thihoa

Because I love Sauna and where else in the world if not Finland!

If you wanna go and see the fairytale castle in Sintra – which is really nice to visit – make sure you go there by car or by cab/taxi because it is a long and steep walk up the hills. And it takes probably up to an hour if you prefer to walk!!! For people with a small budget, there is also a bus station.

On Mondays almost all museums, castles etc. are closed in Portugal, so don’t go there on Monday if you wanna visit the castle.

Because it is a huge city and has an Oriental and an European part and because I have a place to stay and friends who will share my holiday experience in Istanbul. Can´t wait to be there. Tonight I will take off, tomorrow I will be there.

If you still happen to be in Malaga – There is a nice fishermans district called Pedregalejo and El Palo with nice beaches in the Eastern part of Malaga where you can enjoy great fish meals at a good price. They have BBQs in former fishingboats. Since mostly locals go there, keep in mind, that there are times for lunch (about 1-4 p.m.) and dinner (about 9-12 p.m). Bars and restaurants are mainly closed inbetween lunch and dinner time. If you go by bus, take Bus no. 11 from Cervantes to Acacias. If you go by car, just drive Eastern Malaga and on your right side you can spot the Mediterranean through small streets and stop whereever you like. Enjoy!

Malaga will be the first stop on my roundtrip through andalucia. I don´t know anything about this place, so I am looking forward landing there and discover it by myself without any expectations.

Rome is great. The people are friendly, willing to help, very hospitable and used to crowds of tourists. You can discover traces of ancient times on every corner (pillars, arches, ruins). Breathtaking buildings and sights. I was glad for renting an apartment on ground floor. We walked so much that it was always a pleasure to get back home without steps to be climbed. I rented a tiny apartment in the city center near Piazza Navona and Campo di Fiori through rentalinrome.com for 89 Euros per nigth. I guess it was a fair price, because the location was unbeatable. We also bought the Roma Pass (20 Euros) which was valid for 3 days including all public transportation and 2 entries to the main museums. And it was worth the money just for the fact, that we didn´t have to queue forever to get into the collosseo or in the Galleria Borghese. I even went to see the pope doing his appearance in at least 7 languages, that was to my surprise very entertaining. Save money, Rome is quite expensive.

Everybody I have met so far, who has lived or has ever been to London tells me, that London is not that special. Mainly that the city is very big, that it is always rainy, that the people are totally stressed out and the food is not enjoyable and that everything is way too expensive and so on. But still I want to go there. London keeps on calling me and maybe next year I am going there just to find out if they all are right about this place or if there´s more to it.

was about two weeks ago and I instantly felt somewhat like home, maybe due to the fact that I left rainy Berlin for a surprisingly warm Helsinki. I loved that!

So what did I do in 5 days?
First I went to see a footballfield in order to borrow a laid-back cruiser of a bike, drove with almost flat tire (felt like floating) to all the sightseeing spots like the Senate Square, the fishmarket and the port. Ate great meatballs with mashed potato at a bar near the football field (I dont remember the name, but it was worth all the 10 Euro – very yummy, but dining out is quite expensive in Helsinki as for anything else, too).

The other day I catched a ferry to suomenlinna with a friend and some beer for a finnish picknick and a sunbath ;-), drove around Töölö Bay, ran through Kammpi Mega Store, watched people in a nice Café at the Esplanade while eating huge cinnamon buns called Pulla.

On the only rainy day I checked out the cathedral, the National museum, where a bag made out of birds fascinated me forever; was invited to a great Circus performance in the Savoy theatre and went for a drink in “Bar 9”.

I had the luck to meet the ‘Prince of Weedbay’ who showed me parts of the Finnish Broadcast and TV Studios where they filmed a scene for the weekly drama “Kotikatu”, had a total free and delicious lunch at a TV-set, made a bacchanal pubcrawl through the famous “Kallio” district, sneaked into some posh Wannabe-Celebrity Party at “Club Priveé”, had a stop-over-drink at “Korjaamo” before heading to my final Party location “Kuudes linja” (=sixth line) where some cool black dudes from Detroit rocked the house.

The last day I had to cure my sweet hangover in Koff park (the park is really named after a beerbrand – Finns definitely know how to do it!). I chilled out in a nice trendy cafe called “fanny goes to hollywood” where I could observe totally wasted people sleeping in broad daylight. I even got to “experience” a private party in “Helmin” and had a goodbye drink in a bar with the meaningful name “We got beef” – no food though ;-)

I really enjoyed the city, the laid-back atmosphere, the sunny wheather, the unbelievably clean bathrooms in all location I was in.
I will definitely return one day – at least to check out the famous sauna and get my tongue twisted in trying to speak some finnish.

Vibrant city with perfect mixture of landscapes (beach, mountain, city), culture and the best parties I´ve ever been to. Since I spent half a year there as an exchange student, I keep on visiting BCN. Last year for three amazing times!

I live here most of my life and it is always very great and the best place to be in summertime. Everybody is so much relaxter and nicer, but if you come here in winter time, you will probably hate this city with all this grouchy people. So right now, I wish I could be somewhere else till summer ;o)