Eight days, six cities

This is just a collection of pictures that I took on the two previous weekends. We had two busy weeks with lots of traveling all across Germany. We went to Hamburg and Bremen, Berlin, Frankfurt, Mainz, Wiesbaden and Berlin again in only 8 days! We went on a concert, visited old friends and my brother, ate pizza, cake, ice cream and a lot of fried stuff, the boyfriend had a ob interview, which is really exciting and we got to know all those cities a bit better. This are just a few photos that I took along the way...

A week off everything

I hope you are enjoying a great weekend! We were blessed with the sunniest of days today and spend a great deal of our time outside exploring, buying ice cream and enjoying the sun in our faces. People in shorts and t-shirts everywhere! It seems almost inadequate to share pictures of our vacation at the Szczecin Lagoon on such a sunny and warm day. Because, well, it was cold and cloudy most of the time. We still had a great time!

After the boyfriend's master thesis was handed in, we both wanted to take some time off to relax and rewind. Just the two of us. At the Szczecin Lagoon, in a sleepy village, we found a cozy little fisher house with a beautiful tiled stove and the beach just 50m away. There was absolutely no wifi or cell phone reception which was fine, actually. We spent wonderful 5 Internet-free days exploring beaches, visiting the zoo, knitting (that might just be me) and reading Harry Potter for a bedtime story. Yep, you read that right. We're 26 and we're reading bedtime stories to one another. Totally normal.

Most of the beach near our house was not sand but thousands of tiny little seashells. I was so stupid not to scoop up a handful and take them home. I'm sure they would be great in some kind of crafty project, what do you think? Maybe I forgot because I stood there, on the seashell beach, suddenly wondering why or how all those seashells had to die.

That peaceful moment, where the boyfriend was feeding llamas in the zoo... right before the boss llama saw the boyfriend feeding another llama but him, got jealous and spat him right in the face. Poor boyfriend.
He also carried my heavy bag all day. He is the best.

Last but not least: The only picture with both of us in it. Yay!

Under the sea (we got no troubles life is the bubbles)

Finally - FINALLY! - I managed to finish the roll and get it developed! This is definitely the last post about our trip to France. I promise. But one of the best things to bring to our trip to France was definitely the disposable underwater camera! The French riviera probably the best place to bring an underwater camera anyway. Taking those pictures was so much fun and seeing the developed photos even more. They came out great! Some of them are blurry or dull, but that's the risk and the fun with disposable cameras - you can't delete and you never know what you get!
Here are my favorites:

Our trip to France (on video)

I'm so very happy that I finally forced myself to sit down and finally put that France video together. We had such a great time in France this summer! I love how a video is a different experience than having only pictures to look at and such a great way to capture the memories.
We recorded everything with our phones and a very old digital camera so the proper word for the image quality is probably "crappy". But apart from that the video is fun and if you always wanted to hear me sing in my beautiful angel's voice or see my  super awesome dance moves - this is for you.
Enjoy!

Places to stay in Southern France

Don't you all sometimes with for a little cottage in a warm and sunny place, at the beach, surrounded by palm trees and with a front porch facing the sea? I sure do. I would spend more time on the porch than in my house, just sitting there, listening to the waves and the birds, never wanting to be anywhere else but there - on the porch of my cottage at the sea.
At the French riviera we experienced something like that. Seriously! There was a cottage, a front porch, the sea, the palm trees, the birds. The waves were not actually lapping around my feet, but there was a nice panorama view of the Mediterranean sea so I won't quibble over details. It was pretty amazing. And who doesn't love to get to a place and immediately feel ... understood. Like "Yes, that's what I'm talking about: cottage, sea, trees, birds, thank you!".

That's how we felt with our cottage at the Homair holiday village of La Baie des Anges in La Ciotat. Our cottage was clean and nicely furnished and had everything you need for a nice stay, including a sofa and a coffee machine. Thinking about it, the house could have been empty for all I care, because we didn't really leave the patio the whole week - except for extensive snorkeling and seashell collecting at the beach. Have I mentioned we had sea view?
The rest of the campsite is beautiful as well, we found many different cottages surrounded by huge pine trees and flower bushes, the oldest olive trees I have ever seen in my life and some almost surreal places like an area completely  roofed by maple trees, giving the place a cool and moody atmosphere even on a hot summer day. 

And yes, there is a supermarket and a tennis court and a restaurant and a pool area and who knows what. We didn't really feel the need any of those (surely great) facilities. Why go to the pool if you can swim in the sea in 5 minutes?

Homair has many different holiday villages all over France, Italy, Spain and Croatia and if they're all like Le Baie des Anges I'll be glad to book again some day. We loved the quiet and relaxed atmosphere that never made it seem like you're in a huge holiday village.

But fellow bloggers beware! The wifi fee will make you want to cry. You might want to consider internet-free holidays. I'm serious.

I'm still working on a little video from our trip so this won't be the last time you hear me babble about France and the sea and baguettes and suff. In the meantime: pictures!

France from the passenger's seat

We're back from our trip to the French riviera! Driving all the way there by car - a 16 hour road trip - was a fun (and at times exhausting) experience. I think that was the longest time I've ever been in a car without a longer break, but we rocked it! I was co-pilot for most of the trip and had plenty of time to take pictures - and nothing better to do, obviously. Needless to say, I took too way too many pictures through the front window (which was super dirty by the way), but let me tell you: Southern France is so beautiful in September! Probably most of the year though... I'm not sure if they have proper seasons there.
Here's a selection of some of my favorite pictures taken from the passenger's seat. Enjoy!