Cat Empire-the second!

Almost exactly one year ago I went to a Cat Empire concert in Düssseldorf with my argentinian exchange partner - and now, this time the australian band came to my current home town Cologne. Together with Nora, a german girl I met in Argentina, we went to the concert and had so much fun! Just like last year the concert was a blast and I will never stop loving this band...

Maastricht, Nederlands

Because the Nederlands are so near to Cologne (approx. 1 hour), Im often there. The last two days I visited my friend in Aachen I had met in Buenos Aires. Another girl came too and we spent a great time together.

On our second day, we drove to Maastricht by bus: a small student town looking like small Amsterdam.

Bretagne-a french week on the coast

These summer holidays I spent a week in a beautiful area in France with my family- the Bretagne. Placed in the western-north, without any industries and much agriculture, France shows its rural face with much beautiful nature, beaches and cliffs. Another thing that was quiet impressing were the small towns along the roads, all with a little church and old stone houses. But also the big cities had much old and traditional french charme full with "crêperies" or "boulangeries".

Our mornings began with making tea and setting the table out in the garden with a view to the sea. It was amazing! What was quiet disappointing was the very small and stinky house. Because we had searched so late for cheap and good houses for rent, we didn't get a good one. The first days were a bit difficuilt specially for my mum but we still enjoyed having breakfast and dinner outside the house.
I have to admit, Im not the biggest fan of baguette; once in while its okay but not evry day. After the third day I began eating my usual breakfast: muesli with soja milk.
What my mum loved much about the bakery was the atmosphere there and wonderful and new things to select from, like "pommé" thats tasting like the german "Apfelstrudel" or of course croissants. In the supermarkt we bought some french jam which were extremely sweet but in my case, if your not eating it every day, pretty tasty.

By car, we explored much of the south-western oart of the Bretagne and always mixed our days by starting to visit some interesting spots or cities in the region and than heading to our favorite beach we had discovered on the third day. Its name was "Pointe de la Torche", near the town "Penmarc" with its great lighthouse.

The area around the beach had its own surfing/beachy charme I enjoyed a lot. In front of the dunes were some cafés and restaurants where you could eat cheaply and have some salads, crêpes, really tasty and cheap (1,50€) café au lait or fish. Next to these cafés was placed a surf shop with a surf school included. After we watched all the surfers in the water, my sister and me also were in the mood to try out a course. Surprisingly, it was pretty cheap: just 35€ for 2 hours with everything like the neo or boards included.

Because of the Atlantic, the water is really cold and most of the people who got into the water wear a wetsuit. Nevertheless, my sister and me always went into it because the waves were so much fun!
The surf course was so funny but also exhausting too. Our teacher was so nice and I already learnt a lot. I even stood on the board! I hope so much I'll get th chance again to surf in the next time.

my sister and me carrying the boards

                                                                       

surfer on the beach

Pointe du Raz

My family and me also visited some great nature spot like "Cap du chêvre", near "Crozon". Its pretty in the west of the Bretagne. There, you had a wonderful view over the mountains, cliffs and the sea. On a trail along the cap we walked and saw some great places and could enjoy the fresh wind.
Another spot that was similar but much more popular (but not nicer) was "Pointe du Raz". The spot is made up pretty touristic but its really amazing watching to the lighthouse on a small island and th big cliffs.

Dournenez

 In our little town, where we lived was called "Plozévet" and luckily we could njoy th international folk festival 5 days long. Peopl from all over the world cam here to presnt their traditional music and dance.

woman dancing from Guadeloupe

low tide in the morning

a rich & nice town called "Bénodet"

 Some other great cities wich are worth it to visit are for example Quimper, Bénodet, Dournenez or Audierne.
I was surprised of the Bretagne and had a really great time there!

Summer in the Woods Of Germany

Next to city trips I also love being in nature. After I returned back from Argentina I was full of energy and wanted to do something the whole time. Therefore Ive discovered some beautiful places around Cologne with my family.
The forests in Germany have their own charme I didnt see anywhere else so far. Its super relaxing enjoying the sounds of the birds and little waterfalls while walking along a river and huge trees.

¡Hasta pronto Argentina!-saying goodbye

In a few hours my flight is starting back to Frankfurt, Germany. I can't really believe everything is over now. Especially the last month passed by so fast! It was a great time I will never forget-saw so many beautiful places, met many nice people and could learn a lot of spanish. Gracias especialmente a mi familia en Argentina por todo que hicieron para mi. ¡Nunca voy a olvidar mi tiempo aca en Buenos Aires y voy a extrañarlos tanto! Besitos <3

Top Museums in Buenos Aires

I went a lot by myself to some museums here in Buenos Aires because this city has a huge offer in culture, music and art.

1. MALBA -> Museo America Latina de Buenos Aires
A great museum with modern art with artists like Frida Kahlo. It was my favorite museum here.

2. arteBA -> the second edition of an exhibition of young and modern art. Always from the 24th to 27th of May. The hall is placed in Plaza Italia and you really need two days to see everything.

3.Museo de Bellas Artes->old, antic art from mostly europe.

4. Arte Argentino PROA-placed directly in the touristic district La Boca, this museum impressed me too with its young and crazy art.

Puerto Madero

The modern site of Buenos Aires, where tall building with spectacular architecture are placed, is "Puero Madero"-you can't miss it in one of your visits because it belongs to one of the most famous part of the argentinian capital.

The bridge right in the middle of the port, "La puente de la mujer", designed by the spanish architect Santiago Calatrava.

When you take a walk around the port its really a beautiful atmosphere because its kind of reallt silent there and the buildings are impressive. Puerto Madero is not far from the "Casa Rosada" and "Plaza de Mayo" so you will find it really quickly. Eating there is expensive so just take a walk and search something somewhere else to eat. With my hostsister and their friends I had a great day at the port. 

another german girl, me, my exchange partner and a friend

http://magpiescabinet.blogspot.com.ar/

Schaut euch mal den Blog von meiner Freundin Lilly an! Lilly, voll suess von dir die lieben worte ueber mich <3 So schade, dass wir nur so kurz hier zusammen sind :( 

Top 5 Eat&Drink in Buenos Aires

After 2 and a half months of Buenos Aires, my knowledge about some good spots has developed, especially regarding vegetarians. You might think its impossible to find good places to eat something without meat and fish included but your wrong: I found much more opportunities, vegetarian and vegan, than I thought I would and that made my stay even more comfortable.
The famous district Palermo for example contains some good adresses for organic and vegetetarian food. For meat-eater an argentinian asado is probably one of the most important must-do's in Buenos Aires.

Number 1: Gorriti 5657, Palermo Hollywood
Buenos Aires Verde- everything a vegetarian heart desires.

Number 2: Jerónimo Salguero 3075, Palermo 
Le Pain Quotidien-sweet, little organic french cafe with vegetarian and vegan breakfast, lunch or bakery. Such a good atmosphere! (and placed next to the amazing MALBA-Museum)

Number 3: Echeverría 2102, Belgrano
Tea Connection: placed next to a beautiful park where you can enjoy tea from all over the world

Number 4: Arribeños 2137, Belgrano
Porteño Dragon-chinese restaurant in Chinatown with easy and cheap chinese food.

Number 5:Cabrera 5127, Palermo
La Cabrera-Considered to be one of the best spots eating argentinian meat. 

The Tigre Delta

Not far away from Buenos Aires city a beautiful water scenery takes place: the rivers of Tigre-a small town just about 30 minutes away from the centre. The paradox thing is that you feel so far way at this place, as if you were in the middle of land surounded by nature even though the big city's not waiting far away from you.

The Tigre Delta is the place where many rivers run out from the big river "Paraná" which flows right from the Iguazú falls.

On the weekend, my hostfamily and me met their really nice friends and drove with their motorboat deeper and deeper over the rivers. I had so much fun on the boat because the friend drove so fast, the wind almost blew me away and the boat was going up and down.

Passing beautiful landscape with stunning trees and the endless water, I felt again, like so many times before, astonished by the pure beauty of nature. While crossing many houses placed near the shores to the river, always with a small bridge in front of it, my hostmother told me some things about this place.

The rivers were not very crowded at that time because winter is starting but, regarding my hostmother, in summer its full of boats and people in canoes.
Another important thing I noticed was the change of the air-it was fresh and appeard much cleaner to me than in the big city.

Along the river, apart from private houses, there existed restaurants, cafés and supermarkets as well-everything being reached by boat of course. Even a boat, crossing the rivers up and down the whole day, selled petrol and other important things like food. A taxi boat was also shipping people from one point to the other.

Arrived at the property of Martin, the father of the other family, a beautiful place expected us:. A cute house with two fireplaces, rooms for everyone to sleep in and a great view over the enormous garden planted with natural orange and manderine trees, palmtrees and other trees already colored in yellow and red because of autumn.

In the evening I ate a "Milanesa de berenjena"-like a german schnitzel only with aubergines, tomatoes and mozzarela. Really yummy!

The following and last day of my trip to tigre, we again drove by boat to the grand "Río Pananá", listened to some good argentine music and just enjoying, luckily, the good weather. As we returned back to the house, we made a barbecue-asado-the most tipical thing a "portenño" is doing on sundays. Apart from meat, they grilled potatoes, aubergines, pumpkins and paprika with eggs.

The few hours that were left untli we would return back to Buenos Aires, we spent our time on the shore, relaxing or reading and after the afternoon tea -"merenda"- we started packing the things on the boat...

2 weeks left of my argentinian exchange!



the "asado" house



driving fast with the boat...



relaxing on the beach...



friends & family <3