Berlin Wall

We went on a 4-day class trip to Berlin last week, and even though the sky was grey and gloomy almost the whole time we had a blast! I don't think it really mattered where we were to be honest, we would've had fun anywhere.

The days were filled with laughter, too much beer and far too little sleep, so i've been a bit of a zombie this past week. My bed is the most appealing thing to me right now and i can't wait to finally be able to sleep in tomorrow, it's all i've been looking forward to for days.

I was planning on taking lots of photos while we were there but on the one day where the weather was actually decent, i'd decided not to take my camera with me as it just meant additional weight on my already sore shoulder. I did take it along on our last morning when we went to the East Side Gallery and took some touristy shots of the Berlin wall. I hope you enjoy!

Madrid

During the easter holidays i not only went to Vienna with my mother but also visited my older stepsister in Madrid with my father's side of the family. She is doing an erasmus year abroad there at the moment and was really excited to show us around the city.

When stepping off the plane we were greeted by the warm spain air and i could not have been happier. The weather got better and better with each day, it honestly felt like summer. We spend 4 amazing days there, relaxed and full of laughter. What better than to explore such a beautiful city with the people you love, especially when the sun is shinning?

I absolutely fell in love with Madrid, it is incredibly vibrant, the people are friendly and the architecture is just gorgeous. Everything seems to be following a different clock there, slower and therefore less stressful. This feeling is only intensified by the fact that spanish people have lunch and dinner much later than we generally do, the shops are therefore open for longer (10 pm!) and you will still find people on the streets at 1 in the morning wherever you go.

Having someone with us who already knew the city was a blessing, no walking around planlessly or wasting time visiting places that, eventually, weren't worth it. It was great not really having to worry about planing much for the day ahead as we usually just did a "cultural" activity in the mornings and then strolled around the city for the rest of the day. 

For food there were two places which really stayed in my mind even days after we went there, Lateral and the Mercado San Miguel. After a slightly disappointing tapas dinner the first night we managed to get a table at Lateral the following day for lunch and the food was just heavenly. We ordered all sorts of different tapas but the avocado tartare with salmon and the grilled goat cheese salad were simply divine. However, all of their tapas were delicious and even the ice cream my dad had there a few days later seemed to have been really good.

Also tapas but in a slightly different setting is what you can get at the Mercados San Miguel. The market is situated right in the centre of the city, inside a metal "builduing". They have every type of food your heart could ever desire: from fresh juice to meat in all shapes and forms, pasta and traditional spanish cuisine as well as a huge selection of sweet pastries and dessert. Most things are sold in small portions, so it is a bit like eating tapas, just with much more variety. I had the most delicious mozarella toast there, as well as some kind of baby fish which looks and is eaten like pasta. The amount of choices can be a bit overwhelming and it can get quite crowded, but the quality of the food is so worth it!

Overall we had an amazing time and i'd love to visit this incredible city again as soon as possible.

Vienna

My mum and i had been planning to go to Vienna together for over two years now but somehow, something always got in the way. As we're not going on summer holidays together this year because it was too difficult to find a week where we'd all be free, we decided to take a 5 day trip to Vienna instead. 

Something about this city has just always drawn me to it, i love how long of a history it has (plenty old buildings to admire!), Austrians are some of the friendliest people i've met (in general) and i swoon just thinking about austrian food; Kaiserschmarren, Wiener Schnitzel, Apfelstrudel,...

People definitely aren't exaggerating when they say that Vienna is like an open-air museum, the buildings are just too gorgeous to be true and i honestly couldn't find a single "ugly" street.

We went to all of the touristy sights such as Schönbrunn palace, the Spanish Riding School and the Hundertwasser house but also went to a few museums which aren't quite as popular. 

I particularly loved the Hundertwasser house it is just so different to any other house i've seen before. It looks as if it was straight out of a fairy tale, trees are growing on the roof, not a single line is completely straight and there are mosaics incorporated everywhere. The people in the small cafe where you can watch a movie about the house were so incredibly friendly and seemed to be living in a whole different world. I love how dreamy and carefree the whole house looks and that the apartments aren't expensive at all and are only rented to people who don't earn too much money.

They have this thing where you can rent a bike for only 1€/hour and there are drop-off spots almost everywhere across the city, so when the weather was nice on tuesday we drove along the Ringstraße with our bikes. There are bicycle paths all across the city so it is very easy to get around that way, i would definitely recommend renting a bike if you visit. You see so much more of the city that way and it is perfect to go to the Danube Island, which we did on the last day we were there. That was probably my favourite day, we had breakfast at noon, drove around for a bit and got a Würstl (sausage) for lunch. Then we still had a few hours left before we had to leave so we just strolled around the Mariahilferstraße, which is probably the longest shopping street i've ever seen, it is huge! We also had some of the best ice cream i've ever tasted at Eis Greissler, and i am not an ice cream lover at all.

In general, the food was a definite standout for me, i honestly didn't have a single bad meal while we were in Vienna. The breakfast at the hotel was ok but other than that, everything was crazy delicious.

Even the sushi my mum and i had on sunday night when no other place was open and we were starving was pretty good and by the look of the restaurant, i was seriously scared i'd get food poisoning.

Food

Neni am Naschmarkt

You can see my meal at Neni on the 4th picture, it was sooo delicious, the hummus was super creamy and the falafels tasted amazing. Their pita bread was really tasty too and don't miss the homemade ice tea. We went back there for breakfast on friday which was pretty good as well, but nothing compared to their lunch and dinner menu.

Heindl's Palatschinkenpfandl

If you're looking for a good Kaiserschmarren, go to Heindl's Palatschinkenpfandl. We went there twice, just because it is so good, the best Kaiserschmarrn i've eaten in my life, and i've probably tried it at every restaurant on skiing holidays. They are technically known for their Palatschinken, the austrian term for crêpes, which they offer with what seems like a hundred different fillings, both savory and sweet. We tried some of those on our first visit nut while they were really good, the Kaiserschmarrn was the highlight for us and i can't have two crêpes and a Kaiserschmarren, that's just too much.

Zweitbester

We only went to this restaurant because there weren't any tables available at Neni but i'm so glad we did. The athmosphere is really relaxed as it is both a bar and a restaurant at the same time, the waitress was incredibly friendly and answered to all of our questions and the food was out of this world delicious. You can watch the chef prepare your plate which he did with such devotion, it was admirable. I had a rubarb and rocket salad with pear and grilled goat cheese, the flavours were really different and interesting and played perfectly together. For desert i had their sticky date pudding with caramelized bananas.so.delicious. The cake melted in your mouth and the bananas were the perfect addition to make the dish a little different. My brother had their creme brulée which was huuge, honestly, and it seemed to be quite delicious too. Overall a definite winner in my books.

Cupcakes Wien

We discovered this shop by accident as i had to go to the bathroom so we went into the MUMOK (museum of modern art) and had to walk past this little cafe where they serve -as if the name didn't tell- cupcakes. They looked just too pretty to pass by so my brother and i both got one. I had the blueberry-chocolate one which was really yummy. The frosting was very fruity and not too heavy as it was made out of cream cheese instead of buttercream and the cake was moist and rich, with bursting blueberries all through it. They have two other shops in Vienna too but this is probably the one where you're most likely to walk past as it's right in the Museumsquartier.

Bitzinger Würstelstand

It really is a must to have a sausage at one of the numerous sausage stands while in Vienna, so finally, on the last day we did just that. The Bitzinger is one of the oldest and most popular ones and as it is right next to the Albertina museum, it is right in the centre of town. I wasn't all too excited about our lunch plans that day (there are many many things i prefer to eat than sausages) but i was positively surprised. I ordered the Bosna which is just a regular sausage in one of their huge bread rolls, topped with mustard, cilantro, onions and curry powder. The cilantro was just perfect on there and i'd very much recommend you try this slightly more unusual sausage if you get the chance too.

These were definitely my highlights in terms of food places but as i've already said, everything i ate in Vienna was really good. I didn't even get to all of the restaurants and bakeries i wanted to try so i guess i'll have to go back some day.

Vienna is such a relaxed, beautiful city and i can imagine it to be even better during the summer when you can just lay around in one of the numerous parks, enjoying the sun and perhaps some of that delicious ice cream. While it can't compete with the love i have for Berlin and Melbourne, Vienna definitely holds a place in my heart.

2013

I know i'm a bit late on the whole "review of 2013"-post-train but i believe it's never too late for me to talk about what has probably been the most defining year of my life so far.

2013 was full of changes. I encountered some of the most challenging situations i'd ever had to face, one of them being alone on the other side of the world for 6 whole months.

Going on exchange was one of the best decisions i've ever made, it taught me so much more than i would've ever expected. Not only did it give me experiences and memories i'll never forget, i simply came back a different person.

I'm not trying to say that i'm all grown up and wise now, but i've just come to realize how lucky i am.

My family & friends support me in everything I do, they accept and love me just the way i am and, most importantly, they're always there to catch me when i fall into a deep hole of over-analyzing and self-doubt.

I have the incredible chance to be healthy, live without any serious financial worries, do well at school without having to work my a** of, and most of all, even though I don't always feel confident about myself, be appreciated for the person i am.

If anyone had told me a year ago how much i will have experienced by the end of 2013, i would've straight-up laughed at them. Of course i was expecting to have a great time in Australia, but i didn't imagine those 5 months to change me in the way they did.

No words can describe the way i feel when i look back at 2013. Happy with a hint of nostalgia because i know these things lie in the past now, thankful for even the hardest times as they've only made me stronger - and a part of me is afraid. Afraid that 2014 won't be able to live up to 2013, afraid that it doesn't hold anything for me except for the feeling of having wasted a whole year.

I do know how foolish it is to say this when i have 12 months in front of me to make something of it, but somehow i feel like i simply don't deserve another year as great as the last one. It seems obvious to me that it is somebody else's time to shine now.

However, while that part of me tends to win the overhand at times, i am not going to let it keep me from making the most of this year. Our lives are not decided by destiny - we decide about our own destiny.

As no "new year" post is complete without a set of resolutions, here are mine:

become at ease in my own body - by being active and eating healthy, but more so by appreciating the body i have

reduce the amount of over-thinking and over-analyzing that i tend to do

stop trying to force love and relationships - whatever is supposed to happen, will happen, when it happens

accept that i am not perfect, nor do i need to make everybody happy all the time.put myself first when it's necessary

take care of myself as much as i do of others

I wouldn't technically call these my resolutions for 2014 in that I want to have accomplished all of them by the end of 2014 - it seems extremely silly to me to put a time-limit on resolutions like these. Most people tend to set unrealistic goals for themselves and then feel like they've accomplished nothing just because they didn't achieve them. so what if by next year i will still worry to much about having or not having a boyfriend than is healthy - i'm sure there will be enough other "accomplishments" over the course of a year to make up for it.

These are areas that I wan't to focus on working on during the coming year - not a list I want to have ticked of.

I hope you all have the best year 2014 you could wish for and that you don't let tough times bring you down. you'll always come out he other side, and chances are, you'll come out stronger!

Cheers!

TURKEY

various valleys in cappadocia

this guy followed us for a whole day

view from our first camp site

taurus mountains

finally - the ocean

mosques in Istanbul

egyptian spice market

Just a few of over a thousand pictures i took on our trip to turkey. So the amount of pictures i took is thenreason why it's taken me so long to upload this post - do you know how tiring it is to look through hundreds and hundreds of pictures of rocks that somehow all look the same? 

I always seem to end up with a ton of photos from a holiday that look soo much alike, yet aren't exactely the same, so then i sit there trying to figure out which ones i should even bother with editing. These are the life changing decisions!

Now back to what is post is supposed to be about: my trekking holidays in Turkey.

This trip is up there with Australia and Berlin as my third-favourite holiday ever! It was just simply amazing, we saw so many different, incredibly beautiful landscapes, enjoyed a lot of sun and I can't even begin to tell you about the food! 

I mean you have to understand that i'm obsessed with food. I spend probably at least 2 hours every day looking at recipes, thinking about what recipes I should cook next and, most importantly, when am i going to eat next? 

So food for me is a pretty important part of a culture and in my opinion, it tells you a lot about the way the people are in that country.

Turkish people eat a lot of meat and they drink a shit ton of black tea! Like i had about 5 cups of tea per day during the first week until I got sick of it. They also don't really seem to know that you can actually just eat a main course for lunch instead of salad, soup, bread, main course, dessert, tea.

As we did walk quite a lot, it was probably for the better that we got to eat so many different courses. Which was mainly my excuse to eat everything that was on my plate while others only ate half of it, i need the energy,ok?

Those were the only (somewhat) downsides for me about turkish food though, while the meals we had almost always consisted of meat and vegetables, the spices and the technique they used to cook them made everything different. There was so much flavour in every single dish, no way to leave anything on the plate(well for me at least)!

I did miss one thing htough: pasta. So much that I had it 5 times in the first 3 days after we got back.

What i loved most about trip is that we got to visit so many parts of turkey instead of just the mountains or the seaside. I am really glad though that we never walked for too long on the seaside, it was soo incredibly hot and humid! 

Overall, these where one of the best holidays i've had so far!