LNDN! Day 4

This was my first day "all by myself".
Domi left for work at 7 AM, which was too early for me to get up, and so I slept until about 10 AM.

Then I got up, made some breakfast and talked with Carlos before preparing myself for my first walk around "town".

I bought the weekly top-up for my Oyster Card, so I was good to go, first on the bus, and then I took the Jubilee Line from Canary Wharf to Waterloo and then the Bakerloo or Northern Line to Charing Cross, where my walk started.

from my travel guide MERIAN LIVE - SPAZIERGÄNGE IN LONDON

The travel guide provides a small map with the directions with each walk, so you always have an overview where you're about to go.

I chose Walk #1 for my first day (actually I wanted to start at the end, but then my inner self was against it, for I normally love when things are done in the right order!).

The topic of this walk was "Monarchy & Power" and it goes through Westminster City.

Very brief description of my walk:

You start off at Trafalgar Square with the National Gallery.

National Gallery

Trafalgar Square

Video I took in St Martin's Church

Then you walk down Whitehall, where you have different buildings, such as e.g. the Banqueting Hall, the Horse Guard's (building). You also pass famous Downing Street, but it's all locked up, so there was not much to see. After that, you go to Big Ben, and you can see the London Eye (but you only look at it from afar when standing on Westminster Bridge), the Houses of Parliament.

Horse Guard and random woman

Downing Street 

London Eye + London Aquarium

Then you pass Westminster Abbey and St Margaret's Church (which is very beautiful!), the Jewel Tower (which is tiny..), Dean's Yard (with the private school... very cute kids there!).
Afterwards, you walk through St James's Park, a beautiful park with lots of squirrels, geese, ducks and they even have pelicans!!
After leaving St James's Park, you see (and go to) Buckingham Palace and the Queen Victoria Memorial.
Finally you take The Mall back, seeing Clarence House (where Prince Charles and Camilla live (or used to live?)), the Admiralty Arch, and back to Charing Cross.

St James's Park

Buckingham Palace + Queen Victoria Memorial

Soulja Boyyy.... YOUUUUUU

Westminster Abbey

This was quite a lot to take in on my first day, for I haven't seen ANYTHING of London until that day.

If you only have a very limited time in London, I'd suggest you do this walk, for it covers a lot of the typical sights everyone knows all around the world!
However, if you're not very athletic, then keep in mind, that it takes quite some strength to walk around for 3 hours, so take you're Nike Airmax, or any other comfortable shoes with you, for I only had shoes with me that are too big for my feet (never really noticed it though, but you do, once you're forced to walk around for 3 hours!!).

I had such a huge back pain in the evening, but well... that's what happens when you rarely exercise... ok who am I kidding: NEVER exercise!

In the evening I went to good old Lidl in Limehouse, and for that I took the bus from Mile End.
There must be a huge number of Indian/Pakistani people in that area.. at least that's what I felt! So again: A whole other atmosphere there!

In Lidl I bought some "typical German Egg Spätzle" (this is what was written on the packaging), and those are "noodles" which are often prepared in Southern Germany.

For dinner I made Spätzle, diced chicken breast, cherry tomatoes and champignons in a self-made cream sauce.

Cooking

Not even Instagram could make it look more like it did in reality (it looked delicious!!!) :(

So that's basically it!

The next episode might take a couple of days, however: Stay tuned!!

x J.

BRLN!

I decided to squeeze in just a quick post about my trip to dirty BERLIN.

Everyone there actually looks like they participated in Macklemore's "Thrift Shop" video, and Berlin looks like a huge, grey, dirty place... really trashy, and alternative, but this basically is the charm of Berlin! Take it or leave it.

I went there last Friday (which is ALREADY a week ago! Feels like yesterday to me..), and I met my friend from Paris -who lives and studies in Hamburg though- Anna at the Bus stop in Berlin.

Let me tell you a quick story about the fabulous(ly cheap!) FlixBus you can use in Germany to get from A to B. Ticket prices start from 1€ (if you're really lucky), but I paid 30€ for my roundtrip, so that's still cheap!

However, don't forget about your human needs.. YES! It won't come in handy, if you really have to go to the restroom during your ride (and I was stuck in that bus for 6h... ok we had 2 stops, but still!!! 6h 'til the next "real" restroom).

From Hannover to Berlin (which took about 3h) I was in my seat and didn't know what to do.

"WELL, DUH, USE THE BUS TOILET!!"

NIET! I didn't because:

a) it's SO TINY! The bus driver himself said, everyone over shoe size 6 will have to go in there backwards (say whaaat, I'm a size 9!!!) and then most importantly 

B) The bus driver asked us not to frequent the toilet too often, for it could OVERFLOW!!! WAAAAHHHHH IMAGINE! You already feel bad enough having to go to the tiny toilet and then you're kind of relieved (I guess..) and then the toilet's full!!

Omg.. didn't want to risk that. So I sat there for 3h, having the biggest stomach ache of my life (I wasn't sure if I'd be able to walk, once we arrive in Berlin...), but hey! I survived!

So, you better think twice, if you can handle it! 

However, I have a few hints to give you, to make your bus ride as comfy as possible.. but more about this later on!

The service in there was as fantastic as it can possibly get in a bus though: They offered free Wifi, the two bus drivers were funny, and you could also buy drinks and snacks on board if you wanted.
They didn't show a movie though, what made me kind of sad.. probably would have been a good distraction of my situation the last three hours.

Anyway...

Anna and I met in Berlin, easily found the metro/tube/underground station, and took the underground to Rosenthaler Platz in Berlin Mitte (which is basically not far from Alexanderplatz, and in the heart of Berlin), to visit our friend Pedro, who now lives there.

We originally met him by coincidence in a metro station in Paris, and he's originally from Barcelona, but has lived (as I've already mentioned) in Paris and now in Berlin.

He fetched us at the underground station and his beaaaaautiful apartment was just a few steps away.

We basically talked a lot for we haven't seen each other in a very long time and in the evening his other friend from Barcelona - Jaume - came (for he currently sort of lives with Pedro until he finds his own place).

Then, we went out for dinner in a Sushi restaurant (AOKI) right next to Pedro's building and it tasted AMAAAZINNGGGG!!!

In AOKI

Overestimated the amount of Sushi I'll get.. wanted more!!

Afterwards, we prepared ourselves to go out to "SISYPHOS".

in Pedro's bathroom haha

However, we ended up in "WATERGATE" later on and stayed there until the early morning!

Watergate was really awesomeeeeee, for they played dope electro music (like almost any other club in Berlin)! 

Sadly on our way home it rained like there's no tomorrow, but we got home quite dry haha

The next day we just slept, and rested at the apartment. 

Like I said: You have to take or leave the Berlin charm. We left it where it is haha

Pedro cooked something for breakfast/lunch for us his specialty: Genuine Italian Pasta with Pesto Genovese, Parmigiano regiano and truffle oil!! It was so DELISH!!!

Pasta à la Pedrito

Later on I went outside with Pedro though to stroll around and look through some boutiques, and there were even some vintage stores I saw on the TV show "Shopping Queen"! So I was pretty excited, but the things there weren't that nice... actually they were pretty ugly! I've seen better thrift shops.

I thought this looked nice!

However, Pedro found something he really likes in a small boutique, and I call it: "The Harry Potter look" hahahaha 

But it looks good on him though!

In the evening, we were back at Aoki's, and this time we -Anna and I - ordered more Sushi than the day before, and again, the food was amazing!

Ru-Salmon-InsideOut + Tuna-Asparagus-InsideOut+EbiMaki I think.. but I'm not sure.. or California Maki

Later, another friend - Markus aka LA DIVA- of Jaume and Pedro came to Pedro's place.

We then all had fun using the Photobooth on Jaume's Macbook.

Normal Us

Doing the MILEY CYRUS

Photo Booth madness

Do the VOGUE

Then we went to another (gay) club, which was quite an experience hahaha we felt like the young Carrie in "The Carrie Diaries"! But to be honest: Where else can you find music by Cher, Madonna, the Spice Girls and Britney Spears in the club??? :p

We enjoyed ourselves big time, but went home at around 5, for we had to get up early the next morning to go back home.

SchwuZ

So, when we got up, Anna and I went down to Aoki's again and got our breakfast/lunch there

Mine is the upper one: Makarel Maki, California Maki, Spicy Ebi Maki
Anna's: Makarel Maki, Surimi Maki (that's what I think!) and Octopus Nigiri

Then we left Pedro's at around 2 PM, which was just in time, for we were surprised it took us 45 minutes to get to the bus station!

At around 3 PM it was time to say goodbye also for Anna and me, and our ways parted...

Then -you know what it is- my toilet-fear was back on track! 

However, I found some helpful hints to make your every bus trip better:

1) Bring a little snack! It's not good to travel on a (nearly) empty stomach (I guess that's why I felt ill on my way to Berlin, probably was hungry!!!!). I had small crackers which I also ate during my trip!

2) Bring a travel neck pillow if you can! My main activity in the bus was sleeping, and I had nothing even close to a pillow with me... But I can sleep anywhere!

3) Bring a book, or a movie, or your Game Boy, or a magazine, or your studying material with you! You'll easily get bored (I underestimated how quickly 6 h pass by... it does take a while!)

4) Bring enough to drink and chewing gum/mints with you

5) Go to the restroom BEFORE you get on the bus, even if you don't really have to: It has a psychologic effect, because your body thinks "Oh, I don't have to go to the restroom, I was just a couple of minutes ago!" (At least that was my impression...)

6) Best is going on a bus ride when you're tired: Sleeping is the best way to pass your time!

All in all I had a fantastic weekend, and it's kind of hard being back to school now, but I guess that's life, and that is what makes traveling so special: You don't do it every day!

So: Safe trip, and just go somewhere you always wanted to go for a weekend, especially when it is "just around the corner" :)

x J.

LNDN! Day 3

Day 3 was not very spectacular, for we slept quite long after returning early in the morning after TIGERTIGER.

We walked to Greenwich Market with Domi's roommates Izabela and Carlos.

London is very famous for its different markets in different areas of the city.

The oldest pub on the Isle of Dogs (and a part of my finger in the upper left corner), which we saw on our way to Greenwich Market

To get to Greenwich, you have to pass below the river Thames. BELOW??? Yes, below! They constructed an under"river" tunnel for pedestrians, to get from the Isle of Dogs to Greenwich.

It's not really my thing to walk underground, especially not when I know there's this mighty river just above my head... However, passing beneath the river only takes about 5-10 minutes (max!), so you're out of there in no time!

Greenwich Market is a rather small market, where they mostly have food from all over the world (Italian, Indian, Brazilian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Turkish,...), crafts, and clothes.

It was pretty packed that day, and we first went around the market, looking at the different stands and finally we bought some food (I chose portuguese food, which was rice with chorizo-something and also something with fish and olives! Was pretty good!).

Greenwich Market 

Huge Ship with a little restaurant or something underneath!

Then we went to the Old Royal Naval College with Izabela and Carlos, and Carlos showed us a bit around!

Old Royal Naval College

In one part of the Old Royal Naval College

Afterwards, Domi and I went to the famous Greenwich Meridian, where people were standing in a long line, waiting to have their photo taken on the line that parts the world's east and west.

View from a bit higher than the Greenwich Meridian (we didn't wait in line for a picture)

That was basically our day. Pretty relaxed, for we were both tired from dancing the night before and Domi also had to get up early the next morning to go to work.

Tomorrow, I will post something about my first walk alone in the big city.

So stay tuned!

x J.

LNDN! Day 1 + 2

Hello my dear friends,

this is the beginning of my "LNDN" series, where I write about my week and a half in LONDON!

So, the reason why I went to London is, because my boyfriend moved there in August to start his internship in a big, globally known investment bank located in Canary Wharf (I am very proud of him!) and so now he lives there until February.

He also gave me the tickets to come visit him as a present, so I booked my flight from FRA - LHR on September 27, at 7 PM (because I thought I would have my last day of my internship on that day..), and it was a pretty short flight (maybe 1 1/2 hours?).

Once I got there, Domi -my boyfriend- picked me up and we went home taking the tube.

The view out of his apartment (or rather from the balcony of his apartment) is pretty AMAZEBALLS as you'll see on the following pictures...

View on 
Canary Wharf and the river Thames at night

View on Canary Wharf and the river Thames during the day

So, then -for it was really late at night when we arrived back at his place- there's not much to say. He cooked something for us, and then we went to sleep.

The next morning, we got up quite early to go for a walk....

Domi also gave me a travel guide from Merian live called "Spaziergänge in London"(which basically means "walks through London", and Merian is the publishing company), so I won't get bored while I stay in London and he's at work.

This travel guide contains 10 walks through London, in 10 different areas, which sometimes overlap though, because you cannot avoid walking past a place you've been to while being on another walk, and the walks also have different themes.

Walk 1 is called "Monarchie & Macht" = "Monarchy & Power"

Area: City of Westminster

Walk 2: "Märkte, Gaukler & Artisten" = "Markets, Jugglers & Artists"

Area: Covent Garden & Soho

Walk 3: "'Die Straße der Tinte im Wandel'" = "The 'Street of Ink through the ages'"

Area: Fleet Street

Walk 4: "Über die Themse zum Tower" = "From the Thames to the Tower"

Area: Bankside

Walk 5: "Ein letzter Winkel 'Old England'" = "The last corner of 'Old England'"

Area: St James's & Mayfair 

Walk 6: "Grüne Oase im Herzen der Stadt" = "Green Oasis in the Heart of the City"

Area: Hyde Park & Kensington Gardens

Walk 7: "Literaten, Radikale & Kreuzritter" = "Writers, Radicals & Crusaders"

Area: Bloomsbury & Clerkenwell

Walk 8: "Bunte Häuser und noble Villen" = "Colorful Houses & noble Mansions"

Area: Notting Hill

Walk 9: "Von Harrods nach Albertopolis" = "From Harrods to Albertopolis"

Area: Knightsbridge & Kensington

Walk 10: "Mode-Meile für 'Sloane Rangers'" = "Fashion Mile for 'Sloane Rangers'"

Area: Chelsea

I did all the walks in bold print.

And this is the travel guide:

source: www. amazon.de

We chose to do something similar to Walk 4, but we didn't really follow the route!

We got out at London Bridge station, starting off going to the Borough Market and then we walked up to St Paul's Cathedral, and back again to London Bridge taking different routes.

Borough Market 

Borough Market 

St Paul's Cathedral

A wedding was taking place at St Paul's while we were there

A nice wall we found at Black Friar's station, on which we found Frankfurt, Darmstadt and Paris!

Later on we were supposed to meet Domi's friends from University at Trafalgar Square, to first have dinner and later go out clubbing.

Trafalgar Square

We met there, and finally found a nice Thai restaurant in Soho called Janetira (after finding out that most of London's restaurants around Trafalgar Square have a waiting time of over an hour if you show up spontaneously..).

Janetira by day

Domi already booked a table at TIGER TIGER and the service there was amazing: The waiters brought us our drinks right away and even pizza, nachos, quesadillas and chicken wings!!

We were positively surprised and spent an awesome night there!

TIGER TIGER has different dance floors: 

One on the ground floor and in the first floor where they play charts and pop music. 

Another one in a lower level where they play house music.

Another one in an even lower level where I forgot what they played (it was something I really didn't like though..).

Our table was in the first floor, so we switched between the first, the lower level (where they played house music) and the ground floor.

The club is located near Trafalgar Square where you can take a night bus back home...

yum!!!

At around 3 AM we left the club, for Domi's friends had to head to the airport to leave home!

So much for my first day(s) in London!

Stay tuned for my following posts about fabulous LONDON, when I'll post more about the city itself and say more about the walks in detail, for my first walk with Domi wasn't the "original walk" as described in the travel guide.

Hope you enjoyed the first "episode"!

x J.

Favorites!

Today I'll start posting something about my recent favorites, that I would love to recommend to everyone (or girl, depending on the product!).

1. My favorite toothpaste

...is:
Colgate - Advanced-Sensation WHITE GoPure
Purer, whiter teeth in 14 days

Price: About 2€

It has a very fresh taste and I love it!
I actually have the feeling it really whitened my teeth, but to be honest I never really had a problem having yellowish teeth (thank God!)..
However: I cannot find this toothpaste anymore! I have a feeling they took it off the market...
This actually happens to a lot of products I like!











2. My favorite body scrub

is from
"Obey Your Body"
Exfoliating body scrub, Kiwi
Repair& Renewal

Price: approx. 30€

 This is seriously an AWESOME body scrub!
It works with original dead sea minerals, and you scrub it on your body, or on your hands and it does not only exfoliate your skin, but it also makes it as soft as baby skin!
And this is a true story!

My mom and I were walking through a mall when a lady approached us, asking whether we would like to try this body scrub, and we weren't really interested, because stopping at stands is not really what we usually do, but the lady finally convinced us (honestly, she is a born sales lady!) to try it, and we were actually amazed on how it worked and how soft our skin was after trying this product! Thus, we bought it right away.

3. My favorite deodorants

The first one is this, from
FA
Sport
Invisible Power

Price: approx. 2 €

What I love about it is, that it doesn't smell that strongly from the cheap smell deodorants usually have, and this pretty decent smell fades after a few minutes, so you can also wear your perfume, without mixing it with the usual cheap smell of your deodorant!
It also does what it has to do: Prevent you from sweating, even after a long day (although I'm not that big of a sweater, I wouldn't want anyone to get a wrong impression of me..)!

The second one is from
Dove - Pure

Price (used to be): approx. 2 €

What I love about this deodorant is, that it doesn't have any smell!! And I'm really talking about NO SMELL AT ALL, not the usual "no smell"-smell.
At the same time, it protects you from sweating.

However, I am actually sad and disappointed, for they have taken it off the market in Germany!
I really wonder why...












4. My favorite "make up"

L'Oréal Paris
Nude Magique CC Cream
Anti-Rötungen (meaning against redness)

This is such a good substitute for "real" make-up, for it covers your rednesses, and gives you a fresh complexion! Also, it is a lot lighter and thus, more suitable for during daytime!
It also doesn't wear off easily, so I can really recommend this to every girl who is looking for some decent alternative to cover up smaller blemished during the day :)

Price: About 12€










I hope you found this helpful, or at least enjoyed my reviews for these products!

x J