One of the most iconic landmarks in the Ruhr region is the “Gasometer” in Oberhausen. The former gas holder turned large scale exhibition space now hosts some pretty amazing exhibitions. Large scale is to be taken quite literally. In 2013 Christo and Jeanne Claude’s installation “Big Air Package” filled the Gasometer. Now the space holds the beautiful “Wonders of Nature” exhibition of nature photographs.
For six short weeks I have moved to a different part of Germany for my job: The Ruhr region. I am lucky to be living with some awfully great people in Bochum, but I work in Essen. Essen is a particularly interesting city in this area and it was named European Capital of Culture 2010. One of the most iconic places in Essen is Zeche Zollverein, a UNESCO world heritage site. And within that retired industrial complex, there are a few really great museums.
Continue reading Intelligent Design – The Red Dot Design Museum
While planning our trip we saw that for the first part we would pass through some sparsely populated areas of Germany and never end our day in a town, so camping would have to be it. That changed for the second stretch of the trip, so we figured we might try sleeping indoors again and turned to couchsurfing – and it was great.
As we venture into December, I still have some catching up to do, so let’s look back to September. Ehem.
I happen to like a good challenge! So what’s better than challenging yourself, spending time outdoors with an amazing friend and seeing a part of your country that you haven’t seen before? I really wanted to do a great bike tour and found me some awesome company for the road: Jana!
I went out this morning just to run back in and grab my camera. Moments of beauty are rare in this cold and dark season, so I had to set down some of that natural splendor.
What do you do, when you have a visitor who has by now seen more of your hometown than you?
You go out of town. For example to a nice little spa town in a neighboring country.
Exactly one year ago I went to see the Expo 2015 with my friend Anny, who was volunteering there at the time (she’s visiting Bayreuth right now!). The theme was “Feeding the Planet – Energy for Life.”
Here’s part 2 of the London adventure!
First of all, have a look at this lovely freaky house near a random tube station.
Continue reading London Glimpses, Part 2 (plus photos from the vault)
About ten years ago, I went to London for a single day on a language school trip with my good friend Karin and the other three members of the “Brighton Crew”, Ju, Anna and Sid. One day was absolutely not enough and I have always wanted to come back “some day” to see more. That day was the Thursday after Easter, and this time I saw a whole lot more.
London was impressive and beautiful and diverse… and honestly: far too expensive. But let me walk you through the experience.
A trip to London means a trip to the Harry Potter Studios. At least for me. Full disclosure: I am a huge fan of the books, but never liked the films all that much. Nevertheless, this is the closest I could get to Hogwarts, after my owl got lost approximately 17 years ago.
So when the Easter bunny brought me a plane ticket to Heathrow, I knew what to do. The tour was really exciting and totally worth it.
But first, there was a little preview the night before at King’s Cross Station, where the studio set up a shop at platform 9 3/4 – incredible sense of business.
Yours Julie - Mostly travel, also food. 