Tag: streetart

Photo Diary: First Time In Bremen

Published on by LostViivi21 Comments

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 

Travel Diary: Montpellier pt. 3

Published on by LostViiviLeave a comment

Day 8: Introverted traveler problems

Montpellier is so amazing city! Here couples in love, drug traffickers and lost tourists all fit in small park. So lovely old city where everyone live together in harmony.

Today I had my first full day with my sister to spend in the city. The morning went wandering around the old part of Montpellier.

Place du Peyrou

We tried to find Place du Peyrou because the rumor told in Sundays there would be antique market. Well even one seller didn’t show up. That little set back didn’t dispirit us. Between sun and small rainy moments we navigated towards La Panacee. Using map and walking circles didn’t make us look like tourists at all! The museum was kind of hard to find but in the end my skillful map reading (and iPhone) helped us there.

The exhibition Anatomie De L’Automate. I can’t even describe it so I leave it like that. However I fell in love with the museum. It’s build around patio and in the upstairs they have  artists’ residence.

After seeing this free kind of odd exhibit the museum’s restaurant attracted our attention. We even went outside once and come back inside because it seemed so scary to go and order. In the end we were able to ask the price of two people eating. 16E. And with that you got everything from appetizer to dessert and drinks.

Of course we did eat there. The food was amazing and even my -I don’t eat meat- sister liked it. The only problem was we never found the drinks beside coffee and cacao.

As introverted traveler this struggle is familiar for me. We definitely couldn’t ask where to find the drinks. After settling to our fate (and enviously looking boys next to us drinking their fresh orange juices) we continued our day with  full stomachs.

Then we tried to enter shopping mall and walked around the small streets but soon noticed strange thing. Every place was closed. Literally every shop and most of the restaurants and cafes had disappeared.

We then decided to leave back home tired but happy after day full of new experiences. While sitting in full tram and talking to each other happened something fun.

Even the tram tracks are artistic in Montpellier

My sister can understand some french. Of course no one knows it and when we talk Finnish everyone assumes we can’t understand them. Well I can’t but luckily I have great sister who can translate for me.

So we are sitting in tram and facing the back wall and three boys leaning on it. Of course they realize we aren’t locals but what they don’t think of is that we would understand when they talk about us.

So just tip for everyone. Always wait for the unexpected and don’t underestimate other people. Some people can speak more than one language.

 

Day 9: Let’s go see the sea!

I had googled in advance how to get into the beach using public transportation. Everything sounded so easy in internet but of course the reality wasn’t that simple. Or it would have been if we had just used the tram and walked the remaining three kilometers.

We trusted blindly to the instructions in Montpellier’s internet page and tried to use bus. We went to the place the bus was supposed to leave but never found the bus stop. As unlucky traveler that didn’t discourage me but I found new way for us to use.

So we traveled with tram towards the beach and started to walk. Halfway there we found bus stop that said there would have been cheap bus from the last tram stop to any part of the beach. We decided to use it when coming back and continued walking.

The walk was long but worth it. I have always loved seas and this beach and mystical stormy weather blew my mind. Everything looked so beautiful and there was stones and seashells everywhere.

My sister loves taking photographs so we were walking slowly and she was filming and snapping pics constantly. I didn’t know should I walk watching the ground so I could pick up pretty stones or look up and see the fascinating sea and sky. I ended up doing both.

After a while we eat our snacks on picnic style and admired the sigh in front of us. There was almost no one but us. Apparently it’s not beach weather yet for french.

When traveling back home and Montpellier’s centrum, we decided to go shopping. So we ended up going to Odysseum (Shopping mall/entertainment place). First thing we had to do was find food. After long seeking we found big hamburger place and the waitress welcomed us warmly. The foods looked good and everything seemed fine. We waited for the waitress come and to take our orders. We waited and waited and waited. She never came.

We were starting to panic. Should we go somewhere to order. Or should we just wait. As shy travelers asking help just wasn’t option. Then in the end we decided to sneak out of the restaurant. We only ate smoothies and bread that evening.

 

Day 10: City like art gallery

We used this day to walk around the old streets and do some shopping. I did buy cute shoes and book but I wasn’t really feeling like shopping. So in the end we just walked around and spend day at home.

In Montpellier you don’t need to even visit art museum to see paintings. The city is full of street art. Because I don’t have anything else to talk about (and this post is too long already…) here is some pics of the street arts:

 

Can you find the big painting in this pic?
Looks normal house, right? Look harder! The windows and everything is painted…

 

PS. I’m sorry I haven’t posted for long time but I have been sick lately 😦