Tübingen is a picturesque, hilly university town in the state of Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany, only 30km from Stuttgart. To the north is Schönbuch, voted one of the most beautiful forests in Germany, and to the south east are the Swabian Alb mountains. The river Neckar flows through the town, which has many beautiful old buildings, canals and cobblestone streets. In fact, Tübingen has one of the most intact historic old towns in Germany, so it’s surprising that it’s not on most people’s tourist radar. Like in another famous university town, Cambridge, boating is popular in Tübingen, which has its own version of the famous Cambridge punt boats, called Stocherkähne. It’s very pleasant to visit Tübingen and wander its streets. Here are some of the photographs I took during my visit. Continue reading
travel
Les Diablerets in the Swiss Alps – Photo Diary
As I mentioned, recently I spent a week in the village of Les Diablerets, tucked away in the Swiss Alps at 1160m. There was no time for skiing unfortunately as it was a work trip, but in the evenings I went for a few walks in the woods, and on the last afternoon I went up to the glacier with some friends. When I arrived the forests were quite green, the paths were icy, and the snow levels in the village were not as high as the previous years – it was a snow-poor winter all round in Europe this year. However on about day two or three it started snowing…and snowing…and snowing…the mountain disappeared in mist, and soon the forest and village were transformed into a winter wonderland. Following that was another day of snow, and then the sun came out and we were able to experience the village and the mountains with sunshine and deep blue skies, perfect for a visit to the glacier at 3000m. It was great to experience the area in all types of weather. Without further ado, here are some photos from my visit. Continue reading
Planning our Czech Wedding
Finally some free time I could use to work on my literature review write a blog post (:-) and what do I end up doing….playing around making example wedding invitations online.
But it is addictive, see here. With the online templates you can change the text, add your own photos and so on. So far J says all of my creations are too pink (even the purple ones). He is now keen to have a simple invitation with a protea on it, the South African flower I’ve chosen for my wedding bouquet. Let’s see how that evolves.
This past weekend we were kicked into wedding planning gear by J’s sister (and rightfully so, since we’re planning a June wedding but have not organized much yet at all). We’d done a bit of research about all the forms required to get married and had visited a priest at Christmas in Hradec Králové who’d informed us that to get married in a church we’d have to do the marriage preparation course. We’d also located a church in Berlin where we could do the course, although the usual parish priest was away so we’d have to wait before meeting with him. Other than that, we had not settled on either a church or a reception venue. Continue reading
Cross Country Skiing in the Harz Mountains
When my Czechman moved to Berlin over three years ago, he brought his cross country skis with, ever hopeful that there would be enough snow one day for him to ski to work. So far it hasn’t happened! Rumour has it when it snows enough you can cross country ski in Tempelhof, the old airport that is now an open park in Berlin, but that hasn’t happened yet either. But for cross country ski lovers, never fear, the beautiful Harz mountains lie only three to four hours away from Berlin. Continue reading
The Year 2015 in Instagrams (Part 2)
Time for part two of my recap of 2015 using some of the Instagrams I created on my phone throughout the year! I don’t have Instagram photos of all of the places we visited, but going through my Instagram folder has given me an overview of 2015. When I ended off in the last blog post, we had just reached summertime. Along with a lovely trip to the Ostsee (Baltic sea) in summer, we also took a four day trip to visit some friends in Seville. Together the four of us also travelled to Granada, where we visited the beautiful palace of Alhambra. Continue reading
The year 2015 in Instagrams (Part 1)
As 2015 draws to a close, it’s time to look back on the year and prepare for the next one. Since my phone is overloaded with photos I’ve taken during the year, I decided to clean it up to make space for next year’s adventures, but in the process ended up browsing through my old Instagram photos and thinking about the year that has passed. For those of you who don’t know Instagram, it’s a phone application that allows you to edit your photos easily and share them with others. The instant filters are fun to use and sometimes help capture the feeling of a place better than the original photo, since when you’re taking photos the light isn’t always ideal. So without further ado, here’s a look back on 2015 with the help of some Instagrams. I’ll split it into two parts as it’s a lot to go through! Continue reading
Middle Europe Weekly Small Pleasures #14 – Frost and Christmas
Well, the last week or two (or months says J) I have been working very long hours and it’s been a bit stressful, but the good thing is that it’s almost Christmas holidays! Just one more week to get through. The weekend trip to Norway was also good and very interesting, but I’ll write about that another time.
In between all the work, here were a few of the good moments:
Hanging up our Christmas star. We have yet to decorate our Christmas tree (it’s a living one, still in a pot since last year), ice our pernicky cookies (gingerbread without ginger as my uncle calls it 😉 ) and cut out and assemble the paper Betlem (nativity scene) we bought last year in Třebechovice.
Visiting the Christmas market with some work colleagues and friends. It was crowded but it’s always nice to drink some gluhwein, eat some hot caramelized almonds and eat some German food (this time I had some flammkuchen).
Seeing the Christmas tree at Hauptbahnhof (the main station, Berlin). I arrived in Berlin on the 1 December 2012, just in time for the Christmas season. So somehow seeing all the Christmas trees up around Berlin always reminds me of that first month where everything was new and exciting although a bit lonely. I used to look for the huge Christmas tree at Hauptbahnhof to find the right exit from the station so that i could find my way back back home.
Small pleasures in Norway. More on Norway another time, but a few of the small things that stood out for me were the space-saving bed in an alcove in our airbnb apartment, which I found so cosy, the very low sun in the sky (it popped up late, dashed in a low arc across the horizon and then back down again at about 3pm) and the beautiful frost, something we don’t see that much in Berlin.
Wishing you all a lovely week.
Meeting Santa at the North Pole
Since Christmas is coming, I thought I would share the story of when I met Santa Claus at the North Pole. And no, I am not kidding 🙂
Charmed by a Finnish friend’s tales of cloudberries, reindeer, snowy landscapes and northern lights, I jumped at the chance to visit Finland when invited. Even more exciting was the fact that we would drive far north to Rovaniemi, in the arctic circle, as her son was participating in the winter swimming championships. Continue reading
Namaqualand
Some places are so special that everything you experience there becomes deeply imprinted on your mind. Namaqualand is one of these places. I visited it in 2009 for a weekend trip with two friends, and six years later I still get flashbacks to the place. Continue reading
Daily Life
Since moving to Berlin I’ve seen and experienced lots of new things and have learnt a lot. At times there has also been some culture shock, although now that I’ve been here a while I don’t tend to notice these things anymore. Here are some posts I’ve written about our daily life here. For more on our travels, you can visit the Travel page.
10 things I dislike about Berlin
March – Wildlife in the Garden
How to make an Easter egg tree
The wedding planning continues
South Africa meets Czech Republic: our Protea-themed wedding
Weekly Small Pleasures Blog event:
Middle Europe Weekly Small Pleasures #1 – Park Life
Middle Europe Weekly Small Pleasures #2 – Weekend in Czech
Middle Europe Weekly Small Pleasures #3 – Strawberry Fields
Middle Europe Weekly Small Pleasures #4 – Beer, food and sports
Middle Europe Weekly Small Pleasures #5 – Food and more food
Middle Europe Weekly Small Pleasures #6 – Summer days
Middle Europe Weekly Small Pleasures #7 – Summer flowers
Middle Europe Weekly Small Pleasures #8 – Summer thunderstorms
Middle Europe Weekly Small Pleasures #9 – Cake and Kayaking
Middle Europe Weekly Small Pleasures #10 – Changing seasons
Middle Europe Weekly Small Pleasures #11 – Early autumn
Middle Europe Weekly Small Pleasures #12 – Christmas is coming
Middle Europe Weekly Small Pleasures #13 – Christmas market season
Middle Europe Weekly Small Pleasures #14 – Frost and Christmas
Middle Europe Weekly Small Pleasures #15 – Emerging from winter
Middle Europe Weekly Small Pleasures #16 – Spring has arrived!
Middle Europe Weekly Small Pleasures #17 – Berlin and Brandenburg
Middle Europe Weekly Small Pleasures #18 – Lilac and canola
Middle Europe Weekly Small Pleasures # 19 – There and back again
Middle Europe Weekly Small Pleasures #20 – Cambridge in spring
Middle Europe Weekly Small Pleasures #21 – Summer days
Middle Europe Weekly Small Pleasures #22 – Summer in the city
Middle Europe Weekly Small Pleasures #23 – 2 in 1
Middle Europe Weekly Small Pleasures #24 – Holding onto summer
Middle Europe Weekly Small Pleasures #25 – Winter is coming!
Middle Europe Weekly Small Pleasures #26 – Cold but cosy
Middle Europe Weekly Small Pleasures #27 – Autumn pleasures
Middle Europe Weekly Small Pleasures #28 – Going back in time
Middle Europe Weekly Small Pleasures #29 – Chocolate, kriek and autumn forest
Middle Europe Weekly Small Pleasures #30 – November ’16
Middle Europe Weekly Small Pleasures #31 – Spring things
Middle Europe Weekly Small Pleasures #32 – Roses and burrs
Middle Europe Weekly Small Pleasures #33 – Monsoon summer
Middle Europe Weekly Small Pleasures #34 – Work hard, play hard
Middle Europe Weekly Small Pleasures #35 – Winter is coming (2)