared a very delicious and creamy cup of hot chocolate!!!
day 1: copenhagen
we cycled to along the nyhavn river and passed by the det kongelige bibliotek and the børsen / reached the iconic nyhavn where we strolled past the christmas stalls along the waterfront / had breakfast at apollo bar (try their banana bread!) and explored the kunsthal charlottenborg, a charming little square tucked in a quiet corner of the area / for lunch, we had some great smørrebrød (our first of many) at nyhavns færgekro / visited the ofelia plads but it was less busy than it would’ve been during warmer seasons / explored the christmas market at kongens nytorv and spotted the mindeankeret (memorial anchor) / we paid a visit to the famous freetown christiania and found green george of thomas dambo, one of many giant statues dotted across the city / walked past the church of our saviour / almost had lunch at det lille apotek LOL but because we didn’t want to have their christmas menu we went to ARKET cafe instead / we did some window shopping at højbro plads and strøget, two famous shopping streets / stopped by the national museum of denmark / had a fun night at the amusement park in tivoli gardens
day 2: copenhagen
we cycled to the botanical gardens and strolled through the snow-capped park / visited the rosenborg castle which overlooked the king’s garden / passed by nyboder, an iconic neighbourhood with yellow houses / had lunch at torvehallerne, a food market. I tried some porridge from the famous local chain grød and fell in love / walked to kastellet where we visited the quintessential little mermaid statue / sat inside frederik’s church for a while / walked around the grounds of amalienborg / had lunch at amadeus where we had even more smørrebrød / had dinner at puk
day 3: copenhagen – odense
took an early bus to odense, the third largest city in denmark / had some bread from føtex and lagkagehuset for breakfast / went into st. canute’s cathedral / strolled around the ground of eventyrhaven / had coffee with ms ang at nelle’s coffee & wine, one of the city’s most famous coffee shops / window shopped in the city centre / had dinner at giraffen and watched the world cup finals there!
day 4: copenhagen – malmö, sweden
took a day trip to the closest swedish city, malmö / had a lovely breakfast spread at ruths / strolled through lilla torg and viewed some exhibitions at the form/design centre / continued walking to gustav adolfs torg and malmö rådhus (town hall) / went into st. peter’s church / walked to malmö castle / escaped the rain by reading some books about libraries at malmö city library / ate lunch at smak, where they have a daily menu and an amazing buffet of sides including roast potatoes, bread and salad / shopped at grandpa and ab småland to buy some souvenirs / had dinner at malmö saluhall where we tried kung pao chicken at street food by pink head, swedish meatballs at clemens kött & husman and gelato from favvo glass
day 5: copenhagen – london
on our last day, we visited the exhibitions at ny carlsberg glypotek for free (because it was a tuesday) / had lunch at the little yellow coffee bar where they had some really huge portions of smørrebrød
day 1:
we arrived in the afternoon and had lunch at wroclawska, where we tried traditional polish dishes such as assorted pierogi (my favourite was the one with the cheese), bigos, and kotlet schabowy / we visited the wrocław christmas market at the market square, and walked around the museum of bourgeois art / we stopped for some donuts, or pączki, at nasza pączkarnia / we went back to the christmas market and had some amazing hotdogs, churros and roasted chestnuts
day 2:
we climbed up the katedra św. marii magdaleny to reach the bridge of penitents, on which we got an amazing view of the cityscape / we headed to konspira for lunch, where feasted on more polish food such as placki ziemniaczane, żurek, gołąbki and grilowany karezek / we took a cab to the japanese garden and strolled around the centennial hall / we took another cab to the tumski bridge connecting ostrow tumski, the cathedral island. there, we spotted the cathedral of st. john the baptist / we crossed the sand bridge to get to the wrocław market hall, where i got a cup of coffee from enklawa wrocławska palarnia kawy / we window-shopped at galeria dominikańska / grabbed dinner from MANI ToGo
our first foray into multi-city reading week trips, which i am now inspired to replicate for all my future travels! we spent two days in budapest, hungary, and one in vienna, austria. our itinerary is at the bottom of the post!
day 1: london – budapest
visited dohány street synagogue on the way to our airbnb / had lunch at vakvarjú restaurant / coffee break at the blue bird cafe, an independent roastery / visited st. stephen’s basilica, the largest church in the capital / snacked on a chimney cake (kürtőskalács) from a roadside stall / took a cruise along the danube river, on which we spotted the hungarian parliament building among other attractions / had dinner at menza étterem és kávéház, where we got to try the traditional hungarian dishes such as fried bread (lángos) with garlic cream soup, savoury meat pancakes (hortobágyi palacsinta), pork medallions (szűzérme) and tyrolean apple strudel (which is native to austria).
day 2: budapest
woke up early to get a panoramic view of the city from fisherman’s bastion, where we also hung around the buda castle, st. stephen’s statue, havas boldogasszony church and matthias church / got coffee from coffee stand kazinczy specialty coffeeshop, of which there are a few scattered across budapest. such good coffee for a little more than a pound! / walked a disproportionately long distance to see the chief warm mini statue by kolodko along the banks of the danube / had brunch at central market hall, where we tried many traditional hungarian dishes such as chicken paprikash (csirke paprikás), dumplings (nokedli) and stuffed cabbage leaves (töltött káposzta) / walked across the liberty bridge / window-shopped at vörösmarty tér / afternoon tea at the grand new york café / spotted the shoes on the danube bank / dinner at mazel tov, a gorgeous garden-themed restaurant serving israeli or mediterranean fare / dessert at karavan food market.
day 3: budapest – vienna
took a three-hour long train ride to austria because we’re insane / visited the belvedere palace / walked to karlskirche / got some snacks at naschmarkt, an outdoor market. we got bratwurst with sauerkraut from george am / had lunch at the famous griechenbeisl, where we tried several traditional austrian dishes such as viennese boiled beef (wiener tafelspitz) and roast pig leg (stelze vom jungschwein) / coffee break at fenster cafe, one of the top 50 cafes in the world and a unique coffee-in-a-cone offering (fensterccino) / travelled to schönbrunn palace / went back to the city centre where we walked past attractions such as the kunsthistorisches museum, rathaus, volksgarten and the hofburg / travelled to st. stephen’s cathedral / visited kleines café, where before sunrise was filmed / travelled back to hungary and had dinner at the michelin-featured stand 25 bistro.
day 4: budapest
had breakfast at à table and did some souvenir shopping.
precious 