Festivities in the Altstadt

After a full on week with my parents' last weekend (they left Sunday evening) and starting an internship the following Monday, it has been quite the wild ride for us so far and there are no signs of slowing down. So now, while the husband is busy at work, I will also be busy at work, then language classes in the evening. I was so proud of surviving this week, we celebrated by going for a walk to the Altstadt and came across a town festival.

So this is increasingly becoming a common sighting in Germany, "Schwein" and "Sauerkraut". I'm a little bit relieved we ended up in Frankfurt so we can have a beef sausage when we want to but the majority of the food here in Germany pretty much contains some form of pig products or big chunks of ham or bacon.

60318 Kaffeebar im Nordend

We managed to drag ourselves out and about today just long enough for a coffee and a cake (the husband a coffee and myself the cake)...well we walked outside for a good 10 minutes to be exact before we stopped by a coffee place. Upon ordering, they had just made a batch of smoothies and asked whether I wanted to order some as well but as it was already freezing outside (well by my standards anyway) I declined before ordering my brownie. To my surprise a couple of glasses of nectarine smoothies came to our table along with my slice of brownie.

This place looks usually quiet, I suppose they don't really have the space Harvey's has across the street but the unexpected (friendly) service was really a treat, because you know, it's rather difficult to find a cafe where the staff are like, nice to their customers here so when you come across one it's kind of like finding love; you gotta hold on to it for dear life! So perhaps this unexpected Kaffeebar could just be our new little hang out place.



60318 Kaffeebar
Am Friedberger Platz
Koselstr. 2
60318 Frankfurt am Main

Trading Hours:
Monday
07:00 - 11:00

Tues - Thurs
07:00 - 18:00

Friday
07:00 - 00:00

Saturday
09:00 - 18:00

Sunday
10:00 - 18:00

Sweets for my sweet

One of the most fascinating things about Istanbul is the amount of sweets they have. The extent of my knowledge on Turkish desserts are pretty much limited to turkish delights...Cadbury's turkish delights to be exact. So whenever we walked past a sweet shop I couldn't help but take pictures of the sweets on display. I wish I could try them all but I was afraid of having my teeth decaying so I guess pictures are the next best thing.

Grand Bazaar

We are at the Grand Bazaar and it is definitely not what I expected. The things that you can find here are both antiques and new. Above is one of many stores selling antique coffee pots and serving trays. There are many other markets around Istanbul that sell spices, clothes and old books but we decided to spend the day here because it was just so big. By the way the jewelry here are amazing to check out!

Blue Mosque

After a very short and intense trip to Paris, we are now in Istanbul. Today we visit the very crowded Blue Mosque. I would have thought it would be grandeur but I think compared to some of the mosques in Malaysia, it was not what I expected. There were way too many people inside the mosque to really enjoy it, and perhaps because there was so much foot traffic, the interior was not so well maintained. The queues were unbelievable, it was hours and hours of waiting, people pushing in, too many crowds and a fight broke out between two Turkish tour guides who then brought their entourages along for the fight. All in all Istanbul had a far better weather than some of the other cities we visited but the people were just a little too aggressive in wanting you to buy things which is something I just don't like in general. Lets see what else Istanbul holds!

Ladurée

Some macaroons for the husband...

Oui heart Paris!

After a quiet couple of days in Frankfurt I'm off with the parental units to Paris! I'm rather excited to show them around. Paris is a city like no other in Europe and for anyone who has been there, well, you know what I mean.

Mainz

The husband took some time off work to join us to Mainz and we found it quite quaint. Even though Mainz is about an hour away from Frankfurt I cannot really picture myself living here, well ask me that in a year or so and maybe I will change my tunes, but for now Mainz will just have to be a weekend destination.