Heidelberg & Europa Park

The first weekend of June three friends and myself left campus really early to get to Europa Park. I’m not the best when it comes to rollercoasters, but when you paid the ticket you want value of it and just join the queues of your fears. And it turned out to be loads of fun! I passed on the two largest ones, but the rest was just amazing!

It was quite hot this day so ending up being soaked in some of the rollercoasters with water did us nothing but good really. We were quite surprised that the queues for the different attractions were not bigger but this was also just a plus for us.

When the park closed we took the bus to Heidelberg which I will say is a must if you are in the area of Germany. It was really a lovely little city. We came quite late but the next day we took the funicular to the “Königstuhl” and visited the castle. The vire from both the top and from the castle, especially the castle gardensm, were mesmerizing.

Later we also joined a free tour before we left for our journey back. But I could easy spend another day in Heidelberg if it passes my route again and I really enjoyed Europa Park. It was so well made and you kind of felt like travelling trough Europe in a day as the parts of the park that were representing different countires were very good.

Have you visited any of these places?

Lillian x

Luxembourg

It’s been alrady just over three weeks ago that my Study Semester group here had an excursion to Luxembourg, the city. It was such a nice day, we were very lucky with the weather except 30 minutes of pouring rain..

We visited the European Parliament building before a little city tour by our professor. Later we walked around ourselves, had this linguistic landscape task, and had a local beer before the bus back to campus.
As you can see on the second photo on the second row, the city has been build in two floors which was very fascinating. Luxembourg was a very nice little city, very charming and lovely. I would recomend to spend a day here if you are close by.

Lillian x

Nürnberg & München

 

Hello!

I’ve been in Campus for about weeks after this trip as there is quite some things to catch up on and it’s been nice to relax over travel every weekend too. But in the Easter holiday we were seven girls from my class that went to Nürnberg (Nuremberg) and München (Munich) with a stop in Stuttgard on the way home.

Nürnberg was our first stop on the Thursday of Easter holiday, and it was a very kosy, little city. We spend the first part of our day in the castle and the view from here was just amazing! For the rest we walked around, went by a market and ate local food for lunch. For dinner we coocked our own at the hostel before waiting for our bus to the next destination.

We arrived very early in München and the hostel were very kind and let us have an early check in so we could relax a little before our free tour that we had booked for 10 am. Our guide had many good stories and information about the places she showed us so I was very pleased with the tour.

The Neues Rathaus (The new town hall) is placed in Marienplatz, which was a very central place in München (photo to left), was just a stunning building. It is new compared to the old one, but build in neo-gothic style.

Der Englishe Garten or the English garden was so nice to walk through. Here we had some sun and we even bought a little ice cream while strollig around. And we even got to see the surfers in action at the Eisbach, which is a man-made river with a standing wave.

The guide of the free tour told us about their other tours (which you can read about here) and we booked for going to visit the concentration camp Dachau for the next day. I don’t feel the need of writing much about this or post photos. But it was a special experience to have visited the place and hear about what happened at that exact place.

German food is a must when you go to Bavaria (Bayern) and it’s so soo good here! The first one is Bratwurst and sauerkraut (pickeled cabbage) from Bratwursthäusle bei St. Sebald Nürnberg. The second is Wiener, potato salad and potato dumpling in the Hofbräuhaus in München. And then two photos of me and some of the girls. This trip was so nice and I would really like to visit the cities again and explore even more!

Even though the weather was not in our favour all the time it was not as much rain as forecasted and we even had more sun than we expected! Some friends were travelling in this area this weekend and had snow..

Have you visited any of these cities? In case, what did you see as tips for others? Or have you tips for other places in Germany to visit?

Lillian x

Easter market in St. Wendel & Strasbourg

As I briefly mentioned in my last post, there was going to be a easter market over the weekend. And as we have no lectures on Fridays most of the people in my class went together to St. Wendel to have a look.

This was my fist time to a easter market and there were so many lovely decorations and stands with different products. Everything from jewellery to food. I was amazed by the big flower and egg decoration alongside with different easter bunnies like the one with the sign.

We don’t have easter markets in Norway but I heard it is a big thing here in Germany. And I would highly recomend to visit a easter market if you have the opportunity.

On Saturday I joined three people in my class for a daytrip to Strasbourg in France. It was such a lovely day where we saw a flea market, the cathedral, chilled in a park, drank ice coffee, admired the beautiful architecture and ate local food. This was such a beautiful little city.

Tomorrow I am heading to Paris for a few days which I am so excited about. Hope you all have a lovely week!

Lillian x

Saarbrücken & Mainz

I have now been in Germany for 13 days and it still feels quite different from home. The campus and our flats are in a “no man’s land” area but it is quite easy to travel. So I have been a few times to Saarbrücken and Mainz too, which is two of the closest cities and they are both very beautiful!

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Mainz is full of beautiful architecture and the Dom was just so incredible on the inside too. It was also a market when we went last Saturday which was nice to see! Spring has already arrived properly here as there is beautiful spring flowers everywhere, which makes me very happy.

Yesterday some people from the group went to Saarbrücken again and I think this a stunning little city. The old town was not that big but it’s still so many lovely streets and buildings and the shopping is great too! We visited a historical museum here and it was a very good museum where we also could walk on the remains of the old Saarbrücken castle.

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This orange phonebox seemed to be like a tiny book change place. That you can take one book if you leave one, wish I could do that but I’m not good enough in German to read German books.. Easter seems to be a great holiday here as all the shops either sell Easter decorations or they are proper decorated for easter. I find it very cosy and I’m planning to visit an Easter market next weekend.

I’ll bring my camera for better photos for my next trips!
Lillian x

Christmas break in London

I think this has been my seventh time in London, and this time I was there with my sister for a little get-away and shopping the weekend before Christmas. It is just so much Christmas going on in this city which was amazing! Since it was her first time to London we made time for a musical, Madame Tussauds and London Eye which I all prebooked so it was just to pick up the tickets in stead of queuing.

Lion King was soo good! I have seen Dirty Dancing in London before and I’m looking forward for another musical in this city!

Covent Garden has become a must for me! My sister was very excited for the Moomin Shop and it’s so many cute little shops where you can find anything Moomin themed. There are many “hidden” beautiful streets in this area for special stops and cafés ect. (bring a map or have google translate in case you can’t find your way back). This is also for other areas of London, walking between some of the underground stations is a very good idea for discovering!

Oxford Street and shopping is exhausting and it easily take a whole day to walk in all the shops. It’s so many stores that we don’t have in Norway so that makes the excitement of shopping. And because of that I was lucky to get a few unique Christmas presents.

We were very happy that we saved London Eye for our last day as the weather forecast promised a glimt of sun and did! It was a bit foggy from we came Saturday morning and until Monday but uesday was good.

Have you been in London in December? Any tips for Christmas shopping or things for me to see next time?

Lillian x

Christmas market 2016: London

After my trips to Vienna and Riga this autumn I learned to check up when the Christmas markets starts in the different cities. Luckily me and my sister’s trip to London was so close upon Christmas that we did get to go to a Christmas marked.

In London they have a few markets around in the city which I found about here. My sister and I went of course to the Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park and we also visited the Christmas marked at Leicester Square

We went to Winter Wonderland quite late and I we only had a look around. There were quite some rollercoasters and fun houses, and bars here as well as all the charlets that were selling different things. Another time I will make more time for the Winter Wonderland as I didn’t expect it was so big. But it was nice just to have a look as well.

In Leicester Square it was a bit crowded as there were many people going to M&M World and the new Lego store here too. It was many pretty decorations and food in the charlets but we didn’t buy anything as we weren’t looking for anything special but maybe next time.

No doubt that I want to visit at least one next year too and make Christmas markets in different cities an annual thing. Please leave a comment of what market you have been to or where you wanna visit!

Since I didn’t make the post go up until now that christmas is over, happy new year to you all!

Lillian x

Riga

I have never been to Riga before, but in August I got an excuse to go and I will visit Riga again. One of my best friends started studying there this autumn and ofcourse I had to come and see how her new life is there.

After a 12 hour delay of our flight, Camilla and I arrived in the night to Thursday  17th November so it was a little hard to get up in the morning to explore the city. Inghild had lectures this day so we walked around in the old town, in shops and found a lovely café for some lunch. Everywhere it was little cafés and pastriesshops to our joy!

The blue and white spots turned out to be big air rabbits in the evening

This flowershop with so many beautiful flowers were open 24h, so in case you missed an occasion you could always get some flowers!

On the Friday we headed out to Jurmala Spa Hotel in Majori which is by the coast of Latvia. We had booked stress releaving massages, which was soo good, and I also had my eyebrows done. The town reminded us more of a “summertown” with many cute hotels and right by the seaside, worth going to in the summertime or just for some spa time!

This day it was the independence day of Latvia as well, so we went to see the firework by the river. And the whole weekend it was a light festival going on so in the evenings it would be lightshows on the buoldings which was cool to see.

The view towards the old town of Riga, from the Sky Bar at the SAS Hotel. We went here on the Saturday as it was fully booked the evening with fireworks. But the view in the daytime was probably better so we enjoyed it with some hot chocolate.

We were not too lucky with the weather the days we were here, therefore not that many photos on this post but hopefully it will be better next time.

Thank you so much for having us, Inghild, I’ll be back before you know it! ♥

 

Lillian x

Vienna

Last weekend I spend in the lovely city of Wien, or Vienna, where I visited a good friend of mine. The Christmas markets starts this weekend, so a little sad I was too early for that, but I will come back for them another year for sure!

I traveled down on the Friday and Elisabeth took me on a quick tour around town to have a look and showed me where she study and some of the main buildings in the city. Above is me outside the Votivkirche, which is a stunning Catholic church with neo-gothic architecure style. In the evening we went for a proper Wienerschnitzel and it was really good!

The main building for The University of Vienna, the parlament and Burgtheater.

On Saturday it was a real touristy day where we went to Naschtmarkt which is a big marked with so much food! It was a little tight and so many people so I didn’t take any good photos there except this with flowers.

Then we had coffee and having delicious sachertorte (chocolate cake with apricot jam) at a café like proper Austrians. The newspaper I’m holding was being fastened at this board so it would be easier to read it and it was!

This is Elisabeth, my Austrian friend, and I outside the Natioanl Library. We became friends when we both were exchangestudents in Cardiff, Wales in 2013/2014.

In the evening we were at the Rollercoaster Restaurant where our food came in pots that were send on rails through the room, it was very cool and worth a visit. After dinner we took a ride with the Wiener Reisengard so we had a look at Vienna by night which was just amazing!

I’m so greatful that we still are friends, that we stay in touch and that I finally took the time to visit Elisabeth! Viele dank für ein schönes Wochenende! ♥

Most shops and things are closed on Sundays in Austria but we went to the Museum of National History before we went by the Stephansdom. I also bought a lot of chocolate that I can’t get in Norway. So note to myself is to bring a large suitcase next time.. Wien is full of breathtaking architecture and I will definitely go back here as the city has more to offter!

Have you been in Wien/Vienna?

Lillian x

Copenhagen

In July I was in Copenhagen with two close friends of mine. The trip was planned a little spotaniously a while ago and it was a lovely long weekend.

I have been here once before before this trip, when I was very young, and really like how the city is for everyone. Everywhere we went it was a mix of locals and tourists. I really felt like I was in Scandinavia, like I hadn’t left my own country, at the same time I felt I was in the middle of Europe.

The Tivoli is just a must when you go here! My friends were definately tougher than me, but it was a great day. I’m glad we paid a little extra to go back inside because it was so stunning with all the lights in the evening. There is also quite a few different restaurants inside so we decided to have dinner there.

On the Saturday we were there Henriette was in a wedding, so Susanne and I went exploring and we ended up in the Botany Garden which we really liked. So many cool plants and alle the bits of the garden was so well made and inspiring to me.

In the evening we had dinner before we went to the Palads cinema (the cool bulding in the photo under). It was an American movie anyway but it was also cool to see the differences in the screening room and the sweet shop too.

Denmark is known to have a pretty flat landscape so it is perfect for biking and we rented bikes for a day and got to see most of Copenhagen. Renting bikes in a new city is slightly scary, but luckily Copenhagen has its own lanes for bikes and lights in the road. So we brought a map from the hotel and followed it to places we thought would be interesting to see.

The Little Mermaid statue must be the most famous thing in Copenhagen, so we had to have a little look at it.

This is me in the Botany Garden, which was so lovely! I study landscapeplanning so I loved walking around here and having a look at the plants.

Have you been to Copenhagen and what did you see there?

 

Lillian x