From London to Brugge via the Highlands and Paris. (Never trust a GPS)

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Hey folks,

Once again in took me ages to give some news. Sorry mom and dad... and the five other people reading this thing. Not always easy to find the motivation to go inside an Internet Cafe when the weather is stunning like it was for the last month. We got one day of rain. Anyway, we are now in the beautiful city for the second time in least that a year. Some say it is the biggest tourist trap of Europe. Myself, I like to relate to Brugge has a big chocolate cake. I cant never get enough. Each time, you turn around you find something new, something that is blowing your mind even more. So. How did you guys get all the way to Belgium? Where you not in London the last time you wrote something? That is the best part of the last month....

After a too short stay in London. One of my favorite cities in the world, we went up to Nottingham. There were way less tourist and it gives us a much needed break. London was all we could wish for. It was full of live and the museum were still amazing and free and the Ales were as good as you can get them. Nottingham was what Nottingham is: quiet, charming with his caves, the oldest pub in England, Robin Hood and some nice people. We had fun watching some football with locals and listening to some old guy about how they used the caves in the past.

The two next and last stops in England were York and Newcastle upon Tyne. Two very different city. York is packed with tourist for I dont know why and Newcastle has a brilliant vibe, but again, no real tourist attraction. Well, I really wanted to know why people are going to York and decided last minute to go. We found a host for one night, so we had to rush things up. We did have a lovely walk at night seeing most of the major monument. We also visit a great micro breweries which I love and discuss with some locals why peoples love their town. And... I do get why now. It is just lovely. It is an older and bigger version of Quebec city old town. Walking on the walls was great. The nightlife looked like it never shut down and the people where very friendly even though they have to share their town with millions of visitor. I think Parisian can learn something from them. Newcastle upon Tyne, well, I did not really seen much. We had a random night with many people the first day and made a small road trip to the Hadrian Wall the next day. There is many funky bridges. That is all I can say.

The next two weeks were amazing to say the less. We started up in Edinburgh before going around Scotland to Skye and back down to Glasgow. In Edinburgh, we enjoy some sport with our host and hick up Arthur seat. We also spend a lot of time shopping for a blanket and walking the Royal Mile. We then visit St. Andrews and walk on the golf club bridge. Watch an Scottish Premier League football in Dundee, which Chloe hate, taste the nightlife of Aberdeen and hike around the Loch Ness from Inverness. I really enjoy my day out to the Loch Ness. I was happily surprised because our visit to the Loch Ness was one of my deception last year. This time the weather was fantastic, I enjoy my visit of the Urquhart Castle and again didn't catch the freaking monster... will try again.

Next, was the stunning Isle of Skye. I had enormous expectation and even though it did not reach the standard I expected, I was not disappointed. Watching the sun go down in the evening over a loch is one of the pretties thing in this world. We would have love to have a car to visit more, but got to see some of the many wonders of the island by bus. Great place.

Our two last destinations in Scotland were Stirling and Glasgow. We only visit Stirling because we had nowhere to stay in Glencoe and Chloe thought it was still too cold to sleep outside. Glencoe is one of the reasons I went to Scotland and I am very disappointed we missed it. Will have to go back. Stirling is a nice student town with a nice castle that we visited ... last year. We had fun with our host and had a great night out in Glasgow from Stirling. It was good fun and I love random things. Glasgow was better this time. The weather was again fantastic and our visit to the Loch Lomond was great. Chloe stop every peoples with a terrier to play with them and we had a lovely time. We will certainly miss the Scottish craic in the next weeks and their good whiskey.

We flew to France, Paris, well Beauvais. The actual bus ride from Beauvais took longer that the flight. We stayed at some friends that we met in Dublin two years ago for two nights and had a blast in Versailles visiting the Sunday market and love the night out on the loves quays. We then met our friend Louis from back home. We did what we normally do with him and drink. Again, he went out is way to make sure we had a great time with him. I cant wait to see you and your girlfriend in the Balkan this summer. We then, when up to Calais and enjoy the best spring ever on the beaches for two days. Our last stop in France was Lille where we met an awesome girl who bring us to Belgium to see the last concert of Manau. For the once who dont know Manau, it is not a bad thing. He only made one big hit 20 years ago. We mostly went there because we were surprised he was still alive.

We are now in Belgium. Country of the waffle. the french fries, the chocolate and the best beers. I will write more about our time over here in the next days. I swear, I will write more.

Till then,

Nick

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Comments

[Julien Fortier-Chicoine]

Go for it...
Just a small thumbs up from a old friend...Proud of you bro.