For Paris

Berlin: New Deli Yoga

Recently, I haven't been able to get the warm interior of New Deli Yoga out of my mind. My first official Berlin breakfast was in the cultural center of Kreuzberg. New Deli Yoga is a yoga studio fused with a cafe, and is essentially a Pinterest board come to life, Despite its minimalist interior, the hand written menus and chalkboards scrawled with specials were personal touches that made this place especially inviting. I had an awesome musli bowl and an exceptional iced coffee with my traveling mates before we embarked on a trip to see the remaining portions of the Berlin wall, which is just down the road.

Baby Went To Amsterdam

With buildings that are built to lean ever so slightly, canals that have replaced avenues, and bridges lined with flowers and bicycles, Amsterdam is a city straight out of a storybook. I was incredibly and unexpectedly charmed by a city that despite having quite the reputation, I ultimately knew so little about. Did you know the building that line the canals are not leaning because they're sinking into the ground? Older homes in Amsterdam have tall and narrow staircases, so these houses were accommodated with gables and hooks. These pull were used to lift items such as furniture to the upper levels. These buildings also lean forward slightly to keep whatever the gable is lifting from colliding with the facade. It's so resourceful and adorable at the same time, I can barely stand it.

With its narrow, winding streets and bridges, Amsterdam was essentially built for bikes. They lined every railing on every bridge on every street. My friend and I chose to walk everywhere, so that we could soak in every ounce of the city, but by the end of each day we found our selves wishing for set of wheels to carry our tired feet home.

A self-guided tour of courtyards in Jordaan, the most scenic neighborhood, led us to the most quaint private gardens. Outside of the courtyards, streets were lined with art galleries, artsy boutiques and charming coffee shops, so basically I'd move there in a heartbeat.

Our tiny rented apartment was in the heart of the red light district, which seemed rather safe despite its seedy reputation. Nothing could beat the view we had walking home at night from one of the many waterfront bars or low-key clubs, with the lights reflecting on the waters of the canals, a vision straight out of storybook. 

In Berlin: Part I

If there was a single city I could say I felt I didn't explore efficiently, it would definitely be Berlin. I joined a group of friends who had just begun to undertake the incredible task of visiting 11 countries in 13 days. Berlin was their second stop after Munich, and in an effort to add to my country tally I joined them on their German adventure. 

Much of the city's historical structure were destroyed as a result of heavy bombing during WWII, leaving a decent portion of the city's architectural landscape dominated by brutalist and functional modern artchitecture. Brandenburg Gate in Pariser Platz was an obvious and stunning exception. It's no wonder it serves as an essential trademark for the nation.

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Equally as stunning in its design, much more moving in its intent, was the Holocaust Memorial. The systematic rise and fall of the cement monoliths were meant to invoke "an uneasy sense of order," an elegant yet slightly disturbing reference to a tragic past. 

I guess it turned out our self-guided tour of the city was primarily fueled by its architectural landscape. We were supposed to visit the Reichstag dome, but me being me, I booked our tickets for the evening after we were scheduled to leave! And despite being in yet another new and unfamiliar environment, I found the familiar food to be sort of comforting. Growing up with a grandmother with a penchant for German recipes, I realized I've come to associate schnitzels and spaetzle with my childhood, to a certain extent. I'm sure, as I was filling my plate with a heaping spoonful of homemade spaetzle and gravy, I never would have guessed I'd been eating a plate of the same stuff on a sidewalk in Germany. 

Next up: Part II

Buda + Pest (Part II)

Our antics from the night before coupled with the relentless heat made us decide to take our second day in Budapest at a slower pace. We wandered through town, along the river, until we needed to retreat into some stores with air conditioning. Even though the apartment our hostel was hosted in was stunning, with tall ceilings and beautiful moldings, we were roughing it without AC.

It turned out that my favorite treat from Prague, a trdelník, was also called a kürtőskalác in Hungary. This one was the best I ever had, period. Imaging a hybrid between a donut and a croissant, wrapped around a wooden spool where the outside became crispy before it was doused in cinnamon sugar.

At the end of the day, before we caught our night train home, we stopped at a craft fair that was being held at what I think was a local university. I picked up a couple of really cool printed, with images printed on pages from a Hungarian dictionary, and a pendant as souvenirs for family friends back home.

If I learned anything from this trip, it was to pay up for a full bed on a night train. If I thought the cramped bunker I had to share with 5 other girls was tough, I was in for a rude awakening. Our train coming home was overbooked and so we were demoted to a pair of upright seats for the 7-hour journey home. I can confirm that it was just as bad as it sounds.

At times I regret only being able to visit Budapest for such a short amount of time, but I choose to see it as an opportunity to pay it a visit again in the future.

Read Part I here

Buda + Pest (Part I)

Budapest Keleti Station

Heroes Square

Just last night I met up with a couple of friends who spent the summer abroad with me. We picked a local beergarden, or biergarten, themed restaurant to pay homage to the foreign adventures that made us closer friends. Of course I was feeling all nostalgic and just a teensy bit tipsy, so as soon as I got home I started to flip through all of my photos from the summer. At that point, I realized I had forgotten to even write about most of my trips.

On our last weekend in Prague, a friend and myself took a train to Budapest, Hungary for the weekend. The city was beautiful and I refused to let the oppressive heat or the uncomfortable night train ride ruin the joy of exploring a new city. I don't remember where I heard this, but apparently Keleti Station is modeled after Gare du Nord in Paris, and it's the site of quite a few movie scenes as a stand-in for the Parisian location.

Budapest reminded me so much of Prague, in the architecture, the food and even the language. I spoke no Hungarian and neither did my friend, but we recognized that most people were using the word "prosim," a commonly used Czech work that meant pardon and you're welcome among other things.

The courtyard of the building where our hostel was located

Our train arrived at about 8 in the morning, so once we checked into our adorable hostel, we were off on our first day of exploratory adventures! We walked all the way to Heroes Square, but by the time we reached the monuments we were ready for a break from the heat. We coerced a clerk at the national art museum to give us the European Union student discount, and we took a respite from the heat inside the museum's collections.

City Park was home to scenic lake full of swans a boaters, a beautiful castle, and most importantly, ample shade. Did I mention it was hot? Because it was really hot.

That night we went to a couple of strange little bars on an island in the middle of the Danube. One, a beergarden called Wnderlnd, hosted resident artists who took turns redesigning its interior. When we arrived, the entryway was made out of bicycle frames and the central lamp post was surrounded by a fan of crash-test dummy limbs.

From the island in the center of the river, we could see both sides of the city, Buda and Pest, illuminated against the night sky.