New Caledonia - Nouvelle Caledonie

Over the past month I had the chance to visit a very interesting place called New Caledonia. Until just recently, I had no clue of its existence and it was a fascinating experience to explore this French island off the coasts of Australia and New Zealand. The island is surrounded by smaller isles that all encompass New Caledonia and are currently a French territory. Out of these I visited the main island and Isle de Pins. The original peoples of this land are called Kanak, which translates to "man", and the majority still live in rural tribes until today. Here is a glance of my visit:

RUS: На прошлом месяце мне удалось побывать в очень интересном месте под названиям Новая Каледония. До недавнего времени я даже не подозревала о существование этого места и поэтому была очень рада шансу исследовать этот Французский остров где-то между Австралией и Новой Зеландией. Этот остров окружен мелкими островками которые все принадлежат архипелагу Новой Каледонии. Из островов я побывала на Острове Сосен (на фотках Ile de Pins). Первые люди этого места называются Канаки, что переводиться как "человек", и многие их этих людей все еще живут в поселениях как и раньше. Вот отрывки из моего путешествия:

Anse Vata, Noumea, Ice Cream Time!

Swimming in a waterfall at Hienghène, 

Saint Joseph's Cathedral, Noumea

Hienghene

Ile aux Canards, Noumea

Ile aux Canards, Noumea

Place des Cocotiers, Noumea 

Ile de Pins

À la piscine naturel d'Isle de Pins

Ile de Pins, les grottes

Cascade, Hienghene

Ouré Tera Hotel, Ile de Pins

Baie de Kuto, Ile de Pins

Ile de Pins 

Shells, Ile de Pins

Le bac sur la Ouaième

Ile de Pins

Une Pirogue

La Piscine Naturelle, Ile de Pins 

Ile de Pins

Ile de Pins

Water Taxi, Noumea

À la Piscine Naturelle, Ile de Pins

.Today I Learnt.

Since I have changed the goal of this blog to inspire curiosity. I want to introduce a new section. Each time I come across an interesting fact that about any topic of study, I will post it here.

Today's finding is to do with biology which I have never studied before. I learned that when a natural habitat's size is reduced to 1/10 of its original size, nearly HALF of the spices die! This fascinated me and I wanted to share with all of you in order to help spark your curiosity as to what you can to do prevent habitat destruction. A few examples are reducing consumption and increasing awareness.

DIY - SCHNAPPS!

Over Christmas time, my roommates in Germany taught me how to make home-made schnapps with all sorts of citrus goodies. It is a brilliant gift idea and/or serves as a tasty apératif before a meal.

Here is a simple and amusing layout of the steps you need to follow:

Firstly, wash all of the citrus fruits, limes, lemons and clementines thoroughly.

Take the peel off of the clementines.

Prepare your bottles of alcohol. This can be any alcohol with a strength level of 40% and higher. 

Next, peel the zest off of the lemons and limes.

Put all the peels inside the alcohol until the bottle is full.

Now let the alcohol absorb the flavours for around 1 week.

 After one week, prepare a syrup by melting sugar and heating it up with water. Mix this with the resulting alcohol from the bottles. Of course, take out the peels in advance.

Purchase or reuse some little bottles to hold the resulting liquor . This one is the lime schnapps with a piece of fruit dropped inside as a finishing touch.

Enjoy!

Anna

.Digital Era.

I have missed you, my dear fellow bloggers. It has been much too long since I last wrote, as Germany has been keeping me plenty busy. Nonetheless, I am here my lovely bloggers and followers and December is the month where I will surely keep you inspired and entertained.

This post is to simply acknowledge a beautiful short film that has expressed exactly what I have been pondering about the digital era that has overtaken our lives by storm. It is a beautiful portrayal of the truth and importance of living and being present in our physical/emotional worlds, and not letting technology overtake our precious time on earth. 

It is only 2 minutes so please give it a look:

http://vimeo.com/49425975#embed

*Thanks to 225days for posting about it initially!

Dresden Dolls!

Last weekend a few friends and I visited the East German city of Dresden. Expecting nothing at all in particular, I was shocked by the incredible architecture that made me think of Prague or Vienna, based on photos I have seen. Everywhere in the city you can observe ash-covered statues and buildings that were purposefully left in that state to remind us of WWII. Unarguably, it adds to the character of the city, but not without an eery feeling of the constant reminder of Germany's past. The distinction between East Germany and Bavaria was immediately evident through the alternative/indie and underground scenes in the city, which were quite to my taste. A big thanks for Nicola for some of the photos in this post!

На прошлой неделе я ездила в Восточную Германию, город Дрезден. Особо не ожидав ничего, я была шокирована архитектурой которая мне напомнила фотографии Праги или Венны. Везде в городе видны здания и статуи покрытые черным пепелом. Это было задумано при реставрации города чтобы вторая мировая война некогда не забывалась. Безусловно, это добавляет характер городу, но не без жуткого напоминания про прошлое Германии. Разница между Восточной Германией и Баварией была сразу заметна через присутствие альтернативного множества, чего собственно мне понравилось.

Dresden Altstadt on the map
Дрезден, старый город на карте

Caught a beautiful Opera performance by this duo in an arch in the centre of the city.
Поцмали замечательное Опепрное выступление этой пары в арке а центре города.

Cora and I after a lot of walking
С Корой после долгой ходьбы 

                

By day

By night

Travel, experience, find your happiness!