MINGALAR BAR MYANMAR

I have always dreamed to visit Myanmar aka Birmania since I was very young, a mystic and charming place where nobel prize Aung San Suu Kyi fought many years for human rights and the freedom of burmese people.

Finally last february the dream came true and I could experience the real life of burmese people for 10 days.

Mandalay

I was traveling with my friend Giovanna and we flew from Thailand to Mandalay as we don't have direct flights to Myanmar from Europe. During the flight, I met an italian couple and thanks to them we got soem info about Mandalay and a place where we could ask a room for our stay. 

First thing you should know about this country is the only accept perfect US dollars in exchange of local currency Kyat. Yes perfect dollars or you can exchange euro in airport or bank but hotels wanna  perfect US dollars and of course cash. I saw very few ATM machine and at airport I understood the meaning of perfect dollars. I try to change 80 US dollars and the guy saw a very very little black spot on 20 bucks and he said no good, WHAT? Yes be ready they should be no tears, no folds, no ink marks, no stamps, preferably after 2006 but not always an issue, unbelievable..

After we changed the money, we decided to get a shared taxi with this couple as airport of Mandalay is in the middle of nowhere so the only way to reach the city is by taxi. We decided to spend our stay at their hotel: Royal City Hotel is well located and very important for me with wifi so I could be in touch with my family and friends too.

After 2 wonderful experiences in India, Burma is so different and Burmese are friendly but not easy to communicate and you feel its not easy to live as a local. Everything seems it made for tourists and just at the end I managed to travel as local as I always did in India.

First hours we spent to plan our next destinations so we decided to go  to Bagan by boat and  we bought a flight ticket from Heho to Yangon, rest of the trip was by bus but always bus for foreign tourist with stupid and cold A/C even if outside was not so hot.

After this we had a lunch in a nearby restaurant with first burmese food. You can see the influence of China and India. There was like a buffet where you can choose what you wanna eat and then they gace us many appetizers on the table. I got mutton curry and it was enough good and some banana as fruit. We decided to spend the rest of day discovering the city and Mandalay Hill.

First we went to visit the Royal Palace and from there we rented 2 motortaxi to visit Mandalay Hill where along its path are several temples and monasteries. The most impressive to visit was Maha Myat Muni Pya with its famous 4mt high Buddha Statue. Bea ready to see Pagoda and Buddha everywhere :).

We enjoyed the time with motortaxi so we made a deal to meet tomorrow to visit three main villages surrounding Mandalay.

After a yummi breakfast, we met our motordrivers and be ready they made many stops to tourist shops on the way selling silver, puppets, carpets and so on. The difference I noticed with India is they are  not pushy and prices are higher, guess so far its more high-rate tourism. First we visited Sagaing and its hilltops: most famous is  Soon  Oo Pon Nya Shin Pagoda where you have a 360 degree view of Irrawady River.

After visiting some temples, we moved to old Innwa and you can see how they live for tourism and there's no so much competition so prices are not so cheap. You have as way to reach Inwa: a boat by river. Of course they will bring you to the river and you cross the river in a boat in few minutes for 1000 Kyats return ticket. After crossing, you have a number of horse-drawn carts and be ready to another bargain to deal: we paid 3000Kyats but along the way many time he asked for more.

After visiting Old Inwa and another stop in a carpet shop, we reached Amarapura where the main attraction is U-Bein Bridge. It's a 1.2km wooden teak ( the longest in the world) bridge and we took amazing pics awaiting for a sunset: a must if you stay in this area. We came back to the hotel where we met our friends and spent a nite out dining in a western restaurant BBB European Restaurant where you had a nice meal and good wifi to be in touch with the world.

Bagan

We had an early wake-up as we decide to reach Bagan by ferry-boat along the river. If you don't have so much time you can skip it as it's very long journey and not so much to see along the route. Be aware in dry season boat can stop as low level of water, anyway we're lucky but it took almost 10hrs unbelievable. You arrived in a middle of nowhere where taxy drivers try to pick u up or find an accomodation with higher prices. We managed to find the right price and we follow an english guy to a very cheap hostel where for few bucks we could sleep in a matress in the hallway with other people just separated by each other with light curtains lol.

We rented a bike cause the area of old Bagan is so huge and you need all day maybe more if you wanna visit all the temples. So we decided an early wake-up, good breakfast then we exchanged soem money before we started our bike tour following a map that hostel kindly gave us. It's very hot but windy and you have many stops on the way and be ready to drink a lot. We just had this day cause we bought a ticket for a night bus to Inlay Lake our next stop. You can climb on the top of these temples and you have such a wonderful view of all the area including the river.

Around 3pm we decided to go back and we had a late lunch in the same place we stayed the day before. You have a good combination of local and western food here, go to Weather Spoon's Bagan Restaurant if you have a chance to be here. Sunset is a must here but I had to hurry up cause they said our bus was at 6 pm: so untrue and I missed  a sunset cause bus leaves at 6pm from main bus station and when they reach our hostel is like more than hal an hour later.

Inlay Lake

Night drive was not so long but we arrived in the middle of night with accomodation but we weren't alone and a guy had a great idea to open his tourist shop during the night. So we had a warm place and a warm tea as Inlay is cold in summer too during the night. We met a german girl and an english guy as we need to stay just one nite we decided to spend the time together. Be ready Inlay has few hotels and they fill up easily and prices are not so cheap. We shared a double room in four but we had two breakfast as we paid a lot for it. After relaxing a bit, we started our boat trip to discover this beautiful lake.

As I noticed, Burma is touristic orienteed and this boat trip followed this sensation. We stopped to take some pics of local fishermans. Then we visited the famous floating gardens before having a slong stop at the local flea market. During the day we had a chance to see the famous long neck women aka Kayan people.

Funny memory was our lunch of course they took us here and wow such crazy waiters. First problem of language then so slow and so messed-up. You order noodles maybe you get rice lol, one hour for a papaya juice and food was so so, at least we had some fun. We kept visiting the area with some temples too but we were bit late to get the end of sunset and visiting Cat Temple where you have cats everywhere. After a yummy dinner at least we were ready to our next adventure: Rangoon the capital

Rangoon and Chaung Tha Beach

Very early morning we took a flight from Heho to Yangon aka Rangoon, the idea was to go straight to the beach and then back after 2 days. So we took a taxy to main bus station but we discovered there were only morning bus to Chaung Tha so we decided to spend a night in Yangon.
Finally I managed to get some local bus instead taxi or touristic bus: so we lived some real local atmosphere and we found an hotel in a central and crowdy area. We walked around and first we visited Sule Pagoda that is like the center of the city.

We visited the colonial area and the main attraction of the city: Shwedagon Pagoda. It's also known as golden pagoda and it's most important temple for burmese people. We tried to find Aung San Suu Kyi's house but it was late and not the right area so we decided to visit it on the wasy back from the beach. Yangon is a crowdy city so I suggest to spend not so much time if you live real burmese life.

Early morning we got our bus to the beach and journey so not so long, the only problem was to find a good and cheap accomodation. It was Chinese New Year so place very crowdy and it was the end of trip so we got a nice apartment just in front of the beach. We had a nice walk on the beach and I had amazing pictures of the sunset and yummi food in a suggested restaurant. Second day was tottaly relax and they asked me to have  a picture with me so common when I was in India.
In front of the beach there's an island and as there was low tide we could walk there and we snorkeled around it. On the way back I ran and I had a warm bath in the Ocean after this lovely day.

Last day in Burma was just to visit the famous Chauk Htat Gyi Pagoda for its 65 meter long and 16mt hig reclining Buddha. This pagoda is very close to Aung San Suu Kyi's house where we met some local activists of her party and after that we just relaxed before leaving Burma the morning after.

It was a great trip but it seems a country so touristic orienteed but with very good and educated people. As their goverment, it was not so easy to have some talks with local but on the way we met cool travellers too... Mingalar Bar my friends...

PARIS MON VISITE' AVEC PAPA :)

In last years my dad was always talking about Paris, dreaming Montmartre, Eiffel tower and so on. Every time he wanted to go by car or train so far but this year I convinced him to take his first ever flight of his life at age 82. Good occasion to visit a dear friend that she was our host, guide and perfect company in our long weekend

Paris by night

We landed late afternoon in Beauvais from Pescara, less then 2 hours flight and now 1 and half by bus to reach Paris Port Maillot where my friend  with her mom was waiting for us. So happy to see her again and more to show Paris to my dad, great shape after this bit long journey.
We had a yummy and wonderful dinner but night was long so we decided to have a night tour of her area, very cute town of Rueil Malmaison before heading to Paris. It was great driving around most famous of city during the night, less traffic and fantastic view like Eiffel Tower.

Discovering Paris

After a delicious breakfast we were ready to show Paris to my dad and for me to live nice days with him and my friend. She lives very close to La Défense the major financial District of Paris but a new attraction for tourists as moder style of new Paris. It was a rainy day so we hanged around a bit before getting the Metrò to reach another astonishing monument of Paris.

Next stop is the heart of Paris on the famous Place de l'Étoile where you can visit the Arc de Triomphe. You can visit it and it's nice to look around as from there you can see Eiffel Tower, la Défense and Place de la Concorde. Rain was annoying so we could walk just a bit along Champs Élysées before get a bus to reach Place de La Concorde and from there we could walk around the Expo area and Les Invalides.

Dad is not a young boy but a fighter yes so we kept walking and we passed by Louvre before reaching Opera and we had a lunch in the surrounding, bit touristic but ok. As day was still rainy we decided it's the right one to visit the museum of  Louvre, wonderful time from Egyptians till nowadays and of course our most famous portrait of Monna Lisa aka La Gioconda.

We still had time to visit the Town hall and the famous Pompidou Centre as the weather was finally fine so we could have nice stops on the way, visiting small alleys and churches before heading back home to watch Euro 2012 lol and spend a pleasant night at home talking and drinking my favorite cider.

Lovely and sunny Sunday

If you know me, you can imagine my sneakers are always with me so even if it was chilly in the morning I had a short run as it's my way to discover the area where I stay:Watching people, monuments and enjoying new routes.

Then my dad was always asking about Moulin Rouge so first stop was there as it's on the way to Monmartre. Dad discover how much expensive to get in so slowly we started to go up till Sacre Cœur and losing ourselves in the Monmartre, so cute pity so touristic  too but amazing views of Paris.

The way down was faster and easier but dad is so full of energy so next stop was the famous Cathedral Notre Dame de Paris. Right day to visit and walk around Notre dame and from there we could relax in Luxembourg Gardens as my friend Violaine was so cute to arrange a picnic and I could take some sun too, a little nap for them ;)

Do you think we were tired? Nay so we went to visit the Pantheon where in 2009 I met the famous model and actress Laetitia Casta filming a commercial for a famous brand. Uhm something missing? Sure Eiffel Tower so sunny day let's move there and I and dad went up while my friend was relaxing under the sun. First time was up there and nice with my dad. Everything is so small from there and we had time to plan next stops but nothing more just a fast look where Lady D died the tunnel de l'Alma before heading back home

view from Eiffel Tower

Himalaya: sometimes dream comes true and more

In your life you have many dreams, many ideas or targets to achieve. If you like mountains sooner or later you would love to visit Himalaya. So after knowing better local culture, I decide to spend almost a week around Indian Himalaya before closing my trip with another dream. Let's read through and you will know my other dream;)

I was in Amritsar where I supposed to spend a night before heading to Dharamshala and my adventure started: a wonderful road trip around Himalaya area and more. On the bus station, I discovered that there was just one direct bus to Dharamshala at 12pm and it was already 8pm too late to reach my couch in a village 20km away from the city. Indian are always so kind and thanks to a guy i had one option: nightbus till Khangra and then around 3am maybe, yes I said maybe, a bus to my final destination. 5 minutes to think about it and say bye to my friends, I was fighting to get my seat from ticket counter.

Bus was fully packed but luckily I had my seat and nice companion to ask info on the way. Slowly we started to go up curve by curve. As local bus, you have many stops but you can live more local atmosphere in very small village and local restaurants. After many stop around 2am we reached my stop Khangra: nice to be in the middle of empty place hoping to find a connection. But in India, there's always someone ready to help: I met guy and I explained  that I need to find a bus to Dharamshala. He was so kind to ask any bus was passing around and  you know after less than an hout one bus was going to my direction :). It was very short trip to reach it but now 3am I was really in the middle of nowhere and just a taxidriver that he wanted to take to my friend's place for an unreasonable price.

Incredible India: Rajasthan, New Delhi and Amritsar

If you step down in India in your life sooner or later you will be back to discover new places and live unique experiences with local people. I thought it was right time to come back to dig in my self and live an amazing experience along all North-East India. Thats just my first week in this incredible country..

Namaste India

May is best season to visit Himalaya area but if you don't like having tourists all around well choose may to have a look at Rajasthan, Delhi and more... Due to hot weather, I planned short stay in every place as my main dream was to visit Himalaya.After almost 24hrs of trip you just dream to reach your friend and relax, on the way I had a stop in Mumbai where I discovered my indian sim card was expired but luckily I found a free internet access to tell family i'm alive and wait for new local sim card. This long journey took me to my first stop: Jaipur 

First tip: even if you're tired ask many people around to see if there's a cheap way to reach the city and not just rickshaw where you need to bargain or prepaid taxi. Without local number and my friend not reachable I decided to use a prepaid taxi, only this trip and it was a lesson to be more motivated.. He took me to a village near Jaipur, amazing place to visit later called Amer . Small place so I just asked first person and he was cousin of my friend so few mintues my friend came and my adventure started.. I had a yummy lunch together then he was back working I decided to discover this village.

Jagat seromani temple

I just sneaked inside a temple and indian atmosphere came around me: a temple dedicated to Krishna and it was nice hearing the history of it thanks to a friend of my friend. I'm pretty curious about different religion and customs so I got more knowledge about hinduism. I will tell more about it later when I had a chance to talk with hindu priest :)...From there I started my uphill walk to the entrance of famous Amber Fort sneaking in small streets and feeling how hot Rajasthan is on may.

The fort is amazing and I got soon my first experience: people asked me a picture together and as it's low season they were curious about my presence there. Even if it's hot, I decided to go to visit Jaipur as my time was short here. On the main road I got an ac local bus for just 15rps. The main attractions of  Jaipur are very close each other and I started from the most famous: Hawa Mahal or Palace of the Winds. From there I wandered around and I started to live the chaotic atmosphere with traffic and people asking every minute but I liked. I kept visiting the city going to the city palace and the Unesco site of Jantar Mantar that is a collection of architectural astronomical instruments. It was so hot and it was time to start first bargain to come back. On the way I noticed a palace in the water so I asked to go there, wait for me and then go back home. I got very good fare just because we agreed to stop at shop of this friend on the way.

We went straight to this famous water palace aka Jal Mahal : The palace is a five storied building out of which four floors remain under water when the lake is full and the top floor is exposed and a great place to spend some time around. Luckily my friend called me as he works nearby and I skipped the shop visit and I had great time with him and his family, visiting another temple and got some more news about hinduism.

Jodhpur

Time was short but I really enjoyed to stay with Ankit's family and thanks to jet lag I woke up so early to get an early morning bus to Jodhpur. Bus was a part of this trip and I discovered the different idea of distance. 320k how much time do you think? Well 8 hrs :) but time goes by easily: you meet people, stop in incredible places and live real local atmosphere. In this trip ticket-man was my companion and when you're in the bus you get cheap prices about food and water. You can get a bottle of water for just 10rps when in the shop prices are between 15-20rps sometimes more. But watching life along the way, kids playing cricket, people selling on the streets and tuc tuc, cars so crazy and awesome..

I just got off from the bus  and I got my welcome to Jodhpur: I was the only foreign around so like flies they came around me asking if I need a taxi, auto or else but my eyes were caught from a smile: tourist policeman :). He welcomed me and gave me the info I needed: bus stop as I know I could go to my friends by bus for 8-10rps. For locals it seems weird traveling like this: alone, by bus but even in Europe do you get a taxi or bus to move around? I got off in front of hospital then finding an address is a nice quest. Luckily locals knew this address so i got there easily and after a chai (tea) I relaxed a bit in my room with ac and private toilet ;). I spent rest of day with them: we went to choose wedding cards for his son and after a yummy dinner, I and my friend sit and talk about life, religion and more till late night. He gave me some info about Caste system in India and i learnt about Fasting : abstinence from all food and liquid for a defined period, usually a single day (24 hours), or several days and its an important part in Hinduism and certain days of the week are also set aside for fasting depending on personal belief and favorite deity. For example, devotees of Shiva tend to fast on Mondays.

Mehrangarh Fort

The morning I woke very early to visit the famous  Mehrangarh Fort: life is so different early morning, few people, not so hot and less traffic. It was nice walking up these small streets and reach the top in time to the opening. They gave you an audio-guide included in the ticket and you just need to leave an id to get it. From the fort you can view the famous blue city, a part of Jodhpur where most of building are painted in blue. I was so fast that I didn't find anyone to give back my id card at the end hehehe so a poor guy run to me as I needed to hurry up cause lunch with my friends then airport to my next destination: New Delhi

New Delhi

It was a strike day in airport so they rescheduled my trip: first Mumbai then New Delhi arriving late afternoon. Time went by and a guy from flight company came to me and offered me to change flight and go straight to New Delhi :) Great change cause a surprise was waiting for me in New Delhi. In this trip I supposed to meet the sister of my friend Asia in Amritsar. So I don't know I sent an sms to her telling how she is and that I was just landed in New Delhi. She called me back and surprise was she was here too so wow I spent first hours in this crazy metropolis with her.

Airport is freaking new with a great airport express with just 80rps you are at New Delhi Railway Station. You can live the contrast in a country that is growing up fast but they still have lots of poor people so when I stepped outside this small dream I was back to reality: chaos, pollution and freaking hot but that's India love or hate it. NDRS is a huge place so to meet my friend was a little adventure: I needed to cross all railway station and finally we met in front of the main bazar. This place is full of foreigners and shops and small restaurants, we walked bit around before moving to Old Delhi to have dinner.

To reach Old Delhi we got an auto-rickshaw but traffic was so crazy it took a lot to reach this famous restaurant where i could eat my first meat of this trip: yummy mutton and chicken thanks to Kamila ;). The place is Karim that now foreigners discovered too thanks to some tourist guides. The day ended with last bargain to get a cheap auto to reach my friend's place. I met Ashutosh and after some relax, we had another dinner lol before moving for a night ride in Delhi. Can you imagine? After 11pm, no traffic no more chaos it doesn't seem such a metropolis. We went to a very local place: India Gate where people relax on the grass and enjoy an indian ice-cream. We got stopped by police too but everything was fine, just incredible after midnight you can't find a place where to buy a drink, incredible India.

Yummy food at Karim

Second day was to discover the city and meet some locals. Delhi has a great metro system where you can reach all main spots in walking distance. Morning started to learn different kinds of bread in India: Chapati, Naan my favorite one and  Paratha kind of fried bread that we had for breakfast with some sagzi (veggies).

I walked to my metro stop like 10-15mins away and I started to visit the Akshardham an Hindu Temple opened in 2005. There's alway a long line and you need to leave in cloak room all electronic stuff mobiles too.

On the way back I wanted to visit a small village called Hauz Khas where I could visit some old tombs and a mosque. To get there I asked a local to help me to find a cheap tuc-tuc but to come back i walked as it was just 10mins. I could move very easily by metro so next stop was Safdarjung's Tomb that is a garden tomb with a marble mausoleum. From there I had a stop for lunch at Connaught Place,  one of the largest financial, commercial and business centers in Delhi.

I spent rest of the afternoon discovering Old Delhi, first I had a look at a sikh temple, I couldn't get in cause you need to have your head covered and no cap with me. It was so crowdy and it took me long time to reach Red Fort, very touristic spot so I skipped away fast as I wanted to visit the famous mosque of Jama Masjid, In the mosque you need to be dressed in proper way so they gave me something to cover my legs as I was wearing shorts, too hot. Very friendly people, they showed me around and I got some info about muslim religion too.

During sunset I moved to Central Secretariat where ministries and offices are located and nearby you have the Parliament and India Gate. Just some time to meet a local and we had a typical drink called Lassi. I spent last hours with my friend and host Ashu to have a bit of western style life. We went to a roof-top restaurant to have some chicken as snack and first beers :) then we came back and we listened to some punjabi music like Honey Singh

Uppsala and Stockholm: Min Sverige

My crazy May started with Berlin and after a day in Italy it kept spending some days in a cold but beautiful Sweden. Thanks to a very cheap flight I had a chance with a friend to see again but with a cold but sunny weather Stockholm but we also had time to visit Uppsala, nice city nearby Stockholm. So let's start our trip

Thursday

We arrived very late on Wednesday so early morning after we met my kind hosting friends Gustav and Magnus, we went straight to Central Station to get our train to Uppsala. The journey was very short like 45 minutes and the railways station is well located, walking distance to the center. Uppsala is only 76 km north from Stockholm but it was originally located a few kilometres to the north, at a location now known as Gamla Uppsala.

From the station, we moved to the center and the Fyris river (Fyrisån) neatly divides the city into two different parts: west part is more historical  compared to east part where business or administrative activities are located. The center of Uppsala is not big so half day is enough to have a look and we spent first hours walking around and having a yummy breakfast in the cosy Cafe Linné Hörnan.

Fyris river

After this, we had a walk along the river before reaching The Linnaeus Garden that was the first botanical garden in Sweden. Uppsala is quite lively city as its university is the oldest one in Sweden so it's worth to have a look at it too. The main and interesting building is the Uppsala Cathedral, biggest one in Sweden and most visible everywhere in the city. In the same square you can visit the oldest main university building called  Gustavianum and another tiny church.

We spent lunch together a friend in this creperie to remind my Brittany time and food was ok and it ended up with a delicious lemon pie. We had a fast look at the  university library, the largest in Sweden and we visited just outside the Uppsala Castle on the way to the botanical garden where we relaxed a bit under the sun. No time to visit Gamla Uppsala, the first settlement in this area.

It was not so late when we came back Stockholm so we had time to have a nice walk in Gamla Stan, the old part of the city that includes  nearby island  of Riddarholmen. We started from this tiny island: there are many beautiful palaces and main attraction is Riddarholmen Church. A statue of Birger Jarl, traditionally known as the founder of Stockholm, is standing on a pillar in front of the Bonde Palace north of the church with an amazing view.

We kept visiting the old town with its nice and small streets and many Cafes where to relax. We had a look at the Royal Palace, the cathedral and so on, very touristic area but if you're here for the first time it is worth.

Best way to close the day was to cook italian food for our friends accompanied by a good spanish wine.

Friday

We decided to visit Drottningholm Palace, Unesco Heritage and private residence of swedish royal family.

It's very easy to get there by public transport: just reach Brommaplan by subway then many buses go to Drottingholm. Around the palace  you can visit beautiful gardens where you can walk and relax along small rivers too. You can also visit the palace, a small theater and a chinese pavilion.

Best part of the trip is when I can live the city with local people: so in the afternoon we had a chance to meet my swedish friend Jessica and her sweet baby Frank. She showed us the district of Södermalm, now famous as  Lisbeth Salander and other characters in the Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson live and work there. We walked inside the district and she suggested great places where to spend our night out. It is a mix of cultures where you can find a yummy cheese bread from Turkey or a gelato from the first italian ice-cream shop. We visited the norwegian church with its famous read houses around before reaching Slussen.

From Slussen you can have a walk along Götgatan, the main road of this borough and you can see Skatteskrapan, previous office of Tax Board and now students apartments. From there we had a detour to visit Monteliusvägen where you have a great walk with beautiful view of the city. To reach this place you will pass through a very nice district, full of old houses, steep hills and cobble stoned streets.

Time to say bye to my friend, awesome tour of this area so we decided to spend the night here after some relax at home. We came back for dinner and you tasted typical swedish food with lots of local people at pelikan restaurant. We ate too much so we decided to walk back Monteliusvägen to take some night pics with this amazing view. We spent rest of the night dancing at kvarnen, multi-ethnic place but you can visit many other bars like sodrateatern or petsoundsbar. Time to go to bed not before meeting our hosting friends in the subway going back home at same time :))

Last Day

We didn't have so much time so we went back Slussen where you can eat a traditional swedish fast food: fried herring on crisp bread at Nystekt Strömming. The classic, and very Swedish, main attraction is the “knäckis”—fried herring with cucumber and red onions on hard bread, called “knäckebröd” in Swedish.

From Slussen we got a a ferry to a sharp visit to the island of  Djurgården, beautiful views on the way. In the island you have nice bars where to relax but you can also visit Vasa museum, a maritime museum displaying the only intact 17th century ship. There's an aquarium too and the amusement park of Gröna Lund. If you have time you can also visit the open air museum and zoo of Skansen or just relax walking in the park or in the old village of  Djurgården.

Time went by fast so we took back ferry to go to the Central Station to get our airport bus, just few minutes to eat some cinnamon pastries and say Vi ses snart Stockholm...

Unconventional and conventional Berlin

Some years ago I had a chance to visit this controversial city during a cold November so first impression was not so positive, my italian soul ;).. so accepting an invitation of some sicilian friends to meet there here I am back again and finally I started to love this city a mix of conventional and unconventional things that make Berlin unique and a place where you can also find something to do...

My Arrival

Saturday is a perfect day to arrive and enjoy the night life of Berlin as after I met my friends in the lovely quarter of Neukölln and welcome drink, we straight went to eat at Ris a cheap and tasty chicken in persian way. You can eat whatever you like in Berlin and you will find something open always. Our kind friend and host Sandro found an iranian party and a birthday party too to join at karakas bar where we had fun and found cheap drinks. In the same night I had a birthday of friend of mine so night was just started when I moved to meet her and her friends and I discovered Berlin is a city full of life. Many clubs still full of people and long lines to get in even if it was 5am like this at Katerholzig

line at 5.15am at Katerholzig :o

You should learn there's a strict selection to place like this and I hope to have more time to spend at Berghain or at weird ones like Kitkat club hehehe...

Sunday

Berlin is not only night life so we spent time to discover some touristic spots during day before heading to a famous sunday flea market. We started at Checkpoint Charlie a border point between East and West Berlin during cold war. There's a nice museum about it and very nearby you can visit for free Stasi museum and you just walk a bit more and you can see a part of Berlin wall and you can visit a topography of terrors museum for free as people should not forget what happened in second world war. It also was time to try the famous curry wurst maybe not the best one but a must ;)

Sunday is perfect day to enjoy Mauerpark flea market : this market is populated not only by some younger hipsters, but also the more international, grunge-yuppies of the neighborhood. From may you have a chance to take part in a karaoke with huge audience and you can lie on the grass and enjoy a sunny day like it was. Day was long so we ended up with some yummy pizza made by a turkish guy nicknamed Allianz ;)

We had a chance to have a tour of Neukölln thanks to Sandro and his friend Diego. It's not a famous spot but you can visit interesting things and understand how a quarter changed in last years. About this it's interesting to read a book like Arabboy explaing how tough it was living here and its still a very active part of the city. On the way we stopped to see the ex brewery Alte Kindl now home to artist studios, project spaces, performance hall. We had a tour in the neighborhood and  we found a building with a famous golden sun.

We had a walk in lessinghoehe park where Diego told us a creepy story about a burnt dead body of a girl found here some years ago. Imagine it was so dark in a middle of a park in a not so safe area and we started to see a red light moving slowly then fastly towards us, panic was to start when we hear behind us a girl called Fuffy her dog with red light ahah what a shame :)... We kept touring till another park called Comenius garten where we met the statue of the famous Comenius, our lovely mascotte for the rest of the trip.

Comenius is considered the father of modern education and small community following his ideas lives here. Nearby you have a nice multiple religions church where everyone can follow its religion. We finished the night tour in a punk pub called Syndikat, nice atmosphere and a no-taking pics place, weird :) 

Monday

A good start of a day is a yummy and cheap breakfast and Sandro suggested to go to Bierbaum3 before having time to visit some other spots of Berlin, like Alexander Platz, Rathaus and the Cathedral just in front the famous Island of Museums Unesco Heritage. This is a fast stop in most famous touristic spots before having a tour in the underground Berlin where you can experience the history of Berlin from an unconventional perspective! Italian tour was sold out so we started with german one to finish with the spanish one more understandable for all our group.

Day was really sunny so a good way to have lunch is to visiting the ex airport of Tempelhof where we had a delicious barbecue and you can have a nice walk around and have the feeling to stay in the middle of landing track. Thats something unusual to mix up with what we did later: we visited the famous Brandenburg gate and we reserved a tour of the doom of Bundestag where you have a wonderful view of all Berlin. Last stop was to visit Holocaust memorial before moving to Kreuzberg.

This day was the eve of Labour Day so we had parties almost everywhere but great spot is Kreuzberg where first we had dinner at Kreuzburger then we tried to see what's going on but it was bit cold so we decided to move to Warschauer Strasse where a common friend lives and we spent the night in a pub before moving back and you could have many parties in a community center nearby the bridge. We still had time to visit a trans-gender pub and had a fast look at pub called Tristeza, thats funny name.

Labour Day

Sadly it was my last day so I didn't have so much time to discover new things. We decided to go back Warschauer Strasse as you can visit a famous left part of East Side Berlin wall where some selected artists painted the wall around 1989-1990.

It's an 1,4km of painted wall and you can also visit Oberbaum bridge and Frankfurter Tor just close to U-bahn station. Time went by fast so we came back the island of Museum before I left but my mind was already thinking when I can come back:

You can still do lots of things like Potsdamer Platz, Berlin Zoo, Tiegarten or you can visit nearby towns like Postdam or Brandenburg well some I had already done but you know you can still have many reasons to come back and discover other hidden cornes :) Auf Wiedersehen...