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Erfurt – right in the middle of Germany
Listen to your heart… Erfurt is the capital of Thuringia and just about the most centrally geographically part of Germany you can find yourself in – so it’s often called the ‘heart of Germany’. I’d heard of this city before, but only really the name. We were recommended it by some friends and after a wonderful day in Leipzig we thought it would be rude not to pop in and check out this place, especially as it’s famous for sausages!! This city is typically German, there were few tourists even in the peak summer season and those visitors we saw were German, so there were no English-language tours. The city (town?) is tiny…
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Leipzig – a wonderful day out
Das Essen soll zuerst das Augeerfreuen und dann den Magen [feast the eyes before feeding the stomach] . – Goethe My Japanese grandmother spends around two summer months in England every year, as Tokyo is just too hot and humid to breathe in, let alone live in. Once again she came to visit us in Berlin and this time we wanted to grab a car and see a new part of Germany, so off to Leipzig we went. We actually accidentally timed our arrival at 13:30 perfectly, as it was the beginning of the English-language walking and bus tour. It was around 35 degrees and blinding sunshine, so a quick…
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Strandbad Wannsee
Oh I do like to be beside the seaside… It felt like we were on the beach in Barcelona again. Strandbad Wannsee must be the only beach in Berlin where you have to pay to enter, but for once it was definitely worth it. For €5.50 you get sand between your toes and some space to relax. We visited on a weekday and it was busy, but nothing compared to the free lakes which are just rammed full of screaming drunk people. Here it’s calm and shallow for a long way out, so the children stay in this part and the adults swim out. It was peaceful and clean, although…
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Sacrower See
The Big Bad Wolf… Known as possibly the ‘best water quality of all the lakes in and around Berlin‘, Sacrower See is just half an hour drive from the capital towards Potsdam. It’s a bit of a hidden gem that only the locals know about, so even on a boiling hot Sunday we managed to find a perfect spot on the sandy beach and have a picnic/ swim-fest. It felt like a holiday. Once you manage to get into the freezing cold water, you can swim out to wonderful views and the water is beautifully clear. There’s even a little restaurant and chip/ ice cream stand when you get peckish.…
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Pfaueninsel – Peacock Island
Last week, we finally paid a visit to a tourist spot for the locals in Berlin… the UNESCO World Heritage Site — Pfaueninsel (Peacock Island). The island is located in the middle of Havel river in Wannsee, just in the south-west of Berlin and not too far from the L&A headquarters. In order to get to the island, you have to have to take a bus (or cycle) from Wannsee station to a small jetty where a ferry pops back and forth over the 200m stretch of water between the mainland and island every few minutes. It costs just 4 EUR for a return trip on the ferry, and it is your only…
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The best Indian curry in Berlin?
What I would give for a good curry… My father’s proudest moment was feeding me curry when I was just two weeks old. Yup, you read that correctly. Once you have met the Abel Family, you probably won’t even be surprised at this. Another fun story was my dad cooking curry for his father a long time ago. Apparently the curry he made was too delicious to share, so instead, my dad went around the corner to get a takeaway curry for his father and saved his masterpiece for the next day. Curry is and always has been my absolutely most favourite food in the world and I miss it like…
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Best Pancakes in Berlin
Eggs, milk and flour, pancake power, look at his milky yellow sunshine face flip it now flip it good ooh, flip it now flip it good ooh… Sunday brunching is one of my favourite ever things! When the girls from work suggested pancakes I couldn’t say no, and I think you will all be thanking them too after looking at these beautiful nommy photos! My favourite thing about the place is the menu. You have six styles of pancake to choose from and that’s it. No faffing about – two of us shared the WTF (ahem) – bacon and maple syrup. It was so thick – the length of my thumb and…
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Sleeping in a Cucumber Barrel
As cool as a cucumber… Well, we did it yet again. We saw the most hilarious accommodation ever and decided to visit the surrounding area because of it. Yup, you guessed it, we stayed in a pickled gherkin barrel (Gurkenfass) in the Spreewald, a UNESCO area just one hour south of Berlin by car. I have to say I was a bit apprehensive of four people squashing together in one of these little vessels and when the owner suggested we take two huts we nearly caved in, but it’s an adventure and I thought it would be a giggle with Jason and I on the bottom and my brother and his…
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Harz National Park – Holiday with Dog!
The one with the wagg-ly tail… OMG I’m mortified. I just realised it has been over a year since we went to the Harz National Park in Germany and we still haven’t told you about our lovely little holiday with dog. Five of us squeezed into a car and Jason drove us to the middle of Germany. We stayed in a tiny town called Quedlinburg – a medival town with UNESCO status. We rented out a lovely and very odd house – some of the furniture was hundreds of years old and it meant we could cook and play games all night if we wanted to. The town is quaint and the houses…
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Salt n Bones –
Don’t worry… we have meat in ze building… We have finally found the perfect place for meat!! Can I get a ‘whoop whoop‘ please? Although the burgers at The Bird are pretty hard to beat, the service is appalling. At Salt n Bone the meat is amazing, they have tons of beers and ciders to choose from and the staff are so friendly I felt like I was back in America. We went there hungry and sat outdoors in the sunshine. The three of us shared some scotch eggs (yup – this can be made into a posh food), kimchi and the 2-person meat-platter. Now if I’m honest I could have eaten the…