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in berlin: teufelsberg
have you ever heard about a place that so captures your interest and imagination that you end up thinking about it all the time and even dreaming about it? that’s how teufelsberg in berlin was for me for years (similar to seljavallalaug, which i finally went to in 2016!) and as today’s beautiful, crisp sunny autumn weather seemed like a perfect sort of day to go to grünewald (the large swath of forest to the southwest of the city where teufelsberg is located), i thought of it today. and writing about it. but you might be wondering – what is teufelsberg? those who don’t have a knowledge of german language…
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august in berlin, week three
in the last full week in berlin, i started to get a little frazzled because we had by that point finally decided when we were going to head back to budejovice – we had to be back by the end of august to temporarily renew our visas, so the end was near, as it were, and there were still (as ever) far too many things on my wish list. there is something about this city that makes me want to be out every day, doing as much as i can, going as far as i can… but i had to learn to let it be and relax a little bit. …
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august in berlin, week two
happy september (aka “back to hogwarts” day), friends! i am relishing this anything-but-lazy saturday morning, planning to tidy a bit, do my first bake along with this year’s great british bake off which just started this week, and finally, some work continuing my german studies. in order to finish the current textbook i’m revising and working through by the time i start again with my lessons, i’ve calculated i have to do one textbook unit every three days… challenge accepted! so it is “back to books” a bit this month for me. anyone else going “back to school” somehow? continuing speaking about august in berlin experience – catch up on week one here.week…
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august, lately: the first week in berlin
phewww. what a month! i didn’t have time to write this past month (save for that one post about traveling with your dog – check it out if you missed it!) because from the beginning of august, i was immersed in a berlin-language study-do all the things whirlwind! i left my inbox almost fully unattended until i couldn’t possibly put things off any longer while we were away for most of august in berlin, i working on my studies and alex starting his next writing project on his pretty portable olivetta lettera (above) he dragged all the way from budejovice in this sweet little kollwitzkiez flat that i termed “the treehouse” because of…
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berlin christmas market rundown!
hey. so i know it’s january, folks are knee-deep in resolutions, self-betterment, and photos to prove you went running. but i have some serious intel about the christmas markets in berlin, seeing as i’d been doing this “research” the week of christmas, that needs to be released on the wild internet or the thought will either wither away in my mind or this post will rot in my drafts folder forever. and technically, the twelve days of christmas are still on ‘til the 6th, yo. so pin it, bookmark it, do whatever it is you gotta do if you want to know the low-down on which berlin christmas markets to visit!…
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berlin christmas
i had my first christmas in the city this year, in berlin. and it was weird… but not in a bad way. (i am not counting the time we lived in prague because we were residents then, not there as tourists) when you’re in the big city for christmas and you don’t live there, especially when you live in a smaller city for the rest of the year, and especially when that city is your FAVORITE city, there is no time for rest. it’s time to do and eat all the things. so, then… is it really christmas? (do they know it’s christmas?) that can make for a very tired…
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in berlin: ritter schoko-welt
when it comes to my favorite german chocolate, i am a total ritter gal. some big are milka or lindt fans, but i’ve always been ritter all the way. i love how in the states you can buy the bars at trader joe’s, and of course here in central europe, you’ll find them in every store. my ritter tastes go through an evolution: i used to be all about the dark chocolate with whole hazelnuts until i discovered peppermint, which initially i thought would be kind of gross but turned out to be better than an andes mint (remember those?). so when i was most recently hangin’ in berlin last…
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berlin’s new favorite park
i was going to talk about poland for today’s travel tuesday. but i am in berlin and my mind is hopelessly submerged in all that is a berlin summer extended weekend. my trip to poland is finished and i had a wonderful time, but…. berlin is on the mind today. as well as trying to forget the polish i learned and try to transition to my german which has sat in a state of decay since my language classes wrapped up for the summer in late june. i actually had a situation where i said, “tak! er… ano! er… ja!” awkward central europe language problems. lord help me. but i…
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berlinale
going to the uber prestigious berlinale (berlin international film festival) has been one of those unattainable dreams of mine since about 2007. i mean, why would i ever be in germany in february? welp, when it’s only seven hours away by bus and alex has the week off for spring break, it seemed like the stars were aligning to make it happen. booking our visit over a month in advance had several advantages: the bus tickets were super cheap, a great hostel near potsdamer platz (festival headquarters) was quite vacant, and i had something to occupy my always-planning mind during long, cold january. berlinale is a generally pass-less festival, with…
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berlin valentine
berlin for berlinale and valentines’ week was a hell of a time. i was a little unsure about returning so soon after my all-too-short weekend getaway last summer somehow rubbed me a little bit in the wrong direction, but the city’s back on my good list now and it seems that valentines’ week was the perfect time to realize that it was just a rough patch we were going through. as i was being smothered by winter monotony here in south bohemia, five days in the hauptstadt was just the thing to refresh my spirits. although i was looking forward to seeing the city in it’s snowy winter glory, the…
