A few weeks ago two photographers reached out to us through Instagram, saying they would like to do a shoot with us. Their message was so sweet and their Instagram account so beautiful, that we had a very good feeling about this photo shoot.
We decided to ignore the fact that we feel super awkward in front of cameras. Mimi genuinely hates being photographed, or even worse, being filmed, and I feel just like an idiot having no idea what to do with my face… my hands… and my whole body.
Photo shoot at the aircraft
Less than a week later, they were having doing a wedding shoot in Berlin. We decided to meet during that weekend. We agreed that they should choose the location, and it happened to be at the Tempeflhofer Feld. For all the non-Berliners out there; it is an abandoned airport that is now used as a park where people are free to hang out, run, bike, and grill.
One bottle wine later
We met at the park in the early evening, and started discussing everything while sharing a bottle of wine. It could have been weird because they were total strangers to us, but we really clicked immediately! These adorable ladies were Maria and Linda. They were super easy going and funny, and as the bottle became emptier, we were getting more and more excited for the upcoming photo-shoot.
Go time
The four of us chatted until sunset, and then it came time to forget about being camera-shy. It was also time to ignore all the other park-goers. And then, guess what? Magic happened! We didn’t feel awkward at all and we totally forgot about the bystanders. It was just the two, oh right… four of us in the park. The sky was gorgeous, the city calm, love was in the air, and everything just felt natural.
We did it
Once the session was over, we unfortunately said our goodbyes, but what a fantastic feeling! We put ourselves out there and felt strong and proud about it. What is there to be proud of? We faced our fears and stepped out of our comfort zones.
Maria and Linda
Special thanks to Linda and Maria for this opportunity. Your passion, talent, amazing work, and friendship, felt more than authentic. We are so honoured to have met you, and we couldn’t be happier with how you captured us together in your photographs.
We hope you enjoy the pictures of this special moment as much as we do. You can find all of Maria & Linda’s beautiful work by clicking here.
You’ve been following our travels and you keep telling us how lucky we are and that you wish you could do the same… Well, let us tell you something: it’s not as perfect as it looks. We had to wait and bite our tongues before we could tell you the whole story. Of course our lives look perfect online, and it’s not that we want to be dishonest, but real life isn’t always a pretty picture of delicious vegan food and adorable apartments
Mimi in our apartment
So what the heck happened this past year?
We met an evil person. A kind of person who has so much trouble in her own mind, that hurting and stealing from others is actually easy, and fun for her. This woman ruined our lives this year. She brainwashed us. She manipulated us, she took our money, and traumatized us.
Long Story Kinda-Short
We wanted to leave Berlin for a few months, looking for freedom and adventure. We planned to spend time in Australia and decided to rent our flat to someone while we were away for a year. Finding an apartment in Berlin is a real challenge and we didn’t want to lose ours by giving up our lease. We absolutely adored our flat. So we left all our furniture in there and put an ad online.
We organized viewings, we met with young international couples through a flat renting website, and then we met one German woman from a Facebook group. She was super nice and seemed very trustworthy, she took advantage of our kindness, and managed to give us only few documents and skip the very important ones. She introduced us to her mother, she gave us little gifts before our travels, those kinds of little things that bad people can do to set you up and screw you over later.
We felt extremely happy that we had found someone so reliable to rent our flat, and so we left to start our travels in France. After two months we noticed that her payments were late. Then she paid twice and later, she just paid half of the rent. So of course, I asked her about it. We didn’t have any income at the time so it was a very uncomfortable situation for us. Since we still had to pay the landlord every month, our savings started to run out.
I called her and said that we could end our contract sooner than planned if the rent had become too expensive for her, and that she would just have to be honest about her financial situation. We were still in Europe and could definitely find a solution. She pretended that everything was fine and that there was probably just a mix-up at her bank.
We waited, but the money never showed up, so a few days after I asked again. She then blocked us on Whatsapp, Facebook, and Instagram, and didn’t pay us any money at all.
Nomadic renting
To this day she still owes us more than 6000 Euros. This is what people call “nomadic renting”. Choosing a nice and expensive flat, living there for free, and then vanishing without a trace when caught.
She had been lying to us the whole time. She came up with the craziest stories and even refused to leave our flat after receiving notice from our lawyer, she forced us to give her OUR set of keys, threatening to change the lock if we didn’t, and that we would have to pay for it too. How ridiculous?!
We were stressed out every single day. We had no idea what to do. It had a negative impact on our relationship as well. We cried and we argued often. Every single word and threat from her was making us sick to our stomachs. We gave up our Australian dream and stayed in Europe just to closer to Berlin, in case she would freak out and burn down our flat, for example.
House sitting saved us
Thankfully during this awful experience we discovered house sitting, and could still to afford to travel through Europe because we had free accommodation and cheap flights. After almost one year of this we decided to go back to Berlin to find jobs as quickly as possible. We finally stopped believing her lies and accepted that we would never get our money back.
In the meantime
And what did that evil con-artist do? She treated herself to a damn vacation to Korea, had the best time of her life, got a new tattoo… Then she came back to Berlin, ate at restaurants, and did all the lovely things you can afford to do when you have an extra 6000 Euros in your pocket. Lucky her.
In the meantime we were asking friends and family to lend us money. We lived for free though house sitting, but had to start new jobs in order to pay HER bills.
Today on the 1st of July, after exactly one year in our flat, she upped and disappeared. Her plan, according to what she’s proudly sharing with the internet, is to move to London and Korea with all the money she saved because we had been paying her rent and utilities this whole time.
Two important things
We could expose her, we could show you all the evidence we have, but the point of this post is to share with you these two essential pieces of advice:
1.Don’t blindly trust anyone. People don’t have the same upbringing, the same mental health, the same values, or the same intentions as you do. We try not to be cynical, negative or mistrusting, but the truth is that we need to be more vigilant.
2.Keep in mind that social media is only a PART of people’s lives, but it’s definitely not an accurate representation of their ENTIRE lives. It is a filtered version. We are always authentic, we are what we show you, but we choose to not share all the dark times and sad moments online. We want to inspire, not complain. It’s definitely possible to inspire by sharing all the rough stuff through deep and intense content, and we enjoy a few Instagram accounts that do, but that’s just not how we want to do it on our own platform.
With all of that stress on top of our new jobs, we didn’t really feel like sharing a lot on the Internet. So we are sorry for our absence – our lives will hopefully get back to normal soon. We hope you’re all doing well. Take care, and have a great summer!
Three years. Three whole years. We’ve been through so much my love. It feels like way more than that. At the same time, it feels as if it has been a minute. Time flies so fast..
I love to reflect back on our first dates, our first kisses, our first nights, our first travels. I also like to look back at our first fights, our first crises. All have been lessons. We learned so much every time. We grew together. We realized that love is not all. It is not enough. We also have to fight, to fix, to readapt, to scream, to cry, to doubt, to shake. It is all part of it. The sun is nothing without shadows, right?
She said yes
One year ago, I asked you to marry me and you said yes. That day will come, and I can’t wait to see you in your white dress. Until then I’m enjoying every day with you, every minute of our adventure, every cuddle, every caress. Who knows how our lives are going to look? I don’t know nothing. I don’t know where we will live, what we will achieve, if we are going to have kids, if we’re going to be rich or poor. All I know is that I want to find it out with you and only you. I want you to be my partner, my best friend and my confident until the end.
Credits: Galerie Lilou
Three years and just the beginning. Let us have ten years more, twenty, fifty, and a million more. I know it’s you. Just you. It has always been you. After all these other girls, all the dramas, the broken hearts: you found me. You brought so much light into my life and I never want to go back to the dark places I used to visit. Life can be so pretty, you taught me that. And so much more. I keep learning from you.
You’re the most beautiful thing that has ever happened to me and I hope you know how essential your presence is in my life. I am the proudest girlfriend on this planet, the happiest fiancée and the luckiest future wife possible.
Thank you for being you and for letting me be me. I love you more than I can say or write.
‘I need to say bye to the wildness of the twenties and hello to the adult age’, she probably thought.
I kept saying to her ‘thirty is to me the most beautiful age for a woman’. Not that I know what it is like since I’m younger than her. But with all the love and admiration I have for women I think I’m allowed to have an opinion on it.
Every age is beautiful on a woman. Every year, every month, every day, every minute. I might even tell her ‘forty is to me the me the most beautiful age for a woman’ when she starts to freak out being thirty-nine. I will genuinely mean it.
But today she, the love of my life, turned thirty.
Jasmin, or Mimi as you might know her, is the most beautiful and kind person I know. She is brave, generous and has a special ability to make everyone’s life better, she wakes up every morning with a big smile of gratitude on her face.
Love of my life
She makes me laugh a million times a day. I remember us at the beginning, dating for the first time. She asked me one day what I consider ‘my kind of girl’. I told her I like women who make me laugh and she said straight away ‘oh I can do that, I’m funny, I’m very funny you’ll see!’. We were both shy and didn’t know each other very well so I wasn’t sure if that was true. But god, she was right.
We got to know each other better and eventually felt confident being ourselves around one another. Being crazy, silly, ridiculous, weird. I think almost nobody gets to see how funny she really is. That’s kind of sad for the world I guess. I’m personally very lucky. I know that. Every day I feel so grateful for having her in my life, trying my best to not take it for granted. Who knows what will happen, I could lose her in so many ways. That’s why I always want her to feel special, to feel loved and respected.
My love, you are way too beautiful for this world. Thank you for everything you teach me, for all the wonderful lessons you don’t even know you have given me. I will always do my best to deserve you, to love you in the most respectful way. I will take care of you, of what we have and what we want to achieve. You make me be the best version of myself and I\’m beyond thankful for that.
After our first trip to Copenhagen (cf our blog post here) we absolutely wanted to come again and to spend more time in Denmark. We fell in love with the incomparable prettiness of the city, the friendliness of the people and the hygge state of mind.
Back in Copenhagen
We’d been traveling without any income for months and our budget was getting lower every day. We never could afford it without house sitting. It gave us the opportunity to visit Copenhagen another time without paying for our accommodations (our blog post is right there).
We didn’t know how the neighbourhood and the apartment were, we only saw pictures of the two dogs we would be taking care of. We came one day in advance to meet the owners and the dogs. What awaited us there was a shock.
Four floors house for free: the joy of house sitting
The lovely family showed us the house and we couldn’t believe it. First floor: looking awesome, big modern kitchen (the most important for us!), nice minimalist furniture. But then we noticed there were stairs: a second floor. It looked gorgeous and we slowly understood what kind of house we were in. Not a banal one.
Trying to stay cool
We were trying to contain our joy. Then she brought us to the third floor, with the family’s bedrooms and the guest bedroom where we would sleep with our own bathroom. We looked through the window and had a view of the Opera and the whole city. Last but not least she showed us a fourth floor; every step we were feeling more and more shocked by all that luxury situated in the heart of the amazing city of Copenhagen. All of that free.
We didn’t show too much of our excitement, spent some time with the dogs, listened to all that we would need to know and left the house with our key. We walked a few meters in the night and finally could let our feelings out. I asked Mimi, ‘Can we please talk about what just happened?? Was that real?’. Second reaction: ‘damn that’s going to be a lot of cleaning’.
Worst night ever
We returned to our hostel and had the worst night ever with a young couple next to our bed. They couldn’t keep their hands off of each other and didn’t really care if their shared private experiences were disturbing anyone else in the room. But we didn’t really care, we were thinking of the house where we would be spending the next two beautiful weeks.
The next morning, we moved into the house; the family was already gone, so we got ourselves set up in our temporary new home.
Mim’s mum visited us and we showed her the villa, with her own fourth floor. She couldn’t believe it either. We all knew we would have a fabulous time together.
The first way we got to see the city was through our daily walks with the dogs; our neighbourhood was as perfect as our house: central, incredibly pretty, down by the water. We strolled alongside the boats, heard the seagulls, enjoyed the view of the city.
We had many bikes at our disposal and could discover the whole city without ever having to take public transport. Denmark is well known to be a bike country and it isn’t a myth: everyone rides a bicycle, so the road is perfectly designed for it. The perfect way to explore the city.
Travel on very low budget
Copenhagen is also famous for being expensive, but we managed to always find affordable shops and to keep buying organic groceries. The German supermarket Netto is everywhere and so we stayed on our very low travel budget. To give you an idea: in one week we spent 50 Euro per person, all inclusive. How is that possible?
No rent because of our house sit.
No public transport or bike costs.
We paid for one boat trip only, no other touristy stuff: the City is beautiful enough to just walk around and enjoy our time without spending money.
We didn’t eat out: we cooked a lot and bought organic groceries, healthy and cheap.
If you have any questions related to house sitting, travel, veganism or anything else: leave us a comment below and we’ll be happy to help!
We recently posted the story of Zoé’s dad who was a farmer and who turned vegan (cf our blog post about it here). In a way we encouraged him to go vegan and he inspired us to make our own vegan cheese. Today we would like to share with you our first recipe: a vegan mozzarella.
Good for you and your wallet
Easy, healthy, tasty and.. inexpensive. The vegan lifestyle is reputed to be pricy and it doesn’t have to be true.
Vegan mozzarella everywhere, please!
You can eat this healthy and yummy mozzarella cold on bread but also in the oven to get a kind of hot goat cheese. You can enjoy it on toasts or salads, pizzas.. It won’t really melt but tastes delicious accompanied with a balsamic cream.
Variations
This recipe is for a plain mozzarella but you can try different variations like figs, herbs, spices, walnuts,…
One of our favourite spice brands Herbaria sent us a BBQ mix and it happened to have a great taste in our mozzarella.
You just need to add your favourite ingredient(s) in the sauce pan before you pour it into your bowls. To decorate it properly don’t forget to put the ingredient you want to see in your mozzarella at first in the bowl. In that way it will be on top when you turn your bowl and get your final product.
The easiest vegan mozzarella, ever.
You can eat this healthy and yummy mozzarella cold on bread but also in the oven to get a kind of hot goat cheese. You can enjoy it on toasts or salads, pizzas.. It won’t really melt but the taste is delicious accompanied with a balsamic cream, for example.
125 g silken tofu
100 g soy yoghurt
150 ml soy milk
3 tbsp lemon juice
3 tbsp corn starch
1 tsp agar-agar
1 tsp salt
30 g melted coconut oil*
Put all your ingredients except the coconut oil in a high speed blender for one minute until it get smooth
Add the melted coconut oil to your blender and mix for one more minute
Transfer to a skillet or small saucepan, heat over medium heat and start to whisk. It will start to bubble and thicken. Keep stirring to avoid your pan burning from the bottom. After 10-15 minutes the texture should be thick enough.
Pour the mixture into moulds or bowls (depends on the form you want for your mozzarella)
Let it cool for a bit and then put it in the fridge for around 2 hours
*This recipe is versatile and so you can easily make a oil free version. Just skip the coconut oil and the consistency will still become firm, only the taste will change.
Don’t hesitate to comment this post if you have any question! If you need more inspiration find all our other recipes right over: there.
My* French mom found the love of her life in Switzerland. She worked as a waitress in Geneva. One day in her café she met a journeyman carpenter from Germany, my dad.
She couldn’t speak German and he couldn’t speak one word of French. Love at first sight.
New life
Time passed and after many adventures they decided to build a family together. They had two sons and one daughter. We all lived in my mother’s home country and after different places my parents decided to move to the Southwest. They wanted to buy a farm and learn to produce organic cheese. Just like that.
Childhood in France
I spent my whole childhood in the middle of nowhere. We had goats, pigs, cows, chicken. My parents put love and passion into their work and tried their best to educate us with the best values they could. The cheeses they made were the most delicious I’ve ever had. We also had our own meat. As you can tell: nothing vegan for us back at this time.
New chapter
My mom produced cheeses and sold them on the markets. My dad was responsible for the animals and the grain harvests. All was well balanced but then … my mom passed away. My father had to deal with my teenager crisis and do all the farm work alone. We missed her so much. I think my dad wanted to die for a while. So did I. But we survived. We often went to the markets together and sold our products. He was exhausted. He waited for my brothers and I to be over the age of majority and sold our farm to move back to Germany. His farmer life was over.
The animal condition
Even if the animals had an outdoor life and even if they were loved and respected: they were forced to be property. The goats and cows had to be constantly pregnant to produce milk. Their babies were taken away from them after the birth. Males were sold to the meat industry, females were forced to have the same future as their mothers. The pigs we saw grow up from babies were sent to the slaughterhouses once they were big enough. They came back in pieces, ready to be transformed into sausages. There is no ethical way to be killed, even on a small organic farm.
Vegan family
My brother Tim and I decided to cut all animal products a few years ago, but the most remarkable thing is that my dad also turned vegan a few weeks ago! I found him a good blender to start, I bought him a vegan cheese recipes book and… he’s now making his own vegan cheese! Mimi and I are doing our best to inspire him to continue this journey. That’s just the beginning, but maybe we’ll have a vegan family company in a few years, who knows?
Dad, if you read this: thanks for being the most incredible dad I could have ever had, I owe you all I know and all I am. Please never forget how much I adore you and how thankful I am to have you. I love the relationship you have with Mimi, thank you for letting her feel so welcome in our family and thank you for accepting us no matter what.
*Zoé is writing there!
You like this story? Find all our posts about veganism right here !
A decadent and comfortable vegan breakfast aka the best way to start the day. Already know the German brand Nucao? We absolutely love their products! As dessert, snacks or even for breakfast. Their hemp chocolate bars are raw, vegan, refined sugar free, fair and organic. If you want to know more about this awesome company: go check out their website right here. If you want to order don’t forget to use our promo code cocolimeandlove to get 15% off.
We can’t stand long recipe introductions so let’s start straight away with a super simple ground porridge garnished with our favorite toppings!
Freshly ground spiced porridge
topped with fresh pineapple, roasted nuts, peanut butter & our favorite raw chocolate – NUCAO!
PORRIDGE
160 gram gluten free oatmeal
700 ml plant based milk ((we used soymilk))
2-3 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp of your favourite spices ((e.g. cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, star anis, cloves..))
TOPPING
¼ of a fresh pineapple
1 NUCAO chocolate bar ((we used the espresso one –perfect for breakfast))
50 gram cashew nuts
2 tsp cacao nibs
3 tbsp maple syrup
2 tbsp peanut butter
2 tbsp hemp seeds
Place the oats in your blender and blend for less than 5 seconds, until you get the desired consistency: you want it quite fine but not like flour
In a small saucepan over low heat add the milk and the ground oats
Add your spices
Let it cook for about 5 minutes until it gets thick
Meanwhile place a pan on low heat and add the cashews. Stir and check them from time to time because they can burn really quickly. You want them to get a nice golden colour all around
When they’re ready put them aside and let them cool down
Portion the porridge into 2 bowls and start with your topping
First cut the pineapple into small pieces and arrange them nicely in the middle of the bowl
Next to it place the Nucao bar. The porridge should be still warm so the bar will partially melt
Arrange the rest of the toppings in all the empty spaces
Lastly, pour the maple syrup on top of everything and enjoy!
Last time we came to Paris was in summer 2016 visiting our friends and their kids for a few days. We spent a lovely time in their wonderful 17° district and enjoyed the sunny days in the French capital. We went to some restaurants but we really felt the difference to our very vegan friendly city Berlin. The organic shops we could find didn’t have so many plant based options and the French culture seems to be very skeptical about health, ecological and ethical choices.
Paris changed
Black sesame and charcoal pastry
This year, after different house sits (cf our blog post about house sitting) in Europe we decided to visit Paris again and spent a week with a friend of ours. This time we noticed a huge evolution of veganism. We could find plenty of vegan places and plant based options as well as organic shops everywhere. It gave us hope about the future.
On the other hand we made the same observation as in Milan: there is apparently a massive trend of fur hoods and it hurt our hearts to see them everywhere we walked.
We couldn’t explore that much of the city because of the winter-coming back. The temperature wasn’t that cold but the wind was freezing our faces every time we walked more than 5 minutes. Too bad, we were really excited to explore the city by foot enjoying the beginning of Spring. Next time for sure!
An all vegan creamery. You heard me right: homemade vegan cheese heaven. Here you can find French cheese classics like Camembert or other great items like Foie Gras and yoghurt.
Vegan cheese and foie gras platter we made in Paris
The staff are very friendly and welcoming, you can try all the products you want. We found the prices very affordable for such quality, cheeses are around 5 Euro each and are made of almonds or cashews. The packaging is very pretty and the products, delicious. It makes the perfect French souvenir to bring back home or to spoil yourself with.
You also have a great choice of vegan products from other countries. Their kitchen is open, it is fascinating to see how they produce it, it almost looks the same as a real dairy operation.
As we waited to pay we had a very nice moment speaking to a journalist about veganism in France, mentioning my story and relationship/addiction with cheese. I also told him about the journey of my father, ex farmer/cheese maker who recently turned vegan and is open to making vegan cheese after I gave him a great blender and a vegan cheese recipe book from France.
An all vegan stylish store in France: what a revolution. The two owners wanted to create a place where other vegans can find all they need in the same store. Clothes, shoes, bags, groceries, café also serving lunch meals.
The first impression we had was perfect: great playlist in the store (Kendrick Lamar), the location is organized and decorated with taste, they have beautiful clothes made with nice materials, a large choice of food products, a very interesting menu and cakes. We also had a lot of fun in the photo booth, instantly printing photos onto recycled paper, and generated by green power. What a great and exemplary idea!
Probably the most beautiful organic store we know. They have a lot of of vegan options, delicious vegan cheese, exotic veggies (photo), bulk containers,..
This organic shop has a large choice of vegan products: we even found a gluten free vegan pizza. A victory for us since we never found them in Berlin. They also sell the Jay & Joy cheeses.
Even though Italy is so close to Germany and France we’ve never visited this charming country. It was definitely time to change that. So after our two beautiful weeks in England we landed at Bergamo airport, ready to spend a few days in Milan. Our flight was delayed and we were tired but the sun gave us the most beautiful welcome possible and we felt so happy to be there. We found a shuttle driving to Milan centre where we could admire the incredible sunset during the whole journey.
Welcome to Italy!
We arrived at the home of my awesome friend Marie-Caroline, who is studying in Milan for her Masters Degree. We cooked pasta with her and ate it with the vegan parmigiana we brought from England. All that on a red-and-white checked tablecloth, talking with her funny Italian roommates. Couldn’t be a better start to the Italian culture, right?
Where we lived
As you know we travel in a different way than most of people. In exchange for free accommodation we take care of other people’s pets and home- if you want to know more about it check out our blog post right here. Our house sit was near to Porta Romana. We hadn’t seen any pictures of the flat so we were wondering what to expect. Answer? A stunning apartment, with a looot of space, cute pets and a super nice family to explain everything we needed to know. We felt very welcome and we already knew it was going to be a beautiful week.
Organic stores and vegan food
The first organic store we visited in Italy was one we know from France called “bio C bon”. Unfortunately it was way more expensive than in France so we thought we’d have to select what we want to buy organic because of our very low travel budget.
Walking around the city, we found our new favourite organic shop: Naturasi: It was cheaper than the first one. We found a delicious vegan cheese there: a mix of mozzarella and blue cheese, made out of nori seaweed. It had a strong cheese smell/taste and a great consistency.
We randomly found a vegan café restaurant called Radicetonda. The staff were super nice, spoke good english and the atmosphere very warm and welcoming. The prices were very affordable. We both had a cappuccino with delicious Italian cookies.
The rest of the week we decided to be careful with our budget and so we cooked at home most of the time. Milan has many vegan restaurants that we’ll be happy to visit next time we’re in the city.
Gluten free
Some people explained to us that due to the large gluten free intolerance in Italy -caused by the pizza-pasta Italian diet we guess- there are lot of gluten free options to find. We quickly realized how true it is: even in regular supermarkets the gluten free products were everywhere. Perfect for us. We also found out that these products were unfortunately barely combined with veganism. Too bad. You can find vegan options, gluten free options, but almost never together.
We visited two gluten free bakeries in our neighbourhood and noticed once again that their choice was huge but that they had nothing vegan except from bread and some focaccia like the plain one, onions or tomatoes.
The gluten free bakeries we visited
Glufree
Two locations : Via Curtatone, 6, 20122 Milano & Viale Gian Galeazzo, 6
We liked PanPerMe the most. It was such a nice place with friendly staff. They had soy milk for hot drinks and the cappuccino was super cheap (1,30euro!)
Most of the time during our travels we don’t appreciate sightseeing. We enjoy our trips the most when walking through the places we visit till we get lost. That’s what we did in Milan. We loved the beautiful streets and charming balconies of the city. The city was exactly like people told us it would be: an industrial city, different from the rest of Italy.
It’s true; Milan is not representing the typical Italian style like Rome or Venice, it is more a fashion and designer place. That’s why we have to come back soon and visit the other cities. Everyone told us that if we liked Milan a lot, they know we will like all the other cities in Italy even more. We had a wonderful week and we’re really looking forward to discover the other treasures of Italy.
Random facts
Huge plastic waste: we were sad to see that in so many different supermarkets the fruit and veggies are already packed: Instead of having items you can buy and weigh they use a lot of paper and plastic, probably to make to make it easier and quicker.
Fur everywhere: we were shocked to see all the down coats and fur hoods. No matter if they were young or old, women or men: everyone in Milan seems to possess fur and to wear down coats.
Hygiene obsession: we had no idea how important hygiene us for the Italians. They live in perfectly clean apartments, they never leave clothes on their chairs and don’t put their bags on the table.. And, they still use the bidet. As a French girl I was very surprised because it is such a forgotten thing to me. You can still find them in French bathrooms but almost nobody uses them. In Italy everyone seems to care about it and even the young adults use it after using the toilets.
Dog situation: the importance Italians seem to give to hygiene is unfortunately forgotten whem it comes to the total lack of care given to public places: people don’t bother picking up dog excrement. Talking about dogs: we could only find small dogs in Milan, we almost never saw big ones.
Lights: one of our biggest struggles during the week was probably finding the light switches. By that I mean: they are almost never in the right place. For example you are at a café and want to go to the toilet: you will probably have to search for a while to find the switch.
That’s it for this week guys, we’ll tell you next Sunday about our week in Paris!
