Since I was a child, I dreamt of visiting Schloss Neuschwanstein (even though I could never pronounce the name ). I finally made the trip last year and wasn’t disappointed (shame about the weather though). A true fairytale castle!

I’m sure Schloss Linderhof would be beautiful in spring and summer but it’s definitely not worth visiting in winter. When we went last November, all the fountains were dry, all the statues bordered up, and the trees and flower beds bare. To top it off, we arrived late in the day and the castle was already closed to visitors.

The only good thing was the surrounding scenery which was extremely beautiful. Lakes, mountains, and fresh air…

I’d love to go back in the summer months when I’m sure the fountains and gardens are stunning.

I read that Bamburg is one of Germany’s most beautiful cities and while it’s definitely pretty in the winter (when I visited) I’m sure it’s nicer to visit in spring or summer. It is a nice little city to walk around and our 2 nights here were more than enough to see everything. Although it’s great to just wander around, there are also many museums and art galleries if you are into that kind of thing.

What I remember most about Bamburg is that the hotel we stayed in would turn the heating off at 1am meaning by 3am I was freezing and had to have a hot bath to try to warm up. Why would you turn the heating off in the middle of the night in the middle of winter? So that was a strange experience but that’s nothing against the city obviously. Here are some of my photos from the old town:

Rothenburg ob der Tauber is a small Medieval town on Germany’s Romantic Road. It’s a really cute little walled town with typically German houses (well what I think of when I think about Germany) and cobbled streets. There are lots of adorable cafes to sip hot chocolate and relax but I’m not sure I can recommend the schneeballen, the specialty sweet of the town, they are awful! It’s funny that we chose to go to Rothenburg over other towns because we had heard such great things about the schneeballen but none of us liked them.

My parents came to visit in November 2007 and the weather was amazing. We were able to walk a lot and see lots of things around Paris. Last year though, it was freezing making it really difficult to go outside. We had planned to drive around Germany and visit as much as we could in 3 weeks. When I knew it was going to be cold I thought about heading south instead but in the end we decided that seeing we had our own car it would be ok. I really regret it now because you couldn’t stay outside for more than 5 minutes without freezing. We still saw a lot but I love to walk and explore places slowly which just wasn’t possible that trip. We were always rushing so we could get back in the car or back to the hotel. This year we’ll definitely be heading south.

Just outside of Berlin is the small city of Potsdam. The main thing to see there is the Schloss Sanssouci. We made the trip, even though it was snowing, and were surprised by the how small castle was but the formal gardens were lovely. Ok, so it wasn’t exactly Versailles but that’s to be expected. I’m sure it would be prettier in spring and summer but my advice is to give it a miss if you’re thinking about going in winter.

Another thing I love about Germany is that you can buy hot chips on the street from shops that sell nothing but chips! I love those places. For around 1 euro you get a huge serving of chips topped with your choice of sauce. Why can’t you get that here in Paris? Maybe I should open a chip shop… These ones are from Augsburg in Bavaria, not far from Munich.

I don’t really like French cakes which is probably a good thing seeing I would be tempted to have them every day if I did. Without a doubt they look amazing but they’re just not tasty in my opinion. German cakes on the other hand – creamy and delicious! Not to mention German cakes are twice the size and half the price of cakes here in Paris.

Thankfully there is one good German bakery in Paris so if I ever get a craving for a kase sahne torte (cream cheese cake with mandarin) I can just head over to the 17th rather than heading across the border.

Some German cakes we had in Berlin last year including the biggest cream puff I’ve ever seen in my life:

For so many years, I’ve wanted to visit Munich. I’d seen it on travel shows and read about it in books and I was convinced it was the most beautiful city in Germany. I’m not sure it’s the most beautiful city in Germany but it definitely has its good points. Marienplatz is gorgeous as is the Residenz museum. Of course I love my parks and both the Hofgarten and Englischer Garten were great places to visit.

I spent 4 nights in Munich, just before the start of Oktoberfest, and was surprised out how ‘German’ the city is. It doesn’t seem to be as multi-cultural as Berlin (although I guess that’s understandable) and we had trouble finding vegetarian/non-pork meals. The problem with German food is that the menu consists of 99% pork and 1% beef. F and I don’t eat pork and I don’t like beef so eating in a local/traditional Germany restaurant was out for us. We ate mainly Italian and Spanish which was fine but not what I want to eat when in Germany.

As for drinking, beer it is. I knew beforehand that Munich is big on beer but I didn’t realise just how much. It seemed everyone was drinking 1 litre jugs of beer from the early morning to late at night. I did have one myself, just to give it a try, for fun, but I’m really not the least bit interested in drinking beer.

Food is always important on my travels and I’m happy to say I did find an amazing deep fried pasty shop. That shop is definitely worth visiting if you are planning on going to Munich. Cafe Frischhut, 8 Pralat-Zistl Strasse, near the Viktualienmarkt where they deep fry doughnuts and other pastries right before your eyes and you can sit and eat them warm, sprinkled with sugar.

Before returning to Paris we spent 2 nights in Stuttgart in the very nice Arcotel. 125 euros a night for a 5 star luxury hotel definitely cheered me up, along with my favourite Kase Sahne Torte.

The trip was a nice break as I hadn’t been anyway since early June and I hadn’t seen F for more than 2 months. He’d spent most of the summer in Albania, taking care of some family business, so it was great to finally spend some time with him.

The main reason for this trip to Berlin was to celebrate my birthday. Today I’m 34 years old. Bloody old! I don’t know where all the years went.

My final day in Berlin was spent walking around Berlin, enjoying the sites, cafes, and speaking with the friendly German people. I really would like to live in Berlin one day. When I leave Paris at the end of this year I’m going to either move to Germany or back to Australia. There is not another option for me.

My birthday lunch was at a Turkish place where I had steaming hot freshly baked bread, every kind of meat they had, rice, potato, salad, drinks. The food was piled high and it was only 15 euros for the two of us. Delicious and a bargain!

Dessert was another kase sahne torte. I normally hate cakes, especially French ones, but I love German cakes! They really know what they’re doing and again waaaayyy cheaper than what you get here at a patisserie.

Our Easyjet flight was slightly delayed but we managed to get the last metro and make it safely home. I loved Berlin and plan to go back in the summer when it should be even better. So far I’ve been to Cologne, Stuttgart, and Berlin, which just leaves Munich on my list of must see German cities. Hopefully I’ll make it there this summer also.

Berlin Zoo is supposed to be one of the biggest and best zoos around. I can accept that it might be one of the biggest but I’m not sure it’s one of the best. Not that I’ve been to that many zoos in my time but I think even little old Perth Zoo is better than this. Well, not as far as the variety of animals go but in the way in which they are housed/caged.

Berlin Zoo definitely has some amazing animals, some of which I’ve never seen before. The number one attraction is Bao Bao, the giant Panda. Bao Bao is worth the admission price alone. Talk about cute!

Also amazing were the gorillas. I’m not sure if I’ve seen a gorilla before. There are at least 10 of them there and I loved them all. Their faces are so expressive. There are plenty of chimpanzees and orang utans too if you like that kind of thing, which I do.

There are lots of cats on show too – lion, lioness, leopard, puma, jaguar, tiger. Some of the cats seemed to have very small enclosures and they do that thing where they walk in repetitive circles which I hate to see.

The other star attraction is Knut the polar bear who is now all grown up. Very cute and very playful, he didn’t disappoint the crowds.

One great thing about this zoo is that there are loads of babies around. Baby giraffes, elephants, lions, gorillas, chimps, bears, and more, so they must be doing something right if the animals are breeding.

Today I just wanted to go sightseeing and eat some lecker German cakes and that’s what we did.

We took the same path as our first night here taking in the major sights and snapping lots of photos and video along the way. Places of interest:

• Checkpoint Charlie – where east once met west.
• The Berlin Wall – or what little is left of it.
• Potsdamer Platz – modern new Berlin.
• Holocaust Memorial.
• Brandenburg Gate – need I say more.
• The Reichstag – German parliament building, completely reconstructed after the war. The modern glass dome is a nice touch but not really worth the 1 hour wait to go up.
• Hauptbahnhof – the new super modern central station.
• Unter den Linden.
• Gendarmenmarkt – beautiful square with twin churches.
• Berliner Dom – beautiful cathedral, although it could do with a good clean.
• Alexanderplatz – visit the Fernsehturm TV tower if you have the patience to wait in the queue – I didn’t.
• Martin Gropius Bau
• Topographie des Terrors – an open air exhibition on the former site of the Gestapo.

All that walking and sightseeing was followed by another great meal and my favourite German dessert, kase sahne torte. Happy.

Argh, I hate shopping. I must be one of the few girls born without the shopping gene. Ferbent on the other hand loves shopping and just wants to buy, buy, buy. I feel like a mother out with a small child when I’m with him. No son, you can’t have that 5000 euro watch, it’s too expensive. No son, do you really need another 5 pairs of jeans. No son, I don’t think you’re ever going to have the occasion to wear braces.

Let’s see how our little shopping spree went.

Ferbent:

• 11 t-shirts
• 1 pair of jeans
• 1 pair of shorts
• 1 casual jacket
• 1 pair of casual shoes
• 1 pair of running shoes
• 2 pairs of socks

Andrea:

• 1 bag
• 1 pair of casual shoes
• 1 pair of running shoes

If I hadn’t been around he would have bought 5 times as much. Who knows how we’ll carry it all back home.

Places to shop in Berlin:

• Alexa
• Alexander Platz
• Potsdamer Platz
• Kurfurstendamm
• countless other places

Today started well with a lecker meal in a German bakery. A huge sandwich, a berliner (although they don’t call doughnuts berliners in Berlin), and a drink for 4 euros. I was so full I wasn’t hungry again until 7pm!

We then took a very touristy hop on hop off bus tour which gave us a good overview of all the sights of Berlin. When the guide was speaking, I couldn’t tell when he was speaking German and when he was speaking English – it sounded all Greek to me. We switched buses and then had a great guide so it turned out to be a lot of fun.

We then did a bit of shopping in Kurfurstendamm where I picked up some comfy Diesel shoes to replace the very uncomfortable boots I had on. Note to self: never go on holiday without my favourite super comfy Diesel shoes. All the regular shops are in the Kurfustendamm area as well as a couple of German department stores including Ka Da We, the largest department store in Europe, after Harrods.

We had dinner at what could have been a dodgy kebab place but turned out to be really lecker. Ferbent did manage to spill his beer over my coat, new Brontibay bag, and brand new Diesel shoes so now I smell like a drunk, but anyway, I had a good time.

This is my first time in Berlin and have 5 days to explore the huge city. We arrived in the late afternoon, checked into our hotel near Checkpoint Charlie and Potsdamer Platz, and then headed straight out.

First stop was Potsdamer Platz, a huge square where you can see modern buildings, Europe’s first traffic light, and remnants of the Berlin Wall. A short walk from Potsdamer Platz is the Brandenburg Gate. The first thing I notice is that it’s much smaller than I imagined it would be but amazing to see nonetheless. It’s then onto Unter Den Linden, the most famous boulevard in Berlin, where you pass the massive Russian Embassy, the heavily guarded US Embassy, and the modern British Embassy. Further along there are many historic buildings (often reconstructed after the war), museums, libraries, and Berliner Dom.

Over the river is Alexander Platz and the TV tower. A bit further along we stop for a tasty and very cheap Italian meal with a friendly Albanian waiter who is now Ferbent’s best friend We then made the long walk back to the hotel, taking in Friedrichstrasse and Checkpoint Charlie.

I always knew Berlin was much cheaper than Paris but was shocked that housing is sooooo much cheaper. The guy on reception at the hotel told me he pays 500 euros for a 60 sqm apartment and the Albanian waiter is paying 480 for a 70 sqm apartment. Both say they are in really nice areas in central Berlin. I’m paying over 1000 euros a month for 40 sqm. Something’s not right!

I only chose to go to Stuttgart because I got a really cheap ticket. I wanted to go to Germany but was hoping to go to Munich or Berlin but I couldn’t resist the €20 ticket on the TGV.

I thought Stuttgart was going to be a dull, grey, industrial city – seeing it’s the home of Mercedes and Porsche and other big businesses. It’s funny how perceptions can be so different from reality. Stuttgart is a really pretty city and so green. It’s actually one of the greenest cities in Europe.

We stayed at an Ibis hotel, a 20 minute walk from the centre. It’s only 2 stops on the very efficient tram so that was a perfect place to stay.

The public transport in Stuttgart is not only efficient but very, very clean and with huge seats. Not at all like the Paris metro where everyone is squashed into little seats in filthy trains. It was expensive though, more expensive than Paris. However, I only paid once. After that I just looked for the inspectors before getting on! Naughty I know…

What is there to do in Stuttgart? In order of importance:

1. Eat berliners.
2. Eat creamy cakes.
3. Sit in the beautiful parks.
4. Sit in cafes.
5. Go to the Mercedes Museum.

In other words, it’s a great place to sit around, relax, and just generally take it easy. My kind of holiday!

I’d definitely recommend doing the city tour when you first get there. You get to see all the main sites plus go up the 150 storey television tower which gives great views over the region.  You can also get good views of the city from the tower at the Hauptbahnhof. It’s free to go up and you can see the vineyards which surround the city and all the pretty houses. No nasty highrise apartments anywhere!

Four days was too much to stay in Stuttgart so we did a day trip to Tubingen, one hour and €20 on the train. What a gorgeous little town! Very pretty half timbered houses, beautiful squares and parks and a castle which looks over the town. Well worth a visit.

So on my recent trip to Strasbourg, I made a quick stop over the border to the small German town of Kehl. I was quite surprised to see that the products on sale there were significantly cheaper than in France. I mean there were huge differences in prices.

I just don’t understand how this is possible. I noticed it when we were in Cologne earlier this year too. Bread, sandwiches, drinks, toiletries, all at huge discounts as soon as you cross the border. It’s not like the salary is lower in Germany, if anything it’s higher. So why do they get products so cheap? I can only imagine it’s due to lower taxes.

Some examples of the price differences:

Body Spray: France €4.25 | Germany €2.99
Shampoo: France €3.40 | Germany €1.99
Hair Dye: France €11.95 | Germany €7.95
Body Wash: France €2.40 | Germany €1.59

Cake: France €3-4 | Germany €1.50-2.50 (and for 3 times the size).
Berliner (donut): France €1.50 | Germany €0.50 (and 3 times the size).

So why am I living in this super expensive city, this super expensive country?

I completely forgot to post my Cologne photos from my recent trip to Germany (which is not so recent now) so here they are:

I’m not a fan of Gothic architechture but the Cologne Cathedral is definitely impressive but in need of a a bit of a clean. Next time in Cologne I will venture inside the cathedral.

Most of Cologne was destroyed during the war so a lot of the architecture is from the 1950s. That means parts of the city are not that attractive as far as architecture goes but the old town near the river was rebuilt in traditional Cologne style which is adorable.

Yes, this is a photo of a building with an icecream cone on top of it. I don’t know what those Germans are up to here:

Ferbent doesn’t seem to be too happy about the cold weather:

They like to ride their bikes a lot in Cologne which is great:

That’s it for Cologne, there wasn’t much touristy stuff to see but I had a great time. There is something very appealing about this city which makes me want to go back again to discover more. I’m looking forward to my next trip to Germany.

The first thing I noticed upon arriving in Germany was how big the people are. Not only big but huge! Very tall and very fat and no wonder, they eat constantly. Not that I have anything against fat people, I happily consider myself to be one, but it was a definite (and pleasant) change from the short, skinny French who eat half a sandwich and claim to be stuffed.

The French claim to love their food and eat a lot but that’s rubbish. I was at a restaurant the other day and the girl next to me was telling her friend how large her meal was and that she couldn’t possibly take another bite. All this after having eaten 4 tiny falafel balls and half a pita bread.

In Cologne, and I imagine most of Germany, bakeries seem to be the place to be. From morning until night, there is a queue out the door and tables inside with people happily munching away. Every morning the bakeries were full of wall to wall Berliners (doughnuts), massive loaves of bread (for less the 2 euros), and huge slices of fresh, creamy cakes. Plus there were a few sandwiches and pretzels thrown in. By around 7pm, the bakeries had no food left. None at all! I was shocked.

Every second person walking down the street was eating something so it looks like eating it Germany’s favourite past time. Ferbent loves to eat too and loved Cologne. I enjoyed Cologne but hate Ferbent as he eats like I’ve never seen anyone eat and remains slim.

Of course I had to do as the Germans do, when in Rome Cologne and all, so for breakfast I would have a small salad sandwich in Turkish bread (thanks no doubt to the many Turkish immigrants in Germany). Mid morning was time for a Berliner. Lunch was a huge cone thing packed with hot chips topped with tzatziki (Cologne is so multicultural) from one of the shops who sell nothing but chips (my kind of place). After noon tea was cake time. By dinner time I was pretty stuffed so didn’t eat too much. That was pretty much my diet during the 6 days I spent in Cologne. Yeah, healthy, I know. Surprisingly, I lost almost 2 kilos while there but no doubt if I lived there long term I’d probably double in size and have a heart attack.

“Ich bin ein Berliner” is the famous quote by John F Kennedy which translates to “I am a doughnut”. Every time I saw the Berliners I thought of that and laughed. However, as it turns out, in Berlin, jam doughnuts are not known as Berliners and so he was right to say Ich bin ein Berliner but it makes me laugh anyway.