Trip Pics: Coffee and Other Random Nonsense

Okay, last batch of pictures, I promise. :)

One of the things I love to do when I travel is try out different coffee shops. It's always interesting to see how coffee compares from one location to another. For instance, do NOT order a cappuccino at a gas station cafe in France... I don't know what was in the cup they gave me, but it certainly wasn't a cappuccino. :) (Ironically, the absolute BEST coffee I've ever had was also in France... it just wasn't a cappuccino. It was black, sludgy, caffeinated amazingness in a cup. Perhaps they just don't do milk with coffee in France -- it's straight up coffee or nothing.)

During our early-morning wait for Aunt Carol at Heathrow, we discovered Caffe Nero coffee... and at our very first stop in Guernsey, we found Costa Coffee, which I actually really loved.

I'd say that Costa Coffee is like the Starbucks of the UK... except they also have Starbucks in the UK. (Starbucks is trying to take over the world... or maybe they already have??)

Happy with my coffee from a local shop in Cobh, Ireland. (Side note: when I checked the weather for the UK before we left, I thought I'd be okay with packing just a couple light sweaters. But at the last minute, I decided to throw this purple sweater coat into my suitcase... and I'm glad I did, because it ended up being much cooler and windier than I expected, so I wore it almost every day. The hood was especially helpful with the windy conditions... and I got to dress like a purple ninja...)

Ninja...

One of our favorite coffee shops was a place called Established Coffee in Belfast. To get to it, we had to walk to a much less touristy part of the city, and then follow this narrow one-lane street to the shop. We never would've stumbled upon it had it not been for Yelp reviews and Google Maps. :)

And it was totally worth it, because THIS place definitely knew how to make a cappuccino.

Enjoying our tiny cups of amazing milk-free French coffee (except non-coffee drinker Aunt Carol, who enjoyed the bottled water :)).

A few non-coffee-related odds and ends:

Outside the Titanic Museum in Belfast. (Yes, we visited a museum about the Titanic while we were on a cruise ship vacation. But OUR ship had enough lifeboats for everyone on board... and even though the weather was a bit chilly, I'm sure the nearest iceberg was quite far away.)

Well that's just racist...

Ah, okay, that's... uh... better? (Those two shops were just a couple doors down from each other in Guernsey. :))

Chinatown in Liverpool... this is supposedly the largest Chinese gate in Europe (and possibly the largest outside of mainland China... our bus driver seemed unsure on this point :)).

Loch Lomond

Sunrise as we landed in London...

Okay, I think I've just about exhausted my collection of pictures. :) Have a great week, everyone!