Category Archives: Travelling 2013

Temples

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Temple comes from the Latin word “templum“, a structure dedicated to religious and spiritual activities.

We all feel the need to feel connected or meaningful in this beautiful crazy life, and it’s really fascinating, sometimes overwhelming to enter in a place considered sacred by others. I put together a collection of pictures (click here!) I took of temples in HK and Macau; there were too many to publish here, so I used you can find them on Flickr.

I hope you can see the beauty and the interest I saw through my eyes and camera.

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Strangers

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I now admit the fact that, whenever possible, I take pictures of strangers. Is it weirdo-material? Maybeeeee.

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Or maybe not, let’s say I am just an enthusiast of all I had/have around. But please, promise me that if I turn my blog in a cats and dogs sanctuary you are going to call somebody very competent to cure me.

This is a little collection (click here!) of people, faces, actions I saw in Hong Kong and Macau back in May. Enjoy.

And remember that “people are strange when you’re a stranger”

P.S. The freak in white skin is me…

Potsdam

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Get on Sbahn S7 and cross the city centre, from East to West. Buildings, monuments, politics graffitis, Tiergarten, houses, railways and then BOOM: the forest. One of the best part of the trip to Potsdam is the ride, indeed.

The forest and its calm, then Potsdam and its glory.

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It is really worth a day there, even if – unlucky me – it was raining all the time.

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The city centre shows pretty little houses, delightful shops and bistros: the vibes are so amazing. And there is the Dutch neighbourhood, with its tiny red-bricks houses, ivy and flowers at the windows. LO-VE-LY.

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You can be well impressed just by the centre, and then you walk into the royal park. Oh my days. Gardens, creeks, flowers and centenarian trees. Sanssouci Palace is announced by a very beautiful fountain and stairs along the terracing hill full of fruit plants. I really like the effect of this hilly terrace with the one floor yellow castle because I think it’s a superb way to exhibit the power without being pompous at all.

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The garden then takes you to the other castle, in a delightful space: the general feeling is a very pleasant well being, without being ‘too much’.

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The tourist touch is, however, present and vivid, I saw a man playing a flute dressed up like, dunno, 1600 century gentleman. The local mill I guess it’s the most visited thing in Potsdam too. I am not a big fan of tourist stuff and queuing up activities, but this royal park offers so much space also a grumpy lady like me can’t really complain at all.

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General feedback? Go and visit Potsdam.  Really. Choose a late Spring or Summer day, enjoy a picnic, dedicate some time to the centre. And later, when you will take the Sbahn back feeling so regenerated you will feel the urge to thank me. You’re welcome.

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Apologies for the piccies, my mobile camera gives not its best during grey rainy day.

HK – take four

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There was a song about Aberdeen, right?

I don’t remember the melody, nor the lyrics, but someone sang about that Scottish city, up there in the green. Before HK I didn’t even know there was also Aberdeen down there, to be honest. But it’s just at the other side of the island, one bus, a tropical forest in the middle, you’ll find it.

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Places of interest? Not so many, especially during monsoon.

Tourist stuff? Dunno, There is an aqua park, but in Summer.

Remarkable things to see? Nope, at least not in my knowledge. A science centre, maybe? I saw some traffic signals. But we saw a very big cemetery.

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Are you asking yourself why on Earth I went there?

Because so.

Because why not.

Because from the moment I got off the bus, I, a very white gal, realised I was the only white one among locals. It’s an incredible, beautiful, humble feeling.

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Tin Hau Temple

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Because I had an authentic Chinese food in a tipsy-wipsy smelling damn good tavern; everything tasted so bloody good and I could enjoy also a local soap opera on tv with all the people there. They were extremely kind with us, non-speaking hungry aliens. It was a great communion of sharing.

chinese food(sorry, I don’t take pictures before eating, I usually just eat and then remember to take it)

Impressive experience, just 30 minutes away from HK financial centre.

P.S. my travel guide smelled of fry for weeks.

Sachsenhausen

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I went few years back to a concentration camp and thought to visit another Lager whenever possible, despite it’s a pretty hard thing to do. Well, I frankly lied to myself, gutless to fell into the same sorrow, and never went to another one.

And then I had my brother living here with me; He is young, he needs to experience and see the differences there are in this as beautiful as scary world. I also wanted him, not German, to learn a piece of history right from the core, a German community, possibly in order to start a critical path of understanding, like here we all are still processing together.

Sachsenhausen was a lager/concentration camp for political prisoners just outside Berlin, northbound, used by Germans first, Russians after (see the huge communist obelisque opposite the entrance). I was overall happy I found time to visit it, I can only suggest anyone who visits Berlin for a couple of days to save some time and see with their own eyes how a camp was, how lethally brutal it was.

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Now, I don’t want to lecture or report the story I heard from my audio guide; I just want to leave a general positive impression about the organisation, everything was well-explained. It’s intense and never off-topic.

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I was there during a very sunny and windy day, dust lifting from the ground and spinning all over us, emptiness around. I struggled to keep my mind clear from a distinct bad feeling, something I would explain like a ‘darkness in the heart’.

A must seen, whenever you feel ready.

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Jewish Barracks

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Prison

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Russian Obelisque

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Monument at the Crematorium site

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Pathology Lab

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My brother:

Listening the audioguide

Listening to the audioguide

HK – take three

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Kowloon bound.

Because when you are in Central or Wanchai, yes you get it, but in a way you don’t get the real mental mess inside HK. Fact.

Cross the canal in a ferry, enjoy the smell of napalm in the morning and boom!, give up finding a meaning in, well, everything. Except in the concept (pardon the close assonance) “buy-sell”, because profit and consume are never intrinsically obscure.

*Insert your add here! For free for the first 1/29 of the month!!*

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Famous Tourist Spot: Tsim Sha Tsui Promenade.

Street markets, psychics, fake Rolex, cheaper phones like rain, cocktails, clothes, foot massage and food. Yeah Food.

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Food to take hipster pictures at, sushi box for 30HK$ to snack off, but also an entire restaurant to rob. Yeah food.

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In Kowloon the shopping experience is full of lights and screams and, despite the fact it might remind of a Saturday afternoon in a Western mall – and believe me I’ll never forget the police coming to the Bullring in Brum and intervening to help people get in and out the mall-, it is all more chaotic and so weirdly peculiar. It must be the humidity, or maybe I am writing on behalf of my hair.

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Hey sexy, call me, maybe?

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Peeps, lights, traffic, humidity. Want something else, Sir?

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I liked the reverse feeling when inside Chi Lin Nunnery and Nan Lian Garden. Wow, I think I should just let the pictures speak. There is lots to say, grasping not to be moved by the contrast religion/man and monastery/neighbourhood. The pouring rain for once was helping: by far one of the most majestic place I have ever been to.

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A whimsical soaking-wet experience, indeed.

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Deutschland right in the middle

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Nürnberg is a stunning piece of Germany, since the first time I visited the city I talked about it whenever asked why I find this country so beautiful and intense to choose to live in.

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The perfect getaway for a weekend, I find Altstadt, the city centre contoured by the walls, a damn romantic area to walk around. Churches and squares creates the perfect balance along with the river passing by in the middle and its bridges.

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View an der Fleischbrücke

Shops and Cafes, the centre is happily buzzing with people and activities..

..After the main square, Marktplatz, it gets hilly and your breath shorter; it’s the sign you’re reaching the fortress, where a perfect view and location offer the cheeky occasion to kiss your beloved one in an unique panorama.

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The view

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Fortess Garden

Close to the fortress a lovely square hosts Dürer’s house, an artist I always admired back in my arts studies, especially because of his importance in connecting Italian and German arts, moreover for his graphic artworks. The tour guide explained us how a citizen here used to show the ‘status/richness’ by building stone walls instead of bricks-wood. The more floors made of stones, the merrier/richer. Dürer had only 2 levels, I would have given him at least 3 for importance.

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Back to the days, Nürnberg was a city of Kaisers, kings and servants and the Pope was never so welcome, not by chance Hitler chose it as neuralgic point: its location, the center of Germany, its history…Shortly the city became a pulsing spot of this dark time, with its culmination during the the Nuremberg Trials. Also this part of history is not to miss while there.

Lighter topic: my top spot was by far Trödelmarkt area!

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Extra point also for Weißgerbergasse, stunning!

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I’ll end this description with a personal event: I was visiting St. Sebald Church when on a bench I found a memory card. 8GB. Like the lottery. I waited for someone to claim it, church filled with people, nobody came. So I took it and fantasised for 2 entire days about its content: I was so sorry someone lost it but at the same time so happy to see moments of some strangers who were in the same day in Nürnberg with me. Maybe I could see the rest of their holidays, maybe a birthday celebration, maybe a trekking in the nature or some cheeky selfies. I was pretty excited to escape with my mind while peeking in somebody else’s shoes.

Gutted at the end, the memory card was empty. But lucky me, I had some personal good memories of this wonderful city in Bayern!

WordPress let me go

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No worries, I am back now.

Exciting times are coming here, I have so much to tell. I’ll start tomorrow with a chapter about Nürnberg, so hold tight, then there is still so much more about HK and other cities…

…see you later.

HK – take two

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Even according to Wikipedia, Hong Kong is a disambiguation.

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Across the hilly streets in Central we lost the count of stairs and slopes. And it’s like a highway of things to watch and document about. American style bars, street markets, little sushi, international restaurant. And then tall, ruined buildings, that make your heart skip a beat when they let you peek through them: the sky white as a wall made of salt, a rare ray of light, another irresistible weird building hanging one after the other. We walked all along like a landslide, rushing our restless hearts to the next thing to see, to a discovery.

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We got stuck by the heat in a public garden along the fancy Hollywood Road, looking at the ladies and at this peculiar couple, two complete strangers who shared a bench without changing expression or interacting for more than 15 minutes. Fascinating scene.

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What strikes most maybe are the temples in the middle of the city. They are silent, almost surreal. Red and gold dominate the place. The smell on the air and the slow pace of prayers – repeat x3, I learnt- made me felt every time a humble piece of the jigsaw someone else was trying to do. There I remembered when child I was at church, and I had this naturally imposed silence during the Gospel.

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A change of plans is always on its way: call it fate, call it rain, call it HK. Walking ups and downs, the harbour is a precious shelter to sit down, look at the buildings switching their lights, putting up the show. Sunset, then Darkness came so early that we had just got used to breath and say “I love the smell of napalm in the morning.” that with the big question spinning in my head ‘why do they use so so much diesel fuel everywhere? Maybe it’s the cure for my asthma’ it’s time to celebrate ourselves in a panorama bar.

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In the background Edith Piaf singing “La vie en rose”, I drink my cocktail and think that life can be beautiful, but sometimes is just beyond it. I surrender to HK and its power. Cheers.

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Lakes calling. Bike answering.

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Nice weather calls outdoor activities. This week my bike went to visit the lakes surround South-West Berlin. This is what the purple friend captured by the tour, few words, just room for the images.

Here some pictures:

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Wannsee

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Nikolassee

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Schlachtensee

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Krumme Lanke See

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Grunewaldsee (dog beach)

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Hundekehlesee

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Hasensprung divides Dianasee (above) from Koenigssee (below)

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Lovely Herthasee and Hubertussee from even more lovely Bismarkallee bridge.

Latest integration: the forest next, and around, to those lakes. Bliss.

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