Hello everyone! Day 2 here in Berlin with Visionapartments is slowly coming to an end and even though I still love the city as much as I did yesterday, I'm glad to be back in my apartment and get to go to bed really soon because I walked like 20'2939 km today (at least it felt like it) and the blisters on my feed told me a few seconds ago:"Enough walking for today Nadia, we need to get some rest. NOW!" But let's start from the top!;)
I don't know anyone in my life who loves getting up early as much as I do. I think that I haven't really slept in in about 2 years! I haven't gotten up later tan 7.30 in forever. Today I got up at 7, and like I wrote in yesterday's blogpost, went to the gym just around the corner. Until I got there it was 8.30 though because Mr.Superripe-Mangopleaseeatmenowimdeliciousman was waiting in the fridge for me, ready to be eaten. Mangoes are probably my favorite fruit at the moment! When they're super ripe and sweet I can easily eat 2-3 mangoes at once. Fruit is fuel guys- don't be afraid of eating "too much fructose".. You'd way rather still your hunger with some delicious, sweet and ripe fruit instead of something that contains refined sugar or is a processed food. It's a bit different with chocolate though haha. If you feel like eating chocolate- you don't need to necessarily eat the fruit first because you're gonna eat the chocolate anyways!:P
Anyways, I went to the gym just around the corner to work out a bit and was amazed by how big the gym was. I've never seen anything like it.. There were probably over 200 fitness machines in there! And the craziest thing is, the gym has opened it's doors for 24 hours 365 day a year. I don't know if people are actually going to work out at like 3 a.m. but if they feel like it, why not haha!
Back at Visionapartments I took a quick shower (yaaay the shower has a waterfall shower!!:D), got all ready and dressed for a new day and some "city exploring". I decided to check out the area around "Prenzlauer Berg" today. On the way I stopped for a quick and well-needed coffee at "Spreegold" around Alexanderplatz. I heard Spreegold also offers an amazing breakfast & brunch menu. Might check it out within the next few days!
A restaurant that I really wanted to have a breakfast at during my stay here in Berlin was "Daluma". Such a cute little sit-in restaurant with fresh and healthy food offering everything a healthy-foodies heart needs to start the day! From chia pudding to porridge & acai bowls, smoothies & juices, quinoa & lentil bowls, to raw vegan brownies and more. Just like me, they don't use refined sugar at all and only use fresh and wholesome ingredients to prepare their food. Definitely worth a try if you're ever in Berlin and want to fuel up with some healthy goodness! On my way there I walked by another store with handmade plates & pottery and simply couldn't resist to check it out.
I spent like an hour in there haha. Can't remember the name but I bought like 6 new plates, cups and some more amazing props I can use for my food photography. When I finally arrived at Daluma it was 12.30 already. I had a Buckwheat Porridge with a nut-banana & date-cacao topping plus a smoothie with cacao, coffee, dates & maca. I personally like it sweet and love the fact that they have coconut blossom sugar on the tables to sweeten according to your taste. Some more spoons of that for me!;)
I actually did quite a bit of work there, wrote e-mails and time flew by just like that. With a happy and satisfied belly, a bag as heavy as 10 stones (with ma laptop, my book, a camera, 10 plates and more pottery and all the rest a woman needs all day long) I walked up Prenzlauer Berg. Berlin has this coldness that lies in the air. Not in a negative way, that's really what creates such a unique atmosphere, but it's like you're constantly surrounded by and icedold & slightly grey dust that won't go away. It's somehow nice, and somehow scary. I don't know how to describe it, there's simply something in the air that makes me remind of what the city must've been like during the second world war.. Crazy how much the city developed since then. I'm looking forward to check out the eastern part of Berlin this weekend, go to the East Side gallery and check out what's left of the Berliner Mauer.
So back to Prenzlauer Berg; I basically walked around for 2 hours, was amazed by the long and wide streets, the architecture, took pictures, walked around more and realised I put on the wrong shoes. They're usually super comfy but if you walk around all day they start to hurt and you get blisters. I decided to sit in a cafe called "Rawtastic" and take a little break and have a smoothie to fuel up. Good thing they had some Food-Magazines there that I could flip through while sipping on my smoothie. I googled massage places nearby because I felt like a 200 year old grandma with a sore back and feet that look like a balloon party until a girl from Instagram messaged me she wanted to meet me before leaving Berlin the next day. I told her we can meet at "Zeit für Brot" (the place where I had the bestest cinnamon rolls yesterday) in about an hour because it was still quite a walk from "Rawtastic" to "Zeit für Brot.
Once I arrived at "Zeit für Brot" with my stone heavy bag, the balloon party on my feet that slowly started to pop, the girl was waiting there with her mom already.I didn't know what she looked like or how old she was but she recognised me quickly once I arrived. (Yes Nadia was 5 minutes late again as usual. Actually it was almost 10 but 5 doesn't sound as bad :P) We had a coffee and talked for a bit. It was really cute because she, Amelie, was a bit nervous and wanted to take pictures before she had to leave.;)
Some people might really dislike Social Media but without Social Media, without Instagram, I wouldn't be where I am today. I truly and honestly wouldn't. You meet people from all around the world, you make connections and build up friendships, so many doors open and I get to do fantastic things like this trip to Berlin with Visionapartments. Of course, writing a book also contributed a lot to all the things I can do now that are so much fun, but still- without Social Media no "Nadia Damaso- Eat Better Not Less."
For dinner I met up with another girl I "met" over Instagram. Her name's Giulia and she's super nice. She's 24 and was born and raised here in Berlin and offered me to show me around the city a bit and show me good places to eat and such. We met for dinner at "Rawtastic" again. Yap- it's only now that I realise it's where I had a smoothie earlier but I think I was too busy thinking about the balloon party going on on my feet haha. Thought I went to a place called "Fantastic" but no, same same, it was "Rawtastic as well. Anyways, dinner was delicious. I had a Raw Pizza with a Flax & Nut Base, homemade Tomate Sauce, Grilled Mushrooms, Avocado, fresh Greens, Cashew Cheese, dried Tomatoes, a Chaga-Almond Drink, and some Summer Rolls with and Almond-Dip as a starter. We sat in there for almost 2.5 hours until we left to take the Metro back home. It was really nice meeting her and we're gonna go to the "Markthalle Neun" market together tomorrow. Looking forward to that because I adore food-markets!
Okay, it's 2.30 a.m now and I will finish the post tomorrow morning because I'm having a hard time not to fall asleep in this cozy bed!:P
It was a great day again though! Hope to see you on here tomorrow, bis morgen und adiosssss amigosss! :)
x Nadia
