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2013, what a peculiar year.

Personally, a viscerally horrible year, culminated in bad luck, lost causes, draining soul. Travelling was different, nonetheless intense and, since lack of money, well calibrated.

The year went around a big trip, my first one to Asia, HK bound. A long time desired journey that I documented in many chapters, all for your pleasure (or torture) here:

– INTRO: The long Journey, delays and Bastille: “We were caught up and lost in all of our vices”…

– PART 1 First impressions, Central and Victoria Peak

– PART 2 The first full day, between rain and cocktails with view

– PART 3 Kowloon, Buddhism and Capitalism all at once

– PART 4 Aberdeen, who the hell goes to Aberdeen during a monsoon? We do, we do.

– Daily Trip to MACAU and the origin of the international saying “Like Macau in May”

– PHOTO COLLECTION: People, Strangers

– PHOTO COLLECTION: Temples

After this gigantic, monumental job I realised I totally forgot to write about Lantau. That day the weather was so unreal all the picture are covered in fog. We were in a cloud, to be precise. Unbelievable scenes.

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To be completely honest, we had a long, crazy, slightly delusional-due-to-lack-of-water stopover in Dubai, that I didn’t write about. My bad.

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Going back to the main topic, travelling in 2013, I focussed my targets in:

1. Time to talk more about my wonderful city, Berlin, without sounding too tourist-y

– Berlin Festival of Lights is a great event in October, highly recommended to make you dream big https://valanzo.com/2013/10/23/berlin-festival-of-lights/

– Lakes surrounding West Berlin in Summer are just blossom of joy https://valanzo.com/2013/07/14/lakes-west-berlin/

– Concentration Camp of Sachsenhausen, a place to go at least once https://valanzo.com/2013/09/16/sachsenhausen/

– PARKLIFE!, a great topic of mine since the beginning, I have a total devotion towards public and private parks:

…like the celebration we make for tulips at Britzer Garten, South Berlin in April and May!! https://valanzo.com/2013/05/05/britzer-garten/

… or like finding different parts of the world in a single place, at Gärten der Welt, East Berlin https://valanzo.com/2013/06/06/garten-der-welt-the-world-in-a-park/

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2. Time to discover my generous adoptive country, Deutschland:

– The royal city of Potsdam, a rainy day of August (but that place calls glory all over it anyway) https://valanzo.com/2013/09/25/potsdam/

– Dresden, I finally managed a one-day trip and it caught me completely. Artistic. https://valanzo.com/2013/10/10/dresden/

– Nuremberg has always had a soft spot on me. Romantic. (but intense history too). https://valanzo.com/2013/09/04/nuremberg/

– I went to Hannover and came back quickly. Find out why https://valanzo.com/2013/06/11/hannover/

– Bremen was a delightful surprise. I went first in a cold weekend in April, managed later to go other two or three times. This is how I described it the first one https://valanzo.com/2013/04/18/bremen/

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3. Time to write and to show off a Grand Tour in North Italy, happened in Fall, with some of my favourite place to stay when in the home country (hard statement, Italy is gorgeous at every corner):

– Venice, a very grey and foggy morning. Hats off as usual though. Did you know I lived there? https://valanzo.com/2013/11/05/venice/

– Mantova, what a lovely discover! https://valanzo.com/2013/11/12/mantua/

– Lower Piedmont and Alba, I followed -by car- the footsteps of two of my favourite Italian writers, among hills, pink sunsets and delicious food. https://valanzo.com/2013/11/21/lower-piedmont/

– Genova, my favourite city in Italy….to be published as “2013 Leftover”

2013, what a disgraceful year for me. But hey, I managed to travel and visit lovely places!!!! And I hope you enjoyed reading about my trips, the big and the small ones, and watching my pictures. More to come in 2014, many new projects in the next months, so just stay tuned, subscribe by email or follow me, cheers.