Berlin: trying to escape paying for the bathrooms.

Yes that's right. You may not have had to pay for the bathrooms in France but starting in Germany you better have cash on you if you need to pee. However, if you are eating in the restaurant you shouldn't have to pay but they will still ask for money, sometimes really aggressively. So pee and then run before they catch you for your 50-75 cents.

Welcome to Berlin where the tour we took went something like this “please look over to your right, where now stands a new hotel we are building, now if you look over to your left you will see this other new building that we just finished building”. Now I understand Berlin went through some terrible destruction during WWII but I didn’t realize this until I actually went to Berlin and saw that there isn’t that much physical history left. However, the places that we did see were incredibly eye opening. Also I got to see and stay with the wonderful Karo, another au pair friend. She was totally understanding when we got into Berlin in the morning and just wanted to take a nap, gave us a tour of the main points of Berlin, and packed us lunch on a daily basis!

I hadn't noticed this until now but apparently I took a great photo of two strangers when trying to photograph the Reichstag building.

Escaping the wall. 

One of the days we explored Berlin all by ourselves. First we took a cruise on the Spree to see the shore-side buildings. Personally I wouldn’t recommend this cruise to people who are like me and want to see historical Berlin. This cruise was cool to see modern buildings that Berlin has. [If you think about why that is: attacking bridges to stop supply runs and population transport is a strategically method of thinking by the Allies, so with history it makes sense why we saw mostly modern buildings along the shore].

We then went to explore the German History Museum, and walked around Museum Island. We ran into a not-so-lovely lady at the cash who for some ridiculous reason did not understand that summer vacation is a thing, and a student card cannot be validated until September (you know when school actually starts and you use the student card).  So unfortunately we did not see any of the Museums on the island. However, if you are in Berlin for a long period of time definitely check them out.

One of the museums on the Island.

At one point we went to a market that is very popular in Berlin called Hackescher Markt which we really enjoyed! We stopped by a comedy show (that was in German but who cares, actions are universal], and listened to some great music.

                                               

A market is more fun with beer.

So while in Berlin we were suggested we try “CurryWurst”, a sausage with curry powder and fries. It sounds simple but remember this is a German sausage and it was delicious! We also wanted to try some schnitzel, but we weren’t looking to pay 30 euros for the real veal meat. Instead we looked up a place on Trip Advisor that was apparently the best. So we ended up taking the train 20 minutes out of central Berlin to end up in a pretty sketchy area (the reviews on Trip Advisor did warn us about this to be fair), and came to a small place under the bridge. The place was decorated with black writings on the wall in all different languages. We ordered two pieces of the regular schnitzel (which came out to about 12 euros for both), and were incredibly pleased with the portions and quality of the food. The place is called Scheers Schnitzel, if you are in Berlin definitely check it out, it is worth the hike out.

I don't know how to flip photos in blogger... But this was the schnitzel we got! comes with a side salad. Just looking at this photo makes me want to go back to the place.

On our last night in Berlin we went out with Karo and her friends for some Happy Hour drinks. Luckily for us the bartender was kind enough to extend the Happy Hour prices well past the hour. After enjoying some large drinks we made our way home to start packing for our bus ride to Prague the next day.

Berlin where the monuments that do stand are breathtaking but you can see what war has done to them. 

Dortmund: Travelling Like Hobbits

Dortmund was an unplanned stop on our eurotrip. It was more of a 12 hour layover, which was made much easier because I got to see a friend that I met at the beginning of my au pair year!

I am sure I would have enjoyed Dortmund much more if I wasn’t sleep deprived, it didn’t rain 50% of the time, and the bathrooms were free (even though I didn’t pay for them, but it was incredibly frustrating to be told I have to pay after eating at the restaurant).

If it wasn't for this park we visited in Dortmund and my friend coming by, I feel like Dennis and I would just have slept in a McDonalds. 

It was funny as most of these barrels had drifted to the little island across this pond. So it is virtually impossible to grab the barrels without swimming across. So we had to wait for the only barrel available that was [at this moment] occupied.

Let the hobbit adventure begin! 

Barreling is harder than it looks. It also feels like you might drown at any moment. Not suitable for small children, or people who cannot swim. 

Like I mentioned, this park was really cool. It had the barrel riding (pictured above), these swinging things, cinema, a nice walking path, and... 

Flamingos. 

Advice for future travellers do not take two over night buses back to back unless you are a smaller than average height, function when sleep deprived, or are a robot who can just shut off for a couple of hours.

La vie Parisienne

Staying only three days in Paris meant Dennis and I had to put on those running shoes to make sure we saw all the main points and my favourite non-touristic places. I am actually pretty impressed because we did almost everything that I wanted to do with him including going to a last minute theatre show! I mean there isn’t much I can say about Paris, I’ve literally lived here for a year. I love this city so much. I’ve said everything I can about it in all my previous blogposts.

I do plan on coming back to Paris, the city where I grew and changed as a person… oh and tried to learn some French.

The one last time we can get drunk by the Seine. The true Parisienne experience that Dennis just had to try.

The "eyebrow"

Trying to perfect the "eyebrow" but unfortunately not being up to par with the master (aka me... seriously did you even look at the perfection in the top photo?). 

Of course lots of french food was eaten. Including snails and lots of Bourgogne red wine. 

The build up to the "proposal"...

The unfortunate circumstances that occurred. 

Consolidation.

And then just more cheesy photos being taken by the Eiffel tower. Which are inevitable when you go to Paris with your significant other. 

Next stop: Dortmund.

Getting started: Fontainebleau

How the last day of school went, is exactly how my last week went.

The kids were excited to get out of school; I was excited to be finishing work, have my boyfriend come, and start our eurotrip. 

However the kids were saying goodbye to their friends who they might not see all summer; I had to say goodbye to the most wonderful family I could have chosen to aupair for.

In the car on the way back Connie says to her little sister “We’ll miss you Anastasia”. So many feels!

During the week I was also meeting with people for goodbye’s before either they or I would part ways.

But saying goodbye to some could be saying hello to others. My boyfriend was finally coming into Paris that night.

So my lovely Russian pal and I headed over to Paris to pick him up at the Gare du Nord train station. 

The next morning felt like any other morning just with an extra person to love. The girls were very excited to meet “mon amoureaux” and even more excited to receive maple syrup. 

We have some maple syrup fanatics.

Then it was time to head out and explore Fontainebleau.

Now on the way there something scary and embarrassing that happened that I don’t like to talk about (do not ask Dennis, his version is untruthful!). But lets just say suburban French people are the loveliest when it comes to a crisis!

The next day my host family invited us over to go canoeing.

Little did we know this trip would be a near death experience (exaggeration may apply).

After our first little “rafty” journey of going down some rocks we cracked our canoe. Inevitably we slowly started sinking as we continued our journey along the river. Little did I know (and was continued to be told the contrary to stop a panicky situation) was that our canoe wasn’t sinking that slowly. Turns out when we docked our canoe was so heavy with water that Dennis, who was in the back, was less than an inch away from the water.

After this courageous trip we all went to a restaurant situated in the forest. This was my most favourite restaurant I have been in. The food was really spectacular! We chatted a lot with the family of some fond memories, as well as, our future plans. This unfortunately was our last big meal before Dennis and I officially headed off to our next stop, Paris.

I miss the girls already, leaving the empty room was so depressing , saying goodbye to the girls was even worse. But I was promised letters and drawings in the mail, so there is always that to look forward to!

Tell the world, I'm coming home.

Best. News. Ever was received by me today. I got my Russian visa. Which means I get to go home and see people I have not seen for 12 years! 12 years! I started crying on the Champs Elysee, because I was so freaking happy.

This week overall has been so amazing!

Let's start with last Sunday (a calendar week starts on Sunday in Europe, I now know some people find this weird).

Last Sunday was Fête de la Musique in France. Which is a huge festival of music, and it happens all over France. It is where artists, famous and amateur, come out and play on stages, small and large. I kind of expected it to be more musical than it was, but we did end up at Republique which where the main stage was set up in Paris. I listened to some amazing new music and had a really great pizza! The fête goes until 3am; however, I am a working woman! And also I live far and my train stops at 12am. Granted I didn't even stay that long because I just wanted to finish watching Game of Thrones season 5 (especially because people were posting left and right what was happening and I didn't want my boyfriend to have the ending spoiled for him; I've already read the books so it wasn't much of a surprise to me).

Oh yeah, and the day before we ate a lot... That was pretty much all we did:

The idea was to go into Paris for Moules Frites... but we got hungry before, and then we had to get our Moules... I mean that's why we were there. 

Then the busiest week started. 

It is the end of the year, meaning all activities are finished and progress must be shown to the parents. 

I have to admit though it was adorable!! I also loved how every time the little ones would come out on stage all they'd want to do was look for their parents and then wave profusely. 

Then came the regular Tuesday (that I will soon write about, it's turns out it's a lot more work than I thought... and I am lazy). 

Then came my goodbye party/ all nighter in Paris (as we suburbianers (?) must do when we go out for a night in Paris). 

We started off meeting everyone, going to the Seine, and drinking a full bottle of vodka and two jugs of orange juice (I say this separately because we didn't bring cups, so it was little bottle, then jug of juice). We then rejoined many other people by the Seine, and continued drinking until we all felt like dancing, so we headed out to Bastille (I don't know why I always end up there!). Because transport is usually difficult for such a large number of people, we all got split up. So while I don't actually remember everything clearly I'll just add the pictures, because a picture is a thousand words (and I have many pictures). 

After the bar closed we headed down to the Bastille Opera to jam, because what else could you do at 5 am?! Also surprisingly you meet some lovely people who could either play guitar or can really sing! Quite a lovely end to the perfect evening (or morning..?) 

This is our album cover for the new CD that we'll have out entitled: "no we won't get a hangover as long as we're jammin".

Irina and I got home at 7:30 am, and guess what we did? That's right, we went to sleep! A bed has never looked so good! The rest of the weekend was a recovery weekend. We mostly hung out, ate food, and played Monopoly... which I won... that's right I will never live this down. Monopoly, the game where you lose all your friends. 

Look at all them dolla' dolla' bills that Caro plans to give to me. 

It's ok if you lose, but I better win. 

I'm kidding... kind of. 

Paris, je t'aime vraiment.

This month has been a huge gumble of things! I have so little time left that I am constantly on the move trying to fit as many things into my schedule as I can, therefore I kept on putting of blogging as I didn't see it as "très important".

Throughout this time I have met some old friends, made tons of new friends, and did things I never thought I would do. I have also spent a lot of time by the pool, because au pairing is hard and sometimes you need a day by the pool (I am sarcastic here, I know it isn't noticeable, but I am).

Gosh I am getting all sad all of a sudden. Just thinking of all the things I have done and still need to do, I can't believe the finish is so close. But I will have some exciting things to post soon (not that so far it wasn't exciting...)!

I really love this experience and the people I've met. To laugh so hard you start crying, to sit so close to the seine you feel like you might fall, so you start looking for the closest shore that you might be able to swim to in case that happens, and of course to go so hard all night to then later fall asleep on the 7 am train trip back home. I love this city, I couldn't have picked a better family, and I couldn't have asked for better friends!

Even when the one true french "recommends" us wine that we then notice is without alcohol... and still tastes just bad rosé

And even with my fear of water, I still went kayaking on the Loing for 16km! All while sitting in a puddle of the river water for perhaps 4 hours that we were there. Notice the sweater? Yeah... it gets cold when you sit in a couple of cm of water for a couple of hours and then get out to have a picnic, only to stay in your soaking clothes. 

Just 2 weeks left. Just wait, exciting posts coming!