Germany 07/17/2006 to 07/29/2006

Well, I guess most of you have noticed that I fell behind in my blog. I was missing a total of two weeks since I never got the chance to catch up because of all my travels. It was quite a whirl wind trip the last 2 weeks in Europe with many cities and friends visited. I will do my best to catch up with the postings over the course of the next couple of weeks. Sorry about that.

Driving through the Black Forrest with a convertible .... 07/16/2006

On Sunday after I recovered a little from the 160 th birthday party the night before we took off with my friends Rudolf and Judith in their Saab convertible for a little tour of the Black Forrest. The weather was just perfect, warm, sunny, blue skies ...... aaaaaahhhhhh. I had not been in this area for many years and almost forgot how beautiful it is.

A shot taken from the back of the car, a nice view of the "Brettental".

Rudolf and myself ......

Rudolf, Judith and myself.

The waterfalls of Triberg, the "highest" waterfalls in Germany. Well, not to compare with the falls in Yosemite, but still quite impressive. The falls drop 160 meters (approx. 500 feet) over 7 levels into the valley. More info at www.triberg.de.

160 Years ..... 07/15/2006

On Saturday I went to the 160th birthday celebration of my friends Thomas (Tommie), Joerg (Schorsch), Hans-Joerg (Hanni) and Uschi. They all turned or will turn 40 and hosted a great birthday bash. This party was also in memory of our friend Christian (Chrissie) who passed away much too early due to cancer. Instead of gifts they asked for donations to www.helfen-hilft.de an organization that supports children with cancer.

Like in the good old days I decided to take the bicycle to get to the party and was a little surprised that I was the only one. Times are changing and with all the kids I guess it is quite difficult to get anywhere by bike.

It was great to see everybody, some folks I had not seen in many years. Especially some of the kids have changed a lot (I was told not to say that they "got so tall"). The ride home in th early morning got quite adventurous since the lights of my bike were not working properly. They turned off for no obvious reason every so often, actually the were off most of the time. Especially when I rode down a steep hill, the lights turned off, suddenly it was pitch black ... it was difficult to see anything .... thank god for the moon light.

Birthday boy number 1, Thomas (Tommie)

Martin (Gaensi) with birthday boy number 2 Hans-Joerg (Hanni) and birthday girl Uschi (l to r).

Birthday boy 3 Joerg (Schorsch) and myself.

Zuerich - 07/13/2006 - 07/15/2006

On Thursday I took the train to Zuerich. Although it is only a little over 2 hours from my hometown I have never really visited this city. Many people say it is a very beautiful town, it is definitely probably the most expensive city in the world. Earlier on my trip I met my friend Philippe (who moved from San Francisco to Zuerich) and his girl friend in Freiburg. They were so kind to meet me half way when I was not able to drive. Unfortunately they were on vacation this time around.

My friends Juergen and Henry (Henriette) moved from San Francisco to Zuerich about 5 years ago. I went to University in Munich with Juergen, actually met him in the French course in preparation for a study year in France. While Juergen and Henry lived in SF I was still residing back east (Philadelphia) and only for a short time we enjoyed the city together. Finally after more than 5 years I managed to visit them. They live in an absolutely spectacular house close to the Zuerich Lake with their daughters Ella and Leni. It was two wonderful days of catching up, swimming in the lake, a little sight seeing and just enjoying the beautiful weather and each others company. Friday night we went to Zuerich downtown. We only had little time to walk around, but it was enough to get a feel for the beauty of the old town. Guess what? ....... banks everywhere :-)

On Saturday morning I took the train back to Lahr.

Juergen and myself enjoying a beautiful afternoon on the roof deck.

Myself on the roof deck, Lake Zuerich in the back drop.

An old cruise ship entertaining tourists on Lake Zuerich.

A very nice "Biergarten" where we had lunch right on the lake.

Juergen, Henry, Leni (on papa's shoulder) and Ella.

Lahr - 07/10/2006 Life is good

On Monday morning I arrived again in my home town Lahr. Actually I am staying at my friends Rudolf and Judith's house in Ettenheim. Some of you have probably met Rudolf and Judith at the 11th anniversary of my 29th birthday. The idea is to take a break from my travel for a little while. I am spending my days with long breakfasts (German rolls and "Salzbrezeln"), reading the newspaper, some travel planning, running through the vineyards, mountain biking, pilates and of course enjoying the great weather sitting outside with friends and chatting until late at night. The summer is awesome here, although for me it is almost too hot, over 100 degrees at times. This afternoon I will probably stop by one of the lakes to swim and this evening we are going to a restaurant that specializes on gigantic "Wiener Schnitzel". I will be joining my friend Rudolf and his basket ball team and we will actually drive in a mini bus, so nobody has to worry about drinking beer or not .... Life is good! :-)

Stuttgart - Franzl and Marlene

On Sunday I stopped in Stuttgart to visit my friends Frank (aka Franzl) and Marlene. I have met Frank more than 11 years ago when he joined our team at IDS Scheer Inc. in Philadelphia. They moved back to Germany about 5 years ago and now live in Ditzingen (close to Stuttgart) with their two kids. In the afternoon we went to a "Dorffest" (kind of a street fair in a small village, typically all the local sports and cultural clubs operate stands, sell food and drinks etc.)

in Moegglingen. In the evening we decided not to watch the soccer world cup final, but to enjoy the great weather and some good wine outside in their back yard. Well .... we actually saw the penalty shoot out. Although it was just a brief visit it was great to see them again.

Soccer Fans .....

Two soccer fans in Lion costumes .....

Stetten ..... Germany - Portugal 3:1

Germany - Portugal 3:1 .... what a nice and happy ending for the German soccer team. The game was pretty good and exciting to watch, especially since the German team was without 6 players of their original starting team. Interesting to see Germany celebrate the 3rd place as if they have won the cup.

I watched the game in a small village called Stetten, close to Dachau (which is close to Munich). I visited my friends Phil and Karin and their two little boys. Phil and his wife Karin a very good friends of my friends Andrea & Scott and that is how I met them. So far I have seen Phil only in San Francisco, but since I was close by I was able to see them on my way from Munich to Lahr. Phil and some former colleagues have started their own company (www.smapper.com) and do some really cool stuff. Check it out!

Unfortunately I have only a photo of Phil.

Munich IV - Dinner with Doris & Ugo

On Friday I met with my friend Ugo for dinner and beers at the "Cafe Reitschule". This is one of the hot spots in Munich that has been around for (at least) 20 years. They are located close to the University and in the same building there is a horse back riding school, hence the name .... "Reitschule" (horse back riding school). I have known Ugo for about 15 years, he was actually my boss in my very early years at IDS Scheer, a German software and consulting company. Later that evening Doris and her boyfriend (who was so kind to take this photo) joined us. Doris used to live in San Francisco and moved back to Munich about 3 years ago.

Munich III - Dinner with Hans & Family

The world is a small place. On Thursday I met with my former boss at eWork for dinner. Hans and his family are visiting Germany to watch the world cup. They came to Munich to see the semi final France versus Portugal. We went to a typical Bavarian restaurant. It was called "Paulaner im Thal" and is centrally located close to the "Viktualien Markt" and the "Marienplatz". The food was great and we had a great time. Below you can see a shot of Tiffany, (little) Max, Hans and myself.

Munich II 07/06/2006

Just a couple more impressions from Munich. I spend quite some time yesterday and today to explore and see what has changed. Although it has been a long time since I lived here (15 years), there are still many familiar places, but there is a lot of new buildings and construction going on. Below you can see the City Hall. It was before the France - Portugal match and there were thousands of fans waving flages, singing ....

A different view of the Marienplatz.

My rental car. Isn't it absolutely cute? A Smart convertible, perfect for the city in the summer. You can see me here with my Aunt before we took off to Munich downtown. tonight I will be meeting with my former boss at eWork Hans Bukow and his family. They have been lucky to get tickets for the match last night and stay in Munich for a couple of days. More later.

Munich I 07/05/2006 ....... My heart is broken .....

Germany - Italy 0 : 2

Oh boy, oh boy ..... what a drama. Heaven and hell .... so close next to each other. For 117 minutes we could dream of the final ...Just 3 damn minutes to the penalty shoot out .... 3 minutes we did not pay attention and got a stupid goal. How cruel can soccer be? Oh well, nothing I can do about this, so I guess we have to wait another 4 years. It is kind of funny. Before the world cup nobody expected anything from the team .... a couple of weeks later everybody is disappointed that they did not make it to the finals .... The coach (Klinsmann) did an awesome job to build a great team out of mediocre players .... and they actually played great soccer.

Munich ... the city where I went to school 15 years ago .... scary how quickly time passes. A lot has changed around here, but it is still one of my favorite cities. Especially with this gorgeous weather .... perfect for the Biergarten. I got a really cool rental car. A so called Smart Convertible. They are not being sold in the US and are a kind of micro car. Well, I probably look like a sardine in a can, but it is very cheap ($ 80) for 5 days and it is a cool little convertible.

I am currently staying with relatives in a little village close to Munich called Groebenzell. Today I went to the city to check out what has changed in my old hood since I moved (well at least they have plenty new one way streets). Downtown there were lots of Portuguese and French soccer fans, but in general you could see the shirts of many other nations, even some that did not qualify for the world cup at all, e.g. Ireland. I guess everybody wants to be part of it. I was thinking about joining my former boss for the semi final tonight, but I guess I am a little "soccered out" after last nights defeat, hard to watch when you are not art of the tournament anymore. Well, enough of this soccer talk. See below some quick shots I took today n my way to the internet cafe.

Munich was an important city during the 3rd Reich. The Nazis build quite a few buildings in a very pompous style, a mix of Greek and Roman architecture. This one shows the main gate of the "Koenigsplatz" (Kings Place). I will try to add some more history later.

One of the buildings of the "Koenigsplatz".

Well, took an automatic shot of myself in front of the "Koenigsplatz", not my best work :-)

Vienna V - 07/03/2006 ....... Palace Schoenbrunn

This was basically my last day in Vienna. In the morning I did some work on my blog before I started out to the Palace of Schoenbrunn. Some of you may recall that I went there for a concert of the Vienna Symphonic Orchestra conducted by Placido Domingo the Friday before. However I did not see much of the Palace itself and decided to come back on a sunny day. The castle and gardens are just amazing. You get a very good impression how the emperor Franz ? or empress Maria Theresa lived here many years ago. Unfortunately I was not able to take photos inside, but below you can find several photos of the palace it self, the surrounding gardens and the "small" palace called "Gloriette" which is located on a small hill behind the palace.

After my return to the city I went to one of the famous coffee houses to enjoy a Melange and a piece of "Sacher Torte", a cake originally invented at the Hotel Sacher in Vienna. How could I leave Vienna without having at least one piece.

In the evening I met with an old friend of mine from San Francisco. She moved back to Vienna about 5 years ago. It was great to catch up since both of us had quite a few changes in our lives. We went to the Film Festival at the City Hall. It is not really a film festival. I believe it is much more about getting together, chatting and enjoying a nice glass of wine and good food. There were about 40 food stands of all different cuisines. We had Spanish, Japanese, Greek and Indian .... yummy.

The palace of Schoenbrunn from the back, a shot taken from the "Gloriette", a smaller palace on the hill behind the big palace. You can see below the "Gloriette.

Imagine you walk through the Palace of Schoenbrunn, step into the garden and see this stage with the "Gloriette" in the back drop. This was the stage for the concert of the Vienna Symphonic Orchestra / Placido Domingo I mentioned earlier. At night with spectacular lighting it looked awesome..... too bad the weather was so bad.

The "Gloriette" a small palace for entertainment build on top of a hill behind the Schoenbrunn palace.

Thanks to two Japanese tourists you have proof that I have actually been there.

Vienna IV 07/02/2006

Sight seeing, sight seeing and more sight seeing. I walked for miles and miles and lies and just could not stop. Here are some samples.

A building designed by the local architect "Otto Wagner". Hard to see on this photo, but the facade is covered with painted tiles. They have not lost their color in a long time.

A small area of the fresco in the "Carl's Cathedral".

The "Carl's Cathedral" is currently being renovated. Well actually they started in 1999 and they schedule to be done around 2009 with the fresco. After that they will start on the outside. On this photo you can see the scaffolding and elevator that was built for the renovation. I overcame my fear of height and made it all the way to the top. The view was spectacular, but boy, my legs were pretty tight, the whole thing was shaking and vibrating with every step somebody took...... but it was absolutely worth it.

The "Carl's Cathedral", one of the most beautiful "Barock" churches I have seen so far.

An old station of the "U-Bahn" (underground) designed by "Otto Wagner". It is now a small museum.

A museum and art exhibition hall specifically build for the "secessionism". More detailed explanation to follow.

Vienna III 07/01/2006

Guess what I did today? ..... Yupp sight seeing. I spent the entire day walking around the city exploring the historical sites.

The "Albertina Museum" - an interesting mix of modern and historic architecture. I saw an exhibition about the life and work of Mozart here. It also provided a pretty good background about the "times", the social, political and economic conditions and the challenges of those days.

The "Alte Hofburg" home of the ruling Habsburg family. Their reign ended after over 600 consecutive years with the end of World War I in 1918. This is one of the main gates from the historical "downtown area", once you enter and make a left you would see the "Hofreitschule" (the royal horse back riding school), where they train the famous (white) Lipizaner horses.

The ceiling of the main gate you saw above. Just thought it looks kind of cool .....

Another gate to the gardens ofd the "Hofburg". In the garden there was the final event for the "Love Parade" of Vienna that day.... all the streets had been closed off, only bicycles and horse carriages were allowed.

The "Neue Hofburg", a more modern extension of the "Hofburg". In general this whole area is a hodge podge of different architectural styles. Every ruler wanted to leave his / her mark by creating a new and different extension.

Well, shame on me. I do not even remember right now what is depicted here.

A photo of city hall from afar. A wonderful building. Currently there is the film festival right in front of it, with lots and lots of food and wine stands (of course there is food, this is Vienna).

The rose garden of the Hofburg. Very nice, the photo does not give enough credit ..... well and I guess that you noticed that there are no roses in this shot.

Later this day I went to dinner at my friends house and of course we watched Brazil versus France. "Allez les bleus....." After the game we went back to the city to watch the fireworks scheduled for that evening, but when we got there it was all over and we just had drinks at a bar.

Vienna II 06/30/2006 ....... Germany - Argentina 5:3

What a day ....... I got up fairly early in the morning and started exploring the city. My hotel is right downtown, close to the Stephan's Dom. So I am right smack in the middle. At first I got lost a couple of times since I had some issues with the map. However, after circling my hood a couple of times I finally found my way back. Vienna is almost comparable to Prague, although Prague seems to be the "older" city, meaning the dominant building and architectural styles seem to be older. After working on my blog to finish the Prague section and some more exploring it started raining and I decided to visit one of the coffee houses for which Vienna is famous. The service was a little rough and seemed not very friendly (friends had warned me about it), but it seems a common theme and was therefore quite amusing. Especially when the guy at the table next to me returned the "friendliness" of the waiter (they call it "Schmaeh") by calling out with loud and clear voice if "the restaurant is taking any orders today". I spent several hours reading the newspaper and my travel guide, watching people, enjoying a good "Wiener Melange" (espresso cafe with steamed milk, kind of a cappucino) and waited for the rain to stop. It can be a lot of fun doing "nothing".

..... And finally it was time for the game. Germany - Argentina. Lots of people said this should have been the final, well not this time. I had found an Australian sports bar that was packed with Germans, a couple Argentineans and some Austrian Argentineans (Austrian Gauchos wearing the Argentinean colours).... I guess you wonder why they would not support Germany? It is a long story and quite frankly I do not understand the reasons myself. However, during the game some of them changed their opinion and started supporting Germany. It was a very tense game and for long it seamed that all our efforts would not lead to anything. There was one mistake on which Argentina scored early in the second half. Oh boy, then the goal in the 78th minute ..... what a noise!!!!! ...... Everybody was yelling at the top of their lungs, high fives everywhere. Cool! Then overtime, but no goals and then the penalty shootout ....... The rest is history .... we prevailed (do I sound like Bush, ha ha ha) and made it to the semi final.

How could you top this day?

The people from Vienna are crazy about music. I guess especially this year since it is "Mozart Year". Mozart is everywhere .... This night there was something special ..... There is a beautiful castle called "Schoenbrunn". In the amazing gardens they put up a stage for the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and Placido Domingo as conductor. Behind the stage is a little hill with a smaller palace on top. It was a spectacular backdrop. Hard to describe and I did not bring my camera. Anyways, it could have been a memorable evening, but then it started raining first, then pouring. After less than an hour we (my friend Ernesto and myself) were soaking wet. Finally we decided to call it quits and skip the firework that was supposed to happen later. Too bad ..... We finished up this amazing day with a late night dinner at a small local restaurant. I had a "real" Wiener Schnitzel and potato salad. Very yummy.

The newly renovated parliament. Mix of Greek and Roman Architecture, kind of.

The "Hofburg", the dominating castle in the city, residence of the ruling family.

Vienna I 06/29/2006

After a long train ride through the Czech Republic I arrived in Vienna without (well almost) any incident. There was just a 'little' fire on the train and nasty smoke coming into our compartment. Thank god there was no panic, so all of us moved out into other sections of the train while the crew took care of the problem. They turned off the electricity which seemed to fix the issue and after some time we were able to return to our seats.

At the train station I was picked up by my friend Ernesto. We dropped my luggage at the hotel and then we went to a "Heurigen". By the way, Vienna is surrounded by vineyards, sometimes they reach well into the city. Everything is about wine (and food and music) and there is no better place than the "Heurigen". So, how am I to explain what a "Heurigen" means. Think Napa Valley wine tasting meats Zeitgeist (the famous basic "Biergarten" (beer garden) in SF. By an old law. wineries are allowed to sell all their on products and operate a bar / restaurant to do so without the need of a license. Most of them open up their courtyard, put in some wooden benches and tables and there you go. The food is basic, but very tasty and you can buy all the wines that this specific winery produces.

Now think of a little village ("Strammersdorf") with many, many wineries and house after house is such a "Heuriger". It is a great atmosphere, very unique. We set outside at "Christel's" on the roof deck. We enjoyed the wine, the view over Vienna and the food. I had a potato dumpling filled with minced meat called "Grammerl Knoedel" .... yummy. After this place closed we went to the "Haupt Prost Amt" (the former post office ("Hauptpostamt"). By adding the letter "r" to the mix "Post" becomes "Prost" which means cheers. We had a couple more drinks and then I took a cab back to my hotel.