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Escape: Where to Eat in Paris
There's always time for Paris, right? Here's what I ate!
Escape: Usedom
Sponsored in parts by Strandhotel Ahlbeck Spending time by a big body of water is the ideal restoration for me – a lake is fine, but the sea is even better – where only a sidewalk and the dune is separating you from the breaking waves.
Escape: Discovering Sweden’s picturesque Skåne
To be perfectly blunt, I did not expect a whole lot from going to South Sweden. … Oh my, was I wrong.
Escape: Gut Üselitz on Rügen
After breakfast in the lovely Forsthaus Strelitz, I continued my late-summer road trip north heading towards Rügen, the giant island with the stunning cliffs…
Escape: Forsthaus Strelitz in Late Summer
I love me an Ausflug. Especially to this exquisite destination: a family-run restaurant and farm business in Mecklenburg, close to Neustrelitz.
Escape: Where to Eat in Paris
Ooooh, Paris! I have not spent enough time in Paris, a day here, a day there, mostly just as a stop-over when going some other place, really. This time, we were staying for almost 4 days, we were going to eat all the things!
Escape: Where to Eat in Toronto
Lucky me, I was invited to join the annual Terroir Symposium in Toronto, Canada! In my free time, I ate.
Escape: Where to Eat in Shanghai
It was my very first time in Shanghai, China and it couldn't have been better: we did a ton of walks through the districts, marvelled at the many pink and white magnolia flowers that had just bloomed, and planned our days around where we would eat for lunch and dinner. We ate so much and we ate so well! Mostly at places serving various Chinese cuisines, so we could enjoy the many very seasonal vegetables and dishes only available in the weeks of early spring. We've also visited the Jing'An temple, the Yayoi Kusama exhibition, the Arts & Crafts museum (where I should've bought that glass statuette of my Chinese zodiac sign), wandered through gardens and roamed many, many, many malls. Mainly to walk off the last meal and create space for the next…
Eats in Hamburg: Some highs, some lows
I went to Hamburg for the weekend! This deserves its own shout-out, since we Berliners are famously lazy when it comes to the neighbouring city by the Elbe. Only 1.45 hrs by train and still too far away for most of us to go there regularly for a day or two. There's not even a rational reasoning behind this, yet if you ask a random person living in Berlin when they've been to Hamburg the last time, I bet it'd be close to my answer before this trip: two years? Or maybe even three? It's been some time, let me say it like that. Which is even more tragic considering that the Hamburgers are coming over regularly. I see my Hamburg based friends more often in Berlin than the other way round. One of them thought it was superweird we were walking through the Schanze together, since we've only ever met in Berlin. Anyway, I WENT. And I ATE. A ton of new places were added to the city, some old favs vanished and I was excited about the very long list of tips I had received from friends and followers. I will have to go back though, because just when I returned I found a lovely hand-written letter with even more tips in it, and I feel like I missed out on a couple of places (Hobenköok, HEAT, Balz & Balz…). So, I guess a trip in spring is coming up. Spring… 2020? Going north at least once a year is now on my agenda.
Escape: Where to Eat in Beirut
So I went to Beirut, finally! Why did I want to go for so long? (I got this question a lot): because of the food, the people, the weather, the history, and also the food. My friend Florian and I spent 10 days in Lebanon, mostly in Beirut, some of it in the countryside, – and it's been a delight! The people are incredibly friendly and welcoming, there's so much to see and to experience, yes the traffic is literally insane, but oh well. There's the food – the glorious, glorious food. Based on fresh and local ingredients Lebanese cooking is an amazing blend of acidity and earthiness, freshness and spices, all bound together with fragrant olive oil and fresh yoghurt. Obviously the locally grown ingredients are in their prime, all citrus fruits are perfection (especially that bitter orange), you can even get local bananas here. Delicious treats wait for you wherever you go, there's an abundance of foods to try and most shops specialise in one dish and strive for perfection of it. Our daily schedule was determined by where we wanted to eat, from breakfast to dinner. It's a tried-and-tested travel-method of mine that I can recommend a lot, especially when walking to these places to a) digest all the food you ate, and b) get an impression of the city. Beirut's not that big, so you'll pass most interesting sights and places on your way to the restaurants.
Escape: Where to Eat in Amsterdam
It's more than a little embarrassing that the actual first time I ever went to Amsterdam was only ten days ago. I never intentionally avoided it, but I never really went for it either, however, finally everything fell into place and I had the most wonderful weekend in this unbelievably pretty city: the weather was perfect, the city was bright and clean and awaking from winter, the crowds were big and annoying, but there are ways to deal with that in NL. Food seems to be as big a topic over there as it is here in Berlin, and while I really did enjoy getting that 2,- kaassoufflé at Febo's wall of food (you just have to try it once, or thrice), there was plenty of more elaborate stuff to munch on.
Escape: Hiking in Meran
Disclaimer: I was invited on this trip by MeetMerano & MGM, the local tourism agency.Nope, no intention to torture you with this article and its accompanying pictures. Just a simple reminder that to escape the icy wind and cold, it can be a good idea to mentally travel back to your past summer vacation, and subsequently plan the next one! Because Vorfreude ist die schönste Freude. It's also a reminder to clean and grease your hiking boots, because you'll need them for your next trip to the southern edge of the Alps, where palm trees and rough peaks co-exist and every Knödel is better than the last.
Escape: On a houseboat in Brandenburg
About a week before we were leaving for the boat, I found myself researching the warmest thermals and writing a packing list including woolen blankets and hot-water bottles. I was so, so scared I'd be cold all of the time – a circumstance I didn't really consider when booking a couple months prior. And I bet you're thinking the same: spending time on a boat in November? Why would I ever do that? Because: it's a Bunbo and it turned out to be the most cosy, relaxing, and utterly delightful thing I've done all year.
Escape: Victoriapark & Kreuzberg
Sponsored by Belsazar Vermouth
Have you ever asked yourself, why Kreuzberg is actually named Kreuzberg? Turns out it's strikingly simple: it's named after the cross on top of a hill in Victoriapark, located in the south west corner of the borough. In contrary to most of the rare and small "hills" in Berlin – which are mostly high piles of war-rubble – this one's a natural, glaciation formed hill. Rising 66m above the ground, topped with a Prussian national monument, it's a perfect place for a sundown-drink with a Belsazar Vermouth. Read on for a chance to win an all-inclusive package of Belsazar.
Escape: Where to eat in LA
Okay, LA! You monster of a city that knows no limits! You're definitely not easy to grasp for someone only equipped with old-timey European city-managing-skills. Someone who wants to stroll around to enjoy the (admittedly fake) impression of discovery, to soak in the atmosphere. Instead, you demand planning and patience, you want me to know where I'm going before I get into the car, to plan my day so I won't be endlessly stuck in traffic because I decided to hit the ten at the wrong time of day, or went down Pico Ave because I hoped to avoid the jam on the 405 (no idea what I'm talking about…). I did plan for this, even more than for my trip to Tokyo last year (which already was my personal record for holiday-prep). Thanks to the LA-issue of Lucky Peach, which was published just a few weeks ago, and the tips of trusted friends form LA, I managed to eat exceptionally well on this trip and here's what I had.
Escape: Forsthaus Strelitz
When one lives, works, and breathes in Berlin it's easy to forget that this miraculous monster of a city actually sits in the center of a quite pastoral landscape, with loads of lakes, fields, and forests. And a gorgeous farm-to-table restaurant in the midst of Mecklenburg's woods. Here, instead of serving plain old Schnitzel with potatoes and gravy like so many country inns, chef Wenzel Pankratz is creating unpretentious and elegant menus centered around the quality of the produce they grow. We spent an evening, night, and morning in this picture-perfect paradise, and you should too.
Escape: Bleiche in the Spreewald
In case you're familiar with my Instagram, you probably unfollowed me three weeks ago when I was posting too many stories and pictures of me and friends relaxing at a gorgeous spa, basically lavish exposure of extensive spa-ing in the middle of a random week. But let me tell you more about this wondrous place about 1,5 hours South of Berlin, tucked away in the picturesque biosphere reserve Spreewald. It's a stunning spa hotel called Bleiche.
Escape: Tirol
What looks like a weird photo wallpaper or maybe a bit too much photoshop is a quite accurate depiction of what hiking in Tirol looks like. For five days, I ventured into the Alps with four friends and the dog, to explore the deepest valleys, the steepest slopes, and the fluffiest Kaiserschmarrn in the most lovely Stubaital in the heart of Tirol. Read on to find many reasons why you should do the same thing…
Escape: Where to eat in Prague
Isn't it weird how we never talk about Prague? It's so close, it's insanely beautiful, (a lot cheaper), and still I haven't been in over 15 years and everyone I talked to was like, yeah, I really want to go, but… No but! You should go! Prague is amazing! I went for a way too short stint of two nights in August and had so much stuff on my to-see-list, I could've stayed a week. However, here's an intro to the Prague of now.
Escape: Schloss Schwante
The sun's out, temperatures are glorious and all we wanna do is get out of the city, hang below palm trees in an apple orchard and eat ice cream, right? I have the perfect place for you: Schloss Schwante, Clärchen's Ballhaus' Sommerfrische, a super pretty castle in the countryside about an hour north from Kreuzberg!