Hiking up Heimgarten and then going across the ridge to Herzogstand is one of the most spectacular hikes we have done so far. It’s pretty strenuous and takes almost 5 hours – but absolutely worth the effort!
Herzogstand Heimgarten
2013 was the start of our life in Munich. Since we didn’t want to rush with the home-hunting, we decided to keep our apartment in Frankfurt until we found something we both really like. So J had to bear it all. It was a very busy and stressful time for him with starting a new job and looking for our new home at the same time. But the wait was worth it. One day, he whatsapped me some pictures of an apartment he was taking a look at like usual, this time, not like the other fifty or so previous places I always had tons of questions for, my only answer was “Take it!”. And we did. It was perfect: an independent loft in a very quiet corner in the middle of the bustling city, door-to-ceiling windows on all 4 sides, lots of sunshine, and a huge private roof terrace (!), no more than 2km from J’s office (and mine).
I could never forget the day I came down here with the train (the moving company packed all our stuffs in Frankfurt and delivered them the next day). It had been snowing the whole winter so everything was white like Christmas. He picked me up from the train station (I think with a rose in his hand), drove me through a city I only vaguely knew from occasional visits, and introduced me to our new home in the sweetest way possible. The staircase leading to our loft was lit up with candles and when I entered our new home for the first time, I fell in love. The whole place was empty ;-). An air mattress on one side, his beloved stereo equipment on the other (the only thing he didn’t trust the moving company with), one bottle of champagne and two glasses in the middle. That’s all we got. And all we needed.
We found our new home!
Barcelona is one of the cities that “have it all”. The beach, the mountain, city life, art scene, cultural activities, Gaudi (!), and a very famous football team on top. We spent the first half of our trip exploring the city itself. We headed out everyday with no plan and ended up doing a tons because there’s always something going on at any hour of any day. We loved walking around just to admire the beauty of old buildings (and imagine ourselves living in them), we loved sneaking into some art galleries that seemed to be forgotten by the crowds, we loved trying out whatever dishes that looked so yummy that the people at the next table had ordered, we loved the close distance to the beach, and we loved the 28-degree-weather in June.
But the best thing about this trip was probably the three days we spent on two-wheels in the Pyrenees. The mountain roads were almost empty so J had the most fun speeding up. The scenery was beyond gorgeous and the villages we stopped by were even more charming. It was one the few trips we had absolutely nothing to complain about.
Hoi An is definitely our second favourite city in Vietnam after Saigon. It’s very touristy yes, but you receive decent services for your money and the foods are excellent (we kinda plan all our travels around the foods). Also, the city mayor had long ago forbidden all the restaurants in town to charge foreigners more than what the locals paid for, which made this town even more pleasant to visit.
Hoi An is also famous for its tailor industry, you can for example have a suit made over night at a decent price and excellent quality. But you could run into the risks of paying too much for it, so shop around for price before making the order because even though the shops appear to be of different owners, they might have their clothes made from the same tailors that worked behind-the-curtain. It’s the biggest industry in this town. Don’t be afraid to bargain in Vietnam, whatever they say, offer them half of it and walk away ;-), it won’t always work but it’s worth a try. We’re not good at bargaining ourselves, sometimes we just do it for fun and pay what we think the good is worth to us. People gotta earn their livings after all. We often give generous tips to those who need them the most (Xich Lo riders, street-food vendors, small family-run shops etc.) and negotiate our way with big hotel chains and resorts to make the most value of our money.
On our search for a quiet place to stay we came across Villa Hoa Su, a very small hotel with only 5 or 6 rooms and a huge garden that was so beautifully decorated that we ended up spending most of our time there. We appreciated the fact that they didn’t try to build a five-story “plastic” hotel on this ground and focused on offering guests a very unique experience instead. The common open space serving as the restaurant in the middle of the garden surrounded by fish ponds was actually an original ancient house that the owner had brought pieces by pieces back from Hue, the Imperial Capital of Vietnam during the Nguyen dynasty (1802-1945). Saying we liked this place a lot is an understatement. If we could, we’d move in here in a heartbeat.
