When you come back from holiday, everyone asks you what your highlight was, like you have to choose one thing to be the favourite. That’s way too hard for me to do. A better thing to ask would be, ‘What was your favourite food?’ Although in my particular case, that would probably be a toss-up as well, between the amazing pork buns at Momofuku Noodle Bar in New York and Daniel, also in New York. The Pintxos in Barcelona would get a highly commended badge, as would the melon and ham in France. I have no idea who thought of putting those two things together but the result is yummo.
Blogs can’t survive on food alone… (unless you’re that Julie and Julia one) and the headline of this suggests other highlights as well, so here they…
The Guided Walking Tour.
Pre this holiday I wasn’t so keen on the idea of the guided walking tour. I thought ‘what’s the point of that?’ when I can walk around at my own pace and look at stuff. But walking around by yourself doesn’t get you those wonderful little gems of information that you would never ever know unless a local told you about it. It also means you don’t get to see things that might be a little off the beaten track. The guided walking tour is my new favourite thing. If you’re going on holiday soon, find one and join in.
Barcelona
History and accessibility aside, the thing that stands out for me about Barcelona is that it’s a town that likes tourists. Since the town had to tidy itself up for the 1992 Olympics, it’s had a mega influx of tourists and Barcelona welcomes them all with open arms and open shops, and that’s pretty cool.
Apt
Think about the French country side for a minute. Get that picture in your head about what the fields looks like with fruit tress and lavender and vineyards. Imagine the streets and the café’s with their cobbled streets and painted shutters. Think about those French movies you’ve seen where everything looks romantic and ‘French’. That’s exactly what Apt is like. It’s like a movie set of prettiness and wonderful, and I should have stayed longer.
London
For me London is like an old friend who’s moved to a new house. It had been 12 years since I lived there, so I had a whole lot of familiarity mixed with a bunch of new and I loved it. Even the weather behaved itself, which Londoners kept apologising for, which is kind of funny.
New York
I had wanted to visit New York ever since my brother came back from there years ago saying it was ‘awesome’. I find myself watching TV shows now that are set in New York and think, I know where that is, and I also find myself thinking about what I’ll do next time I go. For an island that is only 10 k’s long, Manhattan packs a big punch…and it did have my favourite foods, so I’ll have to go back right?
The Chronicles of Pania 