Just a quickie - a visit to Potsdam

As you may or may not be aware, depending on whether we're Facebook friends, I have arrived in Germany! My first few days in the south-western university town of Tübingen were something of a mixed bag - I'm sure that that'll eventually find its way into a blog post somehow - and so, before the start of Tübingen's semester in October, I've temporarily decamped about as far as it is possible to go while staying within Germany's borders. I'm getting away for a little while to see the sights of the German capital with my friend Rachel, who is spending part of her Year Abroad here in Berlin.

On Saturday, we went to Potsdam, the capital of Brandenburg, to the south of Berlin, visiting some of the city's many palaces - here are a handful of the pictures I took.

Wish you were here - Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Ahead of departing for my Year Abroad, I've been contemplating making a few changes to my blog. I'm hoping, at least, that the next twelve months or so will give me a huge amount of material to write about - if all goes to plan, I should have lots of interesting things to cover. Heck, if it all goes spectacularly awry, that'll be even more exciting, right?! In any case, I'm pleased to say that there are a few ideas in the pipeline, the first of which is to write a regular series on my blog to keep you updated on my travels.

You might already have seen my first Five Free Things post about our recent trip to London, but I've been thinking about a series in which I could tell you a bit about my more general whereabouts and share with you some of my favourite photos and just a few short captions - like postcards, if you will. That's the idea behind my Wish You Were Here posts, the first of which comes to you from Amsterdam.

Wanting to get away for a short break before the new term begins in earnest, we spent a few days there at the end of August after getting lucky on lastminute.com. We stayed at the gorgeous NH Barbizon Palace, whose staff were absolutely wonderful throughout, even giving us a free continental breakfast when we checked out at the ungodly hour of 5am! The hotel is directly opposite Centraal Station and just a short tram-ride from Amsterdam's main attractions, of which we took full advantage; over the course of our four-day stay, I'd hazard a guess that we averaged around ten museums, two canal cruises, and a generous glug of Heineken.

Top: A passenger ferry crosses the IJ in front of Amsterdam's futuristic EYE Film Institute, with A'DAM Toren in the background.

Above: Passing beneath Magere Brug on a canal cruise on the first day of our visit. City legend has it that the original bridge, built in 1691, was constructed for two wealthy sisters who lived on opposite sides of the Amstel. But the origins of the bridge's name are disputed; according to one story, it is derived from the sisters' surname, Mager. In another version, the sisters, though rich, could only afford to build a very narrow structure - hence its name, meaning 'Skinny Bridge'.

Top: Dancing houses at the Damrak. These beautiful buildings were on our route into the city each day. The Damrak runs from Centraal Station in the north to Dam Square in the south, and, along the way, is home to the famous De Bijenkorf department store.

Above: Wandering in Vondelpark. It's the largest park in the city and probably the nation's most famous, just a stone's throw from three of our favourite attractions at Museumsplein: Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, a museum of modern and contemporary art; the Rijksmuseum, the Netherlands' national museum; and the Van Gogh Museum. Though at one point we got caught out in a thundery downpour, our Vondelpark walkabout was one of the highlights of our trip - the green parakeets, who live wild in the park, and the art installation of singing swings were my personal favourites.

Top: Gazing up at the Royal Palace, or even Koninklijk Paleis op de Dam, if you fancy having a go at pronouncing that. Set on Dam Square at the heart of the city, the palace is right in the thick of it - it's not often you'll find an official royal residence opposite Madame Tussaud's on one side and a shopping mall on the other! If, like me, you're a bit of a geek and have a thing for European royalty, you'll love 'Journey in Time', an exhibition on six hundred years of Dutch history, including the story of the House of Orange at De Nieuwe Kerk, where reigning monarchs King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima tied the knot in 2002.

Above: We visited Amsterdam's Hortus Botanicus, which, at three-hundred-and-seventy-five years old, is one of the oldest botanical gardens in the world. It's one of a number of attractions we could access for free - yes, free - with the I amsterdam City Card. But more on that later...!

Above: A view over the city from Skylounge Amsterdam - a wonderful way to spend our final evening and round off our visit. The bar perches atop a hotel just a couple of minutes from the station, and it's the perfect place to relax with a glass of wine or a hot chocolate (or, indeed, both) while taking in breathtaking panoramic views across the city. You'd be forgiven for thinking it an expensive place to visit, what with it being attached to a Hilton, but we were treated to complementary nibbles, and even a second cup of chocolate at no extra cost. 

And, of course, the views are worth every cent.

It's beginning to look just a little bit like Christmas...

The weather has got a lot colder recently and I'm starting to feel festive! Although I'm not sure that we're properly into winter yet, we've had a couple of frosty mornings and there's a late autumnal chill in the air. The colours of the trees on our street here in Exeter look so pretty and fortunately they seem to have remained intact, in spite of the 'storm' we supposedly had a couple of weeks ago. 

Oli and I took a break from our heavy work schedules last weekend and strolled down towards the quayside, with our trusty Exeter Trails Café Culture map in hand. We visited the Coffee Cellar, a lovely independent coffee shop situated in one of the Victorian wool and cider cellars, and I made what I thought was a valiant attempt to finish the most enormous slice of carrot cake known to man. 

After our refreshments, we walked along the riverbank. The storm seemed to have done a little damage here but it was still a lovely excursion and it's always nice to have a break from the textbooks, translations and such like.

This weekend, Crikey It's Vintage held their Christmas handmade, retro and vintage fair at the Thistle Hotel in Exeter and I braved the planned march by the English Defence League to do a little Christmas shopping. There were some lovely festive decorations, including bunting, baubles and tree ornaments, as well as pretty handmade gifts. These earrings from Kimbows would make great stocking fillers and you can mix'n'match any of the necklaces and bracelets for a set price.

Although I've seen and admired The Peagreen Furniture Company's stalls at many of Crikey's previous fairs, I've not bought anything from them until now. While I was smelling some of their festive scented candles (including eggnog, spiced gingerbread and cinnamon toasted almonds - yum!), I spotted a perfect present for a loved one. Of course, I couldn't tell you what it was or who it's for until after December 25th!

Kitsch In Sync and Otto Retro both had stalls at the fair. I thought that Kitsch in particular had a vast range of pretty little gifts for Christmas; the problem with trying to shop at Crikey is that I saw far more things that I wanted to buy for myself than for others, which is v selfish, but everything was just too lovely. 

I really ought to pay a visit to Exeter-based Otto, but I've not yet made it! I rather wanted to try on all of their hats and there was a beautiful evening dress on display. There's a masquerade ball for the joint languages' societies in January, so I may find myself in want of a new-old ballgown yet...

As well as some familiar favourites, I came across Ravintsara for the first time. Based locally in Crediton, Sara creates hand-crafted, unique accessories and bags, including these pretty felt ones above. Most of her products are made using recycled materials, so they're good for the environment and, at affordable prices, good for your purse too; I'll definitely be looking out for Ravintsara at future events.

The Christmas lights are being switched on in Exeter's city centre on Thursday, and the German-style festive market will be opening on the same evening, so there's going to be lots to look forward to over my next few weeks in the city. 

Don't forget that the Unique Boutique arts and crafts market will be at Exeter Phoenix on November 30th and December 14th, so do come along and, in the meantime, keep an eye out for a new blog post in due course!

Just a quickie - the end of reading week

This week has been the university's reading week, which is something like a half-term, although I think the official line is that it's supposed to be used for getting work finished off and not going on holiday! But I managed to get heaps of things done earlier in the week, so Oli and I spent part of the weekend with his family in Teignmouth and stayed with his grandparents there. When we came back to Exeter today, we met up with my parents and sister for lunch, so we've been very lucky and spoilt this weekend! In the coming week, it'll be back to lectures and seminars, so it was nice to make the most of the time off while it lasted.

It's November now and I think winter is my favourite season. In Teignmouth, we took Toffee the labrador for a walk along the beach - it was quite cold and windy, but the sun was shining and it's such a beautiful time of year. Here are a few of the pictures that I took along the way...