streets with art

Kreuzberg (Berlin), Altona (Hamburg), Hannover, Göttingen, Paderborn.

Art trying to kill the greyness.

a windy morning walk

If there's one thing I never hesitate about is how much I like Göttingen. Every now and then I go for a short walk, preferably up north and into the wall, to remind me how lucky I'm to be calling this home for now. It always feels like it's the first time I've ever walked on those streets, yet it never fails to amaze me how familiar everything is. 

Hannover, with and without

Around the city centre with and without sun. 17, 18-11-2012

Maschsee

Last Sunday I finnally got to walk along the Maschsee, the artificial Nazi-period built, lake in Hannover. Despite its obscure past it's one of the most beloved places in Hannover, full of runners, families, and couples. 

The leafless trees, the shy rain, the cold weather, and the thick fog made my first Maschsee experience quite unique and sincere. Just an unatural place wanting to brighten up the lives of Hannoverians. 

the journey

The train journey between Göttingen and Hannover takes a little more than an hour, and it's filled with foggy green fields, fairytale-like medieval villages, Bauhaus style old factories and ugly outside-of-town massive stores. 

It's always a pleasant and calming ride, but I'm looking forward to make it shorter by discovering the several cities I now merely see from the comfort of my seat. 

the golden days

long gone sunny and colorful autumn days.

In Göttingen, Berlin, Hamburg and Paderborn

Schaufenster

Window shopping around Germany.
Hannover, Hamburg, Paderborn

one hour in Ottbergen

In between our journey from Paderborn back to Göttingen we stopped for one hour in the little village of Ottbergen. We were expecting a little town but what we found was a quaint old village. Typical farmer's houses, made with wood and red brick, and just a small main square with a simple church. Seeing the gorgeous pink sunset over the fields and the river was a beautifully poetic moment, yet I have to admit I was glad to hop on to the train and go back to my city.

November so far

A few shots from the new month, still a lot to come. Missing the beautiful fall colors, but ready to welcome the peacefuly white snow.

a simple meal

 (forget about being fancy, mismatched everything, coffee mugs for the wine instead of normal glasses, and having to borrow extra plates, that's classy student lifestyle)

One of the things I miss the most from back home is the value of food and meals in general. Germans do appreciate good food, they are very concious about what they buy in supermarkets, they adore the farmers market in the city centre and in general love eating out with friends and family. Nonetheless, they just aren't the same values, for many of them (and "northern" europeans in general) getting together to have a long, diverse yet simple meal is not natural. So hosting a dinner at my little room was indeed a treat for me, filled with turkish white bread, a wide variety of cheeses (including spanish manchego), xorizo, olive oil, homemade falafel and red wine. We finished with two comforting sweet classics, carrot cake and brownies, which were simply perfect.

And, although it was not intended to be so, the dinner ended up being an election night party waiting for the first results while commenting on CNN's journalists and commentators.

Schanzenviertel

"Schanze" might not be as iconic as the neighborhooding Sankt Pauli but it boasts the true essence of Hamburg. Portuguese pastalarias share their walls with alternative music records shops, in front of a boho-chic cafe filled with hipsters next to a squatters graffiti and dirt covered old building. This is a relatively small grid of a couple of crowded streets, and if you venture past them you'll find yourself surrounded by industrial warehouses on one side, and by architecturally beautiful residential areas on the other side. Gentrification here is in every corner, yet although the area's popularity is not new, the atmosphere still holds to its past and in general hamburgers of all kind seem to fight back any renovative intrusion.

One can tell Hamburg is no Berlin.