This week felt both long and short at the same time. I started off the week exploring the capital of Switzerland, then ended the week dancing on a table with my friends in Friedrichshain. The time in the middle of those two events was mostly filled with my first week back at work after vacation, but I was able to squeeze in a fun night out in Kreuzberg, a new fish recipe and an Italian dinner in Mitte. All in all, a pretty busy and pretty amazing week!
BYE BYE FROM Bern
I spent my last day in Switzerland exploring the capital city of Bern. I started out my day at Einstein cafe with eggs and an alcoholic decaf coffee drink, what a conundrum.
After a delicious warm meal and a quick escape from the freezing temperatures outside, I headed upstairs to walk through Einstein’s house. The entrance fee was only cash and so I also went on a brief side adventure through the streets of Bern to find an ATM that allows for small bill withdrawal. It took 3 ATMs before I was able to take out a 20! All the effort of finding cash was worth it when I got to walk through the apartment that Einstein was living in when he developed his theory of relativity. The theory basically says that gravity is a curving or warping of space and that the more massive an object, the more it warps the space around it. It also has been able to explain phenomenon like astronauts slowly aging in space and solid objects changing space at high speeds. Despite the gravity of that theory (pun intended), the most interesting thing to me in Einstein’s museum was the relationship he had with his daughter. Or rather, the lack of a relationship. His first child was a daughter born out of wedlock at the house of his fiance’s parents in Serbia. It is assumed that he never met his daughter and she was never mentioned in his life again. That’s so sad. He also later cheated on his wife and had an affair with his first cousin… who he then married. Walking through his house was extremely interesting because on one hand you want to love and admire the genius who revolutionized our understanding of the world, but on the other hand, you have a cheating father who ignored his first born daughter and left his second and third born children to have an affair with his first cousin. There are a lot of quotes that could describe the feelings I had when I read through Einstein’s life and legacy, but our homie Aristotle said it best…“No great mind has ever existed without a touch of madness.”
After walking through Einstein’s apartment, I decided to walk to the University of Bern botanical garden and look at some beautiful flowers to cleanse my palate from Einstein’s life. The botanical garden was much more than I expected. Firstly and most importantly, it was all free. I love a free attraction. The garden was also huge and had collections that spanned from Alpine plants, Central Asian steppe vegetation, Mediterranean plants and Tropical mountain forests to Succulent plants, Medicinal plants, Arboretum and Asian plants. The best part of the entire experience was getting to be toasty warm in Bern during a cold spell in March.
For the rest of my time in Berlin I walked around Old Town to check out the public fountains, old statues, towers, and the famous Clock Tower. Next time I am in Bern I want to spend some time in the two main art museums – Paul Klee and the Kunstmuseum. Until then, peace out Switzerland.
COMFY TRAIN DAY
Waking up on the last day of a trip is always a mixed bag of feelings. I’m sad the current adventure is over, but often I am pretty exhausted from the trip and ready to be in my own bed. I took the train home straight back to Berlin and packed a delicious train meal of hummus, cous cous and sparkling water. I love having my entire life fit into one snowboarding bag. It makes travel so much easier!
BACK TO WORK
It’s never fun returning to work after a week off on vacation, but atleast we have a cute little puppy to make the first days back easier.
NIGHT OUT IN Kreuzberg
This week we went out to Cafe Kreuzberg for drinks with a few friends and naturally pregamed on the bridge with some Spati biers. I love that you can drink on the street here and that bier only costs a few Euros. It makes everything so much more casual and relaxing. Exploring a new bar was also really fun and afterwards we went to late night Mcdonalds for snacks and kids meal toys. We were lucky and we got alex the lion and a yet to be named polar bear!
Ohhhh Mega Fish
I think it’s hilarious that I moved to Berlin and now I have a fish guy. His shop is open Thursday through Sunday and I go every week right when they open. this week I got my typical salmon and threw in a brochette de la mer, which was a premade skewer with swordfish, tuna, kabeljau and shrimp. He also added in a special dressing to use while cooking the skewer and holy moly, it was delicious. I grilled the fish on my stove and it was the perfect topping to my daily spinach salad.
VINO AND BASILICO
I went out to Vino and Basilico with a few friends on Saturday night and the food was delicious. However, and this is very unfortunate, my friend got food poising from the Truffle pasta and it quickly ruined her whole night. I loved my meal, which was the calamari pasta, but I can’t in good faith recommend a place that gave someone food poisoning. Sorry V&B :/
Self Care Saturday
I love a sunny self care Saturday! Slow morning wake up, time in the gym, nail appointment at Glowy bar, eyebrows done, hours reading and lots of water and sleep. I don’t often use my Saturdays to relax, but when I do it feels amazing.
sigue bailando
I have been listening to this Camila Cabello song on repeat since it dropped on March 4th. I think it’s such a fun beat and it perfectly described my weekend. Keep dancing!
