New and Reunited in Belrin

Berlin marked stop 1 of 2 on our June travel itinerary. This was the first trip that was planned as a couple trip, but ended up being a trip consisting of Van, 'a Russian, an alcoholic and a princess' as Van wittily calls it, because Mark and Steve have left us for other North American cities.

 

If I had to pick one word to describe Berlin, I would use the word 'cool'. It's cool because unlike other European cities that bust with history from the Middle Ages, Berlin's most interesting history is very recent going back to WWII and the East-West Berlin segregation, hence making the history very real and relatable. What's also cool is that I got to reunite with none other than Miss Debby Gonzalez whom I haven't seen in something like 3 years! It's a crazy to think where life takes you and how people are able to connect and reconnect years later thousands of miles away from home.

 

Having arrived 10 pm Friday night, we dropped our stuff off at the hostel and went straight into the party mode. I should also add that it was my first time staying at a hostel, and it was not terrifying as my inexperienced mind imagined. We were at the Plus Berlin hostel located in a humongous maze of a building decorated with artwork, from very standard to quite bizarre, which was very interesting. The best feature of the hostel IMO was a courtyard with real cuddly bunnies! I contemplated about stealing the cute black one, but Vi was trying to catch him, and he wasn't having it.

 

We were staying in East Berlin quite close to all the clubs, and the night scene was crazy! Hundreds of people walking around on the streets downing beer and liquor, to get themselves pumped for techno clubs that will stay opened into the morning hours. We later found out that the best parties in Berlin in fact start at 8 pm and go into the night. Now I've been to some party cities around the globe, but this is the most extreme I've ever seen it! We shall see how Ibiza compares to that later this summer...The crowd style reflects their non fussy approach to drinking. People are super casual, and if you see a girl in heels or a skirt, she must be a tourist. In fact, we've seen people being turned away from the clubs for being too overdressed - a concept totally foreign to what what I'm used to lol.

 

Our destination for the night was Watergate, Berlin's top techno party place and one of the top rated clubs in the world (somewhere between 5 and 30 by Vi's stats). The club was totally cool - it is located on the water giving fantastic views of the river and a picturesque bridge. Inside, it is 2 levels with the upstairs having a glowing ceiling that changes colours to the beats. You are not allowed to take pix, but we managed to sneak some in (you can't have Van and Anna together in a club and NOT take pix haha). We ended up staying til after they closed the curtains to hide the sunrise, watching the dawn light set upon Berlin. When I walked past the club on Sunday at 10:30 am, the curtains were still drawn and the place was shaking with beats, so God only knows how late people stay up partying on the weekend...But, we are tourists, and we had touristy things to do during the day hence we had to watch our party times.

 

Saturday was our day to explore and learn more about Berlin. Berlin has a pretty great tour option where you can do a walking or a bike tour for free as the tour guides work on tips. They tend to be quite good because you have to be good to get the tips. Our guide was fabulous, taking us on a 6 hour tour about Berlin and teaching us all about its history, from the times of Napoleon's Berlin conquest, to the WWII, to the more modern history of East and West Berlin segregation. Along the way we saw the Holocaust memorial, the bunker where Hitler committed suicide (you can't see the bunker, but you can stand on top of it as it's now under a parking lot in a residential area), the Berlin wall, and even the hotel from where Michael Jackson dangled his baby. Berlin has very interesting architecture - from 17th century palaces and churches, to Soviet era grey block buildings, to grafittied up blocks of buildings. Everywhere you look is something different, and it makes you want to keep exploring the city. Knowing the city's turbulent history certainly adds to its captivating aura, and so many of history can still be visible everywhere you look. After taking a break to ride out the rain that started out of nowhere in the middle of a beautiful day, we continued our exploring by visiting the East Galleries - a restored portion of the Berlin wall that has been decorated by artists from all over the world to express Berlin's newly found freedom after the wall collapse. I was surprised to find a lot of Russian artists and messages along the wall...although it makes sense because East Berlin had very close ties to the Soviet Union once upon a time, so Russian influence is very prevalent.

 

Sunday was all about reunions! Thanks to the wonders of FB, Debbie saw my status update about Berlin and we arranged to meet up at for some German brunch at the tasty Karl Marx cafe. It was so lovely to reunite after not seeing each other in 6 years! Debbie also turned out to be the best hostess and tour guide, taking me to the cultural festival i.e. Berlin version of Caribana, introducing me to beer mixed with Fanta, taking us to the building housing artist studios while and to the cool modern government buildings...oh and finding my das boot shot glass which is now one of the faves in my shot glass collection :)

 

Here's our trip in pictures (all stolen from Van b/c I was too lazy to use my camera):

 @ the Paris square waiting for our tour to begin (and location of the hotel where MJ dangled his baby)

The Holocaust memorial

 

Berlin Opera house 

Berlin Cathedral and us getting rained on

 The Berlin Wall (its remains that is)

The East Galleries artwork

OMG someone drew a picture of Anna!

Watergate by day

Watergate by night

Street views - graffiti everywhere!

The Berlin culture festival with Debbie!

Apres culture festival beers (with Fanta)

Exploring Berlin

Relaxing at the beach bar

Bela Themed Norway

Having enjoyed a nice 2 day break from Turkey, it was time to venture out in the opposite direction, which is north to Norway! The whole trip was a brilliant idea to surprise Bela for her bday.  She was to be under the impression that she's going to Norway with Chi, but little did she know, she had 8 people waiting for her there...Surprise! :)

The trip started in Stavanger, the 3rd largest city in Norway and a whopping population of 300K. The city is classically Norwegian, which is a look that I love - clean rows of quaint low rise wooden buildings and houses, cobblestone streets and squares, a harbour, mountains in the background and that 100% pollution free air. I must admit, the day started pretty stressful as Bela and Chi have missed their flight the night before...but all ended with a happy ending when we reunited with them on our hike up the fjord.

We took a ferry and a bus to get us to the foot of the fjord. The one interesting thing about Norway is that there are literally hundreds of little islands and fjords, which are seas passages in the mountains formed as the ice was receding during the ice age, so everything is connected by a ferry. We then began our 1 km 3 hr climb up the fjord, encountering climbing through waterfalls, one person passages around rocks and lots and lots of very high rocks. It was definitely the most intense 'hike' any one of us has done! We were rewarded by reaching the Pulpit Rock-the top of the fjord. It's a terrifying straight drop 1 km down, and I got the chance to check out the scenery by lying on my stomach and crawling to the edge of the cliff to look down lol. Too bad for us it was foggy and we didn't see much. Of course, in the best Murphy's law fashion, the fog cleared up as soon as we left. Luckily our friends stayed long enough to witness it and to take pix.

Day 2 started with 9:30 am ferry and beers and consisted of a 4 hr. ferry to Bergen, an empty 40 of vodka, a 2 hr train ride, another empty 40 of vodka, a scenic 1 hr train ride to Flam along the steepest railway in Northern Europe, and finally an arrival into Flam at around 6 pm. Flam is a cute village in the mountains consisting of 1 hotel, 1 brewery and 1 restaurant surrounded by a handful of farms. It's also heavily populated by trolls as we were told. Norway has a serious obsession with trolls that you find absolutely everywhere (please refer to the below collage!). Traditionally, the adults told their children to watch out for trolls in order to keep them out of the mountains and forests, and the legends stuck so that you can find something troll related every 100 meters. We ended up spending the night at the local brewery sampling the different beers that it has to offer (it's not our fault that the restos were closed by the time we got there! :) )

The next day was the most adventurous day of my life...probably without any exaggeration. The idea was to canoe out into the fjords, park the canoes to do a hike to see some waterfalls and other mountain scenery, and to canoe back to Flam. Most of you would know that I'm terrified of water, so this was an extreme adventure for me. To add to the extremeness, we encountered a sea squall on the way back...Imagine Maria on a canoe in the middle of sea, waves, downpour and hail. Lets just say that never have paddled before, I paddled so hard that Mark and I got to the shore first. I never wanted to leave land again after that adventure (but had to because we had to take a ferry back to Bergen hehe).

Our last day was delightfully chill after all the adrenaline rushes from the day before. We woke up late and went on a stroll around Bergen, another picturesque little town...2nd largest in Norway I believe. We checked out the fish market, which was a tourist trap just like everyone warned us, took the funicular up the mountain for some awesome views and climbed down on foot, went to check out the Bergen UNESCO site featuring old fishing houses in the port area, and concluded by a visit to the castle.

All in all, it was an awesome trip for an awesome friend. Happy Bday, Bela! :) Here are our adventures in pictures!

On the ferry going to Pulpit Rock

 And now we hike...

 Back on land (sea level) and exploring Stavanger

Bergen in the rain

(We later found out that it rains 270 days a year in this area...so I guess all the rain was normal :)

 SURPRISE!!!

 Peek-a-boo on the scenic train to Flam

Stop 1 - Waterfall

Me vs. the fjord

 And now we hike again!

Getting caught in the sea squall. Intense!

Making friends with the locals :)

Out and about in Bergen

Where the East Meets the West

The month of May has brought Mark and I two new adventures, the first of which was to Istanbul, Turkey. One thing I must note is that we find ourselves going further and further away from Central Europe in search of new and exotic places, such as Turkey. I've wanted to go to Istanbul since I was 7 or 8 when I learned that it's the only city that lies on both European and Asian continent (and we all know how much I like geography!). The dream finally come true, and I got to take the boat along Bosporus strait from Europe and Asia and back. My expectations have certainly been met - Istanbul really is a city where not only the two continents, but two cultures meet. It's a lovely fusion of Middle Eastern and Arabic influence with a modern European spin, translating into beautiful architecture, tasty food and interesting culture.

Our day 1 was all about exploring the 'old'. We stayed in the oldest Istanbul district, Sultanahmet - home to all the grand mosques and ancient architecture. We started by visiting the Grand  bazaar where one can buy anything from scarves, to a lather jacket, to a rug, to a fake LV. I must admit that it was cool to walk it, but it did feel like a bit of a tourist trap. They charge European price for things made in Turkey...and knowing how clothing supply chain works, there's no way this makes sense! We then proceeded to visit the Suleymaniye mosque - my first mosque visit ever. It was very cool - a spectacular grand building. I was a little surprised to find it quite basic inside (still beautifully decorated with tile mosaics though), but I guess it's just the style. After visiting the remains of the ancient aqueducts (that now frame a highway), we ventured into the Spice Bazaar for some yummy lunch and sweets sampling. Just as expected the Turkish delight candies in Turkey really rocked! We finished the day by crossing the bridge to the other side to climb the Galata tower for 360 view of the city. It's a beautiful sight with the 5 mosques, the Aye Sofia and the fortress framing each one of the main 7 hills, but to be honest, I don't think that there's a single spot in Istanbul that would deliver a true 360 view. The city, after all, does span 2 continents and have the population of 18 million...

Day 2 was all about the 'new'. We relocated to a hotel in the 'new' area, i.e. the business centre/shopping/nightlife side of Istanbul. It had a totally different feel from Sultanahmet - nice cars, designer labels everywhere, and trendy resto's. The day was a lot more chill, with us taking the cruise along Bosphorus to get a view of the greater Istanbul. The views were very beautiful: some of modern bridges, some of posh neighbourhoods spread out across the hills and overlooking the city, and some of ancient fortification from ages ago. We finished the day by hanging out under the bridge. Sounds weird, but that's what everybody does - the bridge has a row of restos and cafes right underneath it , and people go there for a pint to relax and to enjoy the views of the water and the city.

Day 3 was my day of solo explorations, and I had a ball! Mark was unfortunately stuck at work, but I got the day to explore the city on my own. I started off my getting a traditional Turkish breakfast of delicious pastries...of course, they didn't speak English at the cafe, so I had to randomly point to the things that I wanted, not knowing what they were - my fave way to try new food lol. I then took a walk along the coast to take a tram back to Sultanahmet to check out the Topkapi Palace - the old official residence of Ottoman sultans for the last 600+ years. Making friends with a tour guide along the way, I got a free tour of the palace with all its rich and fascinating history. My favourite part was the history behind the Harem...I didn't know that the Sultan actually pad the woman to be in his Harem, while providing them with education along the way so they could come out rich, educated and in-demand high society ladies after 9 years of service. Having had my fill of history, I ventured back to the 'new' Istanbul for some serious shopping. Istanbul has a main shopping street that is probably good 3 km long, and this is what I spent walking/shopping for 5 hours. It was a neat experience, because you see anything from designer label shops, to 'bazaars' - underground mall full of cheap 2-dollar Turkish knock offs of brands. This is where I made my discovery of the trip - that Primark brands actually come from Turkey, where they are even cheaper! lol

So this was Turkey! I definitely want to come back to explore the country outside of Istanbul. I think my next place there would be somewhere with a beach as I discovered that just like in Barcelona, I was able to get a beautiful golden tan without burning there. Nice! Here are some pictures to describe our trip:

Suleymaniye mosque

 The Grand Bazaar and its gazillions of jewellery stalls

Lunch! and Treats!

 The Galata Tower views

 The grand Blue Mosque

The Istanbul bridge with the cafes and restos underneath and fishing on the top

 Bosphorus cruise views

 Chilling by the water 

Topkapi Palace