February Trip Recap

>>> Hello Nomad Life <<<

I am so lucky to have found best friends here who are as passionate about travel as I am, and I cannot thank them enough for taking on this most recent adventure with me. So thank you, girls. 

For the sake of my own efficiency, for my friends & other readers who clicked on my link but don’t have time for this,  and for the beautiful day in Strasbourg I’m missing out on to blog right now, I’m going to keep this blog post short. Like really short.

I spent ten days exploring Berlin, Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Oslö, and I have a whole new heart for each of their cities for a multitude of reasons.

Berlin, GermanyMy days in Berlin included some pretty intense history lessons on a number of free tours, and Natalia’s Colombian friends made it a blast.

"Many small places do many small things that can alter the face of the world" - Afrikanisthe Weisheit
East Side Gallery, Berlin

A hole in the orgininal wall by the Topography of Terror museum

Natalia and I in the square with the Brandenburg Gate

A view of the city from the top of the Berlin Cathedral

Natalia, her amazing Colombian friends, and me at the Charlottenburg Palace

Nati and I found currywurst at the street market in Mauerpark

This coffee from Tres Cabezas in Berlin tasted like Saxby's coffee, and I felt so at home!

I loved the exhbition on Cornelia Schlieme's work at the Berlinische Galerie, Berlin's art and architecture museum

Inside the Bundestag building, Germany's parliament sits directly below this dome

Copenhagen, DenmarkCopenhagen was beautiful, and I particularly enjoyed learning about the community of “Freetown” Christiania although it definitely put me outside my comfort zone.

The Little Mermaid statue is definitely more underwhelming than Mona Lisa

Cintia, Natalia, and me in Little Amsterdam in Christianshavn, Copenhagen

Nyhavn, Copenhagen 

The girls and I laughed at this sign in Copenhagen because this is our experience in France for sure.
"Exceptional closures" are not nearly as uncommon as you would think.

Stockholm, SwedenMy two days in Stockholm were so nice; the river was frozen beautifully, and the way the city was laid over multiple islands, with Gamla Stan  or “old town” in the middle, was really neat. 

Town Hall is on the left, and this sunset reflected beautifully off of the fractured ice.

The wind is Stockholm definitely reminded me of Bowling Green, and made me feel at home.

The girls and I on our way to the Vasa Museum

The Vasa Museum hold the Vasa, the only 17th century ship in the world that is almost fully intact.
(extremely well-preserved because it sunk 1300 meters into its journey out of Stockholm) 

Stockholm was very cold and very beautiful.

One day we ate where the Nobel Prize for Literature winners have dinner,
and even though we were in Stockholm, the meal of the day was less expensive than many restaurants in Strasbourg!

Oslö, Norway Oslö will forever be a favorite city simply because I had so much fun with Cíntia and Natalia on our last day of the trip. Olsö snowed six inches throughout the day, and my South American friends were relentless in their snowball fights with each other. I felt like I was watching kids play, really.

At the Opera House in Oslö. My first impression was "Wow, this looks like the Wolfe Center at BGSU". A quick Google search revealed to me that the Wolfe Center was designed by the same Norwegian architecture firm that designed this Opera House! Crazy coincidence!

we had so much fun throwing snowballs and wandering throughout the fortress

Nati and I enjoyed the Nobel Peace Prize Museum, and the current exhibition on President Santos (her Colombian president). It was a very cool experience for both of us; for Nati because Colombia's conflicts are naturally so personal, and for me because I was able to view Santos's work for peace in Colombia with newfound appreciation because Natalia has been so open with us about Colombia's struggles.

One last thing! Please don’t take my brevity as a lack of appreciation for these cities! They were absolutely beautiful places, and they are all deserving of a super long blog post individually… I’m shorting them a lot.

I hope you've enjoyed the photos and the quick updates!

Love, Julie

A photo from a visit to the  olympic stadium in Berlin