My Travel Diary: Germany 2019

This year, James and I were lucky enough to be able to spend 16 days in Germany visiting my family and shopping and exploring different parts of the country. If you want to see a vlog about it, part 1 is live on my YouTube already. You can see that via this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7OrD31LfJE&t=15s.

To listen to the playlist I was listening to while I was away, click here:


Day 1: We arrived in Hamburg on our first day, and went to see the lovely church 'Der Michel' before heading into the city centre to do some shopping. I have seen a lot of the famous sights of Hamburg before, and James and I both did a tour last time we visited so it wasn't so crucial to us to do something 'cultural' while we were there this time. We also only had half a day there as our flight only landed at lunch time.

Day 2: We weren't in a rush to do anything as we had 16 days of holiday, so on the second day we spent some time getting settled in and unpacking before heading into the local town (Bad Bevensen) for coffee and cake in this cute little riverside cafe.

Day 3: My Oma had a doctor's appointment in Luneburg, so we went with her and went into the town after. I love Luneburg, it's one of my favourite places in Germany. We walked around the old part of the town and had lunch in a restaurant which had been built in a converted cinema. Then we went to Uelzen where my aunt works as she had a meeting and we went to get an ice cream.

Day 4: My aunt showed us this amazing cafe that had been built in an old water mill. It was a short walk through the woods to get there, which was really pleasant in the hot weather we had while we were there! We also went to my great-aunt's for a barbecue in the evening which was delicious (poor James had to cook it, but did an excellent job).

Day 5: Sundays in Germany are always a very relaxed affair, shops and restaurants aren't usually open like they are in the UK. We spent this Sunday at a pottery market in Bevensen, and then we went river walking which is supposed to be excellent for your circulation.

Day 6: Berlin!!! We got an early train into the city and after dropping our stuff off in my aunt's flat, we headed to the zoo. I love the zoo, and as the summer holidays in Germany were already over it wasn't too busy. When we were done there, we met my uncle for a drink and a walk through the Tiergarten park. He knows so much about Berlin so it was really fascinating hearing what he had to say about everything around us. After he went home, we did a little shopping and then went to dinner at a Chinese where my uncle apparently once met Barbara Streisand.

Day 7: In the morning, we took the train out to Potsdam to visit the palace. We walked through the gardens which were beautiful, but when we reached the palace itself we discovered it was closed so we had lunch and then headed back to Berlin. We met up with my uncle again, who showed us Clarchen's Ballhaus and the Hackesche Hofe (both of which I highly recommend visiting). When he had to go back to work, James and I visited the museum island and the 'Neues Museum' before going back to the flat for tea.

Day 8: We went shopping on the Kurfurstendamm before catching our train back to my Oma's other house.

Day 9: We went to Arendsee, which is a sweet little historic town in what used to be East Germany. It has a ruined monastery which we loved exploring before going for a walk along the lakeside. When we were younger, my brothers and I often swam in the lake there but James and I decided we'd rather go another time and swim in an actual pool (much less cold).

Day 10: James and I went to play mini golf. We were both completely useless but it was so much fun!  We of course had an ice cream after (the ice cream in Germany is just phenomenal) and went for a walk in the park.

Day 11: We went to an event that my Oma's friend had got tickets for. It was at a riding stable, and it was a picnic followed by horse shows followed by a classical concert. The weather was lush and the horses were beautiful. Classical music isn't my favourite, but the musicians were extremely talented and the atmosphere was good so I can't complain.

Day 12: We had a family brunch and then spent the day reading, painting and playing scrabble.

Day 13: James and I returned to Luneburg to do some shopping and visit some of the sights in town that we didn't have time for last week. The highlight was having coffee and cake in a cafe that overlooked the town square with a gorgeous view.

Day 14: We went for lunch at Mr T's burger shop in Uelzen (I had a chilli cheese burger which was excellent), and then did some shopping. I also had a bright blue ice cream which tasted disappointingly of vanilla.

Day 15: We spent the day helping my aunt with some gardening jobs she had to do. After all that hard work, we decided to go for an evening swim at the local spa pool which is lovely and warm due to the thermal spring that earned Bevensen its title of a 'Bad' (Spa).

Day 16: We spent a lot of our last day at my Oma's, cooking lasagne and watching films but we also went to Deerberg which is a unique independent store which is in the middle of one of the tiny villages near my Oma's house. I got some snazzy purple jeans, and James enjoyed his free drink and free wifi from there.

We had a great time, and it was nice for me to be able to see all of my family who I normally don't get to see very often or for very long. Looking forward to my next trip already!

Short Paris Vlog

Christmas Date Ideas

I love Christmas, it's my favourite time of the year. Food, family, friends and fun is what it's all about, but it can be a perfect time for romance too. Some of my favourite kinds of dates are Christmas ones, so I thought I'd share them with you! Even if they are a bit cliché, these can be good fun.

• Build a gingerbread house! Fun and delicious. I recommend a kit with pre-baked panels, but if you're feeling brave then you can bake it yourself. Whatever you do it's a chance to do something creative and it doesn't cost too much either!

• Go ice skating. I always put this on my date suggestions, because it's so much fun and it's really romantic. An outdoor rink is especially fun at this time of year, and combining it with a hot chocolate or a mulled wine makes a perfect evening.

• Go to a Christmas Market. Preferably a German one. Eat good food, look at the beautiful gifts and other crafts on sale and take part in fun activities like ice skating and carousels.

• Make handmade Christmas gifts. I'm hoping to do a blog post on ideas for this next year!

• Do a Christmas movie marathon. Cuddling up under a blanket with hot chocolate, gingerbread, mince pies and a cheesy rom com. What could be better?

• Do some Christmas themed baking. Christmas cupcakes, cookies, gingerbread men, cinnamon buns. Anything goes, just make it festive! This one was for my birthday, but with some green icing and some sprinkles it could easily be made to look like a tree.

• Go and see some Christmas lights. You can go to a proper display if you want to spend a little more money, or just wander to your local town for a cheaper option.

• Decorate a Christmas tree together. This works best if you don't have a perfectionist in the relationship haha.

Holiday in Germany

I recently got back from visiting my grandmother and my aunt in Germany. It was lovely and the weather was absolutely gorgeous! Up to thirty six degrees Celsius (ninety seven Fahrenheit). We spent a lot of time at the house just relaxing, playing scrabble and painting which was such a nice way to wind down after two hectic weeks of summer school. I also loved cuddling my Oma's dog, Rudi!

We even managed to squeeze in a festival! The Uelzen Open R was so much fun, we saw Tom Gregory, Michael Patrick Kelly and a-ha performing. They were all wonderful and we spent the whole night dancing and eating bratwurst and drinking (I was driving so in my case it was ice tea). The finale of 'Take On Me' was spectacular and I loved the rainbow lights.

On the final day we went into Lüneburg (a small historic town) to do some shopping! We discovered this beautiful cafe and bought some really cool stuff. To see what I got, check out the YouTube haul I did of it here.

We all had such a lovely week and are excited to go back at Christmas!

My Trip to Greece

My boyfriend and I just got home from a (very lovely) holiday in Greece. We stayed in a small town called Hanioti, which is in the North East of the mainland about an hour away from Thessaloniki. The weather was obviously beautiful, sunshine all week and no rain or clouds! It was also really quiet, probably because the school holidays won't start for another month yet.


The hotel was a set of beautiful villas with huge, minimalist rooms and a gorgeous pool. There was even a spa in the basement of our building which offered cheap but amazing massages, a gym, a jacuzzi, a sauna and a steam room. We were very impressed with the high standard of the rooms and the quality of the bar and breakfast options available. We were surprised quite how good it was since we booked the holiday really cheap (thank you EasyJet!). Even the restaurants we ate our evening meals at were excellent quality for a very small cost. One of our favourites was an outdoor place called 'The Garden' (pictured below) which offered delicious food and was just gorgeous. Such simple and comforting decorations.

The beach was again, stunning but me and my whiter than white skin couldn't take the direct sun during the day so we visited in the evenings instead. This meant that we got to witness spectacular sunsets like this one so it was a win win really. During the hotter hours we stuck to the shaded sun loungers surrounding the hotel pool. It was so relaxing and allowed me to catch up on some reading.

(Side note: I really recommend 'Then She Was Gone' by Lisa Jewell if you like psychological thrillers!)

Overall I had a really lovely time getting some R&R and would definitely go again! Although next holiday will be another cultural visit I think.

My Trip to Venice

Recently, my best friend Midge and I decided to go on holiday to Venice. It was beautiful, and we had a really great time! We chose Venice because as history students we wanted to visit somewhere with a rich culture, rather than a typical girl's holiday of drinking and beaches (though there's nothing wrong with that either). It was really good fun and not too expensive as we could just walk around admiring it's beauty without feeling the need to go into museums or attractions, and the shops and restaurants were all very reasonably priced too. This was very good for our small budgets!

My favourite part of Venice was the little bridges over tiny canals like this one. I have 100,000 photos like this but I picked my favourite for this post so it wouldn't just be millions of identical photos. The houses were so colourful and contrasted beautifully against the dark water. The tourist attraction areas like St. Mark's Square were pretty busy but most of the side streets like this one were empty which was lovely. Occasionally a gondola would go by but other than that it was completely quiet and peaceful! We would stop as we walked across to admire the view or sometimes just sit there for a while (often with a gelato in hand). I think it's the only city I have ever been to that hasn't got a single ugly area in it. The tiny streets and millions of steps make it impossible for traffic to get through too, so there's no vehicles other than boats to get in the way or be noisy or smelly either which was very unusual but so nice to experience.

Obviously, we had to go to St. Mark's Square while we were in Venice. The queues for the Basilica and Doge's Palace were horrifically long so we chose to admire from the outside rather than going in but they were still works of art. The paintings on the outside of the Basilica in particular were truly stunning, I honestly don't know how anyone could produce such works of beauty. My grandad said he once attended a concert here and it was just as beautiful inside as it is out, so perhaps if I go again I will brave the huge queues!

This tower was part of the Doge's Palace, and this also had hour long queues. As I am not a fan of heights, I feel this would probably not have been for me anyway but I still admired it from the bottom. Although, I did enjoy the TV Tower in Berlin so maybe I should have given this a chance to hahaha. We didn't realise what this was at first, and Midge spent all day frantically searching for the Doge Palace until she realised we'd already been there, which just about sums us up to be honest. I have no idea how much these attractions cost, so if you're planning a visit I'm afraid I am a bit useless. My grandad tells me that when he visited 40 odd years ago it was free but I highly doubt that's still the case. Upkeep on beautiful old buildings like these, staff to look after the place and control visitor numbers etc. don't come cheap so I am sure there must be an entrance fee these days.

On our final day, we went to Ca' d'Oro which was just fantastic. It's this beautiful old Venetian house with elaborately tiled floors, gorgeous stone pillars, and a gorgeous art gallery housed inside. There were statues and paintings and a couple of drawings too. Entrance was very reasonably priced (€7.50 if I remember correctly, plus a student discount was offered). To top that all off, there were balconies with these beautiful stone arches as you can see in this picture, and the view from the third floor especially was breath taking!

Overall, if you are planning a trip to Venice, my advice would be to just wander in random directions. Ninety percent of the time, Midge and I had no idea where we were or what we were doing and we loved it. Every single corner of Venice is so beautiful that wherever you end up, you can't go wrong. Visit the Ca' d'Oro if you have time, as it was one of my favourite places I've ever been. Take your time, admire the views, and go at Easter as it is the best weather for it! Don't forget your suncream. Elastic waistbands are best, as the pizza, pasta and gelato options are delicious and many. If you come across white chocolate and passionfruit gelato, try it! It was my absolute favourite. And most of all, take plenty of photos! Although I'm sure you won't be able to resist.