At the end of October we quickly fitted in a trip to see our friends Horst, Melanie and Timmy in Brussels, as they are heading off to Fiji from January. Horst has accepted a transfer with the EU Commission (is that right Horst?) and will be effectively spending EU tax payers money - or is that ensuring that EU tax payers money is effectively spent in Fiji for the next 4-5 years.
They will have a few weeks off in Dec/Jan and have cleverly split the journey into a number of legs, saying goodbye to family and friends in Austria over Christmas then off to Thailand for a week and then a hop to Australia for a week, before a quick 4 hour flight to Fiji - seems much shorter than the usual London, LA, Sydney, Fiji flight of over 24 hours! Should also be a great break, although 4 weeks out of a suitcase with a little one in tow might also be a challenge we're sure!
Fiji will be quite a change from suburbia in Brussels and we wish them all of the best in this new adventure! If you ever happen to drop past Fiji, I can highly recommend Horst as a tour guide and Melanie as host!
I turned 21 again, and friends Thomas and Charlotte were celebrating their 35th birthdays (old farts) within a few weeks of one another so we decided to combine our parties. We had around 50 people crammed into Thomas's place and a great time was had by all! Although we all survived pretty unscathed (despite Tesha and the tequila - again), Thomas's amplifier and speakers were not quite so lucky!
Seems Father Christmas or now the Easter bunny will have to 'invest' in a new system since Thomas as DJ tried to carry one of the speakers into the lounge from downstairs in the basement (where the dancing/party was scheduled to take place) and the system melted down. Had the stink of melted plastic / electronics throughout the house - almost as bad as my 'lighting the fire without opening the chimney' episode the year before for Halloween ! Thomas and my DJ skills were so impressive that nobody else noticed the absence of music for the rest of the evening !
Good time was had by all though I believe. We asked the advice of a local liquor store owner about how much beer to order and he confidently said that one 30 litre keg should be enough - our mates smashed through that before 10:30, must be used to German's only parties where they don't drink much (or maybe not). Fortunately I had also bought a few cases in reserve on sale-or-return in case we had such an emergency (must be the boy scout training - 'be prepared'.)
Ingrid has also started a new job. She is still at the same company, an European biological research organisation called EMBL. She was originally in the student administration area temping for someone on maternity leave, but is now in the accounts department, looking at optimising their implementation of SAP. Oh no, I have a customer at home now ! Still taking some time to get going since there is no structure or existing person in this role, she is having to create the requirement and the recommendations herself, but I'm sure things will be easier in the new year.
While on the subject of my beloved wife, she jumped out of the bath one evening in November to run after Emma who had stolen the lip-ice off her bedside cabinet (as is the usual case when the basset is looking for attention!). She slipped on the tiled floor and crashed into the doorway badly bruising her back and cutting her leg on the wooden edge of the door frame. Although it was a small cut it was very deep and I was in big trouble the next day when she went off to the doctor who asked why she had not come in for stitches immediately! Seems her miserable husband had said that it was only a small cut and would be fine. Anyway it was not, and they did a special kind of stitch that uses a powerful sticking plaster rather than an actual stitch and she had an allergic reaction to the plaster and ended up with three scabs and bad bruising all around the wound, and had to spend a week in bed. Only just recovered in time for our ski trip holiday in December, I was not too hopeful of her being able to ski on it as it looked pretty nasty, but luckily it was fine
Although I've been travelling quite a lot since coming to Europe, I had not yet been to Italy and the Q4 European management team meeting was scheduled in Stresa. I went a day early to our closest office in Milan and then drove through to Stresa with a colleague (about 1 hour away). I believe that both Milan and Stresa are beautiful places, but for the four days I was there a thick blanket of fog descended and even though we stayed in a grand hotel right on the lake, I never even saw the water! Great waste of some industrial tourism! Lake Maggiore borders with Lombardy and Switzerland and is the second largest among Italian lakes after Lake Garda and has a surface of 212.2 km. One of the specialities listed were boat trips including sailing trips which I was looking forward to, but maybe next time.
I would love to go back and see Rome or Venice and both were strongly recommended by my Italian colleagues. Something slightly stronger than 'recommended' I believe they were appalled that we have been in Europe now for 18 months and have seen neither. (What have we been doing!). One small issue to overcome will be Ingrid's fear of driving, or to be more precise her fear of other people's driving. Italian drivers during my stay lived up to every stereotype and I began to enjoy the traffic chaos once I decided that it was just like being on the start line of a yacht race. If you know the rules, there is actually some order, but from the outside it just looks like a lot of people shouting and gesticulating to one another. Brought back memories of Brett (Ingrid's brother) banging on the side of the boat shouting 'weather boat, weather boat' and pushing some unsuspecting Mistral sailor into the committee boat at Hartebeespoort , who shouted back, 'that's not fair !' - so it seems in the Italian traffic, especially with a taxi driver who obviously had right of way in all situations!
Also had a quick overnight trip to Leiden in Holland. Situated between Amsterdam, The Hague and Utrecht and only a 20 minute train ride from Amsterdam. This is a very pretty University town surrounded by canals and lakes with a decent old-town area and central shopping district. Was great to see the barges, old and new, lining the shores, but once again probably better seen in summer than in Nov/Dec!
For bad weather though my last trip of the year was back to Stockholm. They only had 6 hours of real sunlight (meaning the sun - or at least some blue sky was actually visible) in November, and I certainly never got to see a hint of it as it rained constantly for the two days. I really like Stockholm and our office is right on the harbour so for me perfectly located ! I just can't imagine surviving the winter though, specifically the darkness - I think that the snow and cold would be OK, but constantly living in the dark would take some 'adjustment'!
Although December is our busiest period at work, we managed to fit in one last ski trip for this year and went off to Hintertux in Austria - more about that under the skiing section of the web site. We have another trip planned in the first week of February, a few days in Ischgl - Austria and then a week in Selva/Wolkenstein in Italy and another in March (venue TBC) for a week, if you're interested in joining.
After our holiday, we both had just over a week left at work before the Christmas break. We went to see my folks in Consett in the UK. Was good to see the family again and spend Christmas together. Was especially good to have my uncle Colin's little ones Emma and Sarah (3 & 5) there providing a full Christmas morning service, including present distribution and in some cases even present unwrapping (perfect of Ingrid who doesn't believe in Father Christmas!). Picture is of Sarah fetching gifts on Christmas morning. Was great to have the kids there as it makes Christmas very different. Even the older kids like my gran Daisy wearing the reindeer antlers in the other photo! Father Christmas spoilt us both as usual and our luggage was overweight on the way back!
We got back to Germany on the 28th Dec and collected our own children from the kennels. They were naturally very excited to see us and now seem pretty used to the kennel process, showing no signs of stress or sickness, just the smell of sleeping in hay, so all had to have a shower!
We spent new year with Thomas and Charlotte and his parents at their place in Ladenburg about 30 minutes away. We had an excellent chicken dinner prepared by Thomas, drinking some South African red wine from a friends estate Eagles Vlei(maybe too much red wine!), but rushed off at 11:00 to be home in time for the fireworks as we were concerned that the fireworks might set off the dogs barking. It was pretty eyrie being on the A5 (one of Germanys busiest autobahns and the main North - South route for all trucks), and being the only car on the road in both directions!
New Year is a big opportunity for all Germany to unleash their own Weapons of Mass Destruction and the fireworks even in our sleepy little town Reilingen are really impressive. People must spend a fortune on them and this morning the roads are littered with the fallout ! The dogs were fine and despite being very conscious of the loud bangs, did not seem too bothered. The two boxers even joined us at the window, looking out over the children's playing fields and watching the display.
We have just had the first real snow of 2004 at home and the dogs are once again in their element on their walk, playing in the powder, but now all sharing a basket to try and stay warm - minus 6C for this evening planned with more snow on the way - no problem though because there is a high of 1C to look forward to tomorrow!
We hope that 2004 brings you good health and happiness and that you've added a visit to Germany into your new years resolutions!
August to October 2003
In August, a group of us went to see the Opera Nabucco, as an open air production in the gardens of Schwetzingen Palace. I booked for a group of 10 of us, and was really looking forward to it, after the fantastic opea we saw in Schwerin in June. The day was really hot, and when we met for dinner beforehand at 6pm, it was still 37C!. By the time the opera started at 8pm, it started to cool enough, that you could almost breathe. Unfortunately the opera was a big disappointment. The stage and seating were badly designed, so most of us could see nothing. And then the sound was terrible, there was often serious feedback and schreeching noises. I felt sorry for the performers, as they were doing there best, but the sound technician made a complete hash of it. I was also furious because the seats were expensive!. I have made a note of the name of the production company, and will avoid operas presented by them in the future.
Most of August was spent working, and staying inside to avoid the heat, often up to 40C! We had record temperatures this summer. Phillip and I had to go and buy a portable airconditioner for the bedroom, so we could sleep at night. With the thing running on full speed, it could only get the temperature down to 28C. But it did reduce the humidity which helped. Airconditiong at work is very rare, so working during the summer was quite difficult. Luckily I am allowed to work in shorts, flip flops etc and was only working until 1pm, so managed to go off home before the worst heat of the day.
During the first weekend of September, we travelled to Brussels to attend Horst and Melanie's wedding. It was a lovely weekend, and great to see our friends again. Their son, Timmy, is getting quite big now, but insisted on crying the whole way through the ceremony, which was held in the Rathaus on the historic Grande Place, a perfect setting. The reception was good fun, and also interesting. Melanie's family in Belgian, and French speaking. Horst's is Austrian, and German speaking. And most of their friends work for the European Union, and communicate only in English since they come from countries like Sweden. So speeches were impossible, unless they were prepared to do them in all 3 languages. Luckily they settled for no speeches at all. But we all managed to communicate, and have a good time. Horst will be taking up a 4 year post in Fiji from 1 January 2004, working for the EU. Phillip and I are hoping to visit them, but will have to save for the airfare!
At the end of September, we visited South Africa to see old friends and family, and take care of some administrative matters. Again it was great to see everyone. We visited my brother and his family in Pretoria. Their daughter Angela has just turned 6, and is getting quite big now. I asked Hilda if she would allow Angela to fly to Germany to come with us on a ski trip when she thought Angela was old enough to do the 10 hour flight to Frankfurt alone. And she said yes! We are very excited, but have to wait a whole year more, before Angela will be big enough to travel alone.
We also got to see the usual suspects (our friends) and stayed with Dave and Ailsa in their new house. And we got the meet Joshua, their new baby. Joshua is well behaved, and Ailsa seems to have it all worked out. We spent the week eating out a lot, and by the time I came home to Germany, I felt like a stuffed pig! We also both got to see our old work colleagues, which was nice. Phillip stayed on another week to attend a conference at Sun City. As the invited guest, he got to stay at the Palace, which impresssed him no end. Unfortunately I had to get back to work and couldn't join him at the Palace.
During the first weekend of October, my Canadian/South African/Malian friend Glen came to stay with us for a few days on his tour round Europe. Luckily the hot weather had passed, and we got to get out and do some more local toursim, starting with the obligatory Heidelberg Castle of course. We also got to visit the transport museum in Sinsheim, which recently received a Concorde for their display. Unfortunately it was not on show yet, but we did get to see the Russian concorde which was very interesting.
Autumn arrived at the beginning of October with cooler weather (10C to 15C) and lovely blue skies. The weatherman called it Golden October, which was a perfect description. Unfortunately Autumn lasted only 2 weeks, and by mid October winter had arrived. I had told Phillip that we should only switch the central heating on on 1st December, to save money. He lasted 1 week, complaining like mad, and then one Sunday morning, he secretly switched the heating on. It only took about 5 inutes for me to notice though, because the pipes started making a noise. But since we now have snow to the south, east and north of us, I think maybe heating is called for. Unfortunately it dries the air out terribly, and my humidifier makes little difference. Going outside for a long walk with the dogs usually solves any problems though.
BREAKING NEWS We had a murder in the forest between our town and the next town recently. The police have caught the culprits. It was an 18 year old and two 14 year olds, who tortured a homeless man to death. Quite shocking for our little rural town.
July 2003
Hi everyone
Just a quick update below on our latest summer holiday in Europe. We will be back in South Africa from 19th-27th Sept for a weeks leave and I'll be staying on for another week for our companies African user group conference, so hope to see all of you then.
Holiday - Danube River Cruise
While based in Germany we had wanted to do some touring to other countries and decided to take a river cruise down the Danube (Donau) from Passau to Budapest. There were initially some problems in making this happen since South Africans need a visa for Hungary. This was only possible if you went in person to the consulate in Stuttgart, meaning that we'd have to take another day off, but we persevered and got the visa. And I'm pleased that I'd insisted on this cruise as opposed to the easier option of touring France which Ingrid had suggested.
We invited my Gran, Daisy along for her 83nd birthday who flew in a week earlier to stay with us and then left on the Saturday for Passau in Germany right on the border with Austria. Took about 5 hours to drive there as it was the start of the main Germany (European) holiday season, similar to Dec 16th in South Africa and the sudden flood of traffic on the roads desperate to get somewhere quickly in order to relax! When we arrived in Passau the boat was not there ! For a boat cruise this is a pretty important requirement, but we had seen the boat further up the river in the working / repair harbour. Apparently they had to have repairs done to the propeller and since there had been many stories about possibly cancelling boat trips in the river due to insufficient water (due to current heatwave), it was a good sight to see the boat eventually appear! The trip was 8 days and covered 1158 km on the river through Germany, Austria, Slovakia and Hungary.
Passau - Dürnstein 217 km Dürnstein - Vienna 80 km Vienna - Budapest 282 km Budapest - Bratislava 221 km Bratislava - Melk 170 km Melk - Passau 188 km
In general these trips are considered 'pensioner safaris' and most German colleagues were surprised to hear that we were going on this type of trip, but it was the perfect way to fit in 4 countries in 8 days and never having to unpack and repack! Another welcome bonus was that the boat is a real floating hotel, with an indoor swimming pool, top deck jacuzzi and even table tennis and library/games room etc. It was called the Swiss Pearl with space for about 125 passengers in 62 cabins on 2 floors and 110 meters long. I have also added a few centimetres to my girth since there were three full meals per day, and although each lunch-time I set out to not have all 5 courses, somehow that never quite worked out! The food was superb with a different theme each day depending on which country we were in. The staff were all from the Netherlands, so was quite amusing hearing their 'Afrikaans' German day to day.
The basic program was eat sleep, eat sleep interspersed with tours to whichever town you'd reached. A standard bus or walking tour with a guide and then some time to yourself to explore the places in a bit more detail. For me it was interesting to have some Central European history explained along with seeing the major sites, As I really didn't have much background to the pre-WW I Europe, the Ottoman Empire, influence of the Turks and Romans etc. So to the trip :
Passau :
Passau is in Bavaria, SE Germany, at the confluence of the Danube, Inn, and Ilz rivers, very near the border with Austria. It dates back to a Roman frontier outpost known as Castra Batava, Passau was made (738-39) making use of its strategic positioning on the rivers, giving this town the name 'three rivers city'. Although we did not get to have a specific tour here, the town is very quaint with the typically German well preserved house facades and cobbled streets. Since the majority of the cruises leave from here, also a big tourist city and has a famous university. Will be worth a return visit one day.
Dürnstein :
Is a famous wine growing area and the town reflects this with vines everywhere and the narrow shopping lanes filled with the different wines of the region. We took a guided walking tour of the town and soon found out how often the pensioner need to stop to catch a breath ! As you probably know Europe is having one of its hottest summers ever and waking tours are pretty hard going at the best of times since for some reason everyone seems to have built their castles or Churches on top of the nearest hill, but in the heat, frequent water stops were needed !
In Dürnstein there was a really impressive Church painted blue and white to symbolise the sky, and on a baking hot day the coolness of the inside of the Church and grounds was welcome. The inside was very impressive in a heavily decorated gothic style and Ingrid's personal favourite the skeletal remains of various noble types complete in light armour displayed in glass cases. We wandered around the old town, investing in postcards and home made jams, before fleeing back to the air-conditioned luxury of the boat for yet another 5 course meal and an afternoon nap.
Vienna (Wien) :
I had been to Vienna before and had had the 'Horst Pilger all inclusive tour in one weekend' but was still impressed by the number of fabulously maintained buildings and statues / monuments. Vienna was the former residence of the Holy Roman emperors and, after 1806, of the emperors of Austria. Vienna is one of the great historic cities of the world and a melting pot of the Germanic, Slav, Italian, and Hungarian peoples and cultures. Vienna's musical and theatrical life, its parks, coffeehouses, and museums, make it a great tourist attraction, but unfortunately we did not have too much time for this side of the city.
Having now done the rest of the tour though, this perfectly maintained façade makes Vienna almost unreal and the high fashion, high net worth high street lacks character, although I'm sure the city itself has a great atmosphere surrounded by art and culture, I liked the more 'rustic' (read run-down) authenticity of many other places further south east. During a 4 hour bus trip we covered many of the famous sights and buildings, including a visit to Hunderdwasser Haus for some blue Champaign. He is an architect who's now famous designs could also be those of a raving loony - small distinction in the art world me believes…. .
The tourists were pretty upset by this point because the air-con on the bus was 'kaputt' and it was another sizzling day. Since the Champaign was included in the price of the tour, I just stayed hydrated with the blue stuff ! A word of advice though, you never want to be a tour operator with upset German tourists on your hands ! We ended the tour seeing the Cathederal which is a really impressive sight in the centre of a large square with shopping streets leading off in all directions. We left the tour early and went off shopping for some tourist essentials (Daisy needed some gifts for her return) and we needed Mozart's Balls chocolates for the kennels that were looking after our three babies.
We then took a horse and carriage ride through old Vienna at Ingrid's insistence and it was a great suggestion (not in the least bit touristy !) ! Got Daisy to practice the royal wave to the masses trying to get from A-B for some lunch, but stuck behind the bloody tourists clopping along with 2 horse power ! Was a good way to get around and get some more photos and the tour followed the old Ringstrasse inclusing the neo-Gothic Rathaus, with many statues and a tower 320 ft (98 m) high; the domed museums of natural history and of art, in Italian Renaissance style; the Votivkirche, one of the finest of modern Gothic churches; the parliament buildings, in Greek style; the palace of justice; the famous opera house and the Burgtheater, both in Renaissance style; the Kunstlerhaus, with painting exhibitions; the Musikverein, containing the conservatory of music; and the Academy of Art. Once again it was time to get back on the bus and back to the boat……. .
Budapest :
This was the longest leg of our river tour and we motored most of the day and night to get to Hungary. Once we had docked we were at leisure and went off into the town in search of the advertised marketplace. Something like an upmarket version of the Oriental Plaza in Johannesburg, the market features food stuffs downstairs and clothing etc upstairs. We change some money and off we went. Embroidery she is big, with most shops selling something with a flower etched onto it, fake Hard Rock Café shirts etc and even a very eye catching leather key ring in the shape of a green hand grenade completed the picture. We were not very successful in our shopping here, but did manage to buy some spices downstairs that look pretty peppery and mean !
That night we ate the traditional Hungarian Goulash and it seems that the ships chef had also been to the local market because we were all sweating after a very tasty but peppery goulash.
The next day we had another bus tour of the city and almost mercifully the day was hot but pretty overcast. Like most large European cities, Budapest has its share of large and very impressive churches, but it was the parliament buildings sitting against the river that have really made an impression on me. They are absolutely magnificent and speak about a bygone era that our EU politicians in Brussels could learn from before building any more glass boxes. There is much renovation work taking place in Budapest, but it is the split between old and new, renovated and dilapidated that I enjoyed. It gives the feeling that this is a real city with real people and real history. Over 400 years of Turkish occupation are clearly seen in the influence of the architecture and the tour guide even made a joke that Budapest had the Turks for 300 years and Germany has them now!
Budapest was formed in 1873 by the union of Buda (Ger. Ofen) and Obuda (Ger. Alt-Ofen) on the right bank of the Danube River with Pest on the left bank. Buda, situated among a series of hills, was traditionally the center of government buildings, palaces, and villas belonging to the landed gentry, Pest, a flat area on the opposite bank, has long been a commercial and industrial center and was where our tour began. We saw too much to mention here, but included, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, the National Szechenyi Library, the National Museum, the National Theater, and the State Opera House. Definitely worth a return visit and highly recommended.
Bratislava :
Although Budapest had also been behind the iron curtain, Slovakia was the real Eastern Block. Once again some magnificent old buildings, specifically Churches, but the view from the castle (The 9th-century St. Martin's Cathedral) on a hill above the city was simply breathtaking. The entire horizon from side to side was row upon row of very similar concrete blocks masquerading as apartment blocks. Block is the right description and for the first time we saw what the Soviets had added to world architecture. The tour guide was very apologetic about the view, obviously aware of our shocked silence, but was quick to add that it is really not that bad once you live there and that you soon get used to it - reminds me of Dave's attempts to get us all drinking Lucozade !
We then took a drive through one of the wealthiest suburbs, set against the hill overlooking the river, these were obviously the 'more equal' people in times gone by as most places were quite magnificent and the river as always quite beautiful below. They too though had to look across the river at the depressing apartment blocks….. . We then went through their old town, most of which is nicely renovated and now very inviting for tourists. It started raining during the tour, very welcome for Europe as we've really been in the middle of a heat-wave, but not welcome for unprepared pensioners. The three of us had our raincoats with us, but many had not bothered so were pretty unimpressed at stomping around town wet. The guide eventually took pity on them and we spent a long time inside a museum looking at some famous tapestries and leaning that this had been the capital of the area.
It was a Roman outpost called Posonium by the 1st cent. A.D., and became a stronghold of the Great Moravian Empire in the 9th cent. Bratislava and much of S and E Slovakia then fell under Hungarian rule. From 1541, when the Turks captured Buda, until 1784, Bratislava served as Hungary's capital and the residence of Hungarian kings and archbishops. The kings continued to be crowned there until 1835, and Bratislava was the meeting place of the Hungarian parliament until 1848.
In the 19th cent. it was the center of the emerging Slovak national revival, and after the union of the Czech and Slovak territories in 1918 it was incorporated into Czechoslovakia. From 1939 until 1945, Bratislava was the capital of a nominally independent Slovak republic that was governed by a fascistic pro-German regime responsible for the murder of tens of thousands of Czechs and Jews.
The tour included the Univ. of Jan Comenius (1919), the Slovak Academy of Sciences, a polytechnic university, a national theater, and several museums in the city. The 9th-century castle, above the Danube (with the terrible view), was rebuilt in the 13th cent. St. Martin's Cathedral.
Melk :
Last stop on our voyage was Melk in Austria. We had no idea what to expect, and were greeted by the sight of an absolutely enormous Benedictine Abbey on the hill above the Danube. Some better pictures than ours (it was an overcast day when we went) can be seen on www.galenfrysinger.com/melk .
Melk is apparently a noted tourist spot, and was one of the earliest residences of the Austrian rulers. The large Benedictine abbey there, founded in 1089, has a library whose holdings include about 2,000 old manuscripts and 80,000 volumes. The abbey was completely rebuilt in the 18th century and is a splendid example of the baroque style. It was really impressive with a very modern museum using multi-media and lighting to explain the history of the church which was a refreshing approach given the usually ultra conservative religious approach to technology. It is still a functioning Abbey as well as a large school and still run by Monks. The ceiling paintings were especially impressive and the library with over 80 000 books also a key 'must see'. The Abby was beautiful inside with heavy golden decoration.
Since I had no idea what to expect, was pleasantly surprised as we could easily have spent the full day exploring the place, but time marches on and it was time to get back on the boat after a brief 30 minutes walk through the old town and along the river. There was a house with the friver flooding marks on its side, giving some impression of the destruction that lasts years flooding must have caused to these quaint river side towns.
There is obviously a bicycle route down the Danube as this town was covered in cyclists - must actually be a great way of seeing this part of the world as there are no hills while you follow the river, it should be mostly slightly downhill, if you follow the river towards the Black Sea ! (maybe next time….)
March to June 2003
March 2003 - Scribe Phillip
We left our last ski trip for the year as late as possible in order to allow maximum time for my leg to recover from the December skiing injury. To make sure that we were not left in a resort with cows grazing instead of ski slopes we chose to go to one of the glaciers with a snow guarantee, Soelden in Austria. In summary, Soelden is my favourite ski area to date. It has enough apres-ski to keep the hardest party crowd entertained and there are many slopes and ski areas to be able to do a different area every day. All are well maintained with an excellent lift system (read nearly no T-Bars !). We also had excellent conditions for the entire trip because they had just had fresh snow falls the week before so the best combination of really warm sunshine and excellent snow for us!
We stayed in a 'pension' that was a little too far out of town so you needed to drive into town in the evenings, but was up on the mountain with excellent views over the entire valley. It was also very quiet up there very different from the party atmosphere down in the village. If we went again in a group we'd definitely book somewhere in town near the main lifts, although there was always parking in a multi-story car park right at the main lifts. The week was really great and a welcome break. We (well actually me) took it very easy for the first few days, still worried about my leg muscle which was pulling a little at first, but once it was warmed up I had no problems, but left my first black run until day three. Ingrid was skiing really well having also had a few sessions at our 'local' slope an hour away in Hundseck during my recovery, was skiing nice and fast. She also had to put me to shame by immediately going off to do a black run without me on the first day (show-off!).
The only excitement for the week was Ingrid being pulled over for speeding in Austria on the way to Soelden. This was especially significant since I'm usually the one being chastised for speeding by her. Was excellent practice for her German having to explain why she was racing at 62km/h through a 50 zone! This high pressure German lesson only cost €21 so may be an excellent new training method and much cheaper than the formal grammar lessons we are still attending twice a week! Ingrid also left the camera at home so we don't have any pictures from this trip (her thinking was that we now have enough pictures of skiing and can just re-use those from other places if need be, nobody will know the difference - practical as always). Take a look though at www.soelden.com if you want to see more about the place.
Just before going skiing I was off travelling again to Scandinavia this time, a really great trip to Stockholm in Sweden. We ran a three day workshop there and I stayed for only one night, but in true Phillip tradition did manage to get a reasonable tour in of the old town for the evening. The SAP offices there overlook a marina and although there were still no boats out (water still frozen over), I can imagine that it a really great working environment for sailors in summer. Will make sure to get back there and be-friend one of the locals in warmer times ! All cities that I visit that are surrounded by water are still magical to me. The endless bridges and winding roads forced to change because of the water ways and obviously the many boats coming and going are so 'foreign' to those from Johannesburg (excluding the Vaal Dam of course !). The old town is fairly typical of European restored inner cities with many bars and restaurants lining the narrow roads of what was probably a pretty grim place to stay a few hundred years ago with the smelly seafaring types coming ashore after months of raping and pillaging somewhere… . Now the best parts of town to stay for the yuppies, they offer a late night all action environment and easy access via public transport. Maybe a hundred years from now the same turn around will be true of Hillbrow - hey Dave we should invest now for the future !
April and May 2003 - Scribe Ingrid
When we picked the dogs up after the Soelden ski trip at the end of March, Holly and Tyson had picked up some kind of illness at the kennels which started with mild runny tummys which got very bad. They were backwards and forwards to the vet and both had to go on a drip twice each. Holly recovered OK but Tyson was very ill and spent one night vomiting for about 4 hours - and me getting no sleep from worry of course. Tyson lost a lot of weight and looked like a skeleton. Stool samples sent to the Lab diagnosed some kind of pancreatic enzyme deficiency, which has called for some expensive muti and a change to an expensive dog food. Luckily they are both healthy now and have survied 2 further visits to the kennels with no illnesses! Otherwise April was pretty boring, with the weather starting to warm up.
In May we flew to the UK to visit Phillip's family for a long weekend. It was a nice getaway, and the first time that I had seen their new home, a nice stone cottage in the country. We also discussed plans for our July holiday, which is a boat cruise down the Danube river through Germany, Austria, Slovakia and Hungary. We have invited Phillip's gran, Daisy, and showed her the brochures of our "floating hotel". We are all looking forward to the trip, it should be great.
On the way to the UK, we learnt of the birth of David and Ailsa's first baby Joshua. CONGRATULATIONS guys! We wish you all the best, and are pleased that we are too far away to be able to baby sit for you!
May also saw a vast improvement in our social calender. On one weekend we had engagements 3 nights in a row! We went to the monthly dinner of the South Africa Club in Karlsruhe. It was interesting to hear the stories of the other South Africans and surreal to hear everyone speaking Afrikaans. I can hardly speak Afrikaans any more. When I try, it is half Afrikaans with a whole lot of German words in between! I think I'll just stick to English or German. The next night we went to a braai where we spoke German 90% of the time which was our first real "breakthrough" and a great confidence booster to be able to speak German the whole night and know what was going on. We met a German surgeon who grew up in Kenya and worked for a period at Baragwanath Hospital as part of his medical training. This is the third German doctor I have met who did part of their medical training in SA. They get much more opportunity to deal with trauma (gun shots, accidents, axe-in-head etc) than they would in Germany. It was interesting to hear this German surgeon say that the standard of medical care at Bara was excellent.
June 2003 - Scribe Ingrid
This June was the hottest June since records stated to be kept in 1752! It was terrible. Really hot with most days up to 35C, and some up to 37C and 85% humidity. It did not cool down much at night, and with our bedroom being upstairs (close to the roof) and getting the sun until about 9pm at night, getting any decent sleep was impossible. We started by getting rid our our duvet and having the fan on us the whole night. But after a week of a non-stop headache, I finally dragged Phillip off to buy a mobile airconditioner. It is not hugely effective and is very noisy, but does bring the temp in the bedroom down from about 30C and humid to about 25 and not so humid, which makes it possible to get a good night's sleep. The aircon is very popular with the dogs, and there is usually one of them sleeping right in front of it! We would only walk the dogs after 9pm once the sun had gone down and the temp dropped below 30C to avoid them getting heatstroke. Work is more challenging since there is no aircon, and my office gets the sun the whole morning.When it is hot I keep the blinds closed, windows open and fan on, and the lights off, all to keep the heat down. Luckily I can work in shorts, T-shirt and sandles, which makes it more bearable.
After complaining that our first German winter was too long, I am now praying for the next winter to come sooner!
Our friend Rebecca came to visit us for a weekend early in June, and we had Yvette (one of Phillip's colleagues) and her husband Ian from South Africa stay with us for the same weekend at the start of their German holiday. On the Saturday we did the standard Heidelberg castle and lunch in the old town trip, which is always nice. Then on the Sunday we drove further down the Rhine river to Loreley and did a 2 hour river boat trip on a stretch of the river where there are loads of castles. Not much to say except that it was very pretty (and very hot) and really great to catch up with old firends again.
June 2003 German holiday - Scribe Phillip
We decided to take a week off and tour Germany, or let me re-phrase that, we were coerced into changing our planned trip to the beach in Turkey and staying here in Germany by our German teacher. So off we went to explore some of northern Germany, and yes go to the beach! We went north east to Weimar which is famous because of its literary past with both Goethe and Schiller having lived there, and most of their work was from the time that they lived there. For those like myself that are more familiar with the functionality of the TV remote control than the great literary geniuses (or is that gene 'I' ?) of our time, neither played for Bayern München, both were in fact very famous writers, thinkers and inventors (the German version of Shakespeare (who also popped in to visit them….). The contrast to this famous literary past and the fact that they were the Cultural Capital of Europe in 1999, is Buchenwald, a large concentration camp that has an imposing monument set against the mountainside of this little town. To compensate for the fact that we were going to spend two days exploring these dark truths and early literary times, we stayed at the Koestritzer Swartzbeerhaus (Black Beer House), which was an old pub famous for its 'black beer' with a few rooms above. Was a perfect place, with old style Tudor exterior and a restaurant and beer garden, food and accommodation was also exceptional. (picture included in our album).
We went first to Buchenwald the afternoon that we arrived. Ingrid didn't seem to understand why I didn't want to have lunch there, and the thought of sitting eating my chicken schnitzel and pommes with pictures of emaciated prisoners staring down at me, just didn't appeal. The documentary after lunch mentioning how prisoners were prepared to kill one another with their bare hands just to get the raw potatoe peelings from the rubbish bags, also didn't aid digestion. I had been there before in my student days with AIESEC on a two week study tour of Germany. This time (maybe second time around), but I think because it was summer and when visited in 1991 it was winter, it seemed less haunting. Was good to have time to work around the museum in some detail this time, and having a small amount of German helped as here, as is typical in tourist sites in Germany there were very few English translations available.
The concentration camp was a labour camp during WWII, making armaments predominantly and was not a specific death camp as was Auswitz for example. Due to the terrible conditions, lack of food etc though many died. Between 1937 and 1945 more than 250,000 people were held captive in the camp, and more than 50,000 of them died during this time. Was interesting to see specifically the numbers of political prisoners, and other nationalities, as the camps are usually associated with persecution of the Jews only which did account for half of the prisoners at Buchenwald. After the war the camp was used by the Russians to hold the German prisoners of war and in a period of 5 years managed to kill off most of the people they had there as prisoners of war also exposing them to the similarly appalling conditions. Another point did occur to me, would you want to be using weapons and ammunition built by prisoners of war? Could be some problems with quality control I imagine, no gun powder in your bullets for example... . The memorial that has been built forms an impressive series of stone monuments in a large garden setting with a huge tower in the centre. Difficult to comment on having enjoyed this type of experience/visit, but Buchenwald does offer enough information to provide a realistic and balanced look at the atrocities of the past and the human spirit that must have been required to endure.
The next morning we left went on the grand literary tour of Weimar, and although it was only available in German we were feeling pretty brave with our newly acquired German language skills so off we went. Was very interesting to find out about German history within the overall context of what was happening in the church etc in the 17 and 1800's as all that was covered in South African schooling history was the two world wars. Weimar was in the previous East Germany before the wall came down and also offered some insight into the investments that are being made now to restore the buildings and historic sites and the magnificence of what must have been in earlier times. With impressive gardens and a really well restored Altstadt (Old Town) Weimar is one of the main tourist attractions (for German tourists), and yet little known by those outside of Germany. This was quite nice as the town is not over-run by tour busses (like Heidelberg on a sunny day!) and has kept a small town community feeling.
The next day we were off again to Schwerin almost directly North. We knew little about this town, but it was recommended as a stop over before we got to our final destination on the island of Usedom. I could have spent the whole week there and really enjoyed the short stay we made there. It too has a refurbished old town with pedestrian zones dominating the centre of the city and making finding our hotel quite a challenge, even for my car's navigation system which I think gave up in frustration eventually forcing us to search for the Pension - Guten Quelle on foot. Also a nice place and very centrally positioned, they had made the mistake from my point of view of renovating by removing the historic aspects of the accommodation and refitting with something like a standard Holiday Inn interior. The Tudor exterior and the small bar and restaurant downstairs is all that is left of what must be a place filled with hundreds of years of history. As an overnighter though was newly furnished, clean and very central. Schwerin lies on the edge of a massive lake that is linked through to the sea to the north. Its pride and joy is the most impressive castle / palace (see right) that either of us have ever seen. Although it is still in the process of being restored and there was scaffolding covering much of the exterior, what was visible is enough to give an impression of what it will be like a few years from now. More about that later. I immediately 'suggested' that we take a boat cruise for sundowners and boarded a typical tourist boat for an hours trip around the castle which is on an island, but linked to the main land via a bridge and the surrounding area, yacht club and large beach and lake front homes. I could live here, but in fairness we were there on a beautiful summers day with a light breeze, probably not as much fun year round!
On the way home we noticed posters for Don Carlos, a Verdi Opera written by Schiller (great link to our previous town and bound to impress our German teacher!). We managed to get good tickets and rushed off to eat and get dressed. The opera was performed on the steps of the museum, directly opposite the palace, with the theatre as a backdrop. The Opera was absolutely fabulous with a cast of over 400, a massive orchestra and for good measure real horses and carriages for the fighting and feeling scenes making this somewhat different from my last Opera Madam Butterfly at Loftus ! We bought the official program and were painstakingly working through the German to understand the plot, and only once we had finished this process (not easy when it is a complicated plot of King's son falls in love, King fancies his son's girl, marries her, she fancies the son, his wife is jealous of the Kings wife, everyone dies…….. (you know, just another day at the office for European royalty!). Only once we read to the end did we find out that the whole thing was available in English in the middle of the book ! Still we wanted to improve our German! During the course of the performance it started to rain lightly. Luckily we had our raincoats with us and although it turned into a constant drizzle the show must go on. Seems that Ingrid may have picked up a cold from this though and was pretty sickly for the rest of the trip. We spent the next morning touring the castle and rented some bicycles to get around. We did a tour of the extensive gardens that have a small river running though them and all perfectly maintained. The interior of the castle is undergoing massive renovation, but the pieces that are completed are already a museum. The interiors and magnificent paintings are all pretty impressive, but it was the overall picture including being surrounded by the lake that made this place so special. I spent the afternoon riding around on the bicycle and got to go via the yacht club and around the lake to the local Zoo. The entire place is well recommended for a longer visit.
The next day we were off again with the advice to stay off the autobahn and take the smaller 'B' roads in order to see some of the scenery in the north which we sort of followed. In the East of Germany they have left the trees lining the roads, which now seems like a pretty poor safety idea, not to mention a road maintenance nightmare, but means that you drive with a complete tree roof in the shade which is great. There is low population density and the villages that we drove through are all still in an original (read old) state probably having missed both world wars, Soviet occupation the wall and now modernisation! Cows and sheep seemed happy enough in the rolling green fields and looks like a little piece of the past still alive and well.
Our destination was the town of Ahlbeck on Usedom, a large island off the German mainland in the north, just on the Polish boarder. Going on a beach holiday to a beach near Poland just doesn't seem right and we were not disappointed - the water temperature was more than the air temperature - and don't be lulled into thinking that the water was warm! The cold weather kept us off the beach and we went exploring the town we were staying in Ahlbeck. Like most beach front towns Ahlbeck has to manage the summer season carefully to make its money in the short summer season in order to keep it going once deserted for the winter, so everyone is out selling something. There were stalls along the beach-front promenade selling the usual plastic crap necessary for anyone at the beach, buckets and spades as well as a kite shop with nearly caused me to invest, but seeing someone trying to learn how to kite surf and the obvious problems of controlling a kite and knee board at the same time put me off. We invested in the things that you always need on the beach, a grating/cutting board and knife sharpener and a large red plastic sunflower that sprays out water that I thought a friend, Thomas's kids would love since they are called Lilly and Daisy. That evening there was a beach concert, that we didn't specifically attend having seen a posters of the baby blue sequined couple due to perform. Having booked a beachfront apartment (seemed like a good idea at the time) we were 'performed' to anyway - non optional! I've decided that there is a great future for Patricia Lewis in Usedom if she just brushes up on her Boney M performances as 'lang-arm' was certainly on the cards ! Since Ingrid was feeling pretty miserable from the cold that was now probably full flu, this was just the medicine needed !
The next morning we went off to see 'The Worlds Largest U-Boat Museum'. They had too many marketing people involved because having driven an hour there it was obvious that this was the largest U-Boat, not hundreds of them. I'm not sure what I expected since most were probably sunk, but I thought that there would be a museum and some information about U-Boats. There was just one Russian U-Boat, a very impressive beast of over 100m long there and the customary würst and beer stand at the end of the tour through the boat. What they had done inside is used lighting and sound to make it as realistic as possible inside. Just in case this was not enough to kick off your claustrophobia, the tourists were pouring into the hull and then constantly pushing you from behind to get through as quickly as possible incase they missed something ! The guys in front of us were real Russian Sailors and were videoing the inside and moving through very slowly. Because the narrow passages and the pushing from behind, this made it all to realistic for Ingrid who abandoned ship to the safety of the sausage stand! I joined a while later and since the proceeds of all beers sales were going to restoring an old wooden sailing ship, helped the good cause for a while.
On the way home the weather had improved substantially and we stopped off at what looked on the map like a large harbour to see if we could sit outside and have some lunch. It was a really small harbour with a couple of sailing boats to keep me happy and a great restaurant overlooking the lake. Over ate once again with some excellent local fish and beer sitting outside on what had become a really warm day. We decided that it was time to risk the beach, so left to head back to the hotel and onto the beach. On the way we saw a sign for a 'Dog Beach' which was too much for us to ignore, so we parked the car and walked through onto a lovely unspoilt beach with no houses or infrastructure, just a path through the forest onto the beach. We also learnt for the first time what 'FKK' means - nudity permitted beach and for most on the beach, it should not have been! No sign of 4 legged hounds though, so not sure what it means.
We went back to the hotel, got our beach kit together and then headed across the road to the local beach. In Germany they have something called a Strandkorb, which is a combination of a deckchair for two and a sunshade. You rent these Strandkorbe for the day and can store all of your possessions in them while you're off swimming etc and also have a place for me to escape the sun all day. Having seen these rows of mini Huts all over the beach, they seemed like a really bad idea and make the beach look like a informal housing project, but there is some method in the madness, and make the beach quite civilised for me - just need to add a fridge capable of taking a 6 pack of beers and a built in TV and I might be able to sit on the beach for days ! (pic included). We were lucky again that the next day was also magnificent and so off we went again to the beach and moved into our new Strandkorb for the day. It was warm enough that I needed to even go for a swim. Not exactly warm, but still a manageable 17 degrees C. I even read my first 2 German books on the beach that day. Did not manage to link in with the Goethe and Schiller theme from the start of our holiday, but do Tin Tin and Asterix count ?
January and February 2003
The first week of January saw our first snowfall. The weatherman on the radio had been saying the whole week that it would snow on Saturday. Our German was not good enough to know if he meant it would snow anywhere near us, but we waited hopefull anyway. On Saturday afternoon we both fell asleep on the couch and when we woke up the snow was coming down like mad, and had been for a while. The garden was completely white, and the snow flakes were so big and fat that you cuold hear them fall! The best was the dogs' reactions. When Tyson first went out in the snow he kept flicking his ears each time a snowflake landed on them, as if it was a fly! Holly thought this was the best and they all ran around in the thick snow and played like mad things. I threw snowballs at them, which surprisingly they seemed to love. Tyson even learnt to flick the snow up with his front paws and cover himself and Holly in snow. The cold never bothered them, much to my surprize. The next week was very cold, with the temperature around -10C the whole time. It was always borderline on wether I would walk the dogs or not, but we always went, with the dogs wrapped up in their embarassing coats. We couldn't go to far though, as the ice would start to hurt their feet after a while. My favourite walk during that week was to the local lake, which was completely frozen over. I let Emma walk out about 1 metre onto the ice, and she seemed to think it was normal to be able to walk on water. Phillip had to experience most of the snow from inside, on his crutches. But I did manage to drag him around the block once!
January was also a traumatic month when Tyson ate one of the DV cassetes from my small Sony video camera, along with some plastic shards from the box! I took him off to the vet, and explained the problem with my best German (along with a sample of blood filled poo to illustrate the point). He proceeded to cut Tyson open and remove the offending items. Luckily Tyson had not ruptured his intentines, just scraped the insides badly. Tyson was very ill that night after the operation, and I really didn't think he would make it. I never slept at all the whole night, just watched him the entire time. Phillip had been away, and by the time he got home the next afternoon, I was a bit of a zombie, and had started to hallucinate from lack of sleep! Tyson needed to go back to the vet twice a day for the next few days and be in a drip for 2 hours a time. He was very patient and became quite expert at being hooked up to the tubes and then snoozing on the examination table. I also managed to catch a few moments of sleep with my head on the table! For the first 24 hours after the surgery Tyson was only allowed lukewarm camomile tea. So there I was at 3am making my dog a nice bowl of camomile tea! This was followed by various soups and funny meals, until he was allowed back onto his normal diet about 3 weeks later. All the medical bills came to EUR700, and a DV cassette is not too cheap either!
January also saw the rather sudden and unexpected start of me working. It's a long story but basically I am working mornings only until then end of October, filling in for a lady on maternity leave. The job is the "Secretary of Graduate Studies" which basically involves looking after the PhD Programme at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory. They speak English and I get to practice a little bit of German so that's great. The timing was rather bad, with the Cricket World Cup about to start, but considering what's happened - well - the less said the better!
We went to an Australia Day dinner with some Aussie friends and I went dressed in a Kangaroo suite, much to our friends embarassment. Phillip was also a bit surprized that I walked down the Hauptstrasse (main street) in Heidelberg in a Roo suite, but then nobody knows me, so who cares?
February has been less exciting, now that I have to work! We have been watching a lot of cricket and had a few people over to watch some of the games. A German friends took us to see "Die Mannheim Adler" (The Mannheim Eagles), and ice hockey team play a match. Of course they lost. Everyone we support loses. Maybe we should support Australia in the cricket!
We also found a small "hill" about 1 hour from here where it is possible to ski for a morning (by which time you get bored). It was nice to practice my technique. Phillip watched as he is still crippled. We have planned another ski trip for the last week or March to Soelden. I am really looking forward to it, and hope Phillip's leg holds up.
We are very much looking forward to spring, which seems to be threatening, as the winter is getting a bit much now! At least the days are getting longer.
