Julika, Author at sateless suitcase

Photo Essay: The Façades of Ljubljana

Ljubljana was an amazingly pleasant surprise. I had heard about the city's beauty before, but when I got there it turned out that Ljubljana is way more than just beautiful. The Slovenian capital is surrounded by mountains and woods - although you are in a country's capital, you still feel like you are in a little mountain city. Ljubljana has everything a fancy big city has - beautiful stylish people, chic cafés, fashionable second-hand shops, and street art. But at the same time it also broadcasts this wonderful cozy atmosphere that makes you like it and feel at home there immediately. [...]

By Julika|2013-05-07T04:33:46+02:002012/12/17|Categories: Art History, Photo Essay|Tags: Europe, Ljubljana, Photo Essay, Slovenia|13 Comments

A Tale of Temporariness

December is here after all. The festive but final month of the year. Here Germany it has been snowing since the very beginning of December, and I'm living in a true winter wonderland right now. Although it's so pretty and Christmassy outside, December also forces me to reflect on the almost past year. 2012 has been an exciting year for me. On my daily walks through the snowy woods however, I realize that this year totally didn't turn out the way I thought it would. If you had asked me what my future life would look like back on that [...]

By Julika|2013-05-07T04:40:50+02:002012/12/13|Categories: Specials|Tags: Europe, Germany, thoughts|22 Comments

Photo Essay: The Christmas Carousel in Leipzig

It's the Christmas season - time for Christmas markets, lights, hot drinks, and coziness. Today, I visited the Christmas market in Leipzig, Saxony, Germany. Although I've moved and traveled around Germany for the longest time of my life, I had never been to the state of Saxony until now. Among the people living in the former Western German states the "East" tends to have a bad reputation, but I was absolutely positively surprised! Leipzig is incredibly beautiful... especially with all the Christmas lights and the fragrant smells of food and mulled wine in the air. My picturesque Christmas highlight: The old-fashioned [...]

By Julika|2013-05-07T04:34:00+02:002012/12/10|Categories: Art History, Photo Essay|Tags: Germany, Photo Essay|4 Comments

Croatia – Endless Shades of Blue!

It's true what they say: The Adriatic Sea is so very blue it's unreal! While visiting Croatia, I couldn't get over how divine these blues were. Blue definitely is the color of Croatia: The water, the sky, the house doors - all blue, all in a different shade, all shimmering, all mesmerizing... See for yourself! My little collection of favorite pictures of Croatia's Endless Shades of Blue:

By Julika|2013-05-07T04:41:02+02:002012/12/07|Categories: Croatia, Destinations, Europe, Specials|Tags: Croatia, Europe|4 Comments

Photo Essay: The Louvre in the Rain

Paris in the rain is one of the prettiest clichés in the world... Paris is gorgeous in the sunshine, romantic at night - but it feels most unreal and beautiful in the rain. This may sound like a combination of a Woody Allen movie and a Cole Porter song, but for me it's most certainly true. When I was about to enter the central square of the Palais du Louvre last month in Paris there was a sudden massive cloudburst. Within seconds the downpour wetted the large Louvre court. All the tourists that were posing in front of the pyramid before [...]

By Julika|2013-06-23T22:29:23+02:002012/12/03|Categories: Art History, Photo Essay|Tags: Europe, France, Museums, Paris, Photo Essay|2 Comments

A Walk Around Cimetière de Montmartre

I admit I'm a little quirky... I love the middle ages, I love churches, I love Gothic architecture. And with all that comes that I also truly love cemeteries. It sounds morbid, but I like the intense stillness on graveyards. The veneration that slightly overcomes you, and the subtle shivering that makes you hush... It inspires me. When I visited Paris six years ago, I was really sad that I did not make it to the famous Père Lachaise Cemetery. I wanted to see it ever since. When I spontaneously spent a weekend in Paris this month my host and personal guide Janina, [...]

By Julika|2013-05-07T04:41:16+02:002012/11/30|Categories: Destinations, Europe, France|Tags: Architecture, Europe, France, Paris|6 Comments

Photo Essay: The Cathedral of Cologne

In my very first semester of art history back in 2007 I took a class called "The Medieval Cathedral"... not only because I loved Gothic cathedrals ever since I saw one for the first time, but also because my professor had a field trip planned. He had some connections to the stonemasons' workshop, which could offer us a behind the scenes tour. Now, what is "behind the scenes" when it comes to a medieval cathedral? My art historian's dream come true: The roof! The passages above the vaults! The restoration workshop! The triforium! Everything you might know is there, but [...]

By Julika|2013-05-07T04:34:12+02:002012/11/26|Categories: Art History, Photo Essay|Tags: Architecture, churches, Germany, medieval, Photo Essay|2 Comments

Around the World in 80 Coffees?!

When I was skimming through the pictures I took on my trips during the last year I realized that I developed a strange habit: I take pictures of my coffees. A lot. It may be an unconscious result of my addiction, but I consider coffee to be picture-worthy. And pretty. And very cultural. Are you aware that "Coffee" is one of the easiest words to learn in so many languages? Coffee, café (French, Portuguese, Spanish - all covered in one word!), caffè (Italian), Kaffee (German), koffie (Dutch), káva (Czech, Slovakian), kava (Croatian, Slovenian, Lithuanian - again, 3 languages, one word!), kaffe (Norwegian, Swedish), [...]

By Julika|2013-05-07T04:41:25+02:002012/11/24|Categories: Specials|Tags: Algarve, Croatia, Europe, Lisbon, London, Paris, Prague|24 Comments

The Beautiful Island of Rab, Croatia – In Pictures

The great thing about staying on the islands in the Croatian Adriatic Sea is that it is pretty easy to do "island-hopping". Although staying on one island most of the time, you can easily explore some of the other islands and the main land for attractions like Plitvice Lakes by boat. In the summer season the boat trips in-between the islands, the Croatian main land and even to Italy are offered on a daily basis. However, most of them discontinue in the fall as the sea tends to be less predictable and the wind gets very strong. Luckily, some of the touristic mini-cruises for [...]

By Julika|2013-05-07T04:34:25+02:002012/11/20|Categories: Croatia, Destinations, Europe|Tags: Architecture, churches, Croatia, Europe, medieval|10 Comments

Photo Essay: Lisbon’s Road to the Orient

Lisbon is famous for the old medieval quarters and romantic balconies with fresh washed laundry... But the city also has a more modern side to it: The former industrial area in Lisbon's east had a bad reputation until it was completely remodeled for the world exhibition Expo in 1998. Since 1998 was the 500 year anniversary of Vasco da Gama's famous reaching of India via ship - one of the proudest moments in Portuguese history - the district was dedicated to him and Portugal's Golden Age. The fancy new train station there was named Oriente after da Gama's discovering of the [...]

By Julika|2013-05-07T04:34:33+02:002012/11/19|Categories: Art History, Photo Essay|Tags: Europe, Lisbon, Photo Essay, Portugal|4 Comments

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