Buxbaum or Bixby

One of the smartest decisions we’ve made so far was booking a morning flight. Although morning rushes to the airport are never ideal, the early arrival meant that we had time to head to the grocery and stock up on the first day. Most importantly, it meant that we had time to make mistakes, get lost, and still make it back to the flat at a decent hour.

Knowing that we’d be lugging groceries, I brought my REI backpack with hip straps. Upon arriving at our aribnb flat in Berlin, I quickly unpacked the backpack so we could head to Original Unverpackt, a crowd-funded, (mostly) containerless grocery store. Because we’re traveling, we didn’t bring containers with us, but our airbnb hosts are environmentally conscious and provided an entire bin of plastic and glass containers.

At Original Unverpackt, we bought 4 tomatoes, 6 mushrooms, 1 giant onion, 4 apples, 4 scallops, 4 bananas, 1 garlic clove, 10 potatoes, rice, black beans, 6 eggs, chia seeds, popping corn, a small (glass) jar of raspberry jam, a small (glass) jar of coconut oil, a large (glass) jar of yogurt, and a large (glass) bottle of milk. Our total was just under €50, with the costlier items being those in containers. Since they don’t sell meat, we headed out in search of a second grocery.

A few doors down, we found a mobile shop to buy SIM cards, but promptly got lost using Google maps. Exhausted, we returned to the flat, unloaded our groceries, gobbled down a snack, and headed back out. (Everything in the photo below is consumable, compostable, reusable, or recyclable!)

Our host had messaged us that contrary to Maps, there was a LPG BioMarkt, about a 10-minute walk down our street. From the reviews, it seems to be a pricier option, but at the end of a long day in transit, we were too tired to care.

At LPG BioMarkt, we snagged honeycomb and hazelnut chocolate, 3 packs of meat, sponges, cocoa powder (Original Unverpackt was out), coconut sugar, and a bottle of wine. Our total was almost as much as Original Unverpackt.

Returning home, we re-washed the dishes with fresh sponges just to be sure they were free of contamination. By now it was about 8pm and we were spent, so we opted for an easy meal. We tossed some black beans in a pot with garlic, onion, and salt; once it was mostly cooked, we added rice to the pot. Finally, we tossed steak into a fry pan with butter and Fox Point.

All in all, it was nothing fancy, but it filled our hungry tummies and got us to bed at a decent hour!

Gluten-free travel blogs usually focus on eating out: Which restaurants have heard of celiac? Which cafes offer gluten-free carb options? How sympathetic was the staff?

I used the same approach for years myself. My Instagram feed is filled with gluten-free foodie finds in Seattle, the Bay Area, London, and various European holiday spots. But this summer, my ‘game plan’ changed.

My condition worsened for the first time since being diagnosed and my dietitian identified cross-contamination as the culprit, which meant that I had to stop eating out. As she explained, “A lot of restaurants offer gluten-free options, but there is no regulation. Wooden cutting boards and damaged cooking utensils or pans that aren’t cleaned properly can just as easily lead to contamination as the cooking process.” For someone who loves eating and traveling, it was a nightmare diagnosis.

Fast-forward three months and I faced a new challenge: traveling without eating out. We’d practiced with day trips, but I couldn’t delay traveling forever. Once the tourist season settled down at the end of September, we decided to give it a try.

Hotels were mostly out, so we turned to airbnb, booking three flats in three countries. In addition to messaging hosts for tips, we looked up local co-ops and alternative groceries, pre-ordered baked goods from Beyond Bread (our local gluten-free bakery in London), and packed kitchen basics (e.g., flipper, cutting board). The night before, I added some basic seasonings and chia seeds (for emergency protein).

Finally, we hopped on a flight and headed to Berlin yesterday.

Last weekend, after weeks of persuasion, my partner convinced me to check out the London Transport Museum. The multi-level museum is located in the old flower market with tons of natural light streaming through glass ceilings and a generous sense of space--which cannot be understated given the swarms of tourists that we dodged to get here.

In true British fashion, the informational plaques were delightfully entertaining. We learned about how the Brits used to power their machines by blowing coke and how an entrepreneur named Train “introduced the streetcar or ‘tram’ to Britain.”

Nooks and crannies!

If you find your inner child in need of some everyday magic, head to Kew Gardens (off the Picadilly line).

There are conservatories...

lakes with badger abodes...

tree-lined paths to new lands...

royal summer escapes...

the longest log obstacle course you’ve ever seen...

tree-top walks...

whispers of what dreams are made of...

and at the end of the day, you can cozy up on one of the many benches stashed around the park and take in the sunset.

London is known for its free museums, including the British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Natural History Museum, and the National Portrait Gallery. Come summer, that means that these well-known options are packed with tourists, as are the surrounding streets.

Eager for a more relaxing day trip, we hopped over to the Horniman Museum and Gardens in Forest Hill (Lewisham) via the Overground. Horniman’s current attractions include Making Freedom (an emancipation exhibition), an aquarium, outdoor gardens (including a medicinal garden, sound garden, and small zoo), and a vast taxidermy (and broader natural history) collection. This first post is on the latter.

A view of the National History Gallery from the balcony.

Dodo bird model and preserved (now extinct) zebra-like animal.

An owl in all its winged glory.

The cases of the gallery contain a range of animal and plant specimens, ranging from preserved animals to skeletons, reproductions, shells, and so on.

The displays also contain educational information, such as how species have evolved.

The museum stirred a mix of emotions, reminding us simultaneously of the gruesome history behind such collections, the modern scientific value they offer (particularly in documenting those species now extinct), and the awe-inspiring beauty of the natural world.

Each summer, tourists flock to London--and Londoners flock to the Lake District. Named thus for its many lakes, the national park and surrounding areas are also home to abundant greenery, flocks of sheep and herds of cows (with occasional yaks and llamas), rustic ruins, quaint bridges, and narrow roads. 

With summer in full swing, the sidewalks of King’s Cross overflow with tourists. Outdoor seating can be a coveted novelty that seems impossible to score and it’s not uncommon to encounter a 2 to 3-hour wait for London’s most popular restaurants--that is, of course, if they didn’t book up a week or more in advance! Even so, all is not lost for those willing to abandon the beaten path.  

Local gem, Rotunda, is only a 10-minute walk from King’s Cross Station, straight up York Way, but it remains hidden from unsuspecting travelers by King’s Place (a multi-storied office and cultural events space). 

When we arrived on Saturday evening around 6pm, the canal entrance way closed for a wedding reception...

so we entered through the lobby of King’s Place (but more on that in a moment). 

Rotunda consists of limited indoor seating and an impressive L-shaped outdoor patio. Customers in the bar area of the patio chatted over wine and board games. 

We opted for the restaurant portion of the patio and ordered some wine to start...

...and the heirloom tomato and burrata salad with balsamic caviar. 

For our main, we ordered the lamb shoulder for two with a salad of quinoa, goat cheese, pumpkin seeds, and apricots. 

And after dinner, we enjoyed a leisurely stroll on the bottom three floors where art was displayed on the walls and remnants of the day’s chess tournament lingered.