Berlin is one of those places where you instantly feel the need to get naked and run through the streets.
Well okay, so maybe not naked, but I feel a sense of freedom in this city. When I visited last time in 2012, I was overjoyed with the feeling of being free, living like a hippy. Careless and free!!! I just feel so relaxed and at peace in this city, which is rather nice, especially after the dense history of this city and Germany in general.
So this trip I was excited, not only to see some of the sites I'd missed last time, but this time I was going to Sauvage for dinner. HELL FREAKING YEAH!!!! For those who don’t know, Sauvage is the first restaurant in Europe to serve and only serve food that is Paleo friendly. This means that absolutely EVERYTHING on the menu I can eat!!!! For those who have ever tried to cook for me or eat out at restaurants with me, know this NEVER happens. Being able to order anything I like is pretty much my dream. Okay, so the trip to Berlin was going to be a long one. We would drive from Brussels, which should have taken us around 7hours. Needless to say roadworks are even worse over here than in Canberra. And I have never seen soo much traffic in my life, four lanes of bumper to bumper cars for kilometres. It was seriously an experience I was not prepared for. We spent over 10 hours in the car driving to Berlin -_-
There is no speed limit on the Autobahn, only a lower limit (which I can’t remember, I think it’s around 110), which is super freaking scary. The was one moment where I got to experience exactly how effective the European cars are at travelling at super fast speeds, needless to say, I never want to go that fast, EVER again! So after a loooong drive we were finally in Berlin and I was ready for my dinner at Sauvage :D It was everything I'd thought it would be, and more. We went all out and ordered a three course meal, each ordering something different so I could try it all!!! It was one of the most amazing dinners I've ever had. If I lived in Berlin I would eat here every night. Our entrées were served with Paleo breads, and the dessert apple crumble and chocolate pudding were sugar free. The whole experience was amazing!!
Berlin has a ton of fun places to see, some cool museums, and lots of history, but they were really nothing compared to the food I ate, hehe. We practically ate our way through the town, sourcing out any place that served meats, meats and more meats, and let’s not forget the sausages, hehe. The German’s definitely know how to cook their meats. Even the fast food at the local mall was still had one of the most delicious Bratwurst I’ve eaten. Frozen yogurt is another tasty treat they do well in Berlin. I remember last time I was there I stumbled across an opening of a new yogurt chain that had rows and rows of mix ins, that you were in charge of adding your yogurt, which is quite dangerous as you paid based on weight. So you are in charge of your own deliciousness, winning! So between all the foods, I actually did some sightseeing, Promise!
The first time I visited I saw the Berlin Wall, the Holocaust Memorial, Checkpoint Charlie, Brandenburg Gate, and I went on a walking tour that showed places Hitler had been, and where he was eventually killed, and showed us the Hotel Aldon where Michael Jackson famously dangled his kid over the balcony. So I wasn’t too keen to do all that again. This time I wanted to see some of the museums, and the other landmarks. We headed to Alexanderplatz to start our little tour, starting with the Berlin Television Tower (Fernsehturm) which you can see from practically all over the city. It’s just a huge tower, much like all the other television towers in other cities, it’s worth a look, but I wouldn’t go out of our way to see it. I forget the route we took to see the rest, so in no order; Charlottenburg Palace, Museum Island, the book burning memorial at Bebelplatz (this is quite a cool sight, you look down into a room under the pavement, which holds around 2,000 books which represents the books the Nazi’s burnt), Church of Mary, Neue Wache Memorial (a memorial for the victims of war), I saw a ton more just walking around the city.
I unfortunately didn't get to experience too much of the nightlife. I went to a few cool bars, and drank a few too many cocktails, but no warehouse parties, or clubs. Maybe next time! The drive back to Brussels from Berlin was a nightmare. It made the trip down seem like a picnic. Overall we spent over 12hours in the car....... it was the worst. Honestly I thought road works were the worst driving home to my parents in Aus, this was 1,000,000,000 times worse.
Next time for sure flying.. Peace out for now Bxxxx P.s. all my reviews of the restaurants I visit are on my yelp page here -> http://rakearl.yelp.co.uk
So here it is, one year since I arrived in the UK. And boy oh boy what a year it’s been. I’m not going to say it has been easy, because that would make me a liar. There have been a ton of struggles, but I’m definitely glad I’ve stuck out the homesickness. Otherwise I would have missed out on some of the most amazing dishes I’ve ever eaten, some of the most amazing sights I’ve seen, and some very amazing people I’ve had the pleasure to meet. I know I said I’d maybe only move here for a year, but having reached that milestone I now know I’m not ready to come home just yet. There is still a ton more I want to see, and experience and my journey doesn't feel complete. It’s definitely not easy watching friends get married, have babies and hit milestones in their own lives from afar. I miss everyone every day. But I would be selling my own life short if I moved home now to be around for those events. There are some scary decisions being made, career wise over the next few months, but I know in my heart that I’m doing the right thing. I am extremely lucky to have such amazing support from both my family and friends and I’m not sure I could have done this without them. At this stage I have no clue what the future will bring and for the first time in my life, it’s okay to not have a plan. Peace out for now...... Bxxxx
I love that in London on any day of the week you can always find some kind of festival on. Last weekend and this weekend I attended two very different festivals. The first I didn’t actually find out about until Saturday morning on instagram, but decided to buy tickets to the Sunday for an informative day out. Be:Fit has an annual Women’s Health and Fitness expo, and I thought this would be right down my ally, plus Quest Nutrition was going to be there, would I finally get to try my first Quest bar??
So I set off in the Sunday sun. The venue was on the Thames and looked out over Tower Bridge, which was pretty cool. When I entered Be:Fit I was instantly bombarded with “if you drink this once a day you’ll have fabulous skin”, “if you drink this juice in place of two meals, you’ll drop kilos and have amazing skin”, “if you wear this crop top your performance will improve by 80%”.
I was so shocked at what was being marketed to women, and how all these women were purchasing bags and bags of this junk. Instead of empowering women to take control of their lives and make smarter choices about health and fitness, they were pushing crap onto them, which in fact was not even going to make a difference to their weight, cos let’s face it, popcorn is popcorn at the end of the day if you eat it as a 3pm snack, after you’ve had a big Mac for lunch.
It wasn’t all bad, and there were a few jewels among the “healthy” junk food. I met some cool people who grow their own linseeds, and they had made some pretty cool oils. And the vitamix presentation was awesome, when I move home to Aus; I’m totally saving up for that beast. I did manage to feast on a heap of free samples, and that popcorn did taste amazing, and those “healthy” bars did also tingly my taste buds, but I know better than to buy them as an everyday thing. I however finally find Quest Nutrition, and FINALLY my first quest bar!!! Coconut Cashew, and boy was it delicious, and I’m a sucker I know, I bought a box!! But it’s a treat food I promise, plus it’s full of protein!
With a full belly and a huge amount of brochures I decided to leave. I’m not sure I’d ever go again, for the entry free I didn’t personally gain anything from it that I didn’t already know. But it got me out and about......
This weekend I went to a London Coffee Festival as part of Coffee week. I had been planning this for a few weeks, with some friends who love coffee as much as me, if not more! When we arrived to our 3 hour session the line was about 4 blocks long, I couldn’t believe it! I honestly didn’t think the festival would be that popular. Our session had sold out, but still it never dawned on me that it would be so popular. The line moved fairly quickly and within 20mins we were finally in heaven!!! Of course my senses took us straight to the chocolate section, free samples, as if I wasn’t going to smell them out. It was the usual suspects, Lindt, Devine, and few other local bakeries with fudges, and peanut butter somosa’s. This was the perfect place to start, as after a few too many chocolates we were ready for some serious COFFEE!
Practically every kind of coffee bean, from every kind of country, pressed in every kind of way was there, and so many samples. Oh the samples. A particular highlight was the Kaluha bar. We tried a delightful mix of coffee, rum, and pineapple over ice. It was super delicious. Although could have used more coffee. We accidentally sat at the table which offered a Kaluha experience. This involved being blind folded and using our taste senses to sample each ingredient that is added to make Kaluha. First one, my favourite; chocolate coated coffee beans, then sugar cane, vanilla and finally rum, it was kinda cool how they explained the process each ingredient went through to become Kaluha.
We then continued through the rest of the exhibitions, sampling tea, coffee and even peanut butter. We met some pretty cool people, who were showcasing some very delicious blends of coffee. It was so hard to find one to buy. I ended up buying 3 bags of tea, hehe, and one bag of coffee. It was a very successful day out.
Well okay, so maybe not naked, but I feel a sense of freedom in this city. When I visited last time in 2012, I was overjoyed with the feeling of being free, living like a hippy. Careless and free!!! I just feel so relaxed and at peace in this city, which is rather nice, especially after the dense history of this city and Germany in general.
There is no speed limit on the Autobahn, only a lower limit (which I can’t remember, I think it’s around 110), which is super freaking scary. The was one moment where I got to experience exactly how effective the European cars are at travelling at super fast speeds, needless to say, I never want to go that fast, EVER again!
The first time I visited I saw the Berlin Wall, the Holocaust Memorial, Checkpoint Charlie, Brandenburg Gate, and I went on a walking tour that showed places Hitler had been, and where he was eventually killed, and showed us the Hotel Aldon where Michael Jackson famously dangled his kid over the balcony. So I wasn’t too keen to do all that again. This time I wanted to see some of the museums, and the other landmarks.
I unfortunately didn't get to experience too much of the nightlife. I went to a few cool bars, and drank a few too many cocktails, but no warehouse parties, or clubs. Maybe next time!
