this will always and forever remind me of one of the best summers of my life. 1998. st. paul, MN. my entire family (including the five kids) went to spain for four weeks while i was in charge of the big house and … myself. that was it. of course they left money for food and essentials but hey, at 21 you have to have your priorities straight meaning party and shopping = more important than food. so @ about 35ct/package this soup was the perfect lunch, dinner – heck even breakfast. i’d sometimes throw an egg in and had some bread with it which still made it a meal under 1$ = sueet. i had such a great time that summer – and not just during the four weeks the family was gone ! and the most surprising thing about this story is that i still actually like ramen noodle soup chicken and in fact just had it for lunch ;)

happy summer you guys!

two weeks ago C and i packed our bags and left for a short get-away we had planned months ago. remember how i said we wanted to take more trips and all? well, this was one (hopefully the first of many more to come) of those trips. we took the train down to munich and as soon as we crossed the “border” into bavaria i noticed the gazillion little church towers because apparently every tiny town there has a church. when we got to munich we put our luggage in a locker and walked around the city for a couple hours. my conclusion after that (granted, very little) time: munich people are snobs and not too friendly, a map from the tourist information costs 0,40 euro which i have never experienced in any other city before, i’m not too impressed by the “hofbräuhaus-area” but LOVED the viktualienmarkt, would go back if i had the chance but it’s not very high on my list of places i want to see more of. and yes, i am biased because of the bremen-munich-rivalry in soccer. but enough of that, on to salzburg…

we got there around 9 pm, grabbed some fast food at the train station, got a taxi to the hotel and checked in. our room was AMAZING. top floor = 6th with big floor-to-ceiling windows on the corner. we were sooo excited and not just because we could finally take a shower and crawl into bed :)

after enjoying the GREAT breakfast buffet and fueling up for the day we started walking towards the city centre. the weather was amazing (sunny at around 20°C) and we didn’t even have to take our jackets. we walked on top of the kapuzinerberg, hiked around the kapuzinerkloster and had a great view from up there across the river salzach to the other side = the old part of the city and the castle.

after sitting up there in the sun for a while we took a gazillion stairs down and walked across the river to the old town. we saw the mozart’s birthplace, the cathedral, all the little streets and squares and stood at the bottom of the hill looking up to the hohensalzburg fortress …

we had a beer and apfelstrudel on a terrace of one of the hotels right at the river and walked to the mirabelle palace and gardens after that.

by the time we got back to the hotel that night we were both pretty tired and decided to just stay in, order room service and enjoy our view ;) naturally, i slept like a baby that night.

on friday we had heard that the weather was supposed to get worse in the afternoon so we decided to take the “sound of music tour” which C had taken on his last trip a few years back and highly recommended. it was awesome. even though i haven’t seen the movie (yet!) the locations we got to see were great. we even drove into the mountains to lake wolfgang and across some beautiful scenery until we got to the final destination “mondsee” which is where a famous (wedding) scene of the movie was shot. it was a great time and i’d do it again in a heartbeat!

here’s the whole salzburg-set with a few more photos if you’re interested :) as you can see we were pretty lucky with the weather despite the forecast but sure enough, as soon as we got back to the drop-off around 6 pm it started raining. so we walked back to the hotel to relax for a while before heading out for dinner again. that evening we had dinner at a pretty cool brewery – die weisse – which was rustic but not old-fashioned and very comfortable. the beer and food were great and we just hung out there for quite a while.

after another GREAT breakfast buffet it was time to pack up, check out and leave on saturday morning. next stop, regensburg to spend the weekend with a couple we had never even met before. we’s crazy like that ;) seriously though, i’ve known tara in the online world for quite a while now and we had wanted to get together so this was the chance with regensburg only being three hours from salzburg and basically “on our way” back. tara’s husband and C hit it off right away, having not only their home country but also their love of the beer in common ;) so naturally we did a (short) brewery tour (of two places) after we got there before heading back to their place. the rest of the weekend was filled with amazing food – seriously, they spoiled us big time with taco-night, great breakfast with everything one can ask for and a wow BBQ sunday night. can you say t-bone? :)) – lots of talking (and “beer tasting” on the men’s side) and relaxing. it was perfect in every way. thanks so much again, tara & J <3

we got home around 9:30 pm monday night. tired but in a good way. plus, i had taken an extra day off and just chillaxed some more at home on tuesday. so it was allll good :)

we left last sunday around noon. the drive was smooth and we got to berlin about four hours later. checked into the hotel which was located perfectly in the center of berlin. we were way up on the tenth floor [got an upgrade to a suite] with a balcony and a nice view. after chilling out for a bit an freshening up we walked to the nikolaiviertel for dinner.

we bought a day-pass for the public transportation every day and just tried to check out the city as much as possible. since the weather was beautiful on monday we decided to take a tour on the spree river in the afternoon, which was awesome. it went through/along much more than just the city center and was a way to see the berlin from a totally different “angle” than the usual “tours”.

the tour dropped us off near charlottenburg palace. we walked around that area for a bit before getting on a bus back towards the hotel. we were pretty exhausted from being outside in the sun all day so we just showered and walked to nikolaiviertel for dinner at a different restaurant again.

on tuesday we had to check out of the art’otel but they let us leave the car in the garage there so we just put our luggage in the car and headed out again. we went to check out the area around potsdamer platz which according to C has changed a lot over the last 7 or so years. we had a coffee and walked around the area and the mall for a while. oh and i bought an umbrella because while we were there it started to get really dark and looked like rain/thunderstorm. sure enough, a few minutes later the rain started so we decided to head back to the hotel, get the car and find our way to the estrel hotel, were we were gonna stay at the following two nights.

thanks to my brother’s navigation system [priceless to have if you are in a big city you don't know and a great help with your relationship because of all the arguments/fights you can avoid using it] we found the hotel in no time and were pleasantly surprised. instead of the deluxe double room our certificate was originally for, they actually gave us a junior suite on the 13th floor. that thing was bigger than my first apartment. we had a small “hallway” area with a closet and a tiny “kitchenette” with a fridge and sink as well as a huge “living room area” with a dining table, desk and sitting area and the “bedroom area” around the corner a little separate. it was great.

well, we enjoyed the room for a bit, freshened up and then got on a bus towards the city again. at the time there was a pretty big thunderstorm but it was fun since we were on top of the two-story-bus right in the front row behind a big wind-shield. it was a fun way to see a bit of the city and stay dry at the same time ;) we got off just as the rain stopped and made our way to the hackesche höfe – a cute area with a bunch of small stores and restaurants. we walked around for a bit and had dinner there before heading back to our sweet suite where we opened a bottle of red wine and called it a day :)

our certificate for the estrel hotel included breakfast buffet so we got up for that [yummy!] and afterward got ready to meet ellen at the hackesche höfe again. she was a great guide and we walked around the hackesche höfen for a bit before heading on to walk “unter den linden” towards the brandenburg gate again.

we sat down for a coffee on the way and chatted for a while before ellen had to take off. so we walked around by ourselves for a bit longer, went underneath the brandenburg gate and walked towards the reichstag. unfortunately the line to get in was ridiculously long so we decided to skip it and got on the line 100 bus that drives by a bunch of points of interest between alexanderplatz and the zoo train station. we then had a döner [a MUST! when you're in berlin] at alexanderplatz before heading back to the hotel. we had to go back kinda early to get ready for a show in the evening [the tickets were also part of our certificate]. it was fun. especially since it turned out that we had picked a “50% off on drinks”-night and the “watermelon man” as well as the “singapore sling” were superb :) as was the view from our room…

after breakfast the next morning we packed up and got ready to go. originally we were gonna check out potsdam on the way home but the weather was pretty bad so we decided against it. but before we got on the road i wanted to make one more stop i had been anticipating since we first planned our trip. the tumult berlin store in friedrichshain. i have bought a few things from the tumult-team in the past and we had been emailing back and forth a few times but it was still a nice surprise when they actually knew my name and who i was when they heard where we came from :) we chatted for probably an hour, i ordered a bunch of things [they really try to meet all your individual wishes from colors to fabric... and so far they have done an outstanding job at doing so] and C bought me a cute member of the tumult-family. i’m in love with my little “sir bleibsoh” and and as far as i can tell he seems pretty comfortable here in bremen-city with us :)

we were both kinda sad to be leaving berlin because we had such a great time but unfortunately we had to. luckily the drive back home was smooth again. unfortunately the welcome home wasn’t quite as smooth. as soon as we walked in we realized that speedy didn’t come to the door to greet us. two steps into the apartment i saw several spots where she had thrown up and she was laying on the couch clearly not feeling very good. she threw up a couple more times and i spent the first fifteen minutes home after the trip on my knees cleaning up cat puke. next shock: the washing machine is broken and we can’t wash anything. again, perfect after a five-day-trip. and on top of everything the internet didn’t work.

*sigh* the cat was feeling better by friday morning and after having spent quite some time and money on customer-support-hotlines the internet is working again as well. washing machine – still broken. seems to be fatal, too. so we’ve been washing a few loads at friends’ houses in the last couple of days and are still contemplating whether to buy a new one before or after the move. bottom line: we had a great [!] time in berlin and are not too happy to be back.

oh well, i guess at least we still have a few days off and werder bremen bringing home the DFB-cup last night definitely made up a little bit for the shitty welcome as well. WOHOOOO! :)

i know what you’re trying to do. but i won’t let you. i haven’t seen pia and moritz since early december and mike even longer. i haven’t seen their new house and this trip has been planned for months. so consider your plan as miserably failed. because i’m going. i will give your bacteria everything they hate – which according to my doctor includes gargling with vodka – so you might as well leave now because i’m putting up a fight and i will win. so bite me.

tnx, kim

yesterday around noon my brother and i went and picked up a sideboard i had found on a local marketplace website. i had been tired of looking at the shelve made of bricks and wooden boards that i’ve had for over 15 years now for a while and decided to invest the cash i got for my b-day in what i think was a great cause. so we picked it up, carried it to the fourth floor and i started to re-arrange and -organize things and what can i say? i LOVE it :)

and while i was at it i put up the new pictures i got for my birthday. this one (the one on the right) san got me for my birthday.

and because i loved it so much when i got it, i decided it would look even better with a “companion” and got the one on the left for myself as a b-day-gift :)

once i was done i had to jump in the shower and pack up because we had spontaneously decided to visit our friends S&R in hamburg. little did we know that the (only) freeway there would be closed mid-way and the detour pretty slow and packed. so instead of an hour it took us almost three hours to get to their place. in the dark and pouring rain… oh well, we took it with humor and once we got there we had a great evening. sabine heated up some soup for us, we opened a bottle of wine and some beers and spent the evening chatting and listening to music. sabine and i went to bed around two a.m. and the guys stayed up until around four. luckily i had brought my ear-plugs because guys + beer often result in snoring and with our bed being wall-to-wall with sabine and roger and me being right at the wall i was “snored at” from both sides… but i slept like a baby and around 11:30 sabine woke us up with a great breakfast waiting. what a nice start into a sunday :) since we had missed her last night, i also finally got the chance to snuggle with hedi – S and R’s little daughter – for a while. she is the sweetest, cutest and friendliest thing.

we just got back a little while ago and i’m ready to chill on the couch and look at my new sideboard and pictures now. i hope you all had a great weekend, too! xoxoxo