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The last three days have been very exhausting with long long working hours. After returning from work today, I fell asleep immediately and enjoyed three hours of rest. I am now enjoying today's Champions League games. At half-time Munich leads 1:0 while Bremen is 2:1 behind against Athens. The English teams have a very good start: both ManU and Arsenal lead 1:0. Let's see what the second half brings. In any case I'll be enjoying in from the couch and go to bed asap...
Google displays another logo due to their 7th anniversary.
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A birthday party at an ice cream parlor? That's something for children, right?! At first, most people seemed surprised, but Raven's idea was great. The Eisdiele had closed down their regular operation. All people not familiar with the famous code words were not allowed in. After an opening champaign we behaved well and delivered our presents. Does the term Leseratte sound familiar?
We then enjoyed pizza and some drinks. It was great fun and very atmospheric. After dinner everyone got to pick a sundae from the menu. Some decided for two smaller ones, while others tried an XXL Spaghetti Ice Cream. Naturelich took a wonderful sundae with strawberries, kiwi fruit and bananas. Since these represent the Italian national colors the sundae was called Italian Delight. I had the chance to talk to some old friends which are currently awaiting the birth of their first son.
It was a very good party...
Naturelich had the chance to see Reinhard Mey in concert. Today, the great German writer and singer played in Osnabrück. We had excellent seats in row 9 to the right of the stage. Mey played many songs from his latest album Nanga Parbat (a ballad about Reinhold Messner and his brother who died on mountain Nanga Parbat). He also played plenty of his famous song, most notably Über den Wolken which he has not played live for quite some time. The playlist also included (I can't remember the order, just some of the titles, sorry for this!):
Since this was the second concert on his tour, Reinhard Mey was in an extremely good modd and the audience really went along with his songs. Standing ovations ended a great evening. His new song was the funniest piece of the evening. Let's just say Power on...
Germany has voted. Stalemate draw. The country is intolerably resistant against reforms. F*** us! Now, the country has fallen into chaotic discussions. Normally, we only see this on soap opera TV: Who falls in love with whom?
Merkel and Schröder? Maybe not. Angie and Müntefering? Regicide. Schröder and Westerwelle. Definitely no. Stoplight coalition. Not an option for Westerwelle who got at least half the votes from Christian-Democrats. My projection (but not my favorite) is the Jamaica coalitiion.
I know it's politically dangerous to have your coming out early, so I am playing high risk here. But all other options except a great coalition are politically impossible, in my opinion. What's worse: I cannot believe that a coalition between CDU and SPD will be beneficial for the country.
Stillstand.
I believe the Green party, FDP and CDU/CSU will have to digest this and need to come up with a solution. Current Foreign Minister, Joschka Fischer - the grey eminence of the Green party - is currently making jokes about this option and has already announced to be not available for this coalition. And actually that's great news, because the Liberal Democrats have a traditional claim for his current post. Fischer is very respected as Foreign Minister - but if that's what it takes to generate something good from this election - so be it!
This solves many problems:
I am certain there are more pros and there are certainly even more cons. But anything is better than Angie's and Schrödie's party together. Naturelich a NO!
We spent two and a half days on Juist. Juist is a narrow but long island on the German North Coast (Wikipedia). The island is one of the East Frisian Islands. We stayed at Nordsee-Hotel Freese, a great hotel which is a member of Relais du Silence.
The biggest hurdle for Naturelich were the ferry trips. I "love" ferries! :-(
The weather was awful and the sea was rough. Happily everything on the ship stayed where it belonged (if you know what I mean).
The monster ferry
On Friday, we enjoyed a long walk on a stormy beach. Some few raindrops hit us followed by sunshine, followed by another few raindrops. The sea was truly fantastic. Great waves, very atmospheric.
We decided to enjoy a decent cup of Ostfriesentee (a special strong kind of tea served with cream and "Kluntje" sugar) together with a cheesecake. In the evening we enjoyed a great dinner at Köbes restaurant. We all decided for fish dishes - and they were really great. Some more or less alcoholic beverages (in small dosages) served as digestifs and we returned to the hotel. As the Germans say: Vollgefuttert aber glücklich!
Naturelich enjoyed a quick visit to the hotel sauna and went to bed early. Saturday was waiting...
As you can see from the pictures below Saturday's wheather was much, much better. After shopping in "town" we enjoyed another walk on the sunny beach. We enjoyed a quick dinner at the Lütje Teehuus and then returned to the beach - this time westbound. It was fabulous since the low tide allowed us to explore several beds of mussels and wander the tidelands.
North Sea
Juist dune
Crab on the beach
It took an entire afternoon to return back to the hotel. We had reserved a dinner table at the hotel restaurant. The meal was good and we enjoyed a couple of digestifs. Altogether, Juist has proven to be a great experience. I particularly loved the tide on Juist. It has been far better than on the continental North coast or on other islands (such as Norderney). The only problem is: Juist is not big. It is great for a weekend, maybe good for a week. After that, I guess, you know pretty much everything inside out.
Beck's words. From a famous song. Not so true for politicians. Angie loses, Schröder loses. The King is dead. Long live the KingQueen?
mcl #2
:D
Here is a great gadget you need to own:
A keyboard without any character imprintments. Kuckstu hier:
I have just returned from two days in Brussels. I enjoyed a quick visist to Manneken Pis and the Grand Place. Together with my colleagues we enjoyed dinner and a few Belgian beer.
Our way home was spoinled by the huge traffic problems. The rush hour in Brussels is simply a nightmare. It took us about 1 hour to get out of the city centre. Ugly...
Inspired by recent events in the Gulf of TexaMexico here is a very interesting link to a climate blog RealClimate blog with a particularly interesting article about the connection between Hurricanes and Global warming.
Currently Angie and Schrödi are discussing the future of Germany on TV. The biggest moment was just minutes ago. Basically what Angie just said was: "Wir haben in Europa die rote Laterne". In German, the idiom "die rote Laterne" (word-by-word translation = " the red lantern") refers to the last waggon in a train. What she referred to was Germany being the last in Europe when it comes to economic growth. However, the term "rote Laterne" also has a second meaning. And that caused Chancellor Schröder to break into laughter. And me too. His party, the Social Democratic Party has the color red. Therefore, Angie may also have reffered to him. It's so cool. Angie is soooo funny, she even makes her political opponent laugh in front of millions on the TV.
It has been a great day today. I am now a proud and already frequent user of a dishwasher. It is a great great thing to own. More freetime is waiting for me now!
It's not easy to return to regular blog business after the disaster caused by hurricane Katrina. It is a great tragedy and my sympathies go to all the people in New Orleans and the other cities of Louisiana, Alabama and Missouri. I visited New Orleans just recently. Having to see the inflicted destruction and the current chaos, now, is really shocking. We are all aware that the world has changed again. Not only for the victims who have lost their homes and families. It will take months if not years to rebuild the homes and industries.
Let's hope man-made damage to nature and environment is not punished more heavily than this. Oh, and, if people (and government) in the U.S. will finally see how important Kyoto Protocol is, maybe some good can come from this.