When you're exploring new countries and new cities, at some point you create a plan or must-do list for the new place. For someone it is trying the local beer or local food, for others - it is visiting the museums. Here are our "must-do" things when we're exploring a new city.

Local Beer!

At the age of 18 I made a decision to move my entire life to Switzerland where I had no friends or family. I didn't realize it at the moment, but it was the best decsion I have ever made. Throwing myself out of my comfort zone & plumting in a foreign new world. That might scare most people, but for me it was exciting! I didn't experience "culture shock" like most speak about. I simply became Swiss the moment I touched the ground.

I wasn't magically a Citizen of the Swiss nation, but I adopted myself accordingly. I wanted to know what it felt like to look at life from another's perspective... To see what is important to other people around the world!
Naturally, every available weekend, I was on a plane & in another country...speaking the language or over-eating on some local cuisine.

From these many travels I started to notice, that I also adopted a sort of system for when I arrived at a new place.
I would get my first impressions of a new city by simply walking to the nearest convenient shop & grabbing a cold local beer & a locally made candy treat!

Of course food plays a major factor when I travel, but I find myself enjoying most everything edible in some way....so I wanted to bring up two important yet unique things a new city can bring to the table for travelers!

So my trip to Germany was no different!

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Germany is the perfect place to go if you are in search for beautiful scenery, delicious food & of course quality beer! I really got the sense that Germans put a lot of pride in the craft & the finished product speaks for itself!

Local Candy or Treats!

There is just something about sweet treats! Everyone loves them & almost every new place will have a unique and yummy delectable to try!! In Germany, Switzerland & pretty much most of Europe I found myself stumbling upon Toblerone!
If you haven't tried this chocolate bar already...then you are missing out. They sell them with nuts, fruits, Milk or Dark....this treat is beautiful to look at and even better to eat!

I also enjoy the sour straws & gummy candies sold on the streets!
When the Beer is quality & cold and the Candy is sweet & irresistible then you know you have stumbled upon a magical place & you should never leave!

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Splits!

I think every traveler has a bunch of photos from their trips. And of course, these are the photos from most popular tourist places. I personally always believed such kind of photos are boring, but still, it is the easiest way to prove, that you have visited that exact place and you haven't found the photo on the Web.

I was subscribed to Finnish pole dancer Oona Kivelä, who travels a lot and she likes doing handstands. She posted handstands from different locations on her Instagram profile. And actually, there are more people doing handstands in unusual places. You can even find the hashtag "#handstandwhereistand" and there are more than 22 thousand pictures posted!
I liked the idea so much and wanted to do also something like that. But the problem was... I couldn't do a handstand.

But I was able to do a split!

I took so many photos at once and posted it on my Instagram. One photo from Almaty (Kazakhstan) earned a lot of engagement! So I started to post split photos from the sightseeing points of every city I have visited.

I have made a split in Prague, Turku, Almaty, Bratislava, Vienna, Budapest and even have made my own "tribute" to Edvard Munch's "The Scream" in Oslo.

Coffee!

Besides splits, I also really like discovering some nice coffee places. I like coffee so much! While exploring a new city it is also nice to have some personal time with a cup of coffee, just to slow down and relax to observe some tourists or locals coming to the same place and feeling grateful for the opportunity to travel!