Meeting up with Mariette

Reunited and it feels SO GOOD

Look at me pretending to know how to read

Modern art? I thought it was a stripper pole! Hyuk Hyuk!

How wonderful is it, after 2 and a half months of traveling alone...to see a familiar face? Especially that of my sister! Mariette and I met in London on the 30th. It was so, so great to see her again. I haven't even seen her since June...which is way too long to go without seeing my sister. Seriously. My parents flew her out as her birthday/christmas gift, and i'm so happy they did. It's so much fun to travel together...even if we do squabble a bit. I'm sure you'll notice some changes to my blog from now on because...My sister loves taking photos...you lucky people! You'll now be assualted with loads of photos of me, instead of the crudely drawn cartoons you've grown accustomed to (just kidding). It's actually really nice having her here...although I hate taking photos, I like looking at them, and I HAVE taken some myself...but my sister goes nuts. She's taken more than 300 photos in 4 days. Yes. That is my sister. Different, no?

So anyways, we both flew into London, she from Portland, me from Lisbon. We met in the tube at the airport, and it was so nice to be able to TALK to someone. We chatted the whole tube ride, and I couldn't stop grinning. It was like I forgot what it was like to be able to have a conversation. It was great.

We didn't have that long in London so we hit up the Tate Modern, a modern art museum that I really liked last time we went there. There was a lot of different stuff than there was four years ago, so that was really cool. I saw a quote from Picasso that I really, really liked.

"Art washes from the soul the dust of everyday life."

I just thought that was really beautiful. We spent a couple hours there (I snuck in some crunchy cheetos. They only have puffed cheetos over here, and as weird as it is, the crunchy ones were something I really craved. They totally taste different! No, Cindy, unfortunately they weren't cheddar jalapeno ones. I had asked my sister for those, but she couldn't find them (a snowstorm is no excuse!). Anyways, the crunchy cheetos were amazing. A little, bright orange, cheesy taste of home.)

We left that night for Edinburgh on an overnight bus. I'm not going to lie...the overnight bus was so terrible. We were crammed up so tight, it was so uncomfortable, and I was sitting next to two people who admitted they were mental patients. Oh really? Thaaaaaat's nice....?