After a long winter, I finally get to see a bit of sun! Strolling through Berlin again and feeling sun rays on my cheeks feels surreal, even though that means tears down my face ’cause I didn’t think of taking my shades with me. Continue reading
tourist
Rome on my mind
Back home to a frozen Oslo and minus 18, I can´t help but wishing I lived somewhere else entirely. I woke up this morning and had to literally race to the kitchen to make the fire, or else I wouldn´t be able to walk around without the duvet wrapped around me.
Anyways. Back to Rome. What a city! Maybe this is the way to see it, after all, not chase after experiences, like I probably did last time, but let go of all expectations and see where it takes you, what it has in store for you. I love being able to walk around with hasty steps, like I have a purpose, music in my ears, let my eyes linger on a building, smile at the sight of a balcony overgrown with plants, reminisce something from another lifetime, then suppress it with the reluctance of swallowing cough syrup.
Urban Sunday
It took me many years to stop sighing for a bigger, more exciting city, like Paris, London and Berlin, and instead enjoy the cosy little Oslo we have. 😉 Yes, it´s a bit provincial, no, there aren´t as many good eateries or things to do as in a metropole, but you can get to the sea and the woods in 15 minutes, we have fresh air and pretty great neighbours (we’ve lived four places and definitely prefer the “rougher” East side, people are so much nicer!).
Last day in CPH
We´re home again after a grand weekend away from dog walks and cat poo, from fussing over dinner and going to work at all hours of the day. It´s been so good- sleeping late, eating out, having drinks with friends and discovering the neighbourhood. We´ve mainly kept to Vesterbro, with the exception of yesterday, when we walked all the way to Nyhavn, the canal downtown. The funniest part was when we realised Dyrehaven was just around the corner from our place and we´d walked for at least 20 minutes, round and round the block. Haha!
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Another week has gone by
Long time, no see. I was busy with my guests, who left on Wednesday afternoon, then worked long hours on Thursday and then summer came back to Norway, so I had to make sure I enjoyed it properly! 😉 Actually summer came back on Wednesday, so we´ve been frantic about staying outside in the sun, drinking ice coffee and white wine, going to the beach and so on.
Top 5 Things to Do in Berlin
I simply love Berlin. It has little of what I usually find enchanting in a city- the architecture, a romantic old town, the sea and, last but not least, dark and beautiful people. 😉 But it does a great job compensating the lack of European grandeur (due to the fact that it was bombed under WW II) with a down to earth buzz, which is why I prefer it to both Barcelona and Rome. Berlin has the river Spree and knows how to use it, it has incredibly creative people, lots of galleries and cultural happenings everywhere, yummy restaurants, world class museums, not to mention the “not so bad” Bauhaus buildings. 😉 I´ve been there quite a lot in the last 6 years and I like to think I know the city a little bit, so I invite you to read about my top 5 things to do when in Berlin.
Summer
It´s 2nd of June and there´s no sign of summer at all in Oslo. In fact, I turned up the heat yesterday and today, after venturing outside in the rain, with a broken umbrella and a pair of patent leather Louboutins for no reason at all (it turned out my services weren´t needed after all), I came home with a single urge: to make myself a warm cup of tea and put on a pair of wool socks. And since the prospects of hot weather are slim this year (we´re only going to Berlin in July), I thought I should take you with me on a trip to memory lane by showing you a couple of pictures from previous holidays and my outfits, of course. 😉
A night out in Bucharest
Since we´re on a holiday in Bucharest for some days now, we decided to invite my family out for a better meal. Choosing a restaurant would normally sound like a nice and simple task, but proved to be a mine field this time. Not this one, not that other one, not in the city centre, ´cause the buildings are crumbling down, not traditional food, ´cause it´s not properly cooked, but not Italian, either, ´cause you don´t go to town to eat spaghetti, you get the point… The whole thing turned into a quarrel and I and my father no longer speak for the moment. Democracy was never the strong point in our family.
Bucharest
We´re back in Bucharest and it´s great! 😉 Haven´t been on a holiday since last year, except for a short 3 days´ break in Vienna at the beginning of January. In addition to that, Romania is really nice this time of the year- the accacia trees are in bloom, the temperature is warm, but not steamy and everything is green.
We got here on Wednesday about midnight, my brother and sister-in-law picked us up at the airport and we had some drinks at our auntie´s place where we´re staying this time. They´d bought some corn puffs and my mother had made some roast potatoes and chicken, so we had a late night dinner, too.
Yesterday we woke up late- it had poured all morning and the air was fresh, but warm, just the way I like it. 😉 We had coffee and breakfast at Origo, where we´re regulars when in town. They have the best coffee ever. Afterwards we walked for a bit and grabbed a cab to my brother´s place to catch up with mom and babysit our niece while she was going to the dentist.
Freelance life: Hitra and Trondheim
I´m home again and it´s never felt better! I´m a delicate soul who gets very tired when traveling, so today I´m going to spend my morning in bed, then go for a long walk with Sammy and put my affairs in order in the afternoon.
But let me tell you more about my travels, it´s been great! I can never express enough gratitude for working as a freelancer and being my own boss! It´s so good for my nerves! ahahah! 😉