Belgium Roadtrip Summer 2013: PART 6

Another day in Ghent, another day with 30+ degrees celcius. Because of the heat, mom and I decided to check out some churches and cathedrals since it's nice and cool in there n.n We went to the really impressive St. Baafscathedral. There was a man playing beautiful music on a harp and for a moment it felt like I was in a fairy tale...

Gorgeous stained glass. The colors were even more beautiful in person.

After walking around, we just sat there for another half an hour to watch people and prepare ourselves for the crazy heat outside... Once we got outside, we came along a stand with so called 'Gentse Neuzen' (Ghent Noses?). It's special candy that you can only get in Ghent, and since I love candy I couldn't pass up trying them! They were actually pretty good! They were 'crunchy' on the outside but super gooey on the inside and has a raspberry kind of taste. Very very very sweet though. Normally I can't eat just piece of candy, but one of these was plenty.

After a simple lunch we came across this cupcake parlor called Julie's House and we decided we needed a lunch dessert! They had so many cute cupcakes.

My mom got a fresh summer fruits cake and I got a vanilla cupcake with vanilla frosting

I couldn't get over the cuteness of this cupcake. I mean, it has a marshmallow on top! And purple sprinkles! And it was delicious, too!

My mom's cake was delicious too c:

 After that we went to visit a castle and got on one of the boat tours (didn't get any pictures though). Before we knew it, it was dinner time and I decided it was time to look for a place I had been wanting to visit: Pink Flamingos.

Such a cool window display!

This place is amazing. They change the entire interior every three months, but the only thing that doesn't change is their chandelier made entirely out of barbies

(source)

For dinner we got a delicious home made chili con carne with tortilla chips. Super simple, super delicious.

Awesome poster I spotted inside

On our walk back to the hostel we randomly stumbled across the graffiti alley! So cool. This place would be perfect for photoshoots.

Before going back to the hostel, we checked out some live music one last time. But it was so hot, we simply had to leave before we would've melted away. (and tropical music gets so boring after a while..)

That was it for our days in Ghent! It was great, and definitely my favorite out of the three we visited.
Next up: Antwerp!

Belgium Roadtrip Summer 2013: PART 5

This post mainly consists of junk and food. We have now arrived in Ghent. I think it was my favorite town of the three. It wasn't too big, but it was made up of tons of gorgeous buildings, lots of fun shops and restaurants and coincidently we arrived just when 'De Gentse Feesten' (The Parties of Ghent) started. This was basically a ten day long festival with live music and street artists everywhere.

First impression of the city. Did we go back in time!?

It kind of reminded me of Venice!

See what I mean?

We finally decided to get a 'real' waffle. Needless to say, it was delicious.

Lesley Knope would be impressed.

Me and my mom both love markets, especially when there's lots and lots of junk lying around. So naturally, that's the first thing we went looking for! Soon enough we found it and we were not disappointed.

Aren't these multi-colored houses CUTE?? Why can't all streets in the world be like this?

We needed more junk. One can never get enough of rummaging through other people's old stuff. We also found this second hand shop which even had a seperate space with old toys (aka vintage barbie things and robots!!)

See that coat on the left? It was soooo pretty, but a little too expensive :c

Robots! (with a face!)

Barbie and Ken workout gear!

Next, it was time for lunch! We found this really nice place 'Simon Says' that mainly uses local and organic products. We got a delicious carrot soup with some of the best bread ever!

The rest of the day we listened to live music, had dinner at a delicious thai restaurant (red curry with chicken, bamboo and coconut milk!) and survived through the rest of the loud night thanks to our complimentary ear plugs! Stay tuned for day two!

Current Loves: girls, girls, girls and dancing.

Good morning! Or evening, afternoon, wherever you might be! I wanted to have a quick break in between the Roadtrip posts to share some of my current favorite things with you. Because, well, I'm just feeling more like doing that today. It's Sunday and I'm bored sitting here waiting for my hair to be done and craving a chocolate chip muffin yet refusing to leave the house today. I actually went to get one yesterday and then forgot my wallet... I cursed, had to put the (last!) muffin back and go back home empty handed.

Not a good day. Not good at all.
Okay, on to the positive stuff now...!

Sex and the City

Can I have your wardrobe please, Carrie?

I don't remember if I mentioned this before, but I'm obsessed with Sex and the City right now. I'm half way season 4. I just randomly watched it on tv once out of boredome and was hooked straight away. It's funny, honest, relatable and the fashion in it (of Carrie especially) is awesome. I guess it's also a nice show to watch while I wait for new Girls episodes!

24 important pieces of life wisdom from the ladies of 'Girl Code'
I've never heard of or watched MTV's show Girl Code before, but this sure is some damn good (and funny!) advice. I believe this is the kind of stuff we should teach kids in school!

Dance tutorial videos on youtube

I'm not a dancer, and I don't think I ever will be. Yet, whenever I'm bored these days I just look up a dance tutorial on youtube and dance around like an elephant on rollerskates! Maybe if I keep going at it I'll look like a... gazelle on rollerskates someday.

Alkaline Trio's My Shame Is True LP in PINK
In this picture are two of my favorite things ever. Alkaline Trio AND hot pink. *faints* It's amazing. I wish I could get it but 1. I really really really have to save money and 2. I don't own a record player. But it's still amazing. Only about two more weeks until the concert!! Eeeep!

Lauren and Derek's episode on Catfish
I love the show Catfish, and this must've been one of my favorite episodes yet. I screamed, I cried, I laughed and I awwwwwed. USA readers can watch the episode here, and if you don't live there you can find a free stream here! Just go watch it, you won't regret it.

My Pinterest likes

Obviously, I like the things I like on Pinterest. I just never really looked at my likes until just now and I think it's funny how clearly it shows who I am, what my interests are, what kind of person I might be. It's like the world in my head, the one I want to live in, shown in pictures on a screen.

Bird of Paradise Eyecandy at Rookie

Totally Biased: NYC Women Talk Cat Calling

A little bit more feminism for you! More stuff that should be shown to kids in school.

Hope you'll have a lovely, relaxing Sunday! I'm going chocolate chip muffin hunting again.

Belgium Roadtrip Summer 2013: PART 4

Lots of tea drinking was required for this post!

Besides my tea, I also LOVE a good sandwich. Random fact: 9 out of 10 times when I'm going out for lunch, I order a tuna salad sandwich. I guess I feel like it's my purpose in the world to try every single tuna salad sandwich out there.

ANYWAY, Belgium/Brussels definitely has some of the greatest sandwiches ever. They take their lunch serious. No matter where I got my lunch, the bread and whatever was on it was always super duper fresh. 

A little tea break after our visit to the Museum of the Far East!

Whenever I'm abroad I usually refuse to have tea at the nearest Starbucks or whatever (unless I really really need tea and there's nothing else). It's so much more fun to explore all the cute little (specialized) cafes in such a big city. This was one of them. It was a little tea shop with a big assortment of tea! (unfortunately I don't remember the name anymore T.T)

They also had a cute little area upstairs where you could sip your tea in a comfy chair and read a book!

My mom felt right at home

'Paint me like one of your models'

We had what I think was called 'Blue Buddha' tea. It was a very flowery and soft green tea that smelled and tasted abslutely delicious!

After tea, we decided to head into town and just browse around some shops, maybe do some shopping. But really, one of the most exciting parts about that was coming across this Barbie candy cake in a shop display.

We also came across Waterstones (an english bookstore) and I'll never pass up browsing around a bookstore for a little bit c:

I need to frame this shopping bag.

In the end, I got two new books by John Green I still really wanted to read. I'm reading 'An abundance of Katherines' right now and love it s far! It also makes for a nice break of 1Q84.

And that was for our last day in Brussels! We barely made it back to the hostel after a lot of walking... The next day we set off the Ghent...!

more tea!

But I'll blog about that next time :)