Mark's

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Berlin, the “Grey City”

Since I used up the max. character count in my Insta post, I thought I’d share my L5 here. Liked: I love war history, so walking through this infamous city is intriguing and eerie.  Loathed: The German stare. They look at you blankly with no expression and hold that gaze. You don’t know if they like you, or hate you but they are definitely judging you in one way or another…Germans.   Laughed: Kinnon and I are playing catch in...

Home is Where the Hygge is: Copenhagen

Denmark. Ahh, my soul country! I could not wait for Denmark. It was among the top 3 countries we were venturing to. I read the “Little Book of Hygge” and “Lykke” years ago and was fascinated with the Danish culture and way of life: quiet, slow-paced, present and connected—the opposite of my ADHD personality. So here we were in the Danish capital, Copenhagen and it lived up to my expectations. First off, it is hard to believe that 1.4 million...

Residence

You don’t know how much of an impact your place of residence, even if temporary has on you, your feelings, emotions and well-being. We have stayed in several Airbnb, hotels and homes away from home long before this adventure, but the one difference was, that we had a home to go back to. Not having a home with all the comforts it provides, is unsettling. We miss our beds, pillows and blankets, our rooms of retreat and quiet we each...

London, the NY of the UK

London. A city where everyone has a preconceived idea of what it is: larger than life, the central point of modern-day societies (literally Greenwich borough is longitude zero) and the significance, good and bad that surrounds it. Music, movies and media all propel this fantasy of London, England or “The Big Smoke” (a legal fog caused by coal burning).  While London is an interesting city, it is just another city to me that makes me claustrophobic. Seeing Big Ben, Parliament...

If The Streets Could Talk: Belfast

Belfast, Northern Ireland. If a city could talk, this one could tell a story. You can feel the animosity and see the wounds of the city: the 45′ peace wall, freedom corner, murals of fallen “soldiers” and the list goes on. You can tell it has tried to move on but Irish people hold tightly to their past. It is very different than Dublin, as the city has adopted more Western building styles. Not sure if it is better, but...