London!

From Kat:

In my experience traveling abroad, I generally haven't had trouble adjusting to cultural standards. But Seattle has trained me too well. Ahhhhhhhhhh, I finally got to walk with a cup of coffee today in London. In Paris, people don't do that. I don't think they even make to-go cups, except maybe at Starbucks (but I won't stoop that low). Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love the idea of sitting and enjoying a cup of coffee for an hour or two, or many. In fact, I think Seattleites are especially good at that. But sometimes you can't beat that comfort of walking around a big city, warm cardboard cup in hand. Downside: England isn't exactly known for its coffee. In fact, the person who made my latte today didn't steam any new milk or pull any new espresso shots........but! Bad latte in hand is still latte in hand. I was content.

We've been eating in a lot of pubs, and loving it. The food fills you up, and the people are interesting and friendly. The cuisine here is really its own thing. You think it resembles something you know (like a quesadilla, for example), and then you realize it's made with duck. (Naturally.) But we've had some great meals. As an appetizer yesterday, I had toasted ciabatta bread with a mix of olives. We took a picture because, yum. I know that's not specific to England, but...I love olives, and there were a ton, so for me it was perfect. Things I love in life (in order):

1) People

2) Cats

3) Olives

There's a cool, old cemetery across the street from our apartment, so we went to take pictures there this evening. Notice the abandoned shoe in this first one. Hmm. A lot of the gravestones are all crumbly, and a few have fallen over, potentially because of the fence they seem to have recently put up around it.

I got to have a delicious picnic with Ben the last night in Paris. Baguette, ham, cheese, brie, strawberries, peaches, wine, nutella, cookies. Parfait.