Bobotov Kuk

Never heard of it?
Well that is the highest mountain in Montenegro one more mountain for my project.

You may ask now, how did I get the idea of climbing that mountain.
It is because I have a friend, whose mother originally comes from Montenegro.
And on a rainy, grey and cold Munich winter day she asked me if I wanted to join her to Montenegro in autumn.

And as I love to travel and love to discover new things I did not have to think for long. But I wanted to combine it with my mountain climbing project. So I did some research on 
Montenegro´s highest mountain and encountered the Bobotov Kuk. Actually the highest mountain is a different one, for which one part 
is claimed by Serbia though, so officially the highest mountain 
of Montenegro is the Bobotov, as he is completely in Montenegro. He is situated in the North of the country in the so called Durmitor National Park. By the way, it seems to be a nice ski area in winter.

Montenegro is quite a small country, surrounded by Croatia in the North, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo and Albania in the South and of course the sea. The meaning of the word Montenegro is black mountain, so as you can imagine, there are plenty of mountains with forests.
It is really a great country to travel, because there are no big distances and still it covers everything: mountains with canyons (the deepest of all Europe!), wonderful, lonely mountains, lakes, the sea, fantastic old cities (the Romans were here, too). And the climate is very pleasant as well.

We planned our trip for September. My boyfriend and me met our friend Sabine in Dubrovnik (a wonderful city in Croatia) where we rented a car and so the adventure begun.
After some little hikes and a rafting tour in  Europe´s deepest canyon, finally the day of the climbing of the highest mountain arrived.

And lucky as we were the weather was unbelievable, just great!!

The hike starts on a mountain saddle, where it was extremely windy. But it immediately changed when we arrived in a little valley. We passed through it, passing by ever changing rock formations, and stunning views. 

Finally we arrived at the main mountain and had to climb the last part for around one hour.
The last few meters were real climbing, doable, but you should better not have vertigo, which unfortunately my companions did have. So sadly I had to climb the summit on my own.                        
But it really was worth it: on top of the Bobutov Kuk I had a great view on all the lakes, the other mountains and the landscape, fantastic!! So nice and quite different to the Alps.

And then the descent. We took another way down, which was quite a hike, from depression to depression, as the hiking guide called it :)

At the end of the day we were very hungry. So we went to the best Kabane (that is a simple, Montenegrin restaurant) in the world. The whole table was full of food, Montenegrin beer and schnapps, Slivovitz of course, hmm!!!

That was truly a reward of a long hiking day.

Lately I flew to Canada, visiting Vancouver and Toronto.

Vancouver is full of Asian people, only 50 percent of the population is Canandian, around 30 percent are Chinese, and then there are many Japanese, Korean, Indian people etc. It´s a real melting pot and you can see and hear it on the streets.

So when I arrived in Vancouver, I was sure to find a warm Ramen noodle soup I craved!

During another trip I saw a Ramen restaurant and I wanted to go there. I remembered the restaurant being near Robson Street, the main shopping street in Downtown. I walked down the street ant lucky as I was I found the restaurant, called `Kintaro Ramen` (have a look at this blog http://www.ramenramenramen.net/2010/02/22/ramen-rating-kintaro-ramen-vancouver-bc/, quite interesting).

There was a little queue, thus I had to wait a little bit.

But as soon as I had taken a seat at the bar I felt like beeing back in Japan. The restaurant was quite small, but filled with Asian people, the guests as well as the cooks and waiters.

The kitchen was behind the bar, therefore I could watch the chefs at work. There where biiiiig pots, 4 at the same time, with broth and other things I don´t know in it. It was really interesting to watch, even if I couldn´t finally say, how to make a soup a, because the cook used so many different ingredients...

The soup was delicious, warm and tasty!!! I was happy.

Domo arigato!

Let´s move on to Toronto

Toronto is the biggest city in Canada, with 2.6 million inhabitants and is situated on the Great Lakes (the Lake Ontario is the one at Toronto).

The first thing I wanted to do in Toronto was to visit Niagara Falls. We did this on the first evening we arrived. So we saw the falls during the night, which was quite...icky! (?)

I prefer the natural feeling of a big nature spectacle like this, but didn´t get the feeling because of `little Las Vegas` around the falls and the colorful illumination of the falls. But anyways it was nice to see them (next time during day time), and I made some great pictures.

The next day I went to see St. Lawrence Market, a wonderful huge market, with more than 120 retailers. You´ll get everything there from seafood to coffee, from butcheries to wonderful bakeries. I hardly could decide what to eat, so I went there twice, for breakfast and lunch.

The original market was built back in 1803, and was made entirely out of wood. After a long phase of neglect it got redeveloped between the 1970s and 1990s. I really enjoyed walking around and looking at all the different things on display, trying some food, and absorbing the atmosphere. 

Have a look on the market´s site:

http://www.stlawrencemarket.com/

By the way, another great market, this one is in Vancouver, is the Granville Island market. I love it!
Take a Salmon Bagel at the Bagel bakery, it´s the best :)

http://granvilleisland.com/granville-island-farmers-market

The ascent of the Fujiyama

Mountains, I really love mountains. Since I was a child I´m going hiking in the Bavarian and Austrian alps.
Some years ago I decided to climb every year the highest mountain of a country (because I love to travel, it´s a great combination).
My first highest mountain of a country was the Fujiyama in Japan (well actually it was the Zugspitze in Germany, but that was years ago).

So I will tell you about my adventurous climb of the Fuji-San (the Holy Mountain).

First some informations about the mountain:

The Fuji is located on the island Honshu, south of Tokyo (it takes around two hours with the bus or car from Tokyo).
The mountain is a volcano, but not active anymore, the last eruption was in 1707. The Fujiyama has the very typical volcanic form, being round like a cone. It`s said that the Fuji is one of the most beautiful mountains in the world and since 2013 the Fuji is actually part of the UNESCO world cultural heritage.
With 3776,24 m it´s the highest mountain of Japan.

Most Japanese are shintoists and buddhists, to have two religions at the same time is just fine. For them the Fuji is a holy place. The shintoism comes from animism, which is the belief that natural places have special powers and are sacred. For this reason you will find shrines at magnificent places in nature, such as mountains, lakes etc. That´s why you´ll find a shrine (with a ´torii´ in front of the temple, that´s a huge gate) on top of the mountain.
And since the Fuji is a holy place, every Japanese person should climb it at least once in their lifetime.

But not only Japanese people climb the Fuji, also lots of tourists from all over the world (during the summer around 3000 people per day!!). You can imagine how crowded it is!
Many people climb the mountain during the night to see the sunrise in the morning, which is exactly what I did.
On a evening in mid-August (the main climbing time is July until September) I took a bus from Shinjuku Station in Tokyo to the Fuji. The bus arrived at around 10 in the evening at the seventh station.  
There are three possible tracks to climb the Fuji. Since I did not have that much time, I took the shortest, the Fuji Subaru Line. The Subaru Line 5th Station is 2300 m above sea level, so you only have to climb the last 1400 meters. 

The walk is quite monotonous, as it´s night and you naturally don´t see that much, you just walk. In between there are many huts, where you can eat or drink something, or if you want to, even sleep. They are very expensive, however.

The higher I got, the colder it became. I was really well equipped, with a warm jacket, gloves, cap and climbing boots, but nevertheless I was freezing a lot. I felt even colder, when I saw other people only in shorts and t-shirts.
I also brought a headlamp, but I didn´t really need it. There were that many people, that you always had enough light.
This was also the first time that I actually came into a traffic jam on a mountain. :)

After seven hours of walking, including some breaks, I finally reached the summit. What a feeling, really nice!

But as I was freezing as hell, I needed something warm. There was a little restaurant on top of the mountain and there I had the greatest Miso Ramen soup in the world, fantastic!
And then the sunrise: Unfortunately it was a bit cloudy, so you could not see the sun that well, but still there was a great atmosphere. 

I then met some Bavarian guys and we clinked glasses with Japanese beer at only 7
o´clock in the morning!
I surrounded the crater, and walked down again, which felt like ages as the path looked the same all the time. But I still had a great view and eventually got warm again.
Finally I arrived at the station, half dead of fatigue. But I was not the only one, as you can see in the picture bellow:

I got into the bus, and slept, then into the subway, and slept, somehow I managed to go shopping in the supermarket and to eat some tempura, but as soon I was in the hotel, I fell into the bed, and slept for 12 hours straight


...and dreamt of the Fuji!

KNISH

I went back to New York.
Whenever I return from the city, I´m full off new impressions and fascinated by interesting things that I saw, discovered and got to know.

This time it´s Knish or rather the absolutely gorgeous ´Yonah Schimmel Knish Bakery´.
You can get Knish in a lot of places, particularly at food carts. I tried it before, but found nothing special about them. But by now I definitely changed my mind!

Knish originally comes from Eastern Europe (particularly Poland) and was brought to New York by Jewish immigrants.

Yonah Schimmel, an immigrant from Romania, sold the first Knishs in 1890 in Houston Street. The first shop was then established in 1910 (with his cousin), the ´Yonah Schimmel Bakery´, which is still run by the family.
http://www.knishery.com/

Back to Knish: it is a yiddish word and means cake or dumpling. The main ingredient is potato, and then you are free to choose from a large variety: it can be filled with sauerkraut, onions, cheese but you could also go for something sweet.
During the 2000s they got quite famous again.

But how did I discover Knish at all? After my Yoga Class I made my way through the East Village. I had an excellent coffee in "9th Street Espresso" (thanks to a hint from Ulrike). Afterwards I walked down the Houston Street. I actually planned to go to "Katz Delicatessen" (the most famous Pastrami in town). But when I discovered the long queue in front of it I decided to move on instead.

So I continued walking the Houston Street and then suddenly ended up in front of the Knish bakery. It looked quite nice and cute, so I decided to give it a try.
And I was lucky :) The food and the atmosphere were fantastic.
The bakery itself is in the basement. On the first floor is the small, original café, which looks like it didn´t change much during the last centuries.

At the entrance is a big showcase with a vast choice of Knish, sweet and salty, so it is really hard to decide on what to take.
The walls are full of newspaper articles, pictures, postcards and so on (Woody Allen was here!).
So after I made up my mind (I took a sweet Knish), I sat down and enjoyed :)

By the way, if you like American/ New York food, I recommend the "New York Cookbook", from Marc Grossmann (He is a Jewish New Yorker, but lives in Paris now). When I skim through the book I recognize a lot of very nice, typical American/ New Yorker dishes (not all that healthy, but that sometimes doesn´t matter).
Simple and veeery tasty!

Eggs Benedict

I´m not a big egg fan, but I love Eggs Benedict.

Some days ago I had a discussion with my boyfriend about where Eggs Benedict come from. I said they´re from England, he said they´re from the US.

Unfortunately he was right. We did some research and we found out that there are two invention stories, not clear which one is right:
The first: The chief from Delmonico´s Restaurant in New York invented the Eggs for the financier Le Grand Benedict, he wanted something new: Eggs a la Benedict
The other story: The stock broker needed something for his hangover in 1894 in the New Yorker Waldorf - Astoria - Hotel: finally he got Eggs Benedict :)

I thought they are from England, because I ate my first Eggs Benedict in London (they seem to be very british to me anyways).

The original Eggs Benedict are made with a muffin (salty), then some bacon, a poached egg and finally sauce hollandaise .

Then I ate some in Vancouver, and I was in heaven, they where sooo good. Best Eggs Benedict ever!
They where not the classic ones, but with spinach, salmon, sauce hollandaise and on top capers. Yummy!

Quite good as well where the ones in New York in Baltahasar (http://www.balthazarny.com/), which is quite an institution in NY. Nice to be there once, but its quite pricy.

In between I tried to make them myself at home, but that´s quite tough!

I tried it quite a couple of times, but I never was really happy about the outcome.

You take some water, let it simmer, and put some vinegar inside.
Open a egg, put it in a little bowl and then slowly, put it into the water. A friend of mine gave me the tip to stir the water around, until there is a little swirl.
Leave the egg in the water, until it gets white (the eggyolk should stay liquid)
Take some bread, muffin or whatever you want, then bacon, or salmon or..... you are free to combine everything you desire :) (I even made it with avocado once).

but very important: Sauce hollandaise.
and its ready!
ENJOY

If you need some more advice, watch the millions videos on Youtube.

Mexico - City

As soon as I knew I was flying to Mexico City I decided to visit the `Casa Azul`, the house in which Frida Kahlo was born and where she died (in between she lived in many different places).

Maria, a friend of mine, gave me a nice book about F.K., and as a kind of introduction I started to read it. The book is called "Frida", and is written by Barbara Mujica (an American novelist and Spanish professor). She describes Fridas life in great detail from the viewpoint of her sister Christina. As the book is fictitious, not all the events described in the book, really took place, but the main events are correct.
I really enjoyed reading the book, it´s written very captive and interesting. Mujica starts from the very beginning when Frida was a child, going on to the marriage with Diego Rivera and the engagement with politics, ending with the sickness and dead of Frida. The personality of Frida Kahlo is described very precisely.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/411193.Frida

And I guess almost everybody knows the movie about Frida Kahlo from 2002. Frida is presented by Salma Hayek (a great actress). A really good movie!

I always liked and was fascinated by the pictures of Frida, so through the book and the movie it was fantastic to learn more about her life, her love, her suffering and the background of some pictures.



Well let´s move on to the `Casa Azul` (the blue house): 

(in fact, that house remembered me a lot of the `Jardin Majonelle`in Marrakesch, because of all the intense colors and plants).

The house is situated in the southwest of DF in Coyoacán. This used to be a proper little village by that time (you shouldn´t miss the center of Coyoacán, its really nice, with a nice square, old houses, a cathedral, market and many restaurants and cafés).

The house itself is not so big. There is a nice beautiful patio, with lots of plants and flowers.
You could visit some of the rooms (ktichen, sleepingroom etc.).
What I liked the most was to see the studio of Frida Kahlo, and of course her sleepingroom, with all the dolls and decoration.

There was another special exhibition with her beautiful Techuana dresses and her corsets, crutches etc. (these things where only discovered in 2004)
For more information see the link below:
http://www.museofridakahlo.org.mx/

To put everything togheter:
A great, emancipated women, a fascination life (even if it seemed to be very hard sometimes) and a fantastic work!

In this spirit: `Viva la Vida`

Berlin is a great city. There are a lot of things to discover.

As I love food and as Berlin is famous for its Currywurst, I will talk about it.

A nice introduction to the Currywurst would be the novel by Uwe Timm: "Die Entdeckung der Currywurst".

Actually there is a kind of fight about the Currywurst, because some people say it was invented in the Ruhrgebiet (or in Hamburg).
So whatever or whoever is right, the Currywurst is quite typical in Berlin.

When you arrive in Berlin Tegel the first thing you have to do is to visit the old sbahn-coach and eat one Currywurt with `Pommes rot-weiss`. I like them a lot there and even though they are at the airport they are affordable and quite tasty.

http://www.woellhaf-airport.de/marken-ueberblick/ess-bahn/

Another great place for CW and I guess the most famous one is the Konopke Imbiss at the Eberswalderstrasse in Prenzlauer Berg. They are sold there since 1930. Even Gerhard Schröder ate CW there. They are the oldest ones and yummy!!

http://konnopke-imbiss.de/Home.html

And by the way: On the other side is a great little cafe, inspired from NY-cafes. For the coffee and brownie.... after the CW ;)

https://www.facebook.com/NothaftSeidelCafe?ref=hl

Next check out Curry 36 in Kreuzberg at the Kottbusser Damm. This is a good an famous place too, you can choose between sausages with or without skin, they have as well `Krautsalat` (coleslaw).
Very close to Curry 36 is the famous `Gemüsedöner`, sometimes you have to wait there for 1 hour, it is supposed to be very good, but I did not try it yet.

http://www.curry36.de/

And finally my absolute favorite currywurst. You`ll find it in the Markthalle 9. This place is great and famous for the Thursday-Streetfoodmarket. You´ll find there everything to eat, from taiwanese, to schwäbisch, really great!

But to eat the Currywurst it is better to go on a saturday, because then it´s not that crowded. You have to order the Currywurst from the applepig in the Kantine, that´s the little restaurant in the market. I have to admit it´s not so typical, because its served with salad, but it´s sooo delicious, I love it!
After your lunch take a coffee in the café on the other side of the market (Eisenbahnstrasse).
Perfect!

http://www.markthalleneun.de/