Riga - what a gem!

It was one of these *spur of the moment* ideas - and it turned out to be a good one - when a friend of mine decided "Let's go to Riga together!" We booked a rather inexpensive flight with WizzAir and found a hotel near the city center and off we were. At this point I usually give you the hotel information, but I'm afraid I cannot recommend the place we stayed at...

But the City was absolutely wonderful! Riga is a perfect mix of former-Easter-Block charme and western openess and commerce (oh the shopping!) and we made quite a few culinary discoveries on our way through the old cobbled streets of the city center :)

My first recommendation is a tiny little chocolate shop called Black Magic with a stunning interior that will take you back centuries and make you feel like you're on your way to becoming an apothecary - or a witch, depending on your preferences...

Needless to say I immediately felt at home. But the actual *magic* of this wonderful little place is the typical balsam they sell - yes it's alcohol and no I haven't tasted it, but it's Riga Black Balsam since 17hundred something, so I guess it's a big deal - AND: the chocolate! Oh, the chocolate... I recommend the pistacio praline! And the one with caramel! Or try the one filled with mac the champagne! Or strawberries!!! Oh yes, the chocolate..

After a few more rounds around town, we took the elevator up one of the church squires and enjoyed a true, 306° lookout over town - wonderful! We also met some fun Swiss people on the tower, who were in no way affiliated with the Swiss people we partied with at the Radisson later that night, but it seems that Riga is the place to be for Swiss people right now. Maybe it's the chocolate...

It really is a quaint little town... The Radisson blu has a nice and not overly expensive Skyline Bar on the top floor that offers another amazing view over town, especially at night. unfortunately,  we had to pay an Entrance fee, but it was definitely worth it, since the drinks were less expensive than we had anticipated and the (Swiss) company had us dancing all night long :) 

Since we didn't particulary enjoy our hotel's breakfast offer, we chose to have breakfast at one of the many cafés around town instead and stumbled into the Index Cafe, another place which quickly became a favorite. Their coffee is great and their oatmeal and porrige is the perfect way to start the day! Plus they are one a few feet away from the Riga Version of the Statue of Liberty and the city center.

But our favorite place in all of Riga is - and always will be - the wonderful restaurant and cocktail bar Cheers! not to confuse with the Boston version of course. The sheer fact that Cheers has the nicest waiters and the best brownie desserts ever is enough to love this place. Combine that with good musik and yummy cocktails and you have a place to be at night :) 

I mean really, they even put fairy dust on the brownie!

So, yes, Riga, a must-see in Europe and so wonderful we might go back next year just to see it all again! Of course there's not just food and drinks in the city; it also has a wonderful Art Nouveau quarter and many historic monuments and buildings as well as a wonderful culture and art scene, as far as we could tell - we just happen to be two foodies in love with the wonderful cafés and chocolate shops in town :) 

See you soon Latvia!

Beautiful Germany - Heidelberg

Since I won't be traveling for a while now, I thought why not start a new mini-series and introduce the most beautiful cities in Germany to all my international readers? I will also start including actual links to some of the things I'm pointing out, so that you can easily find your way around those cities. Enjoy!

First stop: Heidelberg!

The series starts in the town where I was born: Heidelberg. A beautiful little city in southern Germany, right on the river Neckar and with a long history of academic exellence. Heidelberg University was founded it 1386 and is still one of the leading Universities in Germany, especially in life science and medicine. Heidelberg is also home to the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) as well as the European Molecular Biology Lab (EMBL) and several Max-Planck Research Institutes. It really is on the forefront of scientific research in Germany, and the university is the only German university that makes it into the top 50 World University Ranking.

But that's not the only interesting fact about this beautiful city. In 1945, the city is taken over by the US military and is subsequently declared as US and NATO headquarters. Legend has it that an American general fell in love with the city and decided to spare it and settle down in it instead, which explains why the beautiful city center is still intact even today (although it has also undergone renovations of course). For years, Heidelberg was surrounded by US baracks, but these are being closed this year as the troops move to Wiesbaden instead. Still, Heidelberg has a strong connection to its transatlantic allie and it's no surprise to find many American tourists flogging the city in the summer.

If you ever find yourself in Heidelberg, make sure to check out the town's landmark, the Heidelberg Castle. It is perhaps the most iconic landmark of this little romantic city and best viewed from the "Philosophenweg" , a small trail leading up the mountain on the opposite side of the river.

The castle outlined in the early morning fog

You can also enjoy a stroll through the city center, along the main street "Hauptstraße", and taste one of Heidelberg's specialties, like "Studentenküsse" (Student's kisses, a chocolaty treat wrapped in an iconic little box). My personal favorite among Heidelberg's many restaurants is "Villa Lounge", a young, modern restaurant with comfortable leather chairs and affordable food. The best coffee in town is brewed by Moro Caffée & Thé, a small, hole-in-the-wall place along the Hauptstraße that offers coffee in all its variations as well as pastries and other delicacies. Another iconic landmark is the "Hotel zum Ritter", a hotel that is located in a beautiful renaissance building right at the old marketplace and its impressive church. Just opposite the marketplace, in the sidestreet "Steingasse" you can find one of many breweries in Heidelberg: "Vetter's Alt Heidelberger Brauerei" where you can sit next to huge copper kettels and taste freshly-tapped beer. If you want to try out other breweries in the region, check out the map for the Kurpfälzer Bierstraße. It includes locations of all the breweries in the region.

Last but not least, continue down "Steingasse" and enjoy the view from the old Neckar-bridge up towards the castle. Every tourist should take a picture there!

Enjoy my hometown!

P.s.: If you want to have a *real German experience* (at least a very classical one) check out this video from a recent version of the old song Ich hab mein Herz in Heidelberg verloren enjoy ;)

Amazing Arizona - Part 1

Arizona - the desert state, the high oven of the United States and, of course, the Grand Canyon State... I flew over it once, but I never actually had it on my list of places I have to visit. It's just too hot for me... but then I found this conference in New Mexico and it collided with my *Canadian family's* annual trip to AZ, so I thought "why not?" and booked a flight to Phoenix. Boy was I in for a treat! I mean, seriously people, if this isn't the Wild West I don't know what is...

Welcome to the Wild West!

The temperatures were rather cozy in the upper 20s (Celcius that is - about 85°F), which is kinda high for February, but it's a dry heat, so it wasn't as unbearably hot as I had imagined. Still, I don't think I could visit this state during the summer months... We stayed in the camper at a ranch that belongs to one of my family's friends down in Arizona, a Canadian who fled the norther cold one day and settled in the desert instead. This is what caught my eye when I first arrived:

Giant Cactus anyone?!?

And yes, of course there were horses everywhere :) The main part of our trip to Phoenix was spending time at the annual Arabian Horse show in Scottsdale, where we saw many beautiful horses and I learnd about the different disciplines and rules for shows like side saddle or hunter seat. Hopefully, Randy will start here next year, and who knows, maybe I'll be back too :)

All the pretty horses...

We also checked out some of the Frontier towns in and around Phoenix. They were heaven for Roz and me; I think we went into every single store and bought tons of gifts and souvenirs for everybody :) I realize that it's all made up for the tourists, but I just completely fell in love with this one town just north of Phoenix: Cave Creek! It's just so adorable!!!

Shopping mall - Cave Creek style

Plus they have an amazing Mexican restaurant there with a little pond in the outdoor seating area and the best Mexican Food I ever had! So, if you're ever in Phoenix, check out Cave Creek and try to get a table at El Encanto!

The gang and our shopping bags in front of El Encanto :)

Thanks for an amazing time in Phoenix guys! I will always remember my first adventure into the Wild West!

Shopping!

I know, I know, I shouldn't spend so much money.... hmpf... but shopping is so much FUN! :) When you're in Boston, there are actually a couple of cool places to do some (window) shopping. One of them is certainly Harvard Square and the surrounding streets. They have some craft shops there, but they also have a pretty big 'City Sports' (and yes, this is a recommendation!), a 'Body Shop' (cannot live without that one, apparently...) and, of course, the Harvard Book Store!

On a side note: I caught a reading at the Harvard Bookstore on monday - Paul Auster! *yay* yeah... that was pretty awesome... :) 

Then there's Newbury Street (near the Boston Public Garden), which seems expensive at first, but the shops actually change along the road and you can find some pretty cool shops down the street! I personally recommend the 'Victoria's Secret' store: I'm officially a fan! There's also a nice little craft shop called 'Firefly' and some pretty cool places to get a nice and fast mani/pedi (wow, I sound so girly right now...) I can only recommend 'Lauren's Nails' so far. Haven't tried any of the other shops, but they were friendly and the basic mani/pedi is $ 35 - I can live with that.

Not far from Newbury Street is the Prudential Center. Apparently, this is also the place to be when you want a 360° skyline view of Boston, but I haven't tried that one yet... there are some shops in the center as well as a huge bookstore :) AND they have a Cheesecake factory :) *I'm in love* man... white chocolate macadamia nut caramel cheesecake... best dessert ever! :D

Another cool place to shop, especially if you're stuck with bad weather, is the Cambridge Galleria. It's near the green Line and it pretty much has all you need, from Sears and GAP over Old Navy, BestBuy and AmericanEagle to a small Macy's and, of course, Victoria's Secret. What more could a girl want? :)

Money Money Money

At the farewell meeting in Germany (as well as at the welcome meeting here in Boston), people told me that Boston is more expensive than Germany. And most of them seem to think that it's a lot more expensive... Well, here's what I think: Shopping (especially grocery shopping) is an art form. You have to know what you want and where to get it, you have to look for sales, be able to read labels and - in the case of being an exchange student from Germany in America - translate dollar into Euros and gallons into liters. Because, guess what, 2.50 for some Ice Tea might sound much, but if you translate it to a little under 2 Euros for 2 liters of Arizona Ice Tea... well, that seems fair to me :) Of course, some things are more expensive (cream for example... almost 4 dollars for a tiny little bit of cream makes it kinda hard to enjoy pasta Alfredo... but that's what Barilla is for ;) ) but there are so many more things that are actually a lot cheaper!

As for grocery shopping: there's a Shaws right at JFK/UMass. Now, Shaws is not exactly the discounter... but they have really good stuff and if you look around a little bit and go with the yellow sale-labels, its actually really not that bad! If you want to shop for less, there's a walmart in Quincy. Walmart is always good for a bargain or two :) And then there's haymarket of course. I still haven't managed to go there, but apparently it's THE PLACE to get all your fruits and veggies! I'll try it when I come back from Florida...

What shocked me personally where the prices for required books you have to pay at the UMass bookstore... man! $ 11 for a USED paperback novel? Yeah, I don't think so... Problem is, you will probably have to get at least the first book at the bookstore, because you usually need it for the second or third session already. However, if you have the time, buy the books online! Amazone.com is almost always cheaper (especially if you chose the used books). What also shocked me a little where the notebook prices. I seem to recall paying like 2 euros for a good notebook back in Germany (or less if you get them at ALDI). Here, the notebook I've seen so far start around $ 4.50.... The only upside is that those are UMass Notebooks (they have UMass Boston engraved in the front) which I found rather neat :)

I've decided this will be my official creative writing journal while I'm here :) Fits somehow...

So, as far as grocery shopping is concerned: don't sweat it. It might look more expensive, but most of that is just the currency and the fact that American measurements are different than European measurements :) And if all else fails, there's haymarket and the school (and most of the city) is full of water fountains. You'll survive ;)