Postcards from Hamburg

In October, Jeremiah and I spent  10 days in Berlin and Hamburg. I have been dreaming about visiting Germany for years, so it was so great to see it in the peak of autumn. My favorite part of the trip was visiting Hamburg - a  riverfront town that has beautiful architecture, canals, and unique food. 

Some facts about Hamburg:

- Was a part of the Hanseatic League
- It is situated on the Elbe River
- The second largest city in Germany
- The Beatles launched their careers here by playing in the city

Some highlights for us:

- Miniatur Wunderland: Have to thank past Yelp reviews for this unexpected, quirky find. This is a model train attraction that is one of the largest in the world. But it's more than trains - it's entire civilizations rendered in miniature form. We spent a couple hours wandering through the exhibits. If you ever visit, be sure to watch the small airplanes departing at the miniature airport, and also look out for the easter eggs of tiny model citizens partaking in nefarious activities. While there, we saw a skinnydippers, and a 'whodunnit' murder scene (complete with an underwater car).

-St.Michael's Church: The largest church in the city, with an incredible view at the top. Baroque-style, it has seen its share of notable citizens over the years (Johannes Brahams was baptized here), and more than 2,000 of them were interred in the crypt in the basement. Climb to the top, and stay for the Evensong service and crypt tour.

-Desserts: Franzbrötchen (a croissant-like pastry often stuffed with cinnamon and chocolate) should be a thing that people in NYC line up for. And I pretty much had my own religious experience after trying rote grutze (red currant fruit dessert served with cream).

-Vier Jahreszeiten: They have really big rooms that are bigger than most NYC apartments, cool toiletries I could never afford on my own and an old-school elevator (like in Grand Budapest Hotel). They also serve amazing rote grutze.

- Fischmarkt: On Sunday mornings around 4am, just after last call, many locals and tourists head over to the fish market to get some post-partying grub near the harbor. The fish is fresh, the music is still going, and there are even some fish auctions going on for those ambitious to start their grocery shopping early. The sunrise is really beautiful with a fish sandwich in one hand and a beer in the other.

COS Spring 2015

One of the brands I discovered/fell in love with while visiting London and Berlin was COS,the higher-end sister brand of H&M. The brand is a departure from my normal style of tapered waist vintage dresses,  but I'm really drawn to the clean lines, minimal colors and sculptural jewelry. I own a couple dresses from COS so far, and hope to get more mileage out of them when the weather is warmer. And if I hadn't already blown my spring allowance on a couple sweaters, I'd totally nab up that watercolor silk blazer.

Postcards from Germany

I can't believe it's been almost half a year since Jeremiah and I went on this trip to Berlin and Hamburg. Jeremiah and I have been talking for years to visit Germany, ever since high school when he studied German. So we finally made it happen! We were lucky enough that our trip coincided with Berlin's annual Festival of Lights, in which famous landmarks are covered in graphic light shows for citizens and tourists to enjoy. It's a beautiful festival and it felt like all of Berlin was outside to experience. Above and below are a few buildings' displays. My favorite is the Berliner Dom (above), which is already an extraordinary cathedral to begin with -- and it's a shock to the senses to see it lit up in graphic modern illustrations.

Lately

When enough time passes, it's hard to pick writing back up here again. But so much has happened in the last few months, that I feel like I need to record it all somewhere.

Since I've last updated, I've:

- visited 3 countries (Germany, Iceland, Turks&Caicos)

- really grown into my job as a media research analyst, which I love

- saw the Northern Lights (!!!) 

- probably had the best weekend of my life when I found an amazing dessert (rote Grütze) and watched the sunrise in a fish market (all in Hamburg, Germany)

- started liking sushi, sashimi and seafood

- found a good group of people to regularly hang out with

- lost a ton of weight 

The last one has had the biggest impact day-to-day for me. I started changing my diet and habits after I left my advertising job in May. I felt like the unhappiness of that time, plus bad habits I picked up (free vendor lunches! happy hours every night! subway rides to and from work!) contributed to weight gain since I've moved to the city. Now I definitely feel healthier, especially since I walk everywhere, keep work food in check (just because it's free doesn't mean you have to eat it!) and wear a fitness tracker to keep up with my steps. The bittersweet thing about a drastic change in my appearance though is that it's impacted what clothes I can wear, and I've cut out a lot of things in my closet .So anyways, between that and the really long winter in NYC, I haven't been taking very many outfit photos. Which I hope to pick back up soon once it's warm again.

Anyways, thank you for reading - whoever you are out there.