What I love about Germany

When I moved from Italy to Germany in 2016 everyone kept me asking: “Why Germany?”, “Why don’t you move to England or to France? They are so beautiful, while Germany looks so sad and depressive!”
Most of the people who told me that had not even ever been to Germany and I did not get where these stereotypes about Germany came from.
I have been living in Germany for almost four years now,  so I can finally tell what I love about Germany so much.

–Centre of Europe
Albeit geographers consider Poland the heart of Europe, I think that it is easier to travel from Germany rather than from Poland, since Germany borders with 9 countries and the prices are very cheap.
I am so glad to live in a country with such a strategic position and since I live here I have been able to travel to Austria, France, Switzerland, Denmark and Sweden.
-Castles
There are more than 20.000 castles in Germany and the more I visit one, the more I crave to visit the next one.
They are all so different from each other and so dreamy, that they are for sure one of the reasons I consider this country my favourite.

-Openminded
People are very openminded here, especially in the big cities.
-Cheapness of grocery stores
I think that Germany might be the country with the cheapest products in grocery stores of all Europe.
You can find products from all over Europe spending just few money.
-Public transport
Busses and trams are always punctual, they run at every hour of the day and they are never full of people.
-Safety
Germany is one of the safest countries in Europe and you can notice that just seeing the trams and busses full of children that go by themselves at school.
At the beginning I was also shocked to see girls by themselves around in the night, but now I do the same  since I realised that it is really pretty safe in here.
-Beauty
I might be biased, but I think that Germany is one of the most beautiful countries in the world.
It has everything: big cities, fairytale towns, industrial cities, mountains, lakes, rivers, sea and so on.

-Seasons
The four seasons in Germany are simply stunning.
In Italy we experience just Summer and Winter, while in here you can experience amazing Springs and Autumns.
I still cannot believe that I get the chance to admire such a landscape from “my” house or from every panoramic point of Heidelberg.

-Green country
Being environment friendly is the key word in Germany.
People and children go by bike everywhere. People prefer public transport over driving by car sas well and I even know pretty wealth people who do just take trains to travel to other countries and who never fly.
Recycling is really serious in here and there is a separated bin for almost everything: glass, paper, broken glass, organic waste etc
If you buy a plastic bottle you won’t throw into a bin, but you will put it into a machine that will give you extra money (Pfand) back.
It is also very uncommon, to not say impossible to find air conditioning in the houses.
-Half-timbered houses
There are more than 2.5 millions of half-timbered houses in Germany and they add even more aesthetic to this wonderful country.
I do not realise if I am living in a fairytale or in real life sometimes.

-Multicultural
You can find people of every nationality here and I love the fact that people are really good integrate in here.
The kids I look after go to school with many kids of different nationalities: Albanians, Italians , Rumenian, Spanish etc.
-Language education
Mainstream kindergardens are already superior to the British or Italian ones, but what really makes Germany even better are bilingual kindergardens.
I think it is really useful especially for children who have expat parents to attend these schools and being constantly surrounded by both the language of the parents and of the country where they live in.
-Christmas markets
The smell of mulled wine, the decorations, the cities lighted up, the smell of biscuits and chocolare, the Christmas Carols sung around the Christmas tree of the city, the ice skating ring with the Heidelberg Castle in the background…simply the best Christmas markets in the world.

-Rules
They totally live by the rules in here without any exception.
If the street lights is red for the pedestratians then they never cross the street, even if it is 3 am and no car is around.
A lot of people complain about all the rules and how Germans are strict when it comes to aplly them, but  I think that this is one of the main reasons that make Germany safe and great.
-Punctuality, Practicality, Planning
Germans live following those rules and I could not be more happy, since in Italy most of the people tend to do exactly the opposite, while I am always very early at every event.
Other people tend to say “if you are punctual at an appointment with a date, then you are late” since Germans always show up early and I just LOVE that, since I hate waiting for people who are always late.
-Celebrations
Germans celebrate literally everything and there is always a “Fest” or some nice event to attend.
It still seems very strange to me knowing that when a child starts elementary school they will have a party to celebrate it.
It is called “Einschulung” and every kid will get a decorated bag full of stationery products and sweeties that they will bring with them when coming into the class.
After the school there will be a party in a restaurant or at home, with relatives and friends.
-Boys
German boys are not only handsome, but definitely more respectful of girls than Italians and they never leer at girls, or touch them “just by accident” in the clubs or whistle at them.
When approaching girls they are very nice and sweet as well.
I also find them more openminded than Italian boys, since they are not jealous or possessive and they would never control their partners.
-Equality of women
A large number of women in powerful positions.
Nobody feels intimitated or get schocked if you are a girl with other goals that are not getting married and having kids.
German girls are very indipendent.
-Equal parenting
Mums and Dads have exactly the same tasks.
It’s pretty common to see fathers by themselves with babies or children, fathers changing nappies etc
-Decorations
Germans are OBSESSED with decorations. Is it Easter? They will decorate the whole house. Is it Christmas? Decorations everywhere. Is there a child’s party? Decorations!
During Christmas time my whole neighbourhood decorated their windows as the Advent’s Calendar.
We got number 22 and so we lighted it up just on the 22nd of December.
Our street looked simply spectacular.

Easter decorations

Our Advent’s Calendar Window

Advent’s Calendar Window

-Lack of dress code
I love how the Germans do not care about looking always perfect or well dressed to go to the club or to a party. Their style is very casual and nobody judjes you if you are not overdressed.
I always get compliments for my style in here, while in Italy it would be classified as completely normal, since a lot of girls dress way much better than I do.
-German language
The first reason why I moved here back in 2016 was to improve my German, since I used to study it university.
It is such a clever language! I mean to say “fridge” they say “Khlschrank” which means literally “cool cupboard”.
It is such a complex and interesting languages that makes me feel so happy to live here and learning everyday something new about it.
-Formality
I love that in here respect is mutual, so if an adult does not know you and starts to talk to you, they would call you “Frau/Fraulein” (Mrs, Miss) and with “Sie”.
In Italy just younger people would be formal with adults, but adults would never use this formality with young people and that pisses me off a lot.
-Cafes and restaurants
They are simply charming.

-Cleanliness
Germany has got the cleanest streets and cities I have ever been to.
-Directness
Germans never beat around the bush.
If you annoy them, they will make you notice it just going straight to point.
-Pommes
I would eat them everyday and it is one of the few things I like better in here than Italy.
-German beer
I had never liked beer before living here, while now I can tell that the others cannot even be called beers.
-Daylight
As soon as Summer comes, the daylight will last at least until 10.30 pm.
Sunsets are incredible and being able to enjoy a Summer day for so long makes me forget to not live by the sea.
-Nature
The rivers, the mountains, the mountains, the trees, the parks.
Even right in the centre of cities as Berlin or Munich I noticed that there was a lot of green around and that will never stop to amaze me.

 

Worst Trips of 2019

As I said in my previous post about my favourite trips of 2019, last year was the year I travelled the most in my entire life: I visited France twice, I went to Austria, Switzerland, Denmark and Sweden for the first time ever and I saw a large number of cities in Germany.
Some places were just amazing and have become some of my favourite ones, but some others were really disappointing, so here it is the list of the worst trips of 2019.

1.Bregenz, Austria
Europeans and not Europeans always put Austria in the top 10 of their favourite countries, but if I should write a top list of my favourite countries just basing my opinion on Bregenz, Austria would not even be in the list.
I found Bregenz boring as hell and even the landscape and lake didn’t impress me at all.


2.Paris, France
Yeah, don’t worry, you have exactly read Paris, France.
People always sing its praises, movies always make it seem as the most wonderful place on Earth, instagram pictures make you to want to go there so bad, but I expected so much from this city, that when I finally visited it was the biggest disappointment ever.
People would tell you that Montmartre is one of the most beautiful places of the city, so the first day the little girl I look after and I visited it, since our hotel was right in Montmartre. When we came there we were already a little bit disappointed by how dirty it was, by the artists that kept following us even if we said that we were not interested in having a portrait, and also by the view, that didn’t seem anything special to both of us (albeit “my” little girl is just 10 she has been to several countries and even more cities, so she used to compare a lot Paris with other cities during this trip).

Then in the afternoon we attended a Free Walking Tour in English – English and Spanish are the only two options – and I think it was one of the few things I liked in Paris. Our guide was Alberto and you could totally see how much he knew about Paris history.
One of the spots of this tour was Jardin des Tuileries (Tuileries Garden) and it was one of the only two places I actually liked in Paris.

The next day we visited the Louvre: it seemed like a dream to me being finally able to visit this museum after having studied Art history for so many years.
I almost cried when I saw all those statues and paintings.
The Italian room was my favourite one and I did not understand why people were so obsessed with La Gioconda, when in that room there were definitely better paintings.
Louvre was for sure the highlight of this trip. It was Louvre at first sight.

After having visited the Louvre, we decided to see the Eiffel Tower, which was definitely the biggest disappointment of the trip.
I will never forget the little saying “Its colour is so shitty brown!”.
The last day I decided to bring the little girl to Cité des sciences et de l’industrie  (City of Science and Industry), since I wanted her to enjoy something about the city, but I enjoyed it more than her since I could understand French while she did not.
3.Cologne, Germany
This trip to Cologne was very spontaneous and not planned, since I was visiting a friend in Bonn and when she told me that Cologne was just at 20 minutes by train from it I took the chance to thick another city off my list.
Its skyline and the Cologne Cathedral – the third tallest one in the world – were really beautiful, but once we walked around the city I wasn’t impressed by it at all, but I have also admit that we were there for just a short amount of time, so my opinion ha salso been influenced by the little amount of time spent there.

 

 

Best in Travel 2019

2019 was the year I travelled the most in my entire life and I couldn’t feel more grateful for all the wonderful places I saw and for the people who were with me during all these trips, especially with all that’s happening right now with the coronavirus.
I have visited so many different countries and cities that it was very hard to make this top list, even though I had no doubt on my first favourite one.

1.Copenhagen, Denmark

The colourful buildings of the Nyhavn and its smell of seafood, beautiful cafes, the neighborhood of Christiania, feeling safe when walking around its streets: just few reasons to love Copenhagen.
I got so many positive vibes walking around this city, that I think it has become my favourite European capital.

2.Dresden, Germany

Even though I have lived in Germany for a while now, I had never travelled more North than Heidelberg since my two trips in Berlin back to 2013 and 2014 and after my trip to Dresden I understand that this was a big mistake, since Dresden is now one of my favourite big cities of Germany.
I loved the contrast between the Neustadt (new town) – full of street art and modern buildings – and the Altstadt (old town), so elegant and full of historic buildings.
I was also very surprised by the the large number of fountais alla round the city.
It was so posh and elegant that I thought to be in Italy sometimes.

3.Malmö, Sweden

I loved the smell of Kanelbulle everywhere, the big green parks, the streets that looked like out of a fairytale and its lovely cafes.
If you visit Copenhagen make also sure to visit Malmö, since it is just 20 minutes away from it by train.

4.Bonn, Germany

You do not need to go to Japan when you can visit Bonn and its magical cherry blossom alley.
Beside the cherry blossom alley you can visit so many other things as Beethoven’s house or the first Haribo shop ever.
I think Bonn is one of the most charming German towns.

5.Ladenburg, Germany

This lovely village is just at few stops away by train from Heidelberg and I just had the chance to visit it last Summer.
It was not crowded with tourists and looked like a postcard from another era.

6.Basel, Switzerland

With its clean streets, its beautiful architecture, its delicious chocolate and the streets full of graffiti, it totally stole my heart and it made me want to come back to Switzerland as soon as possible.

7.Strasbourg, France

I wasn’t sure if I liked Strasbourg or not, since when I arrived there I loved the centre and it reminded me a little bit of Heidelberg, albeit I find Heidelberg more beautiful.
Then I roamed outside of the centre and I didn’t like it at all, but I decided to put in this list anyway because the centre was very nice and worth a visit.

 8. Salerno, Italy

Believe it or not, but even if I was born and raised in Naples, at just 50 minutes by train from it, I had never been to the centre of Salerno before (just on the Amalfi coast).
The city is very popular among tourists for its Christmas lights installations, which can be seen from December until January.
The lights were simply spectacular and I liked the city as well.

 

Magical Copenhagen

Since I found a very cheap flight from Stuttgart to Copenhagen and back I thought that I couldn’t have missed the chance to visit another European capital I had always dreamt of, so my friend Nina and I decided to go there for five days from the end of July until the first two days of August.

When we came there in the morning it was raining, so at the beginning we decided to stay in the airport – which was really lovely by the way – and grab something to eat.
After a couple of hours it finally stopped the rain, so we bought a 5 days pass for the public transport and we took the tube to go into the city centre.

The first thing that we visited was the Natural History Museum of Copenhagen and its Palm House, which cost us 40kr (5,35€).
It was beautiful, but if you have been to London and you have visited Kew Gardens, you will realise that they are almost identical – even though Kew Gardens are bigger and more beautiful, so if you have been to the ones in London I would not suggest to visit the Palm House in Copenhagen.

Palm House

The sun – together with the heath –  finally came out in the afternoon and we attended the “Freetown of Christiania Free Walking Tour”. Our guide was James and he was really great at telling us a lot of informations about this neighbourhood of the Danish capital.
I had never seen such a colourful and peculiar place, it was really a great experience walking all around it and enjoying its atmosphere.
We were allowed to take pictures just in some places of Christiania, but at some point there were some men forbiding us to take pictures (you will understand why, I do not want to spoil you the surprise), but after this precise point of the neighbourhood we were allowed to take them again.

Freetown of Christiania

 

After our walk around Christiania my friend and I decided to head towards the most famous Copenhagen spot, the Nyhavn harbour.
I got so many positive vibes from that place, also very colourful, but so fancy and full of people taking pictures of themselves with the colourful buildings on the background.
The things that I loved the most was the smell of seafood, which reminded me a lot of my hometown in Italy.

Nyhavn

The next day we attended another free walking tour, the “Grand Tour of Copenhagen”.
Our guide was a girl from the US, Penny and she was also a great touristic guide.
The meeting point was The City Hall and then from there we visited Christiansborg Palace, the old City Centre, Nyhavn Harbour and The Royal Palace of Amalienborg.

The City Hall

 

I loved especially listening to a lot of curiosities about Christian Andersen and being able to see a lot of places that inspired him, since he had always been one of my favourite writers and I even named my brother after him.

Christian Andersen Statue near the Tivoli Gardens

We visited the Little Mermaid Statue by ourselves and then I wanted also to visit a hidden gem of Copenhagen that was at just ten minutes by feet from it, The Genetically Modified Little Mermaid.

Little Mermaid Statue

The Genetically Modified Little Mermaid

 

Once we finished the tour we went to explore a less touristic place: the Reffen, a street food market on a “beach”. When we went there it was so hot and sunny that I regretted not having taken a swimsuit with me to jump into the water!
There were so many places with food from all over the world, but I decided to take a pizza at Pizzeria De Amicis, since I could say from the smell and the look that it was a true Italian pizza and that I would have loved it…and in fact I was not wrong: it was one of the best pizzas I have ever had abroad (think about the fact that I’m from the city where the pizza was born, so trust me!).

Reffen Street Food Market

The day next we went to Malmö, the third largest city of Sweden, by train.
We booked our tickets on Omio for just 15€ already two months before, since we were really keen to visit another country during the same trip and being Malmö at just 20 minutes by train from Copenhagen we thought it was the perfect city to visit.
I wasn’t disappointed at all by Sweden, albeit I liked Copenhagen better.

Malmö

Once we came back to Copenhagen in the evening Nina and I decided to go to the most popular hostel of the city, Copenhagen Downtown Hostel. There was live music and a lot of young people in there, in fact we met some other Italian guys and we stayed awake until early morning playing some table games.

You can go there even if you are not a guest and the access is free, so if you are a solo traveller looking forward to meet a lot of people, this would be the perfect place.

Copenhagen Downtown Hostel

We had planned to spend our last day in Copenhagen at the Tivoli Gardens, but due to the rain we decided to visit the not touristic places of the city, such as the Elephant Gate & Tower and the National Library.

Elephant Gate & Tower

At the end we wanted to take pictures of the city from above, so we went to Palæo Illum Rooftop.

Inside of Palæo Illum Rooftop

View of Copenhagen from Palæo Illum Rooftop

I absolutely loved everything about this city: how safe it was, the fact that I could pay literally everywhere by card (even the touristic guides or the crepes sellers at the street of the corner accepted it), the positive vibes I got from all the colourful areas, the fact that there were more bikes than people and so on.

 

 

Top 5 Things to Do in Malmö

1.Have kanelbulle at Slottsträdgårdens

Kanelbulle is a typical Swedish pastry, perfect for the “fika” – the Swedish coffee break with coffee and pastries.
I am not crazy about sweet food, but this pastry was one of the best things I have ever had abroad, since the ingredients are not too many and not too sweet.
Go to the café  Slottsträdgårdens to enjoy your kanelbulle and the Swedish nature.
It’s one of the most lovely café I have ever been to.
2.Admire Malmö  from above

Go to the Sky Bar at the top floor of the Clarion Hotel to have a perfect view of this Swedish gem.
3.Visit the cutest street of the city

This street – Jöns Filsgatan – seems to be out of a fairytale and what I loved the most about it was the lack of tourists.
I think that it never happened to me before to take pictures in such a “instagrammable place” without tourists in it.
4.Take a stroll around the “Slottsmöllan”

If you think that you have to go to the Netherlands to see windmills, well, you’re wrong!
Take a stroll around Malmöhus Slott and you will be able to see a windmill even in Sweden.
5.Attend Malmö Free Walking Tour
I always attend a free walking tour whenever I visit a new city, but I highly suggest to join the one in Malmö, since our guide – Jennifer – was really good at telling us about the city and many facts about Sweden.

 

Exploring the German Florence

 

Among all the goals that I had setted for 2019 there was the one of travelling more around Northern Germany, since I had visited many places around the South, but just Berlin in the North.
After having visited Bonn and Cologne, I decided to kill two birds with one stone and visiting Dresden and meeting there a Polish friend of mine that I met when I lived in London, since I hadn’t seen her for almost a year and she happened to be on vacation in Poland.

The first day we decided to join the Dresden Free Walking Tour, but honestly it wasn’t among the best ones I attended – and I took part of almost 10 of them in the last year! –  but if you want to have a general knowledge of the history of the city, go for it anyway!
The first place we visited was Kunsthof Passage, a place full of colours and maybe the only place where people are happy to see the rain, since whenever it rains all the drops going into the pipes create a beautiful sound.

We stopped by to see all the street art on the wall of this alley and its lovely shops: my friend and I have both thought that the whole corner reminded us of Neal’s Yard in London, but I prefered the one in Dresden because of the art installation and the lackness of tourists.

Believe it or not, but despite being a very “instagrammable place” we were the only people there both in the morning and in the afternoon.

After that we made a quick stop at Katy’s Garage, but if I have to be honest, I couldn’t hear one word of what the guide was saying about it, since she spoke too quietly.
What I could easily understand is that nowaday is a place to grab a beer or something else.

Then we walked along Neustadt and I was blown away by the large number of fountains that I could see through the whole city.
I know that the city with most fountains in the world is Rome, followed by Kansas City, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Dresden was the third one.

We stopped by some statues of famous people who lived in Dresden, as Schiller and then we made our way to the Aldstatd (Old Town).

I was totally blown away by its architecture, especially by the “Zwinger”, a former palace, that nowadays is a museum complex containing the Dresden Porcelain Collection, the Royal Cabinet of Mathematical and Physical Instruments and the Old Masters Picture Gallery.

The last stop of this free walking tour was the “Fürstenzug” (Procession of Princes) – the largest porcelain artwork in the world, representing the procession of the rulers of Saxony.

After the tour Karolina and I decided to eat in one of the restaurants located in the Altstadt, called Augustiner an der Frauenkirche, where we both had the typical Saxony dish “Kartoffelsuppe mit Würsten” (potato soup with sausages).
I had never liked soups before eating this one, so if you should ever visit Dresden eat it!
I just have to say that it was a little bit too salty in this restaurant.

After our lunch we went to see the “Pfunds Molkerei”, which has not only been nominated as the most beautiful dairy shop in the world in The Guinnes World Book of Records, but it was also the Mendl’s bakery in the Wes Anderson movie “The Grand Budapest Hotel”.
If you are a cinema lover and a Wes Anderson fan, you can’t miss this spot.

We had dinner at “Vina House”, where we had some Asian food,
The portions were delicious, huge and cheap.

The next day we decided to visit some attractions outside the centre.
We headed to Groβer Garten, a baroque public park.

Then we went on Loschwitzer Brücke, which is also called “Blue Wonder Bridge”.

 

I loved its colours and the view over the river, but my favourite thing was the restaurant underneath it, Schiller Garten.

I had again “Kartoffelsuppe mit Wiener Würsten” and this time it was perfect – and it cost just 8,90 € !
The service there was excellent and the view over the river incredible.

 

The Ultimate Heidelberg Travel Guide

I decided to write this Heidelberg guide because when it comes to travel to Germany most of the people  –  actually most of the Europeans  –  just think of Berlin, Munich and maybe Frankfurt, but I think that Heidelberg is more beautiful than all of them and it would deserve to be more known even among European tourists.
I moved here for the first time in 2016 and I fell in love with it since the first day.
I fell in love with it so much that while I was living in London in 2018 I came back two times as a tourist and then I decided to move here again.

How many days are enough to visit Heidelberg? Two days are enough, but I would suggest to stay three/four days to see even some places nearby.
How to get to Heidelberg? There are four airports in some nearby cities: Frankfurt-Hahn Airport, Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden Airport, Stuttgart Airport, Frankfurt am Main Airport.
From Frankfurt-Hahn Airport and Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden Airport there are always very cheap flights and you can get to Heidelberg taking a Flixbus.
You can get from Stuttgart Airport and Frankfurt am Main Airport to Heidelberg taking a Flixbus or a train.
Where to stay in Heidelberg? If you want to stay very close to the centre, I would suggest “Hotel Mille Stelle City”, while if you want to stay far away from the centre and enjoying the countryside I would suggest “Hotel & Restaurant Grenzhof”

DAY 1
Have breakfast at Mandy’s

Mandy’s is an American Diner in a train wagon.
This place is beautiful not only outside but also inside and you won’t be disappointed by the amazing food.
Try to go there very early, since they do not accept reservations and there is always a large queue.
Be sure to take cash, because they do not accept credit cards.

Visit Heidelberger Schloss – Heidelberg Castle.

You can reach it by feet or by funicular.
When you get there you will be rewarded with an amazing view of the city and beautiful ruins in the courtyard of the castle.
Inside the castle you will see the largest barrel wine of the world.

Have lunch at Hakim’s Imbiss

If I have to be honest, I am not a great eater, so whenever I suggest a place where to eat you can trust me since it must be really good…and this place is one of the best where I have ever eaten.
Once you see it you will feel to be transported in some Middle Eastern country.
What makes this place really special – beside the amazing spareribs and its design – it’s his owner Hakim.

Stroll around the Altstadt – Heidelberg Old Town

This is the heart of Heidelberg, the city inside the city.
Start your walk from the Hauptstrasse – the largest pedestrian street in the world – and you will be fascinated by its charm.
On the Hapustrasse you can visit the shop Kathe Wohlfahrt, where you can breath Chistmas atmosphere during every day of the year, but especially from September until December.

Do not forget to go on the Alte Brucke (the old bridge) and to relax on the Neckar river.

Enjoy the night life around the Untere Strasse

Untere Strasse is the place where you can enjoy Heidelberg night life at its best, since it’s plenty of pubs, bars and clubs and it is always crowded with students since Heidelberg is a university city.

DAY 2
Hike on Thingstätte

This is an amphitheater that was used by Nazis for their mystical ceremonies, but nowadays it’s luckily just a touristic place.
It is not very known even among people who live here, so it is never crowded and you will have it all for yourself, especially if you go there in the early morning.
Do not forget to wear comfortable shoes and to take a bottle of water with you!

Visit Studentenkarzer – Heidelberg Sudent Jail

This is the strangest and most fascinating touristic attraction I have ever visited.
I was hypnotized by all those paintings and texts made by the students who were “prisoners” of this place.
The price to get in is 3 euro.

Admire Heidelberg by night on the Philosophenweg

This street is named like that because of the many philosophers who lived in Heidelberg and tought Philosophy at Heidelberg university.
This might be maybe my favourite place in Heidelberg and going there after the sunset, admiring the whole town and the castle lighted up is simply breathless.