Messengers of Winter

September 28/07 6:30 p.m.

Bushed from garden work. Actually I prefer to prepare garden in spring to closing it down in fall. Have been seeing the "migrants" again while walking the riverside with "Herr Hund". - And they fly across our roof every morning, making a lot of noise. Still - always find those big flying birds facinating.
The little video will give you an impression,enjoy!

REGARDS FROM MY REGION

September 26/07 2:30 p.m.

Fun? those Videos.....??

Wellness at Wellneuss

September 25/07 6:05 p.m.

Who does not dare, does not win - an old German proverb. Weatherforcast for today had been rather measely, but daughter no.2. and Landfrau took a chance to try out the wellness in- and outdoor area in the vicinity. We still had tickets ,which had been a birthday present for Landfrau and companion, who kept finding excuses not to go. So daughter and myself took a chance, and boy, had it been worth it! We arrived pretty early and there were very few people around. Sun had been shining from a blue sky and we just could not make up our minds which of the many facilities to use. Decided to treat ourselves to a coffee-ceremony, where you do not drink the coffee, but get a little dish with a mixture of ground coffee and what have you,to smear yourself with. Having done that, we had a real laugh, reminded us of the joke of the poor black guy,who lost his finger in a working accident. Now his boss rushed him to hospital but the only finger to be put on had been white. It all healed well and after a while the black guy was riding in a bus, holding on to a strap with his hand and there was this little old lady asking him : Well, chimney sweeper, having a lunch break? -

After the stuff had been rinsed off, we both were left with a skin like silk, smelling of..three guesses -coffee!
And then we had a very delicious lunch in a restaurant with an open fire place, very nice. You can walk about every place in your bathrobe and all the wellness facilities you run around naked. Very convinient, you do not have to wiggle in and out of a wet bathing suit all the time.
And when we left, it started to rain - sometimes one has to be lucky.

Busy Weekend

September 23/07 8:50 p.m.

...and a nice one too. And we had the summer we have not been having up to now. Daughter No.1 came friday late afternoon from Frankfurt, we picked her up at the station and took her right away to a nice floating restaurant at the riverside, the CANOO, the place is fixed up as an outside lounge and you have a great view of the Düsseldorf skyline, the Television tower and the river, certainly. We decided to have some appetizers along with our drinks, which resulted in no one wanting my prepared food at home. Fridge is still well stocked. Well, never mind. -
Next day we enjoyed our sundeck, a friend dropped in who had not seen our daughter for about 20 years, he was quite surprised.
Then at nite we were joined by daughter No.2 who lives pretty close and mom and dad took the "kids" for dinner to the Molzmühle, an old mill hotel- restaurant (had been writing about in a former post - http://www.molzmuehle.de) . Was funny, just the 4 of us, like in old times. We had good food and laughed a lot and in the end daddy walked out with his napkin tucked into the belt of his trousers, this way proudly producing an apron. He has a habit of doing that, this time we noticed in time, before adding the napkin to our collection.We had a nightcap
at second daughter's house ,where our son-in-law had been babysitter.
Today at noontime we took Fankfurt daughter to the station and she is home now safe and sound. Had been a nice time with great weather!

Fran Lebowitz Quotes

Landfrau and very "first love"!

Fran Lebowitz Quotes:

"Romantic love is mental illness. But it's a pleasurable one. It's a drug. It distorts reality, and that's the point of it. It would be impossible to fall in love with someone that you really saw.

Fran Lebowitz "

September 20/07 5:24 p.m.

He is so right, this Fran Lebowitz.

In my early teens I fell madly in love with Winnetou ,would not have worked out if we had really met, besides that he did not excist. What has been left over, however, is this faible for "dark boys", they still make old Landfrau swoon. And might have something to do with my long lost" very first love".

Puttin on - no, not the Ritz - the Sacher

September 17/07 7:30 p.m.

Yes, my friends, that's what Landfrau has been doing, but I did not dance! When we were in Vienna during our last voyage, we sat in a cafe on the outside terrasse, feasting on...three guesses...Sachertorte of course. So we watched the crowd pass by and next to us at a table a lady had been writing postcards. Watching her Landfrau had a hot flash, had promised older daughter a card explicit from Vienna. Now, Sunday and sitting in a corner of Vienna where no open kiosks could be spotted and upnosed waiter was not very helpful, I decided to try out the Hotel Sacher around the corner, usually hotels have postcards at their reception desk. So I marched in passing the high hatted guard, pretending I was a guest. Must look eligible, it worked, but got a shock inside, very plush place with not such profanity like a postcard rack and no people around, just service personal. So I decided to grab a hotel prospect, very fancy ,and strolled out again by the high hat. Think this time he kind of eyed me a bit suspiciously. Found an open kiosk later on and returning to our river cruise, discovered that they had a wide selection of cards at their desk.

But I had been into the Ritz, NO ..Sacher!

Magic in the Park

The castle, painted 10 years ago

http://www.wdr.de/themen/kultur/1/magic_illumina_2004/_img/vertonte_fotogalerie/20041001/galerie_flash.html

September 14/07 6:04 p.m.

Now that you have had a look at the above link, (unfortunately only German version) you can imagine how enchanting the real presentation has been. What is a bit of a drawback is the immense crowd, always having the same idea to spend the same kind of evening as oneself. But we joined that same crowd later on, after our walk, to have a glass of wine and a snack at the terrasse overlooking the park and pretending it was not chilly whatsoever.

Incidently, at the castle we had the wedding reception of our younger daugther 10 years ago.

Some more Pics!

Hundertwasser Haus
Danube
Belvedere, Vienna
Markethall, Budapest
Bratislava (in rain)

The (not blue) Danube or "have you ever seen such rain, man"!

not allowed yet!
Passau
Sun still shining!
Happy in Vienna
Spectacular view!

September 9/07 2:48 p.m.

Honestly, folks, it had been raining so badly that we were kicked off the boat on our way back at Vienna and had to take a 3 1/2 hrs. bus- drive to Passau, our embarking and disembarking harbour in the end. Locks had been closed on account of high water level. And it all started out quite promising. We had fair weather, not cold and no rain the day of our arrival at Passau(Bavaria) and a nice leasurely boarding the next (Saturday) morning. We arrived in Vienna on Sunday and had a city sightseeing tour in the afternoon, the usual tourist attractions, of which Vienna offers plenty. Late afternoon I gave the nordic walking instructions a try, to see if I would join a work out. - Next morning we ventured out on our own by taxi, had a very nice and funny driver, who gave us some inside infos on top of the little tour while driving and then were just as lucky with our fiaker driver (horse drawn coach) . Of course, if the weather plays along, things are so much more pleasant. - Now, don't ask me to give you a tour too, I am not so gifted at reciting history, I let my snapshots talk for themselves! And then we went inside the St.Stephen’s Cathedral , spectacular! and up with a crummy little elevator which took you outside into a kind of caged in walk (gave me the creeps and a funny feeling in the pit of my stomach -ugh, damn high!), but the view over Vienna and sourrounding aereas had been marvellous! Also you could have a peek at the big bell, the Pummerin.

And at late afternoon I battled hip gold, tried nordic walking and decided it would in the long run be not my thing, I think walking without sticks suits me better (never know when I would need them anyway, in the years to come) .

And from then on the weather pixie got its mean streak and we had pouring rain in Budapest, Bratislava, ashore, on deck , on the river, till the not blue Danube decided to overflow and that put an end to our river cruise.

But we had fun inside, like during the long wellness nite,which only us two and another couple had booked, so we had the complete wellness area to ourselves, including the massage people, where man of my life managed to collapse with his relax bed and rip on top of that the socket of a lamp out of the wall. Too much good food, I think. But he survived his downfall, only to wipe a glass of the neighbouring table and a bottle of wine (which I fortunately managed to catch) with his - pardon me - ass the next nite.

The left- over mischiefs I will not mention. So, we have not been bored.

I frequented the trimm bike, which had been set in front of a window looking out on an aisle and felt like a monkey in a cage, people stopping to look at me through the glass.

Well, as I said, the rest had been rain.

Train ride back home had been very nice, the train quite empty and daughter No. 2 picked us up at the station, along with Herr Hund, who screamed like a pig beeing slaughtered,when he spied us. Now life is back to normal, only our bags are still missing, hope the service works as well as on the way to the cruise, then we should have them by Tuesday.