Berlin Festival 2009

Another one gone by: I may proudly claim to have attended every Berlin Festival there ever was and all 3 locations. Favorite: Postbahnhof, 2007. Unfortunately the area was closed for events. Tempelhof is not too bad if one likes concrete and historic sites. Anyhow, it was great fun - the highlight apart from Deichkind, our 3-D-glasses mission and Lebkuchenschnaps was being taken up to the roof of the airport at 6 a.m.!

Austrian Treasures

Our little Erasmus trip lead us to Linz, where we enjoyed the perfect Schweinsbraten with Knödel created by Gatsch and then ventured up to the roofs for some Höhenrausch challenges. To recover from that we went to the beautiful Wolfgangsee in Salzkammergut, where we basically had more Knödel, Kasnockn and Bauernjausn. Apart from eating we also visited Salzburg for a day. Then there was more eating in the house of Petra's parents, where her father had a Barbecue ready for us.

On my way back to Berlin I stopped over for a night in Angela's (La Alemana) house, where we had a lovely Barbecue. She now has a little daughter, Theresa, who is 5 months old. David is already 3 years old.

Arriving in Berlin after a 10 hours (!) trip from Munich (it normally takes 5 hours, but I got stuck in 4 major traffic jams) I went to the office opening party of my translation agency, and we had - guess what, a really tasty Barbecue.
So, now you know what we do here all summer ;)

Click on the album below to see more pictures of our culinary trip:

Austrian Erasmus Reunion 2009

Surfing in Graz

One might not believe it - there is actually a surf spot in the center of Graz!
And it doesn't look bad at all :)





For information: this is the river Mur and the spot is under the Radetzkybrücke. Surf reports to be found here: www.murbreak.at

Mutzl

I can't resist, I have to post on our new cat - she is soo cute. She just arrived one morning at my parents' house and was very hungry. We fed her and she thanked us by presenting us with a dead mouse. Since no-one claimed ownership, we kept her. Now we have dead mice and birds all over the place. She still has no name, but doesn't really need one since she only comes when she feels like it or when she thinks there will be food (which is most of the time).

She can sleep in rather strange positions:





An here she is live and in Technicolor:

Wedding Bells in Sardinia

Antoine and Daniela invited and we followed the invitation (of course)! The wedding took place in Sardinia, so what more do you need - sun, beach, food and more food and even more food, party, meeting old friends, making new friends, Chinese clothes stores, ancient ruins, ice-cream, and - ahem - rain.
Yeah, unfortunately the 31st of May was a bit rainy but we nevertheless partied as if there were no tomorrow.

This holiday also marks the foundation of the Piggy Club (particulars on request, or find out yourself in the Web album below).

Thank you Antoine and Daniela for the greatest & most fun wedding I have ever been to!

Sardinia Wedding trip

Climbing up some rocks

Since I am spending a couple of months in Austria I feel obliged to try out the local sport of the masses (at least it seems to me that everyone is crazy about it) - rock climbing. So yesterday my experienced tutors and me set out for Hirzmannsperre, a 45 mins picturesque drive from Graz.

There I learned that first of all one person has to do the unpopular lead climbing. Geli climbed up leaving behind her a trail of hooks that held the rope (which, I'm sure, have a proper name). My task was to collect them again on my way up. Even though I spent a considerable amount of time of my childhood climbing around in treetops I wasn't sure if I was up for the task.

The first go was kind of weird but from the second on I forgot all about height and slipping and falling. On my 5 trips up I got all the hooks, looked into an empty bird's nest and the bruises on knees and elbows serve as proof of my dedication. It's great fun, definitely an experience to (hopefully) be repeated soon!

Thanks to tutors Anita and Geli, and Karin for companionship!

Hirzmannsperre April 2009