Photo Diary: Rome

Welcome to yet another photo travel diary! This time we will visit Rome and I will share some photos from this trip I made with my mom a few weeks ago. This time I won’t add any text or explanations but just let the images tell you the story of our trip. Be prepared for too many photos of old buildings but also some sides of Rome you won’t see as often in travel diaries. Enjoy!

And there was some photos from my Rome trip. If you look at the closely, you can clearly see in what part of the trip my mum left back home and I was left behind alone to Rome. (I will give you tip: street art is my passion!) Have you ever visited Rome or do you maybe recognize any of the places seen in my photos? Like always all comments are more than welcome!

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With love,

Lost Viivi

Photo Diary: First Time In Bremen

Hello all fellow travelers (and random friends and family)! I am again back with Photo Diary series because I am just too lazy to start writing that real travel diary of my trip. No worries, I will get there eventually. Because I don’t have anything else ready, here is collection of photos from my recent trip to Bremen with random thoughts. And yes, this Bremen diary is named my first time there because I will definitely return to this pretty city.

Bremen was interesting destination for me because maybe for the first time in my life I had decided to travel to destination that didn’t seem very interesting for me after doing some research on the internet. Bremen seemed colorless city with a few pricey attractions. Oh how wrong was I… It took me only one walk through the city from city center to my hostel to realize that in fact Bremen is one of the most colorful cities I have seen in my life.

I was lucky because during my stay in Bremen it was sunny and hot. Good change after Finland’s long and unusually cold spring. I literally left Finland after it had been snowing and wasn’t ready for this heatwave. But I can’t complain. It was green and fresh everywhere. Colorful flowers and a lot of birds. The park and its idyllic river circling around Bremen become quickly my favorite thing in this modern city. Perfect place to relax after long touristy day around Bremen.

One thing I love about traveling is meeting amazing new people. Bremen didn’t disappoint me here. I got new friends in hostel. Someone even accidentally made me breakfast even if I hadn’t paid for it. So, I basically ate secretly under the table while talking with them. A little bit of action for my holiday and well free breakfast.

This cafe was like straight from my dreams. Pastel colors, pretty cupcakes and clerk that didn’t fit in at all. He was dressed in black and seemed too rock for the girlish dream cafe. What would be more perfect combination? So, if you happen to be visiting Bremen i recommend Coockies Cupcakes.

This photo is again from the park I mentioned earlier. It gave me a little bit of the Netherlands vibe even if i have never visited that country. Interesting things was that for some reason I didn’t see this windmill in any Bremen guide I read before leaving for my trip. Why is that?

And then I want to speak about the amazing cool area I fell in love with that later one revealed to be the famous area for drugs and prostitution. Well, at day time it was cool to visit (??). East side of the older city centre and artistic Schnoor is situated this area full of small alleys, unknown galleries and colorful street art. Basically everything I love.

Like you can see from the photo above this area was almost empty at day time. I was wondering why I didn’t see any tourists like in everywhere else but all travel destinations have these ‘secret’ places where you never meet other travelers. Then on my last evening/night in Bremen we went to eat with group from my hostel. We returned quite late trough this area and one of us told that this area was famous from its nightlife. And more specifically nightlife full of drugs and prostitution. So, not place to for nice evening walk alone but definitely place to check out during day.

In contrast to that area full of graffiti Bremen has its well-known old town. Fountains, statues and shops full of souvenirs of Bremen Town Musicians.

This photo is from the huge market from old town. It may not be very clear but in the right bottom corner you can see man doing huge bubbles. He was there every day with his dogs and bowl of soap. Cool job, am I right?

Germany and Finland have one thing in common and it is beer. Unfortunately I have never liked alcoholic drinks so I couldn’t test any of these terrace restaurants serving huge selection of different beers.

This photo is from Schnoor. One of the interesting areas in Bremen. Small alleys, galleries, cafes and shops full of handicrafts. Surprisingly I didn’t like it that much. It was highly recommended everywhere on internet but it just didn’t have charming enough feeling for me. A little bit boring place.

Somehow my travels are always full of odd meetings with too friendly birds. Even in Bremen I got almost attacked by badass ducks who were just too interested about my snacks.

And this was my Bremen photo diary. I think my photo editing skills are radically decreasing but at least I am trying. So, have you ever visited Bremen? Or some other place in Germany? Like always all comments are more than welcome.

Oh right, I would also remind you to follow my FACEBOOK page to get notification of my new posts and some extra photos and stories! I would be forever thankful. Or if you want to see more photos follow my depressingly inactive INSTAGRAM.

With love,

Lost Viivi 

Photo Diary: Street Wanderer in Stockholm

So, I know this post is late but for once I have a good reason! I spent Saturday-Sunday night in death trap some may call cruise ship without internet. (I may have some Titanic traumas, but who doesn’t?) But now I am here and like usually let’s start with photo diary because I am too lazy to write anything. I will publish those full Stockholm and Gdansk travel diaries later on but today I am going to share some photos from my first three days in Stockholm, Sweden.

For me one of the most important aspects of city is its collection of street art. In my scale Stockholm is quite high. You can find graffiti from the most funniest places. One daring and pretty place I fell in love with was Norra Järnvägsbron bridge. These masterpieces may not be the most imaginative or elaborate but the colors get along perfectly with pastel colored old town seen in the distance.

Story of this photo? Well, I may have walked to the wrong direction seen these buildings and walked a few kilometers more to the wrong direction just because why not. It wasn’t the most touristy area so trying to take nice photo to share with you got me a few wondering glances from the locals.

Things I love to photograph: sky, reflections, colors and icy water. Stockholm was like heaven for me…

After going to blogging seminar earlier this year I have started to actively search for spots to take photos in. Apparently the best way of learning is to take million photos and fail miserably. Any good tips for beginner? This photo is me trying to practice straight lines going from the corners towards the center. It should make travel photo interesting to look at but I am not so sure if it works… But at least the locals had fun time watching me to take too many photos of empty bridge on place no tourist should be.

readers who have been here for some time know that I have never ending love for old towns. Stockholm’s Gamla Stan is one of the originals old towns I found and fell in love with. All those small alleys, colorful buildings and cute little shops. How could I not walk here for hours and be on total tourist mode with my camera?

I used my whole first day alone in Stockholm just walking around and taking in the city. I have been there several times but this was my first solo trip to Sweden. (No, I don’t get bored to visiting Sweden over and over again even if you wondered that in my last post!) I love traveling with my friends and family but going alone gives you different perspective of the city. You have time to look at things and visit places you wouldn’t have with other people.

So this odd photo is me being totally lost and not panicking at all.Okay maybe a little panicking because sun was setting and I had walked three kilometers to the wrong direction. Don’t even ask how that is possible… I have good sense of direction but I am even better at getting lost.

 

Even after visiting Stockholm several times I have never before seen the changing of the guards. This time I was lucky because they were just starting and marching around the castle when I happened to be there. As first time experience this was quite nice because there wasn’t so many people.

And so we are at the last photo. Have you ever been to Stockholm? Or maybe you are planning trip to there? Any comments and your memories are always welcome.
I hope you are having amazing day!

With love,

Viivi Severina

 

Photo Diary: Lost in Finnish Forest

So, when you are short of time (because I may have got invited suddenly to summer job interview) and you live in Finland there is one subject you can always write without any problems. Our beautiful forests. Where ever you go in Finland you can find forests. It is our tourists magnet and beloved part of our lives.

I could not imagine my life without small trips to isolated quiet forests. I have done something like this before but I don’t think there can ever be enough photos of Finnish beauty. I hope you can enjoy these winter photos from Finnish forest.

Have you ever visited Finnish forest? Or has your home country/city a lot of nature? Like always all comments are welcome. (And you would make me the happiest person on this planet if you followed my new Facebook page.Thanks!)

Best regards,

Viivi Severina

Photo Diary: Kokkola, Finland

I never found time to publish this photo diary from last summer. I have now lived half year in Kokkola but when I took these photos it was my first proper visit to this Finnish summer city (and I had no idea I would soon live in this small city). Here is short photo travel around normal small city from Finland. Enjoy!

 

 

I didn’t have any texts to write today (why am I always too busy?) so I hope you enjoyed the photos! I love the last one because I took it when I was totally lost. Those photos usually have the best memories for me… Also the photos are quite dark because it was stormy day so sorry for the bad quality!

Like always all comments are welcomed. Have you ever visited Finland? Or do you maybe live here?
With love,

Viivi Severina