Places to go to in Hamburg (2)

Elbtunnel - the old tunnel in Hamburg. Today it's mainly a tourist attraction and not used very often. You can still go down there in a car but most of the time it's used by pedestrians and bike riders. The lighting down there is great. And it's definitely worth a fun visit!

Musical - well...I've been to broadway, but haven't gone to a musical here. I really want to go - anyone want to go with me? ;)
I think it's an extra special thing to do here because you get over there by taking the boat. So you have a little extra anticipation time.

Fischmarkt - gotta go there after a night of partying and being happy. It's so fun. Especially when you're in a large group of a couple of people.

Miniatur Wunderland - it's supposed to be amazing. It's German für "miniature wonderland" (wow, big surprise there, haha). There's basically a gigantic mini-landscape with trains, trees, people and everything you usually have in a model railroad kit - just in an amazingly big amount. Haven't been there but it's on my to do list. Just not all the way at the top.

Planten un Blomen - yeah. Well I've been there. And lost my phone there while writing postcards - funny story. It's a pretty park in the middle of the city with all kinds of flowers and plants (translation from Hamburg-German to English: plants and flowers). Great place with a little lake/pond, places to sit and things to see. Need to go back there again soon. And watch my phone carefully. (Luckily it was still on the bench where I lost it last time :) )

Maritime Museum - I'm not quite the museum type but I really need to see it some time...Someone want to go?

Speicherstadt - a really beautiful part of town (but only at night) Very old. Its translation is "storage city". This is where they used to store all the goods that came to Hamburg from all over the world by ship. There are still some in use. For example the tea and coffee storage. But lots of them have been altered into business locations or even apartments. The lights at night with the reflections in the water are really great.

Dom - biiiiig carnival that's here a couple times a year. For really long. I was surprised how often they are here for over a month! They have pretty much everything a carnival needs. Slow rides, fast rides, crazy rides, food....


Pictures are going to be up by the end of the week!

Places to go to in Hamburg (1)

Since I've been living here for 10 whole months by now (which is amazing and absolutely unbelievable) I thought I'd share some more information on this city.

I love the phenomenon that is reconfirmed over and over again: You barely ever visit tourist attractions in the city you live in. And if you do it's mostly not for yourself but for guests that are visiting from a different place. You plan trips and realise you haven't been to most of the places yourself.

Luckily I came to Hamburg before I lived here. That way I saw a lot more things than I would've otherwise...

So this is a list I compiled from different sources on the net while looking for the most well-known and most popular attractions. Some of them I have seen, been to or done, others I haven't. And most of those I still want to see...(People: Visit me! ...one person in specific and you know who you are! :( )

Hamburg Dungeon - A little bit too spooky for me. Sorry, but I can't ;) I'd be screaming nonstop, might hit one or two people and probably wouldn't be able to sleep for the next two to three weeks. Not happening.

Hafencity - Been there more than once and it's pretty cool. By day it's definitely best to go when the sun is shining from blue skies - it makes the buildings look amazing. But if the weather isn't good it's worth it to go by night. All these expensive houses, buildings and apartments have great lighting. They really put a whole lot of money in there.

Harbor tour - Fun boat trip, totally touristy but also used by the locals as fast transportation seeing that you can use it with your public transport ticket for Hamburg. It goes all the way to the docks and back to "Blankenese" which is one of the most wealthy parts of town.

Strandperle - One of the oldest bars in the city - haven't been there myself - but definitely planning to do so. Oldie but goodie! Facebook page

Dialog im Dunkeln - Museum about the dark, blindness and experiences life without light. Amazing exhibition, definitely a To Do for people visiting Hamburg. I did it back home in Frankfurt and it was great!

Reeperbahn - Also called "Kiez". Want to see the second heart of Hamburg? Go here. It's the only place in Germany where you have bars, clubs, pubs and other night-activity things (you're not forced to see these - I didn't either ;) ) in a radius of 1 km. Fun for a night out - especially if you like to party. (I've only been there 4 times or something like that...)

St. Pauli - The district where "Reeperbahn" is ;) It leads up to the river and has a cool beach bar: StrandPauli

Michel - Hamburgs main church with a platform from where you can see Hamburg from above in a height of 82 meters. Need to go there soon to finally have an "overview" of the city :)

...so this is the first part of my Hamburg To Do List. The second part with annotations for the grid will be coming soon!

Goals 2013 - Update

So now that 4 months are over...I figured I'd revise my goal list and see which goals I actually reached. Well. I'd say, compared to the past years this year is pretty good. I remember them and at least try to reach them. Some, like the blogging, are less successful than others, but I am still working on all of them. Here is a little update on my goals 2013.

The blogging really seems to be the most difficult thing for me.

I haven't done a lot of pinterest tutorials, but I have started a whole lot of projects in sewing and crafting. So that counts halfway.

This is admittedly the one goal I forgot about. Maybe I'll try achieving it. But no promises there.

Save money. Well...I did :) And it went well. But it's probably easier because I have been earning more money lately.

That explains this point. I have been spending a lot. But it still works out with saving. So it's ok. My motto: What if something happened to me tomorrow. And if I had saved a whole lot of money and not have bought some things I wanted - it would be a total waste. Yes, save some money. But not everything :)

Be happy. Yes. Well it worked really well in the beginning. I had a little down time during the non-sunny days and some complications. But the weather has gotten a whole lot better and my happiness is increasing as well - YAY :)

Be thankful. Oh yes. I am. For everything. Every night I think about how very blessed I am to have everything I have. Thank You.

I have made people happy. And everyone I tell about my goal thinks it's a really good idea and appreciates my attemts. Especially my boyfriend. But since it's not supposed to be the same person who gets treated extra well....I had to find others as well ... ;)

I have tried out a pizza recipe. Pizza from scratch. It was real good! And I made broccoli soup and an awesome spaghetto cheese sauce...so I'm good there.

My apartment is becoming more comfortable every day. Now I even have a couch.

I want to start selling my pouches. I already cut so much fabric but I haven't sewn very much yet. Get to it!

And yes. The dresses. So many events coming up - I wanted DIY wardrobe. Haven't finished so many...need. to. sew.

To Do

Ok. So of course my to do list changes about every hour, but there are a couple of things that are important enough to write them down here. Just to keep track of all the things I want, need, have to do !

- finish mom's dress (buy the last materials for it)
- finish my room
- cook more, spend less money at school
- study for tests
- improve business English skills
- decide on my costume for Karneval

that's pretty much it for these next couple of weeks...but I hope I will actually achieve all my goals for once. We'll se!

Photo Project

This is my new project: I will take a picture with a certain promt word on these days:

To Sew

                                    some more of these (just to have on hand)                         

for a hopefully endless summer

this awesome thing...in more than one color (?) for all kinds of events

this cute thing just to pimp my sweater

this beauty for a chic summer

this awesome one to party

this cool thing for my pregnant aunt !

this big thing for school

this or...

...this for my notebook (duh!)

this pretty one to have something pretty to go out with

this for traveling home

this for summer trips to the park

something like this for my mommy (needs to be finished next weekend!!!)

and something for our bathroom

But these are plans for the whole year...so we'll see how many of them I actually make!!

Goals 2013

...more to come!