Trip to Germany & Berlin coming closer! PLUS Information on Aguia-Branca, MeinFernbus & Condor luggage allowance

Since Dezember, I am planning my next Trip to Germany and Berlin! YAY!!! This time together with the prince of sun <3 Now there are only about three weeks left, OMG, so excited =)

I am going to visit my friend Berlin girl at her place in Potsdam, do Berlin sightseeing (and shopping) with the prince and her and we will even do a short day trip to Warnemuende, a seaside resort and former fishing village situated on the Ostsee, Baltic Sea in the North-Eastern part of Germany, close to Rostock. I am really looking forward to showing the prince an authentic German beach and sea as well as traditions and his first, ever dunes (and dune rabbits!). (He does not know about the day trip, so.... cannot wait to see his face when he suddenly stands in front of the beach and sea, he thinks we are only going to visit Berlin and Potsdam, no word from me or Berlin girl about the trip or destination hehe....

Castle beauties - Fantasy vs Reality 

There is more, my family and I are planning to go on many castle trips, at least 4 different ones, one will be the Hohenbaden Castle, one castle near Gengenbach (forgot the name, I have to research some more...) plus the beautiful Hohenzollern Castle (those three are all located at less than 2h by car from my parents' place) and the famous Neuschwanstein Castle (the one that Disney used as a template for their dream castle) (located more or less 4h by car from my parents' place).

And as a cream-top for my holiday cake of wonders, two of my dear London friends, holiday girl and dance girl, are coming over for a weekend trip, none of them have been to Germany so I am thrilled to introduce them to our wonderful culture, delicious hearty German food, relaxing Roman bath-spa, breath-taking waterfalls.... *_* so excited!

So, other than that I have been planning to take lots of books and have made some packing lists (what to pack in Brazil), German-culture-related items (especially German children s books and items), shopping lists, Berlin packing list, Berlin to-do list, Berlin shopping list, my region's to do list, home-trip packing list.... I did mention that I love making lists... haha....

I mentioned some of our travel companies during my Europe trip last year already, I actually used the same companies as we do this time, but now I'll explain the baggage allowances for each company in detail.

So here you go, here more about each company we are travelling with:

Our first travel company is a Brazilian coach company called

Aguia Branca - 12h night bus from Porto Seguro to Salvador
-one suitcase of 30kg (to be stored in the luggage department of the bus)
-no exact restrictions for hand luggage

Last time I travelled with them, I only had one hand luggage (the carry on size), but most people travelling with me on the bus had a carry on plus normal handbags plus enormous plastic bags with them so I am quite optimistic that they are pretty generous with hand luggage taken on the bus with you (as long as you can fit it into the relatively generous space in front of you).

Arriving at the bus station in Salvador the next morning, we will take one of the local buses to the international airport in Salvador, where we will catch our flights in the afternoon, we are flying with

CONDOR, 10h over-night transatlantic flight from Salvador to Frankfurt
-2 suitcases of 32kg each (yes, you are reading right here *_*)
-hand luggage=carry on of 6kg
-1 laptop bag plus laptop
-1 small handbag
-umbrella

Isn t that just a dream....! Let's get that straight.
Proper 64 kg checked luggage. 6kg carry on. Total: A whopping 70kg. Not counting the handbag and laptop bag stuff!!! AAAAND the prince and I are travelling together. Each of us has those allowances, making it official:  140kg. Plus content of two small (hand)bags & notebook bags *_*

Right, last trip to Berlin, we will probably leave most of my stuff at my parents' place when we leave for Berlin and only take one suitcase and backpack with us, so our last company mentioned is

MeinFernbus, 10h daytime coach trip from Karlsruhe to Berlin

Our luggage planning

-2 suitcases of each 20kg
-hand luggage of 15kg

Whopping, isn t it!

I know now you'll ask me how I will ever be able to get my luggage sorted with so many different luggage restrictions.

Keep calm and... read on ;)

Foldable, lightweight travel wellies - Hunter Original Tour Rubber Boots

Hunter Original Tour Wellies in black

This one is pretty funny. Every time I tell people that I urgently need quality wellies (rubber boots), the next best thing they answer is `but aren`t you living in Brazil - isn`t this one of the most tropical places with long sun hours and burning heat?`

It surely is. Nevertheless, the quantity of rain is very impressive all year round, the rainstorms and resulting immediate floodings cause totally muddy streets in less than 5minutes, streets would have to get redone about 2-3 months if they were to look about alright and tidy. But that`s probably just a dream of all residents, no reality in any case... I have often observed old people being really afraid of walking outside due to the totally slippery pavement and street, often the pavement is totally destroyed or simply non-existent, so everyone has to walk on the street instead. I already slipped several times - which isn t very tragic as my bones are still pretty flexible. But imagine someone older...

Hunter Original Tour Boots and its anti-slip rubber sole

And nobody likes to slip, if we are really honest, especially when it`s totally muddy. So shoes or wellies that have adequate soles for slippery grounds are very precious. Nevertheless, I also walk my dog in the muddy streets so.... he really doesn t care if the ground is totally slippery and muddy and will play anyway so my feet, legs and trousers will be totally soaking in water or mud when we come home (let`s not talk about Luke`s muddy condition after the walk here haha, that`s another topic). But well, good resistent waterproof wellies will pretty much resolve most of those problems. That`s why I decided to get quality travel rubber boots as I will also use them as winter boots, just with high boot socks to keep my feet warm in addition to dry during the autumn and winter months I spend in Europe. As I am going to travel with them, they should not be too bulky and heavy, and as I wish to use them both during walks in the countryside, but also in the city, they should be pretty as well.

Quite a challenge. But thank god, I stumbled over the following blog: libertylondongirl.com - Living in London and close to Hampstead Heath, food lover, sausage dog walker and passionate traveller herself who introduced her readers to her favourite Hunter boots. And following her blogs throughout the - what? about 5-7maybe few? years that she continues to passionately write about them, totally convinced me to get them myself.

Hunter Original Tour Wellies - foldable & lightweight,
but city-chic - perfect for travellers

They have some original sturdy ones for rain and snow which are more convenient if you only use them around your area but also have one model for travel bugs like me: The Hunter Original Tour! Foldable, lightweight and stylish-city-chic! So I`ve ordered them, in pretty black which combines with about every item of clothing I have I guess... (and if not, who am I to care :D All I want is having clean and dry feet and less washing jeans to add that one - lol), happy and lucky to have found those boots that just include everything I needed at the very moment =)

Design, build and live in your own house - all at the same time: Part 2

Update of my house plan

It has been quite some time since I had first written about how to design, build and live in your own house - all at the same time.

Blogpost:
Design, build and live in your house - all at the same time

I just stumbled over this old blogpost and realized that by now - almost one year later - we have changed quite a lot during the course of construction works and changes in our previous plans and needs. I guess the best and biggest change was that we managed to seperate the kitchen and living room space, first we were not sure if we were able to fit in all furniture into the rather narrow kitchen-laundry room area neatly and comfortly but luckily it all worked out perfectly - we did not even have to remove the hammock!

And now it feels like our whole house is bigger :D Both livingroom and kitchen have a much larger feel to it. Amazing what a bit of moving-furniture-around can make of a drastic change.

I really could not resist adding in this picture of Luke who decided to gently remind me that I have been sitting at the computer/laptop for long enough, gently pawing my foot *_* and bringing along his all-time favourite toy: An old t-shirt of mine! ;-)

Puppy play time: Luke and his best friend Rhalf

Rhalf close to Luke's ear, whispering: "Luke, you won't
believe what happened yesterday...  Oh dear,
I have to whisper they're listening in :D!"

A few days ago we went to see a friend of ours who has two dogs, one puppy called Rhalf and one adult dog called Hans. Luke is best friends with Rhalf and together they run and jump and build sand caves and do just everything, like people say here "os dois estão grudados como cola" (those two are stuck like glue).

Luke will stay with them during our spring holiday, he has already spent one week there and thank god was alright and not too homesick, although from the day we picked him up again, he was even more stuck like glue to me ;) But I do love it, I freely admit it hehe....

More pictures of the 'gang of two', playing, wrestling and drinking water, exhausted from playing like the crazies - next to the 'old, wise often grumpy a bit jealous but mild' German-shepherd-mix ginger Hans:

London's best kept budget-books secret: Southbank Centre book market

Southbank Centre book market under Waterloo Bridge

I have always been a book worm, starting from a tender age of four when I wasn t even able to really read - didn t matter, I would still take out my favourite books and pretty accurately tell each story word by word to my younger siblings - by heart.

This passion has not really changed, although nowadays I have less time than I wish for curling up with a thick novel....

One of my favourite London budget-books markets is under Waterloo Bridge, right in front of BFI Southbank: Southbank Centre book market.

Passing London Eye
on my way to the market

You can get almost all genres, novels, poetry, cooking, children's books - the list of 2nd hand and antique books is infinite. Prices vary, you can get smaller books for 1-3 pound, heavier or newer books and depending on the genre the price can be higher.

Beautiful view on London Eye

As far as I know, the market is the only outdoor second hand and antique book market in London.

Address and opening hours:

Chantilly Rose chocolate cupcake with melting toffee centre

YES! This cupcake IS as delicious as it looks like. (It was almost too late to take a picture as I was already ravishing the rose when I remembered that it might be nice to have a picture memory of it, but it is almost complete on the photo (well, at least at the front side of our view ;-) !

Where and how did I get it?

Well... Here I was sitting and working - my brain was pretty much fried.... when the prince of sun came in and surprised me with this lovely rose cupcake! Thanks love! :-*

Its rose and the white waves around are made of chantilly, the pink parts outside on the rose have a strawberry-ish taste and the rest just wonderful cream taste, outside a bit thicker texture and inside wonderfully soft melting. The lower part of the cupcake is made of dark chocolate cake with several soft melting toffee centres. *_*

This cupcake pretty much unites everything I love in cupcakes in one single piece. Absolutely brilliant job of the lovely tiny bakery around the corner!

Crumpets - the most delicious bread-pancake-ish English breakfast invention

I had never heard of crumpets before staying in the UK for the first time. I stumbled over this amazing English tradition during one of my shopping trips at Waitrose and thought I'd just give it a shot. And WOW, it was the best shot I had ever given in terms of bread-ish English foods.

I have tried quite a few sorts, never a freshly made one, only those you can get in the supermarkets, but the one I most remember and bought is probably from Warburtons.

The taste is pancake-ish and the texture (as long as it is toasted before eaten) slightly crunchy on the outside and spongy and soft on the inside and top of the crumpet. I love it with a lot of butter on top (sometimes a nice jam as well, but in general, butter is the best and simplest option to keep me totally happy). The butter quickly disappears in the warm crumpet's little holes and when you take the first bite, you can feel the amazing mix of crumpet and butter taste effortlessly flowing into one perfect crumpbutter-taste. *_* It surely is the only English 'supermarket bread' I truly miss when I am outside London ;) - I always passionately indulge in my favourite of all English breakfast inventions when I am on 'the island'....

Luke's first beach trip: My puppy at Taperapuan Beach

Playing 'catcher'

Yesterday we went on a beach trip, walking the whole distance of about 1h from our borough to the beach, had two short breaks for Luke to relax and drink some water and around noon, we took the 'lotação' back home (lotação is kind of an unofficial cab/taxi service, a union of normal car or minibus drivers that pick up random people on bus routes charging the same bus fares, but often take you right until your doorstep. If you are a group of people, it is fine to go with the lotação, but I guess if you are new in town, it might be best to stick to the buses to be on the save side...

The prince of sun, Luke and I (swimming in the background)

It took us about 40minutes to find someone willing to take a dog on board so that was quite a challenge to be honest....and we did pay 2 bus fares extra for Luke's place in the car but that's fine I guess... ). Unfortunately dogs are not allowed on buses (at least those that don't fit into bags...) and Luke is still too young to walk the whole way back. Maybe next time we will rent a car instead...

It was Luke's very first time on the beach. We left very early, about 7:30am in the morning and had the beach almost for ourselves. A few chuvas passageiras (which means 'really quick and light rain showers) came around in our first few minutes at the beach and then the sky cleared up totally.

First break on our way to the beach

The water was fresh but not too cold and the waves mildly-friendly-wild, I had a few mergulhas (run ins and outs plus dips and short swims) but we did not introduce Luke to the water and swimming yet, we want to get him used to the beach and sea step by step and he was still very sceptical and we want to avoid that he gets afraid of the sea, he only got close to the breaking waves about 4 or 5 times running along when we were playing 'catcher' so his being careful told us that we still needed to wait a bit - although he seemed veeeery curious when observing me in the water swimming... =)

Enjoy our 'photo love story' - loads of pictures of yesterday's beach trip and our puppy Luke ;)

Love parcels: River flows in you - "Bella's Lullaby" piano sheets by Yiruma

Today morning a wonderful surprise parcel was sitting on my doorstep, carefully packed into protective waterproof foil. (It actually looked like someone had opened it - again... must have thought it was a secret plan or something, who knows ;) ....

Inside my own personal often-dreamed-of flowing river was waiting to be discovered and mastered: The beautiful piece 'River flows in you' by Yiruma.

So I spent the whole last few hours training this amazing song - I believe it is one of the famous Twilight songs as well, Bella's Lullaby to be precise and I had often listened to this song, either when watching the movie or most often just on youtube, dreaming along the beautiful melody. Many thanks to my dear mum who has sent over the piano sheets along with other great sheets plus a correction roller for future changes during training and my good old antique wooden books and sheet marker. <3

Here Yiruma playing his song during a concert:

In memory of my little angel Amie

Amie <3

In memory of my beloved first dog and her huge fluffy oversized paws...  

Delicious, strong Brazilian coffee '3 corações' made in our Italian moka pot

I've always loved fresh, strong coffee. Sometimes with milk, sometimes without, almost always with sugar and sometimes with cream. But I am quite picky when it comes to the taste, I have to admit.
 
My favourite European brand has always been Lavazza, but it was quite difficult to find Lavazza coffee and espresso here in Brazil, and the places that sell them, know how to charge a fortune so I had to go and search for a new favourite Brazilian brand. I tried quite a few sorts until one day I was sitting in a restaurant and had one of those cafezinhos de cortesia (meaning there is always a full coffee can on the counter and you are more than welcome to have a (free espresso size) coffee on the house.

My 2 favourite coffee brands:
European 'Lavazza' vs. Brazilian '3 corações'

One day while having one of those cafezinhos, I suddenly had kind of a deja vu experience that only a real coffee lover will truly understand. I HAD to know the brand of this coffee. The lady behind the desk smiled and said that it was '3 corações', the favourite coffee brand of the restaurant's owner. He would never accept any other brand, she told us, once they bought the wrong brand and he already knew it wasn t 'the right coffee' before he even tried it.

'3 corações' means '3 hearts' and this espresso style Lavazza-ish gourmet coffee literally hit my heart ;).... And off I went to find what my heart was longing for ... ;)

Cosy 'Candid Café', Candid Arts Trust in Angel, London

On quiet Friday afternoons, I often turn to my favourite study and reading resort in Islington: Tucked away down a shy side street just next to Angel tube station, Candid Café and Courtyard is by far the cosiest café that I have come across during my student years in this area. This rather small café-restaurant is backed by the Candid Arts Trust which promotes the arts and arts education.

I usually have a strong, steaming hot Ginger tea and throw in one or two fat, brown sugar cubes that leave that amazing caramel taste on your tongue. Although I brought a book with me with me last time, I just started day-dreaming. Not sure why, but this place always leaves me in this state - quite lovely state I have to admit, and probably one of the reasons I would describe the café as my magical secret London gem.

It can get quite crowded at times, but if you arrive before the usual 'rush hour' afternoon tea, you can almost always get a place on one of the cosy sofas (next to some excited arts students discussing their latest project maybe ;)) or on one of the romantic candle light tables next to the windows - just for your own pleasure or to share it with a good friend or loved one.... It's the favourite hangout when reuniting with my London-German friend Seyfried Girl (she really looks a lot like Amanda Seyfried, sometimes it is almost scary!) and I once had lunch there, they do simple, but delicious and filling dishes and rather mediterranian cuisine.

Future London projects: The first gigantic River Garden bridge worldwide

Planned location of the Garden bridge

How awesome is that! I just listened to the Vanessa Feltz Show (or well, the collection of her latest podcasts) and heard about a probable future London project: A garden bridge next to Temple underground station! Direct link of the city with the Southbank through a pedestrian bridge which at the same time is a beautiful park! An absolutely brilliant idea! Some might say that well, there already is a pedestrian bridge in the neighbourhood (a bridge that I'd rather avoid during windy weather as it tends to swing a tiny bit :D - yes, it is the dear Millenium bridge linking the Globe theatre, Tate Modern and Bankside Gallery on the southern end with St Paul's Cathedral and the City of London), it really cannot be compared, especially due to its wonderful combination of being something very useful and convenient (connecting the two riverbanks and often cramped tourist points) with something so peaceful and yet serene as a park. Definitely something to look forward to in the next few years, of course just in case it all works out. In case they get planning permission, the project could start in 2015 and take about 2 years to complete.

The brilliant inspiration comes from actor Joanna Lumley who was being interviewed on the Vanessa Feltz show and whose initial dream was that the Garden bridge would turn into 'a place with no noise or traffic where the only sounds are birdsong (...) bees buzzing (...) wind in the trees, and below the steady rush of water'. OK, I have to admit that I am getting quite excited and all bubbly inside right now while I am imagining this, I really hope that it will work out and as the horticulturist promises, it will hopefully soon be another natural London source of 'peace, beauty and magic'!

Oh, by the way, just a little bit of information about the technical and gardening architects for those who are interested:

Cuddle Session with Luke after first long (rainstorm) walk

YAY! Luke had his first successful long walk today and absolutely loved it. Of course we came into a heavy rain (almost storm) and ran the last 100 meters. Arriving totally happy and exhausted, wet and dirty, we resolved taking a warm shower (Luke was the first to have his shower :D) and now we are sitting together in the living room, cuddling on the sofa and sipping warm Camomila tea and eating the prince of sun's birthday vanilla custard/pudding cake *_*....

More Luke pictures:

Parcel post delivery in Brazil like bus bunching in London?

It is one of the funniest (but at times also most annoying) phenomenon of London buses. You keep waiting AGES for a bus... and then two or three often even with the same destination come along at once. They called this phenomenon bunching as far as I remember.

My mum's autumn surprise parcel

We are talking about buses, right. 

However, here in Brazil parcels seem to fit into the same bunching category it seems. You feel like no letters or parcels from home are arriving when people finally ask whether you got their (SUPPOSED TO BE) SURPRISE parcel, both of you already believe some of them got lost(or stolen-used (my favourite soft toothbrush that my mum had sent by parcel) or eaten (Lindt chocolate), depending on the delicious content :D lol)  which did happen at times. 

Berlin Girl's surprise parcel

And then, out of nowwhere, when all hope was lost, during two or three days ALL parcels are delivered in groups or one day after another. That’s what happened with Berlin girl’s and my mum’s parcels more than once. Berlin girl had even sent a yummy chocolaty replacement care package for the last care package which did arrive (last parcel blogpost with Big Ben notebook) <3 this time with two yummy Ritter Sport with the chocolate flavours Nugat and Halbbitter 50% Kakao) which arrived today together with a lovely autumn surprise parcel that my mom invented <3, I could almost smell the perfume of German autumn with its wet and windy weather and dancing colourful leaves!.... 

Parcel bunching it is.

"Puppy-photo-love-story": Luke's first time playing in sand

A few weeks ago, we were doing construction works again and therefore had some sand in our yard. Of course Luke couldn't resist and HOOPI DI HOPP he jumped right onto it <3 Judging his face and reactions he absolutely loved it ;)

Stanage Edge! Such diamonds are rocks and mountains!!!

Stanage Edge!!!! As written about it half a year ago, I actually went to visit Stanage Edge in the Peak District during my Europe tour =) It was absolutely amazing, also due to the fact that I went with a good friend from uni, let's call her honey girl! And she is true honey, a sweet, lovely and incredibly kind and intelligent woman with whom I had wonderful and mind juggling conversations that I love to remember until today. We started off in London, stuffed our bags with vinegar crisps and bananas at the next tesco and drove off by car (about 3h distance - as much as I remember...).

Which was a very sensible decision as:

Are you controlling your thoughts or your thoughts controlling you? Are your thoughts healing you or making you sick?

"We are trained to drive the car, drilled to know everything in the world and know everything about our jobs and fields of study. But are we trained to lead with our thoughts and feelings? Not in the slightest. Do we learn or even know that there exist instruments and that it is possible to train thought patterns to completely mold what we were before?

Instead of controlling our thoughts, our thoughts are controlling us. Our current world, education and science only prepare us to explore the outside world, but in no way are we prepared to explore and conquer the territory of our own self". (Be leader of your own self, A. Cury)
NO. We are left alone to be the helpless spectator of our thoughts and feelings, stuck in the audience.



A few weeks ago, my niece gave me an excellent *series of tiny books, written by Augusto Cury (I got the portuguese versions). They circle around the topic of the human mind, our thoughts and feelings and how we stop to stay victims of the latter and through psychological techniques and training new thought patterns learn to be the leader of our psych. world instead of being a cruel and exhausted audience of everything that happens inside of us. He invites us to be the main actor of our own theatre show recognizing flaws in our thought system and exchanging our thought windows and connections instead of being an apathic watcher in the audience claiming it to be impossible to mold irrelevant and hurting thoughts.

"The human mind is like a huge theatre. Your place is not in the audience, but on stage, being brilliant in your intelligence, feeling joy with your successes, learning with your failures and training every day to be THE AUTHOR OF YOUR STORY, a leader of your own self, the main actor of your theatre show." (Be leader of your own self, A. Cury)

The book series reminds me very much of similar thoughts that I got from a few different, similar brilliant books, such as

Trying to be happy by accumulating possessions is like...

We live in a your-worth-is-what-and-how-much-u-consume world, a fact that I get reminded day by day, not only here in Brazil, but whereever I go. Although it comes to extremes here, with neighbour ladies remembering that I was wearing the same t-shirt on two Sundays of the monthy.

Wow, something I wouldn t really have taken notice myself. It made me aware that a lot of women (not only here) are trapped in the lie that you should only wear most things once - or at least should be seen with it only once. Luckily I was educated in a different way and quite enjoy wearing the same t-shirt - I even have favourites that I wore when I was 15 years old and (lucky that my body almost didn t change since then) still wear today. Same with TV, furniture, name it!

But why worrying about all that? It saves so much money and time to just keep the stuff to its basics, less maintenance work, less time working and more free time to do things instead of accummulating possessions in order to throw them away when the new bigger and better "trend" comes up. It is probably one of the main things that keep people in the debt and credit card trap spending money on clothes each month, being unable to save money and eating low quality food instead... to name just one of the side effects of over-consumerism. To then watch TV while you are eating the low quality food and hear how you are not worth anything if you don t buy (so and so) - which a lot of the TV ads will make very clear. So you then have a go at your maybe even two jobs to get stuff you don t want, again, spend your free time shopping what you don t need then to relax start watching TV, get told you are not good enough if you don t buy so and so - vicious circle....

"Trying to be happy by accumulating possessions is like 

trying to satisfy hunger by taping sandwiches all over your body." 

George Carlin

Why not just be happy with what you already have?

Travel preparations - baggage allowance - travelbus company Aguia Branca and airline Condor

My Europe tour is coming closer and closer now, so excited!!!

My cross atlantic trip will take a bit longer this time, first I will take a nightbus with the company Aguia Branca to Salvador da Bahia and then a Condor flight to Frankfurt (plus a few ICE trains with the Deutsche Bahn to get to my home town).

Luggage restrictions are quite generous, Aguia Branca allows 5kg hand luggage and a suitcase with 30kg, Condor allows 6kg hand luggage, a laptopbag with one laptop, small handbag, an umbrella and TWO suitcases of each 32kg. I was stunned! I am not sure why they allow so much luggage, but the Condor site says specifically that flights booked from/departing and returning to Brasil have those seperate luggage restrictions. Maybe to get those Brazilians spend a small fortune on German/EU goodies ;)))

Anyway, good for me, I am not going to need two suitcases of each 32kg (also due to restrictions of the travelbus), but the 30kg allowance (instead of 20 as on most flights) means 10kg more than usual and comes in quite handy as I am bringing a few presents with me, planning to stock up on favourite EU goodies and products, and taking a few presents back to Brasil. (I bought a new hand luggage-carryon bag, just couldn't resist the butterflies: <3