The challenge: Use the clues in this room to unlock the door.  Photo credit: HintQuest.com

This spring, I'm making a few changes to my home and garden and I'd like to incorporate elements inspired by our recent trip around the world. Although I can't plant exotic tropical flowers in Boston, nor do I have the space for nest beds, I can look for a few pieces that remind me of some of my favorite places. So, in no particular order, here are a 15 things from around the world that would be fun to replicate at home. 

1. Bangkok, Thailand: Nest Beds
Nesting has taken on a whole new meaning in Bangkok. The shape of these human sized sanctuaries will make the most boring of outdoor spaces intriguing. Add a light inside and create glowing garden sculptures at night!

Photo by Eva Barbier from blog post: Chillin' Out In Bangkok

2. Hamburg, Germany: Modern Rococo
I'm typically not a fan of rococo and prefer balancing frills and flourishes with corners and crisp lines. However, I reveled in this little cafe in Hamburg, sipping my chai tea slowly while sinking into a cozy velvet couch.  I have no idea if they intentionally distressed the walls or if they just spruced up a derelict space with vintage couches from Oma and Opa's house. Whatever they did, it worked. 

Photo by Eva Barbier from blog post: Hamburg, Bremen & Bloemendaal

3. Cappadocia, Turkey: Canvas & Carpet Covered Terraces
While in Turkey, we spent two glorious mornings having breakfast here, overlooking the cave town of Goreme. I've been thinking about using canvas to provide shade on my deck during the hot summer since it's pretty easy to put up and take down. I also love the rug covered table for extra lounging.

Photo by Eva Barbier. To learn more about Turkey, visit our Turkey Destination Page. 

4. Cambodia: Colored Wooden Blinds
These colorful blinds would add cheer to any space such as a nursery, kitchen or my home office.

Photo by Eva Barbier from the blog post: Waterworld: The Floating Village of Kompong Phluk, Cambodia

5. Yangshuo, China: Wagon Wheel Benches
Check out these benches at our Inn in Yangshuo. They are made by attaching local wood planks to an axle and wagon wheels. This set-up is a charming alternative to a traditional picnic table. 

Photo by Eva Barbier from blog post: Days 167-170: Yangshuo, China - Hiking and Biking the Karst Mountains

6. Koh Lanta, Thailand: Bamboo Lounges & Pyramid Pillows
Koh Lanta is one of the places i miss most often because we found total relaxation here. Perhaps it's because bamboo lounges and beds are scattered along the beaches, waiting for a wanderer to plop down for a cold beer and a little shut eye. The colorful pyramid pillows are a nice touch, and help prop up one's head in order to enjoy the sea view.  I don't think bamboo would last in the harsh Boston weather, but if i ever live somewhere milder I plan on creating my own little slice of Lanta. 

Photo of The Indian bar in Koh Lanta by Eva Barbier from Our Guide to Koh Lanta, Thailand

7. Ubud, Bali: Stone & Wood Carvings
Bali is full of insanely talented artisans and artists that have been perfecting their craft for generations. We visited gardens, homes and temples full of intricately carved statues and furniture. Two of my favorite pieces were these Balinese women who seem full of happiness and peace. Generally, this is how I feel after a really good meal. They would look lovely in my garden and remind me of the warmth and hospitality we experienced in Bali. 

Read more about Bali here: Ubud, Bali - The Barong Dance, Stone Carving & The Awe-Inspiring Contact Lens 

8. Melbourne, Australia: Bold Tile
This tile covered the inside of a bench shelter in Melbourne. It was a pleasant surprise, since the structure was grey on the outside. I thought the pattern would make a nice outdoor table top. 

Photo by Eva Barbier from blog post: 3 Days In Melbourne

9. Kruger Park,  South Africa: Drapery Over Doors
The decor at safari camps is fantastic, but much of what you'd expect from the African bush - typical wood furniture, local animal fur rugs, and lots of neutrals.  One thing I really liked was the use of drapery, particularly over doors or entryways.  I'm not sure if this has a practical use in the summer (ie keeping bugs out of rooms) but they really made our accommodation, a tent, very homey. 

Photo by Eva Barbier in blog post: Tanda Tula Safari Camp

10. Paris, France: Black & White Tile
Black and white tile was everywhere in Paris so it always reminds me of my favorite city.  I don't know if it's the the tile that contributes to the glamour of Paris or if it's Paris that makes the tile so chic.  Let's just say it's a symbiotic relationship. If my bathroom wasn't so tiny, I'd tile it like the picture below. 

Photo by Eva Barbier from blog post: Our Favorite Room in Paris: Six Cent Deux 

11. Arrowtown, New Zealand: Recycled Container Garden
This is a neat idea for people who have a lot of outdoor space. Arrowtown is an old gold mining town in New Zealand. There was a lot of abandoned equipment from the mining days so local artists used them in their artwork and homes. Here is an old pipe transformed into a container garden. 

Photo by Eva Barbier. To learn more about New Zealand visit our New Zealand Destination Page. 

12. Winelands, South Africa: Chrome+Stone+Wood
The wineries in Franschhoek, South Africa are stunning both inside and out.  I particularly enjoyed the modern decor of the tasting room at the Gran Provence. The chrome bar and fixtures gave it a sleek modern look which was nicely offset by the rest of the room, comprised of natural elements from the region - stone, clay and wood. While it's void of color inside, the view was bursting with color outside the glass doors. 

Photo of the Gran Provence tasting room by Eva Barbier as featured in The Winelands Awards.

13. Seminyak, Bali: Colorful Shutters
These pretty shutters, spotted in Bali, would liven up a pool house or backyard shed. 

Photo by Eva Barbier in blog post: Bali, Indonesia - Laid Back Seminyak

14. Chiang Mai, Thailand: Copper Light Fixtures
Giant copper lights were suspended from tall tree trunks in our hotel lobby in Chiang Mai.  They were especially enchanting when twinkling at night. Perhaps they could be used on a much smaller scale in an entryway, over a dining room table or kitchen island. 

Photo of VC@Suanpaak lobby by Eva Barbier from Chiang Mai, Thailand - Hits & Misses

15. Caye Caulker, Belize: Weathered Wooden Signs
The tiny Caribbean island is comprised of small wooden structures that have been weathered by the salt and sand in the air.  Painted wooden signs were strewn about the island featuring island mantras (Go Slow) and store names. I think these would look great hanging in a bohemian urban garden. 

Photo by Eva Barbier from Caye Caulker - You Better Belize It.

After Rügen Island, we had to make our way back toward Amsterdam. Sadly, our time in Europe was coming to an end and in just two days we'd be on a flight to Iceland.

Quirky Hamburg
We  originally wanted to spend one night in Hamburg, but decided stay in nearby Bremen because we found a really good price on a hotel and Bremen was an hour closer to Amsterdam. Therefore we only spent an afternoon in Hamburg- driving around the new town and walking around the old party of the city, near the fair grounds.  If I could do it again, I'd spend more time in Hamburg because there is a lot to see and this town would be so much fun at night!   

This was a novel concept.  A mobile bar where the drinkers do the pedaling while the bartender (in the middle of the bar) pours from a keg.  I guess there are no DUI laws here!

A really cool coffee shop we stopped off at for a drink.  

We also stopped into a few shops and walked through a pretty big flea market. That was about all we had time for in Hamburg, and I'm sure we missed most of the highlights.  However, we did enjoy our few hours walking around and I hope to be back someday to see more!

Bremen
That night we just needed a simple place to crash before our flight out of Amsterdam the next day, so we picked a place called Bremen which was about an hour further up the road from Hamburg.  We didn't know anything about Bremen other than the fact that it had a reasonably-priced Holiday Inn Express.  Turns out Bremen is a manufacturing town most notable for its Mercedes and EADS plants, with a really nice downtown area.  

We did some poking around and found a great little place to eat in the middle of a cool residential neighborhood. It's called Medoo, and it was packed with locals from the area. Lots of families and friends were having dinner here and they all seemed to know one another. It reminded me a lot of the neighborhood restaurants we used to frequent when we lived in Chicago.  We had the friendliest waitress who helped us navigate the German menu. I ended up with a delicious vegetable strudel and Chris had a nice fish dish. After we paid for our meal, Chris tipped the waitress which led to a lot of confusion on her part  because apparently they don't tip here (though it is common elsewhere in Germany). We insisted she keep the money since she spent a lot of time walking us through the menu and she was elated! 

Sunday Afternoon Beach Clubbing
We left Bremen before noon the next morning and arrived on the outskirts of Amsterdam by the afternoon. We didn't have to drop off our car until 8pm for a 10pm flight, so we had some time to kill. We had already been to Amsterdam and didn't want to deal with driving in the city.  Since it was a beautiful day we decided to check out a popular beach north of Amsterdam called Bloemendaal. 

Upon first glance, Bloemendall is a beautiful massive sandy beach with lots of kite surfers and regular surfers enjoying the windy conditions.

We noticed a string of restaurants below so decided to check it out. 

We arrived at the first restaurant to see a bunch of people hanging out and enjoying lunch. It was a very chill scene. Then we started noticing something odd - people dressed up in clubbing outfits were walking by.  What were girls in 5 inch heels and guys in leather doing on the beach at 2pm on a Sunday??  We had to investigate. 

We walked past a couple more restaurants, each one a little swankier then the last. As we walked the heels got higher, skirts shorter and the leather and mesh more common. We soon heard the thumping of a DJ and walked right by this MASSIVE club on the beach:

The picture doesn't even do its size justice. This first club went on and on and every inch was packed with people. The DJ was spinning pop music and I'd say the average age of the patrons was around 22.   Right next door was another club - this one even more packed than the first one. This club explained all the leather sightings. The DJ was playing some kind of heavy metal dub-step mix that was so loud that you shook as you walked by. I didn't take a picture of this club, fearing that someone might punch me in the face for the fun of it. 

We saw one more club at the end that was much more chill. It was colorful, quieter full of different places to lounge around.  We both thought this could be a cool place to hang out. Upon closer inspection we realized that the average age of these folks was probably mid-40's to early 50's.  This was the catch-all club. If you aren't a 20 something or a metal head, you go here.  

Chris and I decided to pass on the clubs and head back over to the chill restaurant we saw when we first arrived.  It was the perfect little spot! We had a tasty lunch right by the beach while listening to someone playing the acoustic guitar. 

Bye Bye Citroen
After our meal we went to the airport where we dropped off our Citroen, ending our short-term lease.  We were pretty sad to say goodbye to this car which drove us for 2 months throughout Europe. With the exception of when the GPS lost its signal in Vienna, this car was a great way to travel throughout Europe!

That night we said goodbye to continental Europe and made our way north west to Iceland!

About three hours north of Berlin sits Germany’s largest island – Rügen Island.  Rügen is a great weekend destination for residents of Berlin and Hamburg since it's only a few hours' drive from both cities.  We had heard great things about Germany’s Baltic Sea coast, so decided to head up for a couple of nights. 

We booked a hotel in Binz, which is one of the main seaside towns on the island.  Binz features a really nice beachfront promenade with lots of great shops and restaurants.  The area reminded us a lot of Cape Cod, with slightly warmer water, whiter beaches and newer buildings.  While people do live on Rügen, in the summer time it’s mainly filled with vacationers – probably about 80% from Germany and most of the rest from Sweden, which is a short ferry ride away.

After a short time in Rügen, we also proclaimed it the friendliest place on earth.  Everyone we saw there was happy and cheerful, and without fail, everyone we saw said hello to us! 

White Cliffs of Rügen
The morning after we arrived, we headed up to Jasmund National Park, home to Rügen's famous white chalk cliffs, leading many people to call it the Dover of Germany.  There are some nice hiking trails that take you along the top of the cliffs and down to the water.

Prora: Abandoned Nazi Resort
Next, we stopped off at Prora.  This place was very interesting and a little spooky.  Shortly after the Nazi’s came to power, they introduced a program called ‘Strength Through Joy’.  It was sort of a ‘work hard, play hard’ concept, where they believed that happy people would be productive workers.  As part of this program, they decided to build a huge resort on Rügen Island called Prora, which could accommodate over 20,000 vacationers simultaneously.  Between 1936-1939, seven massive (and ugly) concrete buildings were built along the coast.  Each building was 1.5km long and six floors tall.  Each room was to have a sea view, and all rooms were to be identical.   The halls and communal bathrooms occupied the side of the building facing away from the sea.  The beginning of WWII meant that these monstrosities were never used as a holiday resort, but instead, as military housing.  After WWII, Rügen became a part of East Germany, and the Soviet and East German armies both maintained a presence here.  Today, the buildings are abandoned, and two of the seven have been demolished.  There are plans to redevelop the area, and a large hostel recently opened in a portion of the northernmost building.   The good news is that if you pass through the ruins of the Prora buildings, you find yourself on a beautiful, expansive beach, which has become very popular with vacationers.

Beautiful Binz
We spent the rest of the day back in Binz, walking around the town and later, enjoying a local festival.  We heard a great local band playing – sort of a Rockabilly type group covering techno songs, which was much better than it sounds.  

We also sampled some of the local fare:

We really enjoyed this pretty little island and would highly recommend a few nights here if you ever find yourself in the area.  One word of advice – another thing Rügen has in common with Cape Cod is its weekend traffic.  There is only one road in and one road out, and you can expect to sit in some major traffic jams if your timing is poor, so plan carefully!

We loved Berlin so much that we decided to add an extra night to our stay while we were there.  We stayed in the former West Berlin near Savignyplatz, which is a great area due to its proximity to loads of restaurants, shopping and unique design boutiques - including clothing, jewelry and home.  I'd highly recommend visiting this area to anyone who designs jewelry or interiors.  

After many successive stays in hotels with uncomfortable European style mattresses, we broke down and booked ourselves at the good old Hampton Inn (incidentally, rated the #16 hotel in Berlin on TripAdvisor!).  It ended up being a good choice, as the beds were comfortable, the internet fast and the A/C cold.  This triple threat is a very tough score in Europe. 

Our first morning in Berlin, we had, of course, booked ourselves on a bike tour of the city.  This particular tour was a Fat Tire tour on one of their new e-bikes.  An e-bike operates like a regular bike, but has an electric motor that gives a turbo boost to your pedaling effort.  Therefore, you can accelerate uphill and zip around the city all day without breaking a sweat.  This was great, as it allowed us to cover a lot of ground in this massive city. 

The bike tour was fantastic. Our guide, a British expat named Neil, was extremely knowledgable about the city's complex history.  Berlin is a fairly young city by European standards, and Germany is a very young country. Until the late 1800's, Berlin was the capital of Prussia, at which point Prussia merged with several other states to become the German Empire.  Most of our tour, therefore, was focused on the events of the twentieth century.  Here are some of the sites we visited along  our tour and during our next couple of days in town.

We also enjoyed a wide variety of food in Berlin.  In Savignyplatz alone, we had Vietnamese, Spanish, Mexican and Mediterranean meals.   You can find just about anything within a few blocks.  This was a nice break from non-stop German fare for several weeks.  

Aside from the sight seeing and the food, we had a lot of fun exploring different neighborhoods throughout the city.  It's a very diverse city that is changing and growing rapidly as the East continues to evolve following the fall of the wall.  There are lots of fun and interesting neighborhoods to explore and many different types of people to meet.  This city really does have something for everyone.  We had an awesome time in Berlin and can't wait to come back.  

I love Berlin. I'll write about our adventures there later, but first I want to highlight one of my favorite features of this city - the artwork.  I'm not talking about the art hidden behind marble walls, but the everyday creativity you stumble upon while walking down the street.  Every inch of Berlin's streets is full of color, expression, and emotion. The art is unexpected and makes a neighborhood stroll a really fun experience . Here is some of the artwork we saw throughout Berlin:

Yup, you can surf in land-locked Munich! But more on that later.  Bavaria and its main city, Munich, is the Germany of fairytales. It's surrounded by beautiful mountains and quaint villages, there are beer gardens everywhere, ladies clad in durndls sell giant pretzels out of baskets,  oompah bands play in plazas and restaurants, and men really do wear lederhosen (it's considered dressing up and many men wear them to church). If you want to see the Germany of story books then definitely pay a visit to Munich. 

We arrived in Munich in the late afternoon and checked into our hotel, the Eurostars Grand Central.  We highly recommend this hotel for a trip to Munich.  Although it is located near an office park just west of central Munich, it is right around the corner from an S-bahn stop (Munich's metro system).  This meant we could get from our hotel room to the center of Munich in 10-15 minutes. It also had one of the best free breakfasts we've experienced so far - complete with two violinists as entertainment.  The rooms were spacious, wifi was fast and the beds were really comfortable which was a nice change from the lumpy Italian beds. We could park for free on the street next to the hotel, and best of all, it was very reasonably priced for the area. 

Beer as Big as Your Head
On our first night in town, we decided we needed to check out the famous Hofbräuhaus, the huge state-owned beer hall that goes back hundreds of years.  They say that here, Oktoberfest lasts all year long.  The place was absolutely mobbed, hot and loud, but lots of fun! Interestingly, the crowd was a mix of tourists and locals, and many of the locals were clad in their best lederhosen.  We ordered a couple of plates - Sauerbraten (basically pot roast) and a bunch of sausages, and washed it all down with the obligatory giant beers.  

Biking Munich
The next day, we booked a Mike's Bike Tour at 4:30 pm.  Since the weatherman was forecasting temperatures in the upper 90's, we chose the later tour to miss the hottest part of the day.  We spent the early afternoon checking out some of the sites around the center of Munich, then met up with our tour, which brought us through some historical spots in central Munich and through the Englischer Garten, the city's main park.  Here are a few things we saw along the way:

Check out one of the surfers in action:

The next morning, we set out to see a few of the spots we had missed the day before.

White Rose Society
This was a pretty fascinating story. When the Nazis were in power, there was a secret non-violent society of brave students at the University of Munich.  Their mission was to anonymously distribute leaflets that encourage opposition to Hitler and his regime.  Some of their leaflets were smuggled into the UK, copied and then dropped all over Germany by Allied planes under the title The Manifesto of the Students of Munich. One day a gardener saw White Rose member, Sophie Scholl, dropping leaflets out a window at the university and reported her to the gestapo.  She and five more members (including her brother Hans) were arrested by the gestapo and were subsequently beheaded via guillotine.  Today, there is memorial for these brave students and they are considered among Germany's greatest heroes. 

Marienplatz
Marienplatz is the biggest plaza in central Munich, home to many shops, outdoor markets, and the New Rathaus (City Hall).  We had a lot of fun wandering through this bustling area. 

One more food-related recommendation - while searching for a supermarket to buy water, we stumbled into the Galeria Gourmet in the basement of the Galeria Kaufhof near Marienplatz. This was hands down the nicest supermarket we've ever seen!

Team Tanda Tula Reunited! 
During our safari in the South African Timbavati reserve, we became friends with a really nice German couple, Thomas and Sabine.  

They live near Munich, so we all got together one night while we were visiting town. Thomas and Sabine picked us up at our hotel and we drove about 45 minutes to Schliersee, a lake town south of Munich near the Austrian border, where we met up with Sabine's sister Karin and her boyfriend Michael.  That evening there was a festival called Seefest, where we enjoyed traditional Bavarian food, music, games and other customs, some of which we might bring back to the States :)  We had such a great time catching up with Thomas and Sabine and meeting their family.  We can't thank them enough for their hospitality and a really fun night! 

While our time in Munich was short, it was very memorable. This is definitely a place we plan to visit again one day.  

We spent days 82-85 in a variety of places. First we took Chris' parents to see Orvieto. Since we had such a nice time at La Rocca the week before they arrived, we decided to go back for their last two days in Italy. This time we stayed in a two bedroom apartment in Villa dell'Olio. Once again we had a great time relaxing by the pool, grilling dinner and wandering the streets of Orvieto. 

Orvieto Cathedral
This time we entered the beautiful cathedral in Orvieto.  While the facade of this cathedral is its most impressive feature, the inside of the cathedral is also stunning. Inside the cathedral there are two chapels covered in frescos. My favorite part was the Chapel of the Madonna San Brizio which is adorned with gold-toned frescoes by Luca Signorelli. We were not allowed to take pictures inside the cathedral but I did capture this shot of the facade in the late afternoon sun:

Butcher? Buuutcher? Bu-CHER? 
One night we decided to grill at the apartment but we were missing a key ingredient - meat! Therefore we were on the hunt for a butcher during our visit to Orvieto. Before we left, we looked up the Italian word for butcher which is macellaio.  In and effort to remember the word, we walked down the street repeating macellaio - but all of us pronounced it in a different way. We kept saying it over and over for what felt like 10 minutes and then realized that all the Italian people around us probably thought we were crazy. Imagine if you were in the US and a group of 4 adults kept saying butcher in various accents over and over and over again. We eventually found the macellaio so while we may have sounded crazy, our efforts paid off!  

Ciao Ciao! 
After 2 days in Orvieto we drove back to Rome where we dropped Mom & Dad Barbier off at the airport.  While we were sad to say goodbye, we were so happy and thankful they made the trip out to Italy to see us! 

Verona & Lake Garda
From the Rome airport, we immediately drove up to Lake Garda in northern Italy, where we would spend the night before heading up to Munich. On the way we stopped in the fair city of Verona.  We all know Verona as the setting for Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. There is even a tourist spot where you can pay to take pictures on Juliet's (supposed) balcony. We briefly stopped by the balcony but it was mobbed with tourists. Chris quickly wrote our names on the Wall of Love, as is custom, and we skedaddled out of there. We enjoyed walking through the colorful streets of Verona and decided it would be a very romantic vacation destination if we were ever to come back to Italy. 

We arrived in Lake Garda that afternoon and stayed at the Arciduca Charming House in the little town of Arco. It was a bit rainy in the evening so we took a quick stroll around Arco and then spent most of the evening at a cute little cafe in the park.  The next day we visited the giant blue lake surrounded by grey and green mountains.  The towns are not as picturesque as those on Lake Como, but I think it's a better place for people who enjoy swimming & sailing. There seemed to be more families on the beach enjoying the water. In fact, the water seemed a lot cleaner than Lake Como's.  There were also lots of older people sitting along the lake which makes me suspect that this is a popular retirement destination. 

Neuschwanstein Castle
On our way to Munich, we took a small detour to see Neuschwanstein Castle.  This is the castle after which Disney modeled Sleeping Beauty's castle at Disney World.  However, do not refer to it as The Disney Castle if you are speaking with a German. I did this, simply because I didn't know how to pronounce Neuschwanstein and was immediately informed that this castle predates Mr. Walt Disney and the Magic Kingdom:)  Our German friend Thomas did provide a tip that really helped me remember the German name for the castle: In German the name Neu-schwan-stein translates to New-Swan-Stone.   The English and German words are very similar! When I first tried to pronounce it, I said the German words for New-Swine-Stone, which elicited a few more chuckles.  I eventually got it right and now I will never forget how to say Neuschwanstien! 

The castle dates back to 1892 and is definitely worth a visit. It's about an hour outside of Munich in Southern Bavaria and easy to reach by car or public transportation.  Consider buying your tickets for an indoor tour in advance because you can only enter the castle with a tour guide at a set time. By the time we arrived, it was too late to book an indoor tour. However, we enjoyed seeing it from outside and walking around the little town below. Here are a few pictures of this fairytale castle:

Next stop...Munich!!!