Palma de Mallorca – a sandstone jewel amidst tourists

It took a day longer than expected to write this post as we are here with three kids that demand our attention but here it is: When you holiday on Mallorca you usually do a trip to Palma and so did we. Driving there by car I could convince Michael from leaving his favourite hobby for once which is finding a free parking spot in the middle of a crowded city.

In Mallorca there are three different markers for parking space on the street: yellow means “in no way allowed”, blue means limited to a certain amount of time and costs money, check for a ticket machine” and no marking means “free” and is more than rare especially in Palma. So we parked at

Mallorca – what a beautiful island

Yesterday we arrived in Mallorca to spend a week with Michael’s brother’s family who is staying here in a Finca for several weeks this summer. We had booked a rental car in advance and were on our way within an hour from landing. By the way, if you think of going to Mallorca and renting a car keep a look out for offers that are full/full or empty/empty (this refers to the fuel in the car) as otherwise they make you buy the first load of fuel from the car rental and this is more expensive than buying it from a normal petrol station.

The Finca we are staying in is beautiful, has a pool and is near Santinyi, a beautiful town near

Parks in Düsseldorf – Nordpark

On Saturday I went to the park with a friend and her little son where we lay in the shade on my huge picknick blanket (finally it gets used a bit more often). As I’m still trying to see more parks in Düsseldorf, we opted for the Nordpark where I had only been once before.

What to do in July in Dusseldorf

Saturday was a very unusual day for us. Normally Michael has to work on the weekends especially when it is sunny. But this Saturday he only had to work in the evening and so we did something we hardly ever do: we went shopping. I’m usually not a big fan of weekend shopping. The city center is packed with people but this Saturday it was fun. We didn’t need anything so when a shop was packed and you would have to cue to try something on we just didn’t. In the end we ended up near the Rhine having a glass of Uerige, one of Dusseldorf’s Altbiers, a special brew of beer. The Uerige brewery is situated close to the Rhine and

Parks in Düsseldorf – Volksgarten

After having written an article about Darmstadt’s parks I realised I had not even been to most of the parks in Düsseldorf. So I made a list, well a month ago, where I wanted to go. Then I was either busy or it rained or like Saturday I fell asleep on the sofa instead of getting to know new parks. But on Sunday I finally did it.After dropping Michael off at work I went to the park know as the “Volksgarten” the “people’s garden”.Later that day I learned the only about a third of the actual park is called “Volksgarten” and the whole area is refered to as “Südpark”, the “South park”.

Berlin Fashion Week – Summer 2013

I’m still a bit wowed. I was at Berlin Fashion Week yesterday and not only entered the big tent just across of the Brandenburg Gate where all the action takes place, I also saw two shows, went backstage and sipped a glass of champagne in the Sponsors’ Lounge. It was great!

Darmstadt’s parks

I promised you in my first post about Darmstadt that I would write another post on Darmstadt’s parks in summer. And as I was back home for my mum’s birthday this weekend, I took the chance to enjoy Saturday’s most beautiful weather, grapped my dad’s bike and went for a little tour around Darmstadt’s parks. It was just so lovely and it brought back many memories, to be sure.