Southampton is probably a city with nice typical English houses, lots of brick, pretty gardens. I could see that from the distance.
But when you are docked in port an on foot, walking distance does not take you there. I was happy to see a typical red telephone box :).
Other than that, my shopping recommendations are those of shops that are not available where I live:
Marks & Spencer, 23 Harbour Parade, Southampton SO15 1QB (in the West Quay Shopping Center)
GAP (although that is not a local business), 55-57 Quest Quay Shopping Centre, SO14 7EG (fasctinated by those British post codes – the shop are next to each other!)
I had great memories of M&S, but do not quite recall what it was, that I bought there decades ago, when in England ;)…
Then, not for locals, but for a shop that has its HQ in my country, there is a Lidl. I actually went in not to buy food basics, but to see if I´d find anything British there. I did not. But some great fresh cherries for breakfast
Lidl, High Street without a number
And I got a bit crazy in the wonderful food store of M&S, where I did not buy food (luckily I had more than I can eat, where I presently stayed at), but only took photos of all the beautiful company packages. I only bought a cool bag as it came with this presently hip slogan, „Keep cool and…“.
Absolutely every item looks stylish in a Marks & Spencer package! I couldn´t have decided anyway, or bought the entire shop… it all looked like in a Delikatessen store, lovely. I could have taken 100 or 200 photos, but I did not have the time ;).
I have a windows smartphone. That is a problem. It is a very nice Nokia Lumia, and I am a „Nokia girl“, always had Nokias. The phone is great, it has a larger display than the iPhone, which I prefer, and the only thing I cannot manage at all is the music section (can´t manage to upload my albums).
But the problems are the apps. Any useful app, like for taxi, local public transportation, airports and other very helpful travel stuff – is not available for windows.
So when an app is available also for windows – by the original author/provider – I am kind of thrilled ;).
xe.com is the currency converter I use on my notebook – and the app is available on windows too. And it works offline, which is great too.
It was of special help, when I outed myself as tourist in Prague recently, and the Vietnamese fruit shop dealer wanted this sum below for a box of raspberries. I guess he thought I wouldnt be able to convert the sum that quickly. Specially as I was watchin the German FIFA WC match on his shop screen for a moment. But: not with me ;)! I did not buy it at this rip-off price.
I had previously only been to Paris 2-3 times for a few hours and do not remember much.
Now this time I went to Paris for a reason, My brother was opening his Tiki Pop exhibition in the famous Quai Branly Museum in the center of Paris, right next to the Eiffel Tower.
This was a reason for many of his fans to come over and join in! And for me to discover Paris for the first time, adding a few days for business and half a day for private sightseeing. In addition to the many fun Tiki events with the fan crowd, seing family and making new friends.
I was never interested in visiting Paris. French people from Paris so far were arrogant and if you didnt speak the language 100% perfectly, they would mainly ignore you. A hectic and expensive city.
This opinion changed now and I now happily love Paris. It is green, lots of parks, water, small silent side streets, so much fancy shopping opportunities. And its people are lovely. Every single time I held up my city or metro map, I immediately had a helpful citizen next to me giving me hints and answers.
I mostly used the very cheap Velib bicycles, which is a task by itself, finding stations that have bikes and have space to return them to, and a few other small problems often…. Not much loving the metro with too long escalators for my taste, though they are fast and effective. Buses are fun too, partially for sightseeing and due to not being permanently overcrowded.
There are many reasons and districts to discover and sightseeing and venues to come back for! And to improve my French, which back then was the only subject that saved me in school and made me pass my Abitur.
Please have a look at the photo album section „Earth Albums“ for my 4 Paris photo albums:
Tiki Pop, Tour Eiffel, Snapshots, Sightseeing
Now that was a weird drive. Pretty short from Chemnitz, just 2,5 hours on empty roads. No proper gas station on my side of the road (just outgoing the Czech Republic), not a single sign for where to buy the vignette I do need for motorways, me constantly worrying to be stopped for the lack. Hilly in the Erzgebirge, with beautiful views.
And then I was just lucky and extremely good in time – until nearly the arrival. Travelling with a print-out of google maps is mostly OK. I have different size print outs and write notes next to the signage and text.
But what does that help if the streets have no proper street signage, like when you get into Prague?? Not at each corner as I am used to. Not the name of the street you are on to know you are on the right way. Not the names of the side streets to let you know how far you are already. That was quite tricky, but travelling on a Sunday made it easier, so I did not bother to many people behind me. I only missed two turns because of that, but then I used my smartphones app to help me and hey, it worked, and it was great help. Me and a „Navi“, wow ;), thought I would never use one again. I was so there at my destination, until it was surrounded by one-way streets and construction sites.
Now I am at my first airbnb stay, and of course off for a first long discovery photowalk any minute!
In the morning, I rented a city bike (2,00 EUR per day!) and went into the center. Not that you need a bicycle to get there, in Chemnitz, but I prefer to sit and walk, instead of just walk on my flat feet all day. It is a mit awkward as I stop every few meters to take a photo… but also I get much further out of the center, as I always see something in the far back which looks interesting, so need to get close.
This morning I went to borrow a bike here in Chemnitz. It is very cheap (2,00EUR per day only, a month for 20,00EUR) and they system works „very manually“, nearly cute. The centric station is located inside the central station (Hauptbahnhof).
But as a permanent snapshotter I need a basket or similar on my bike. My bag stuff is doing it too, but it would be easier I thought, if I had it all right in front of me, openly.
So I happily went into the Decathlon sports store in the center of town and bought this great bag. It already proved to be helpful. E.g. for camera, city map, paper+pen.
After some good 6 hours driving through rainy Germany, the weather forecast was obsolete, as instead of heavy thunderstorms I was awaited by the most pleasant weather in Chemnitz. The day ended with a wonderful red sunset and some 20°C still at night.
First I checked the area around my accommodation, as usual. A bit more intensive than I normally would, because I am here (also) on research for a new service I want to offer.
I was surprised about the large buildings, the wide streets – and how empty the city was. I hardly saw anyone, on a weekday 5pm (and later). Even more surprising as these are the first of not too many warm days/nights in Germany. Too many people unfortunately moved away after the wall came down. The receptionist told me 3/4 of his school mates left to the West.
Previously, Chemnitz had some 300.000 inhabitants. Now it is some 250.000 but that includes more suburbs, so is kinda not a number to compare. Alledgedly, people are slowly returning now. And alledgedly, Chemnitz is the city (of the former GDR cities) with the best economical progress.
It is sad to see this beautiful city with too little inhabitants. Which happened and happens to all the East of Germany. No work here. But I would think that due to that there are more chances for building up own businesses.
I like it here, I like the space, the green, the people, the silence. Never seen such a clean and empty modern train station before in Germany!
Here is what I will take with me for my 3-city/country-tour tomorrow:
Computer: Sony Vaio notebook + mouse + charger + spare SD card + internet cable (if that is faster than wifi, as I remember)
Camera: Canon Power Shot SX260HS + charger + spare battery + little pole + camera lens cleaning cloth + neck cord
Smartphone: Nokia Lumia 920 with Windows 8.0 (and such missing the most important apps) + chargers for wall/notebook/car + mobile charger which has to be precharged – waiting for the new solar charger to arrive!
Mobile Phone: Nokia 6300 telephone + charger + spare battery > for when the smartphone runs out of battery when out and about (the extra battery rather for real emergencies like when getting stuck somewhere for a week….everlasting!)
Pocket lamp, multi socket, earplugs, usb-stick, cord for new solar charger
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