Transdniester is a self-declared independent communist territory located between Moldova and Ukraine. I hadn’t heard of it before I saw Michael Palin’s New Europe. I’d love to visit Transdniester. Tina wrote about her visit on her travel blog and I suggest you read that (or the Wikipedia page) if this place intrigues you as it does me! It looks a bit like the past.
Germany is my favourite country and I’ve been there more times than I can remember. I spent a good amount of my first five years or so in Germany, mostly around Offenbach, at my Nanna’s flat. In the summer, we’d jump in the car to further explore the country (well, West Germany). Most of my memories come from photographs and home videos.
My Nanna eventually moved back to England and I didn’t visit Germany again until 2004. I spent a few weekends in Düsseldorf and Cologne – mostly visiting for music related events. They’re both really great cities, but I didn’t see a great deal and the only things that stand out are: the Cathedral in Cologne, double decker trains, an amazing zoo in Gelsenkirchen and shopping mall that’s a carbon copy of Sheffield’s Meadowhall.
Now the background history is out of the way, I’ll get to the point of this post – Berlin is great! I first visited Berlin late 2006 for, yes, a pop concert. I worked out that I spent 26 hours in the city. Definitely not enough time to appreciate it. I’d wanted to visit for so long, that I left feeling really disappointed. Before heading back to Tegel the morning after the concert, I was given a quick walking guided tour of the key sights, but it didn’t leave a lasting impression. The hostel we stayed in was great – lots of bright and colourful Berlin-centric graffiti.
Very rarely do I visit a city I’ve already been to. I prefer to spend my money going somewhere I haven’t been to before (there’s too much to see and not enough money and time!) However, I knew Berlin had more to offer and decided to give it another chance. I travelled there with my sister in March, 2008 and loved it so much that I went back in October with Peter. Both trips were pretty much identical because I wanted to show Peter everything I had discovered with my sister.
The Zoo is one of my favourite places, but that’s probably because bears are my favourite animals and they have lots, including polar bears and a panda. My sister was happy with the elephants and monkeys and Peter enjoyed feeding goats.
We spent a lot of time just walking around, trying to get lost and seeing what gems we’d stumble upon off the beaten track. I enjoy doing this when in a new city. Took in all the usual tourist sights: Brandenburg Gate, Alexanderplatz, Holocaust Memorial, Reichstag (go at night), old watch towers, bits of wall, Potsdamer Platz (which we made a song about) etc.
Here’s a word of advice, if you spot these guys at Checkpoint Charlie offering to stamp your passport – DON’T DO IT. I made the mistake of offering my passport to be stamped and apparently, it invalidates your passport. At the time, I thought, this can’t be right? My real passport? But handed it over, regardless. A friend of mine had her passport taken off her when she returned to the UK after having this done. Luckily, customs haven’t discovered the stamps in mine yet, but it’s only a matter of time.
Unfortunately, my three trips to Berlin have been fairly brief, so there’s still so much more I need to see. I really like the idea of the bicycle tour Katie took and visiting the Stasi Museum. It’s a shame I finished reading Stasiland after my last visit.
If I had to live somewhere other than London, I’d definitely choose Berlin. I love it.
Here’s a list of ten places I’d really like to go to. I originally planned to make it a list of five, but it was even too difficult to whittle the list down to ten. Predictably, most of the destinations are in Europe. I really need to open my mind to the rest of the world.
Kakslauttanen (Igloo Village), Finland
by youngrobv
Kakslauttanen looks like such a stunning place. A wide range of accommodation is on offer, from log cabins to snow igloos, but the glass igloos appeal to me the most. Imagine gazing up at the stars and the Aurora Borealis dancing across the clear night sky. Perfect. You can view a virtual tour of the glass igloo on the website. The day time activities also sound great: husky and reindeer sledding! And how about the Wedding Package…
You are sitting in a sledge pulled by reindeers, which takes you through a magical snow covered forest. Finally you reach your destination – a chapel made of ice and snow and decorated by ice sculptures. It is totally quiet, Aurora Borealis lights up the night sky and the beauty of the place is striking.
Lake Bled, Slovenia
by rougerouge
All I know about Lake Bled is that it’s beautiful. Mountains and forests surround the lake and a medieval castle stands on the north shore. The church on the island in the middle of the lake appears to be another great wedding location.
Hill of Crosses, Lithuania
by Andrew Quested
The Hill of Crosses is a pilgrimage site in northern Lithuania. The first crosses are believed to have been placed on the hill after the 1831 Uprising. There’s an estimated 100,000 crosses, crucifixes and rosaries. Communists bulldozed it numerous times, but the crosses continued to re-appear.
Prypiat, Ukraine
by Pedro Moura Pinheiro
Prypiat is an abandoned city in the Zone of Alienation, Ukraine. You’ll probably know of it because of the Chernobyl disaster. I realise it isn’t the cheeriest destination, but I find the idea of wandering around an abandoned city quite fascinating. Especially when you consider that everything had been left behind. We had planned to visit when we were in Ukraine last October, but unfortunately there weren’t any tours running that week. However, we did visit the Chernobyl Museum in Kyiv (safer, no radiation) and that made me want to go even more. There are more pictures here on English Russia.
Loch Ness, Scotland
by Citril
Why? To see the Loch Ness Monster, of course! Have you seen Water Horse: Legend of the Deep? It’s a sweet movie. I wouldn’t leave until I caught a glimpse of Nessie.
Le Palais Idéal, France
by Arnaud Tudoret
Ferdinand Cheval, a French postman, built his Palais Idéal after being inspired by a stone he tripped over in 1879. I heard elsewhere that he’d seen the palace in a dream, so I prefer to go with that version. For 33 years, he collected stones on his post route to build his Ideal Palace with. Cheval died a year after he finished building. There’s a video on the website, which gives you a better idea of amazing this place is!
Jökulsárlón, Iceland
by Matthieu Marcé
Here’s another place I intended to go to, but the hire car only made it as far as Vik, before we had to turn back to Reykjavik. Underestimated the distance and driving time on icy roads. Jökulsárlón, which literally translates as Glacier Lagoon, is the largest and best known glacial lake in Iceland and it’s been used as filming locations for James Bond, Tomb Raider and Batman Begins.
Trans-Siberian Railway, Russia
by muskva
Train travel is my favoured form of transport and the thought of seeing so much of Russia by train is my idea of a perfect trip. I’d like to take the Trans-Siberian from Moscow to Vladivostok and change to the Baikal Amur Mainline (for a slight change of scenery) on the return journey. Google Russia has created a virtual tour of the Trans-Siberian Railway and you can take it here. The video footage takes in the whole six day, 5,752-mile journey. You can choose to listen to the rumble of the train on the tracks, Russian radio or a Russian reading of War and Peace to accompany your virtual journey. Listen to balalaika while trundling past Lake Baikal from the comfort of your own home. Isn’t that quite something.
Portmeirion, Wales
by Arthur John Picton
I suppose you didn’t expect to see Wales on this list. Portmeirion is another of those places I don’t know a great deal about. It was built in the style of an Italian village (apparently based on Portofino, but the designer denied this) and has been used as a filming location numerous times. It’s nice to know there are some lovely places in the UK.
New York City, United States of America
by crazybobbles
New York City doesn’t feel like it’s a real place to me. My only knowledge and experience of the city has been through movies and TV shows. In my mind, it’s one big film/TV set. I’d go there expecting to see Gremlins, Godzilla and a young Macaulay Culkin standing by a huge Christmas tree. It also seems like the perfect place to bridge the gap between Europe and the rest of the world (in terms of flight time and familiar food, etc.)
Why didn’t anybody tell me about Calvert22 before?
THE UK’S ONLY NOT FOR PROFIT FOUNDATION DEDICATED TO CONTEMPORARY ART AND CULTURE FROM RUSSIA AND EASTERN EUROPE
I was reading through the paper earlier and came across an article about the current Olga Chernysheva exhibition at Calvert22 and it most definitely sounds like my kind of thing. If you follow my Tumblr, you probably would have realised by now that I have a thing for Russia/Ukraine/Soviet Union/Eastern Europe, etc.
Looking through Chernysheva’s website, it’s impossible to select one or two images to post, so here are several of my favourites. I really need to visit the gallery soon!
Someone came here looking for Murder In Monochrome. Here you go!
Girl, London. Likes web/graphic design, photography, beards, crisps, Eurovision, Nintendo, polar bears, UK Border Force and European travel.
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