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Cochem: A Few Days in the German Countryside

Cochem is a place in the German countryside, in Rhineland-Palatinate. Although it is a district seat, it is rather small with about 5,000 inhabitants. Although it is probably easiest to arrive by car, traveling by rail is convenient as well. And as you know: we will always prefer to travel sustainably! We had booked a vacation home with a surprisingly comfortable Murphy bed (our first time in a Murphy bed!) and a little kitchen. Although Cochem had almost no COVID-19 cases when we visited, we nevertheless wanted to be careful and a place where we could make our own food was a perfect solution. But although it rained a lot, we luckily could enjoy a few patios. Cochem lies at the Moselle and is part of the Mosel wine region. The Mosel wines are amongst the best (if not the best) wines in Germany and the local/regional wines in Cochem were delicious. Since Cochem is a popular town for tourists and day visitors, there were lots of restaurants. But this popularity also meant that prices wer
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2020: A Review

2020 has been difficult. We lost many people to the pandemic or to police brutality. Many of us lost friends and relatives, jobs, homes, livelihoods. And in a year like this one, it can be so difficult to see the good moments of life. Here are our favorite 2020 memories: In January, we spent a long weekend in Belgium . We saw dinosaurs in Brussels, took many walks in Bruges, and had fantastic food and drinks. In February, we went ice-skating—our first time as a couple, but both of us haven't done this often in general. We celebrated our first anniversary and ended the month with one of our favorite holidays: carnival! This was the last time we spent time in a crowd: we already knew that COVID-19 was a threat, but weren't aware of its severity yet. At the beginning of March, we attended an ArtNight and painted abstract vulvas with a colorful bunch of people. This also started our acrylic painting journey which would help us through the following months because in March and April

LGBTQ+ Books for Young Adults

When we were young, we only (mainly?) had books with straight characters. We didn't see any representation of LGBTQ+ characters. Luckily, we see an increasing number of queer books these days— for adults ,   for younger readers,  and  for kids . And although we aren't that young anymore, we occasionally enjoy reading a YA book. Here are three books we enjoyed: Amy Feltman's Willa & Hesper (2019) is not a typical love story. Studying Creative Writing, Willa and Hesper meet at Columbia and quickly fall in love with each other. But their love is not meant to be and soon, they break up dramatically. To mend their broken hearts, both leave on trips to find their roots: Willa goes on a trip for young Jews to Germany and visits places of the Holocaust. Hesper and her family visit her grandfather's family in Tbilisi, Georgia, and she begins to uncover her family's hidden history. What If It's Us (2018) by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera brings us romance, friends

Our Favorite Destinations in Cologne (Part 3): Skulpturenpark

The Skulpturenpark ('sculpture park') is one of our absolute favorites. When we just started dating, Else told Ilse about this park that Ilse didn't know. So, for our second date, Else planned a walk including this park (we wrote about it in  another post ). 19 months later, we were back for our monthversary, after we had planned to revisit more than once. But we always found other places to explore and somehow kept postponing our visit. In 1997, the Skulpturenpark opened its first exhibition with contemporary sculptures from all over the world. The exhibitions are usually open for about two years; then, a new exhibition is curated. While most artworks are then removed from the park, others aren't—there are still a few sculptures from the very first and following exhibitions. Recently, the tenth exhibition opened and and you can visit it until 2022. While some artworks are huge and cannot be missed, others are smaller such as Lonesome George by AyÅŸe Erkmen, a tiny snail

Lockdown Activities

Most of us are having a hard time with the second round of lockdowns in many parts of the world. So we started to collect ideas for lockdown activities (thanks to everyone who answered our call on Instagram!) and share them with you. Here they are (and please feel free to add ideas in the comments): Go Outdoors! It's getting cold outside (at least in the northern hemisphere), but when the sun is shining (or you have proper clothes), outdoor activities are the best! We (re)discovered  our love for being outdoors during our first lockdown and try to maintain it. You might not feel like leaving your warm living room, you might be exhausted afterwards, but we always feel so satisfied after a good hike or bike tour. If you live somewhere warm (or aren't like Else who is always freezing), we recommend canoeing! Get Creative! If you can't get yourself to go outside, start crafting something. We love painting and knitting, but you could also draw, crochet, sew, cross-stitch, or ma

Happy birthday, Else!

Today is a very special day because it is Else's birthday! For me (Ilse) this is my favorite day of the year because I love surprising Else. I wish her birthday celebration could go on for days and weeks. Just make it an Else-year. I never thought that I would meet my soulmate on tinder when I started using the app about 2 years ago. Flash forward to November 9th 2020. Else is sitting next to me while I am writing this blog text. I never thought that I would be so happy in 2020. She makes me incredibly happy. She is the most caring and most funny person in the universe and she always manages to make me smile or laugh even when I'm in a really bad mood or even when the world seems to be going down. 2020 is a very challenging year for everyone. The pandemic is affecting the mood. It sometimes depresses me a lot and I start to worry or miss things so much. And then there is Else who never fails to cheer me up and to put me in a good mood. And now, more than ever, it is so importan

Our Secret Passion: Romantic Movies about Older People

We love movies with older people! They show that we can be happy when we are older and we love the idea of growing old together. And even if people don’t have anyone while growing old, it’s never too late to find someone. And, maybe most importantly, these movies star old(er) actors and particularly actresses who so often aren’t engaged anymore—even though they experienced so much in their lives. As actresses and as protagonists. Here are a few of our favorite movies: Something’s Gotta Give (2003) We love Diane Keaton! In this movie, her character continuously changes and develops. She is self-confident and comfortable in her body and her life. The movie illustrates that we can love and find love in every phase of our life. This movie tells a wonderfully amusing story about love later in life. The Leisure Seeker (2017) A movie about a married couple who spent their entire lives with each other—including all the ups and downs. To reminisce about their shared life, they go on their last