Skip to main content

Holiday in Berlin

Red candles - checked.. Deep asana tea with cinnamon and warm ginger notes - checked.. Ambient music - checked.. I'm ready to write about my past vacation.
I'm back since one week and I wasn't able to write about it. Why? Due to post-vacation blues. This is also known as post-travel depression (PTD). "A person may suffer from post vacation blues after returning home or to a normal routine from a long vacation, especially if it was a pleasurable one. The longer a trip lasts, the more intense the post vacation blues may be." [1]
Yes.. The few days spent in Berlin were great.
Let's go to the beginning.
Thursday morning. I'm requesting an Uber ride. While waiting for my Uber driver to pick me up, I read Iulia's post (my trainer from Public Speaking Workshop) and she was talking about a pink ball of goodness to pass around to make a better world. This made me think.. how can I do that? My car arrives, I get in, and I start an entertaining discussion with the driver about the joy of travelling. That's a good start. I pass by the security check, and then at the passport control I put on my face a shy smile and say "Good morning!". The man looks at me and he says: "May your heart be good!". Yes.. I'm on the right way..
Moving on.. The boarding is completed and get in the plane. My first flight with Ryanair. What can I say.. you get what you pay. Fast forwarding, everything was ok and I landed on Schönefeld airport. Florin gave me instructions how to get to his office and in ~50 minutes I was there.
The rest of day I spent it in Park am Gleisdreieck.
West side of the park
Sunset view from TorEins Restaurant, on East side of the Park
Quiche and fresh mint tea @ TorEins Restaurant
Friday begins with a great cappuccino & hot tomato bagel. It's very funny how my brain works. When I read on the menu hot I thought first to warmth. The bagel was first spicy..
Breakfast @ Impala Coffee
The day goes on and I get to Charlottenburg Palace, which is the largest palace in Berlin. What I liked most here: the large gardens. I didn't notice till now how big and fat are the swans. I think I start to understand the phrase: "Graceful as a swan".
The palace viewed from the gardens, the facade under construction 

Another photo with view over the lake
From the palace I went to check a place recommended by a friend, Super is called, near Zoo. I won't spoil it, you have to check it yourself. Hint: the bathroom.
End of day
Saturday can't start without coffee. Florin joins me and after we walk till Bahnhof Zoologischer Garten. From there we take the train and go to Potsdam. 
Photo from when we got there. Wait to see the difference when we left
The city looks a lot like Sibiu or Brasov. The Christmas spirit is in the atmosphere. The main street (Brandenburger Straße) was invaded by shops selling all kind of souvenirs. Guess what? On this street there is another Brandenburger Tor.

Following the path


Schloss Sanssouci appears, the summer palace of  Frederick the Great, King of Prussia.

After walking that much we found a cozy place to rest our feet and enjoy a cup of tea.
@Bio-Café Kieselstein
Meanwhile it started to rain.. I realized is more fun walking in the rain when you are not alone.
Can you spot the difference? Photo taken on our way back
A lazy Sunday starts with a double cappuccino at the same place I was in the days before. 
Another building with graffiti in sunset
On Monday morning I decided to try another coffee place, not that I didn't like the other one but I have saved a lot of places. 
Cappuccino, a vegan muffin (no sugar) @ Coffee & Deli, Queen of Muffins
With this energy boost I go ahead to East Side Gallery, the final destination being Treptower Park.
View from Elsenbrücke
Building with big flowers
The largest Soviet Memorial is located in Treptower Park
After a simple google search I found out that this park is serving as cemetery for 5000 Soviet soldiers.
Tuesday was the last day in. It started with.. Yes.. coffee and a vegan carrot cake at.. yes.. that place where I was each morning. I had lunch with Florin. I had a last walk through Park am Gleisdreieck. In this time I discovered the manual controls of my phone camera and I was able to capture this:

Till next time, enjoy some graffiti work captured while wandering around:



Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Stories from Hamburg

Lately I've heard a lot about Hamburg, how awesome it is and I was curious to see it with my own eyes. Being in Berlin these days, was the perfect moment to do it. I bought train tickets and here I am in a train going to Hamburg. With my book, enjoying a 2h train ride  The weather was not favorable to me, but I still have all my fingers. I must say, the rainy day enhanced the colors of this city. I was not kidding about the cold It took me a few time to get used with the temperature, but after that I forgot it was cold. I had set in mind to see the canals. I came here for that. I read some articles about this and I was impressed. It's said that it has more than Venice or Amsterdam. From what I've seen, it looks a lot with both of them, but on a different scale. If in the two cities mentioned the buildings are not so tall, here we find massive constructions. #wanderlust #urbanphotography #enthusiastictraveller A post shared by Madalina G. (@gmadalina92)
Post a Comment
Read more

Magnificent Florence

After reading Dan Brown's Inferno I wanted to go to Florence! That was two years ago and I had booked a trip for March 2020 but it was canceled due to the pandemic. This year I booked another trip for March, but that one got canceled too because I got covid. One month later I finally managed to visit Florence, but the plan doesn't always works out the way one expects. Initially the trip was for 3 nights but the airline with which I got the flight tickets changed the timetable and the first direct flight to return was after another 2 days, therefore I ended up spending 5 nights. Which turned out to be better! The journey to reach Florence was hellish! Apparently the airport is small, between cities, with only one runway, fairly short and not very wide. Additionally to that, the place is surrounded by high mountains, which is why it can be approached only in one direction. Not only does the terrain brings this challenge with it, but it also effectuates in a very unusual microclim
Post a Comment
Read more

Kasteel de Haar - a luxurious castle

During the rainy days and with the current restrictions, my only consolation is writing about magical places I discovered in the past months in Netherlands. The subject of this post is De Haar Castle, a place rich in stories!  The joy of exploring this flamboyant castle De Haar is the largest castle in the Netherlands, once the private residence of the Van Zuylen family, whose descendants still stay there yearly. In the last century, the castle also frequently hosted members of the international jet set with their lavish lifestyle; from Coco Chanel to Roger Moore, they too left their mark on the sumptuous rooms of the most opulent spot in Utrecht. I visited the castle a couple of weeks ago, together with my dearest friend, Ioana, and it was a lovely Sunday, even with some warm sunshine!  This year I bought  Museumkaart  which allows free entrance to about 400 museums in the Netherlands, De Haar Castle included! Despite the months when the museums were/are closed, I got to use it a coup
Post a Comment
Read more