anulicious

Hello to you all,

I am sooo excited, cause tomorrow our Honeymoon starts finally.

I never ever been so far away, it is actually a 12 hour (!!!) flight, what is a really long time.

But I made arrangements, that hubby and I will have a cosy time on the plane.

Here is what I am taking for our comfortness:

super soft and cosy socks for a homely feeling

A nice cotton neck pillow & sleeping mask

A soft blanket to cuddle

My Ipod loaded with our favorite music and tv series

I hope this will help to pass the time a bit.

And if that doesn’t help, we just have to think about our wonderful destination South Africa.

I know that it will be amazing and I will come back with tons of new happy places to share.

Till then take care and have a great time.

xoxo

I am sooo looking forward to this post, because it contains everything that I love: decoration, food, nice people, flowers and colors. I am so thankful that I discovered this wonderful place by chance. On Saturday we actually wanted to visit our Wedding Florist Franziska from “Traumfabrik“. She was recommended to us by a friend and when I telephoned to her and explained my ideas it klicked immediately and I knew Franziska was the right person for the job. So on Saturday we went to Xanten, a small old romain town and discovered the most beautiful place. Franziska’s Flower Shop is in a cute townhouse and she shares the place with Emilie, who runs a sweet little café “Le petit Joli” with the most delicious muffins and lemonade.

Look at this wonderful pictures:

Franziska’s flower shop is awesome, she has an amazing taste and I am so happy she does the decoration for our big day.

And Emilies food goodies are heaven, like this Rose Lemonade and Lavender Muffin, hmmmmmmm…

All the details are so amazing, it is total color bliss

Unfortunately Xanten is to far away, otherwise I would hang out here every day! It lightened up my Saturday so much and I am still overwhelmed with the place. If you live near Xanten or ever get the chance to get there, you MUST go and visit the wonderful ladies with this amazing talent, taste and style.

Remember this post, where I told you, that my fiancé and I always have a “Love Day” on Wednesdays, where we do something nice together? Last time the weather was so fine that we decided we wanted to grab a bite somewhere outside. The restaurant Gehrys in Düsseldorf (where I work, about 50 minutes drive from Cologne) has a great terrace where you have an amazing view over the Media Harbour, so that was our choice.

The Harbour in Düsseldorf is quite a Hot Spot, there are so many great new buildings where you can find media and fashion companies, restaurants, bars and shops. The district developed mainly in the last 5 years and the landmarks are the 3 lovely buidings of architect Frank Gehry, so after him the restaurant is named.

When we sat there overlooking the Harbour with a nice Sparkling Wine with Aperol, the sweet sunshine and the great food, I knew I had to share this place with you. What do you need more for feeling blissful?

Gehrys is famous for the amazing Steaks which they heat in a special oven so it has such a fine taste I have never experienced anywhere before. If you are into beef then this place is your heaven. But you can also find great fish and even Vegetarian dishes like Asparagus Risotto on the menu and it is all good.

But not only in the Summer Gehrys is a great spot. The interior is absolutely awesome, so there is enough to enjoy on bad weather days, too.

How pretty! Won’t be long till I am back, I tell you this.

Tell me about your favorite places! I would love to hear about it.

Who doesn’t know the sweet movie with Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts called Notting Hill? For me it is always nice to see it, because it was shot mostly at the Original Locations at one of my favorite Happy Places and one of my favorite areas in London. You have great shops, excellent restaurants and nice pubs and of course the famous Portobello Road with its Portobello Market (also appears in a scene in the movie, where Hugh Grant walks down a street to the tune “Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone”). Mondays to Fridays you can buy groceries here. But on Saturdays there are antiques and Second Hand clothes, too. And besides, there are so many cute little shops to explore where you can get all kinds of things you don’t need but that make you happy.

As you can see there is a huge crowd there. But it is really worth a visit. And when you have struggled your way through the masses, be sure to stop by at a little street called Blendheim Crescent. There are a lot of book stores, also the “Travel Book Shop” from the movie which Hugh Grants character owns.

My favorite place anyway is “Books for Cooks”, as you can guess a Cook Book store, but the special thing is the kitchen they have in the back of this place, where they cook recipes from the books they sell. Sit down and have one of the brilliant cakes. They are heaven!

And after a lot of exhausting Shopping you can stop by at any of the great pubs all along Portobello Road.

That will make a perfect day!

You see, the reality is even better than the movie. You can’t go wrong with this place. It is just amazing and a MUST GO.

My Dearest,

you know, that I just had a wonderful weekend in Paris.

I have been to Paris three times before, but I have to say, this time was great, because we stayed at the apartment of friends, which is much more personal than a hotel, the weather was amazing and we didn’t have to do all the typical sightseeing, because we already knew the city. So we could just live in the moment and discover great places you wouldn’t normally focus on as a tourist.

From a previous stay in Paris I remembered the beautiful quarters Saint-Germain des Prés and close-by Quartier Latin, where I once stayed in a small and very old hotel from the 17th century.I was very curious to come back to this neighbourhoods and see how I like it today and show it to my sweetheart.

It was the best afternoon!!! The quarters are so beautiful and are brilliant, when you want to go for a long walk, go shopping, see amazing art in the many galleries and have a great lunch.

We started at the Boulevard Saint-German with a beautiful sunny weather.

After a nice walk, we stopped at the popular Café de Flore from the 19th century, where intellectuals like Jean Paul Sartre or artists like Pablo Picasso spent their time.

In the Quartier Latin the University is located. What a great building for the medical faculty!

Everywhere you look there are buildings that take your breathe away

But you can also find objects of virtu like this picture at a cosmetic store. A very odd way to test the effect of antiperspirant, isn’t it?

And here the great icecream parlor I told you about yesterday. If you should ever go to Paris, you HAVE TO try it, the flavor créme caramel was heaven. And their chocolate icecream is so intense, I have never tasted something like this before, and believe me, I am an expert. Surprisingly Amorino is a chain, so it is even more impressive that it tastes so amazing.

And be sure to visit the oldest bridge in Paris, the Pont Neuf, which is just near-by. Super romantic!

Hello everyone! I hope you had a great refreshing weekend.

I am very excited, because it is only two days of work for me this week, and on Wednesday we are going to Paris with two friends of ours. I haven’t been there a long time and I am wondering how I will like it there now, what places we will discover and what I can report to you next week.

But first I want to share with you another Happy Place of mine, because I am thinking about my sweetheart, who is on a business trip in Switzerland until tomorrow – miss him.

We have been to Zurich a couple of times now because very good friends live there and I have to say it is such a beautiful place.

I especially love one small town called Rapperswil, which is directly located at Lake Zurich. The surrounding is breathtaking: the clear blue water and the mountains in the background – awesome.

We made a fun boat trip there and had the best ice-cream (you can always get us with that!).

This is the City Hall – did you ever see a cuter one?

When we went there, the European Soccer Cup took place, so they had the “Euro Arena”, a public viewing place

I will spent my birthday in Switzerland, which is in one month. How can it get even better?

Hopefully I will have pretty new pics to post.

xoxo

A sunny Hello to you all!

I am back from the most amazing and relaxing long weekend in Hamburg.

My sweetheart and I had such a great time, that I really don’t know where to start:

the sunny weather, the perfect located and stylish hotel we stayed in, the amazing food, our fun bicycle trip, a breathtaking Hotel Bar on the 20th floor with the most awesome view,… I could go on and on or hours.

But today, because I am already feeling sleepy after the 5 hour car trip home, I want to point out one place that surprised and amazed me the most and is todays Happy Place: The restaurant “Bullerei”.

I told you last week, that this restaurant is owned by a very famous German Television Cook, Tim Mälzer, and I wanted to book a table there. Unfortunately they were already fully booked for Saturday and Sunday, but the nice lady told me we should try our luck on Sunday and just drop by. So we luckily followed her advice and got a small table (looked like an old school desk).

I have to say because we are foodies and love to go out to eat we already visited a lot of great restaurants, even Jamie Oliver’s “Fifteen” in London. So I didn’t expect the restaurant to be a big surprise – but I was proofed wrong!!!

The interior is extraordinary, an old industrial hall with brick walls, that is totally my style. Although the place is huge, you feel comfortable and cosy.

The waiters all look like VJ’s on MTV, dressed in cool street style. Their service is excellent and everybody was extremly nice and helpful.

The food is pure and totally delicious. I had a Antipasti Plate and my man had an Entrecote with a super yummy mojo dip and huge french fries.

Over all we stayed 3 hours at the “Bullerei” and had the best time ever. We both agree that it is the coolest place we have ever had dinner and we never felt so comfortable in such an A-class restaurant, because the atmosphere is so leger and not posh at all.

A new Happy Place on our list! We will definitely visit the next time we stay in Hamburg.

Hello everyone! I hope you all  had a great week-end and you’re full of energy.

I have to say, that the constant rain here is getting a little exhausting, so time is right for a new Happy Place: Central Park, New York!

I have been to New York three times now, but the first two times I was very small and didn’t experience it consciously.

So I went there again in 2006 with my sweetheart and we had such a good time.

I have to say the first two days were a little exhausting for us because of the jetlag and the millions of impressions that overwhelmed us. So on the second day we thought we have to get out of the noise and the crowd of people to relax our minds.

So we ended up making a boat tour on the lake in Central Park. It was like we switched to another world, an oasis in the big city.

This gray heron took a sunbath, how cute!

It is a funny feeling being in a setting you know from so many movies.

I will leave you with this yoga lady – have a relaxing day

xoxo

My dear Readers, I hope you all had a wonderful week-end and Mother’s Day.

Today it is Happy Place Time again and I want to introduce to you one of the most beautiful cities in Germany (besides Cologne of couse): Hamburg. I have been to Hamburg quite often in the last years and I always had a blast there. It really is a stunning city, which has a very specific flair.

The amazing thing for me is that there is water everywhere and it dominates all of your impressions. I totally love it! There are many rivers and canals, which are crossed by more bridges than Venice and Amsterdam have combined. Near to the water you can find the very noble areas with gorgeous big, old mansions, one more beautiful than the other.

There are so many wonderful things to do in Hamburg.

How about a boat trip on the Alster?

Or a romantic sunset at the pier?

Or you explore one of the individual quarters. The noble Eppendorf, with it’s awesome architecture and cute little shops

Or the more alternative, vibrant district called Schanze, where you have great bars and restaurants, with mostly young people hanging out

As you see, there are so many things to do, and I have not even mentioned the impressive harbour, the famous Reeperbahn, great musicals like “The Lion King”, etc etc.

My sweetheart and I decided that we will visit again before July. I will keep you up with new finds.

That’s all for now.

xoxo

A big Hello to everybody! Today I will make up for what I missed yesterday: posting a new Happy Place. I already gave you a small appetizer and some of you might have already recognized it: It was the beautiful cathedral in Palma, Mallorca.

I have been to Mallorca two times now with the man of my heart and we both absolutely love it there. (You might remember the post about our favorite beach Sa Rapita).

What I really love about Mallorca is that you can have everything: great beaches, chillin’ out, shopping, clubbin’, great restaurants, bars and culture. And the capital Palma has nearly everything combined.

Besides it is stunning beautiful. Awesome buildings with super sweet window shutters, which I adore, the little streets in the Old Town where you can explore tiny shops and the breathtaking harbour with its huuuuuuuge ships.

Near to the harbour there are a few small streets where you can find the best restaurants. But you have to be careful. Not all that look pretty on the outside serve great food, believe me, I fell for that trap a few times. But after some failures we discoverd great places. One of our favorites, where we went nearly every day last year, was Tasu, a very cool place with great tapas for very reasonable prices.

Another great tip is the world’s best ice-cream parlour (in my opinion): Iceberg. The owner is a creative German guy and the flavors of ice-cream he creates are very special but super, super yummy. I mean you need some courage to try goatcheese ice-cream with honey or chocolate-wasabi, but believe me: it is fantastic!!!

There is so much more to say about Palma, but I think I will just let the pictures speak for itself and I hope you have the opportunity to travel there in the near future. If you need some more tipps feel free to ask me. I would love to  help.