A kind of last minute business trip. That’s one reason why I like my job: flexible for traveling? Yes! Japan? Hell, yes! (I would have moved the world to go 🙂 ). Last minute and still enough time to organize Amazon orders being delivered on time to bring to German colleagues living in Japan. And plenty of chocolate in the suitcase for the new colleagues.

The last time it snowed in Tokyo was 2 years ago, and again on the day of my arrival! Highways were blocked. Busses didn’t run. Trains were significantly delayed… and I packed the wrong clothes… forecast was sunny 15C degrees. Everyone was surprised about the sudden weather change, myself included.

I’m once more impressed about Japan: besides, everyone being so very polite here… they are so mindful & resourceful: the meeting room light switches automatically off when everyone is outside the room and you change the sign from “occupied” to “available” – how smart is that? Drinking water is available for free, everywhere. Little toddler seats are available in each toilet cabin. How our customer is organized (from registration process to meeting room – very impressive). The little robots serving food in restaurants. People standing without holding on rails in subway w/o falling over when train brakes (they must have special shoes…). That camera system when leaving paid parking areas. For table reservations you put your mobile phone on table top (like Germans reserving sun loungers with towels…). Nobody worries anyone could steal the phone… everybody trusts everybody. You eat in one of those nice little restaurants inside a mall, you naturally clean up your table after you are done with a wet wipe provided there! Generally, it’s amazing how clean it is everywhere. You can only own a private car if you have parking (no blocked streets by cars). It’s nice to see how things run in Japan and how nicely people interact with each other! And me? I offered elderly people to go first inside the subway and my seat 🙂 we may not be able to talk to each other but a smile is the same language in any country.

Long days. Tiring days. Exciting days. Great food. Great colleagues. Great country. And most importantly, I successfully was hiding my tattoo. Yeah!

Oh and happy Chinese new year! It’s the year of the Dragon!

Next challenge accepted: finding the way back to the airport. A huge thank you to the Japanese man speaking English and helping me to get the right train ticket! I’d be still there standing around the ticket machine without you! Nobody said it would be easy 😃

Arigato 🙏

Huge thank you to all the colleagues making this a memorable successful trip! Hope to see you again soon! Arigato!

We are all aging and still not too old. Some advice from those sweet older people.

Nothing else to add!

Hubby’s Christmas gift, an evening with his favorite comedian in London. For me being back in a city I love. Haven’t been here since… 2010 (minus the airport stopover last year).

London calling again, yeah!

Being back in the city I love threw me back into 2003, the year I spent in London as an au-pair. Time for a love letter 🥰

Dear London,

everyone asks why I love you, London, as if it’s not clear to them why I love you as much as I do. I love you as you are.

You welcomed me and made me fall in love with you instantly. That was back in 2003, my first time far away from home (and daddy promising „one call and I’ll pick you up and bring you back home“). Well, I fell instantly in love, and extended my au-pair half year to a full year & no need to be picked up earlier (and dear parents don’t complain now for not coming home often enough… you encouraged me to leave… and I’m thankful for that).

London, I love your British accent. It sounds like amore to me (hope hubby isn’t reading that…yeah, well the Irish accent is nice too). Until today I have difficulties pronouncing „Hermione“ from Harry Potter correctly (thanks to Emily and Chris for your patience).

I love your parks, St. James Park still being my favorite but won’t forget the Bon Jovi concert in Hyde Park – me and 89.999 others. And of course jogging around Queens Park to prepare for my police sports test and meeting Heike Makatsch. Yes, she lived & jogged there, too.

Well, in the end I didn’t pass the police test (1.5cm too short) but thanks to you London, I was inspired by a photo exhibition which made me decide to start studying back home (who wants to work for the police anyhow?! lol).

I loved celebrating the Queen and queued up on her birthday parade „Trooping The Colour“ with thousands of others. I will never forget Buckingham palace, as I starred at the famous balcony and envisioned the Royal Family waving my way. lol. And of course I saw the guards changing as well as crossing the forever famous Abbey Road!

I remember celebrating my 19th birthday in Covent garden in a bar with other girls, which was super fun. Covent Garden, one of my favorite areas in London, not only for the delicious Cornish pasty.

London, I love you despite what people told me about you and your reputation for rainy weather and food. I love the certainty of a gentle rain in London and the matter of fact way everyone carries an umbrella and never puts away their boots for the season. But back in 2003 I remember excellent weather and a never ending summer. Also, you can cross London Bridge, cheeks flushed like Bridget Jones as the snow swirls. (And yes, it sucks when the flight gets cancelled due to storm “Isha”).

I loved your old style double decker busses back in 2003. You exchanged them, the red color suits you very well and looks great.

I love the way you have food to appeal to all and chefs from around the world that have made London their home and used your ingredients and their expertise in restaurants worthy of any city in the world. I love you as you are. We are here for Chinese food, burgers, Indian… I remember having a cup of tea in the fancy Ritz hotel, after that my weekly hard earned money as au-pair was gone. But we all felt like Queens that afternoon, it was totally worth it. And sometimes a simple egg & mayonnaise sandwich will do! I discovered hummus and pita bread thanks to my host family who were vegetarians. They would invite me for an Indian every week (at that time I didn’t appreciate it as much as today).

I love you for the quiet genteelness of Mayfair and the boisterous bustle of Camden Market on a weekend. I love the courtyard of your Victoria and Albert Museum and its serenity in the midst of a treasure trove of artifacts that you house and protect for the all the world to enjoy. I love that it is affectionately called England’s attic and holds within its walls everything from diamonds to paintings.

Of course we liked spending weekends in your city center best. The first weeks we focused on the classic touristic sightseeing, don’t get me wrong there’s plenty… but then we discovered your „Time Out“ magazine and moved around more like locals. Oh, we had plans every single weekend. We had a blast. We loved all of it.

London, you are a city you can walk 500 miles… and still not finished discovering so many things. I love all of you. I love you from the northwest, Queens Park my former home, to the east and the Tower Bridge.

I love you to to eastern edges of Canary Wharf and its business briskness with pubs near the waters edges to welcome those at the end of a long day. I love you from Primrose Hill on a cherished sunny day and further out to Greenwich and its precise time it keeps and the naval history that explored the world. I love your views of the Thames from Embankment and over white painted bridges in Chelsea. I love you as you are.

I loved seeing graduated students taking their photos in front of Westminster Abbey and Big Ben. I loved taking an Uber boat (how cool is that!!!) on river Thames and watching your sky turn pink when the sun went down. I love all your bridges… one more than the next. I remember crossing them all on one day. Back in 2003.

London, you do offer that Instagram reality, the must-see tourist traps, obligatory stops on any agenda. But there’s also its grit, which sounds quite Oliver Twist and is harder to find in the guide books. Mary Poppins told us that there’s a woman somewhere feeding birds who just wants a chat, but you could just as easily meet a gang of hipsters who travel from city to city solving mysteries. You can lose yourself for the night.

London, I love you for your shows. I’ve seen them all back in 2003, buying spontaneously half priced tickets for the same day. And had enough money left for Häagen-Dazs ice-cream across Leicester square ticket box.

London, I love you for the shopping opportunity. Regent street, Oxford Street, Carnaby Street, Covent Garden… I still have the sneakers in „jungle style“ at home for which I saved my au-pair salary for many weeks… my favorite au-pair task was when my host mother asked me to return kids clothes in Oxford Street. It happened that I washed the expensive school uniforms wrong, dark & white mixed and the white came out dark.. oh dear. Good that Sainsbury’s helped me fix that again.

Oh London, I love your coffee shops. Nero still being my favorite coffee chain. I remember conveniently getting a coffee to go and meet friends in a park at the weekend. I love finding a quiet place in one of your many coffee shops in the bustling city like you are.

There’s no definitive London, no single bit of architecture nor any event that defines it. London, you in yourself are a series of ever-happening moments, a multitude of instantaneous instants. It’s the alchemy of the city that brings it to life. Lots of cities do this – they’re concoctions of elements, equations that shouldn’t add up but do, potions that cast a spell. As they say, Paris is for lovers. And Rome wasn’t built in a day. Athens is for muscly Adonises and girthy columns. London, you are a melting pot of cultures. Another reason to be in love with you!

London, you are still one of my favorite cities (sorry but NYC and Shanghai are amazing too). London, you will remain the first city I fell in love with! And maybe you are the reason why I love traveling so much…. Anyhow, hope to be back again. And this time sooner than 13 years…

I love you, London! Thank you for being you. Big hugs & kisses. Love. Always.

Your Queens Park girl.

xxx

Monday morning 6:45am. Snow. Ice. -3C degrees. German farmers are demonstrating, blocking roads, city centers, autobahn entrances and exits.

Why? It’s a nationwide protest over planned cuts to agricultural sector subsidies.

Challenge accepted! Or like hubby says: having a bit of craic.

A little Odyssee to find my booked rental car (a longer story). But once I had found the car and made it on the autobahn, there was hardly anyone, especially no tractors. Lucky me.

Instead they blocked my parents…

Daddy calling and checking on me. He’s stuck on the autobahn with tractors blocking the traffic by driving 5kmh on purpose. Of course.

It took my mum 2 hours instead of 20min to make it to her hospital appointment.

You have to be patient, protests are planned to continue for the rest of the week…

Monday morning 6:45am. Snow. Ice. -3C degrees. German farmers are demonstrating, blocking roads, city centers, autobahn entrances and exits.

Why? It’s a nationwide protest over planned cuts to agricultural sector subsidies.

Challenge accepted! Or like hubby says: having a bit of craic.

A little Odyssee to find my booked rental car (a longer story). But once I had found the car and made it on the autobahn, there was hardly anyone, especially no tractors. Lucky me.

Instead they blocked my parents…

Daddy calling and checking on me. He’s stuck on the autobahn with tractors blocking the traffic by driving 5kmh on purpose. Of course.

It took my mum 2 hours instead of 20min to make it to her hospital appointment.

You have to be patient, protests are planned to continue for the rest of the week…

A winter getaway in Ireland in December, a captivating blend of Irish charm & festive spirit.

Exploring Ireland pint by pint and starting in Dublin.

The weather was everything: extremely windy (orange warning), mild but rainy and sunny. I’m hearing words for the first time, like „sunshower“ (makes beautiful rainbows) and „patchy rain“… well, patchy rain feels miserable. You have to experience it. lol. Not sure if I ever felt thicker drops in my face than those… well, it was cold but lovely.

Ireland, the land of the rainbows 🌈

A quaint 2 bedroom cottage overlooking the Atlantic boasting panoramic views of Dingle Bay. The views – spectacular.

Wow! What a view to constantly wake up to.

Pure magic!

Ireland postcard material.

The location – heavenly.

The Ring of Kerry (the perennial breadwinner of Irish tourism): lassoed by a winding coastal road, the Ring, this mountainous, lake-splattered region comes with breathtaking scenery and the highest peak in Ireland. In December the Ring feels remarkably unspoiled and dramatically isolated. Loved it.

The wild Atlantic way.

Irleand has about 6.5m residents. That’s smaller than NYC!

The Cliffs of Moher.

Galway is one of the most lovely cities in Ireland and in winter this vibrant Irish gem comes alive with festive lights, cozy pubs, and a sense of celebration in the air.

Galway, the festival capital of Ireland.

Enjoying a pint of Guinness (or Smithwick’s or Galway Hooker…) by a roaring fire.

We had a fantastic and relaxing time, full to the brim with Irish family, culture & traditions, a bit of a tourist program, fun & craic! Hach, it really was amazing and we have to come back soon.

Slan go foill – bye for now!

Sleeping in. Fresh Irish salmon for breakfast. It was raining cats & dogs. A little walk along the beach. Some crazy Irish going for a new years swim in the cold Atlantic. Brrrrrr. Lunch in a pub. A cosy fire. An Irish coffee. Hanging out on the sofa. Later will be a leg of lamb. What a great day to start the new year ☘️

Happy new year! ☘️

Greetings from Ireland! 🇮🇪

2023 seemed another quite difficult year… so many wars, earthquakes & fires… everyone in a Barbie and Taylor Swift fever. Twitter is no longer called Twitter… and the lion in Berlin turned into a pig. Bye bye 2023!

Germany winning the world championship of Hockey in India. First time in 17 years! Congratulations!

Pope Benedikt was buried in Rome in January.

Less discrimination when giving blood: also gay men can give blood now!

Swabia: a Syrien became mayor of Ostelsheim. He’s 29 years young and arrived as refugee back in 2015. wow!

Fachkräftemangel – Unwort des Jahres!!!

Amazon fired 18.000 employees.

Prince Harry published his autobiography „Spare“.

The police is „cleaning up“ the climate activist village Lützerath, Germany.

It’s February and we no longer have to wear masks (COVID). Yeah! It felt strange to go anywhere with a lot of people and wearing no mask. Sadly, a lot of people suffering from Long COVID.

A Chinese spy ballon over the USA. Shot. No more balloon. Still spying?

Speaking of China. While Germany is in the last places of the Pisa study, Chinese pupils learn to deal with AI and robots, face recognition cameras can even tell the teacher in which mood the child is, or how concentrated someone is…

More independence to China: in the north of Sweden they found rare earth.

In February USA President Biden traveled to Kiew, Ukraine to confirm further support.

Lionel Messi was voted again „world soccer player“ of the year. Congratulations!

„Everything Everywhere all at once“ best film and winning 7 Oscars. Congratulations!

Our neighbor country France is striking & demonstrating. So far, nothing new or strange. lol. This time about President Emmanuel Macrons retirement reform.

First time ever that a former US president is in court: pornos, secret documents & election betray… loads of scandals. And still, unbelievable but true: Mr Trump seems to be up for next years election (OMG)! Let’s see if really nothing and nobody can stop him or hold him back.

Finland became a NATO member. Yeah! Finland is one of the only countries being prepared: their bunkers for emergency situations are including huge swimming pools as well as a concert hall!

Pentagon leaks: a 21 year old published top secret documents and was arrested.

2023 means also the end of Germany’s atomic energy.

In April, Elon Masks spaceX rocket „Starship“ exploded at the start. Half a year later, in November, he started another one. It started but lost contact to earth.

Chess world championship in Kazastan. Chinese player, Ding Liren, won and became the first Chinese world champion. Congratulations!

Finally, Germany is selling the 49€ monthly ticket for public transportation.

Charles became Queen. Coronation of King Charles III. in London.

Ukraines President Selenskij is visiting Germany for the first time. He was handed over the „Karlspreis“ in Aachen.

Erdoğan won the runoff election and remains the president.

Germany was celebrating the Octoberfest again: 18 days, 7.2 million visitors!

2023 was also the year with the highest rate of female CEOs in German companies. Good job!

AI & ChatGPD creating old new beetle songs, an Abba concert with avartar. Like it or hate it. Is it a game changer or just a hype? Is it a risk or also a chance?

AI can be used to discover pancreatic cancer up to 3 years on advance that’s to research work on Harvard medical school and the University in Copenhagen.

Barbie & Oppenheimer – the movies of the year.

Tina Turner passed away. She was 83.

Spanish female soccer players winning the world championship in Sydney Australia. And the the kissing event happened & Spanish women kept demonstrating. Luis Rubiales, president of Spanish soccer, had to go! More respect please!

Anne Will says goodbye after 16 years or moderating 553 Sunday evening political discussions on TV.

Germany knows how to win the world championship: hockey & basketball.

Let’s keep the fingers crossed for Germans soccer next year in Germany.

Extreme weather. Floods in southern Europe, fires in Canada, drought in the Amazonas, no more skiing in some classic ski areas, it’s simply too warm, slipping mountains in Switzerland… there wasn’t a single month in 2023 without any extreme weather condition somewhere on planet earth.

The rain forest in Brazil is finally getting protected: until August 2023 only half as much wood was cut compared to previous years. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Taylor Swift: 21 months on concert tour „Eras Tour“! Her albums are in the top of the charts. She’s only 33 years old and the most successful popstar of the world. She’s criticizing Trump, she’s supporting for rights for LGBTQ, her song texts including hints empowering women. A strong mind and maybe that’s why she’s so popular. She’s planning to come to Germany, all concerts sold out.

A new member in the Sesamstrasse. Eileen! She’s a girl, in a wheelchair and interested in technical stuff. A competitor to the Cookie Monster? We love her.

Sanna Marin, the former Finnish minister president. She’s young (34), fascinating, leading in a different style. Thanks to her young Finnish people became interested in politics again. She led Finland through the pandemic. I liked her a lot. Unfortunately, after only 3 years she wasn’t elected again. I agree with media: she was one of the coolest Presidents of the world.

The world is fighting for democracy. In Germany, first 3 counties voted for the AfD (Right Party). Even the Parisian newspaper „Le Monde“, Spain and Britain reported about it. Scary times.

Good news: Poland voted against the right party. Yeah!!!

5 people dying on the way to see the titanic wrack in a mini uboot „Titan“. The world followed the dramatic moment almost live. One question remains: how could the company „OceanGate“ transport persons in a non-certified and non-experienced diving boat? We’ll probably never get an answer since the boss and founder died too in the incident.

The world lost a friend: Matthew Perry passed away.

The band Rammstein = monsters? The band will be back in tour in 2024. how come? How could anyone support the concerts after everything what happened? Rammstein organized „after-show-sex“ including knockout drops in the drinks of the ladies. WTF!!!

Europe and its refugees. A difficult topic and turning in circles trying to find a solution. Closing borders won’t be the solution….

Wacken open air in the mud. It rained cats & dogs for weeks in the north of Germany in summer… and still the open air wasn’t canceled but reduced to 61.000 instead of 85.000 fans.

And something to look forward to: The wait is finally over. From 2024, USB-C will be the common standard for electronic devices in the EU – and we have already seen the impact! yeah! And that means the same charger for all phones, tablets and cameras, harmonised fast-charging technology & reduced e-waste. One charger to rule them all.

Wishing for love & world peace next year!

Happy New Year, everyone! 🎆

My last complaint for this year 🙂

Dear deutsche Bahn, the only strong performance you have is on Facebook. Whoever is in charge of this – great job!

Besides that…

I don’t take very often a train, which is a pity, but there’s a reason for it.

You have to book a train ticket 3-6 months in advance (no flexibility) to get an affordable price (—> I like the model some city’s public transportation are using: ticket gets cheaper the more people used the train that day, because the train is going anyhow). A day before the trip you offer upgrades to 1st class for only 15€ – excellent, if I hadn’t already paid 10€ for my seat reservation which then I would no longer need (—> why doesn’t each ticket automatically come with a seat like in so many other countries like France, Japan or China?)

It seems a total surprise that rails can be icy & snowy in December! Well, it’s winter time. It’s been like that since I can remember 😉

A couple of weekends ago I enjoyed again some Deutsche Bahn train fun:

1. I was on the platform, the train wasn’t.

2. Train was delayed by 10 minutes. In fact all trains had been delayed or cancelled that morning!

3. Train arrived on a different platform.

4. Of course all carriages where in a different order! (Why is that? And why does it seem a surprise, whenever and wherever the train departs, the order should be clear…).

5. Due to technical issues we waited inside the train for about 40minutes before leaving Stuttgart main station.

6. WiFi worked (yeah!), electricity plugs din’t (oh no! Working in the train gets difficult).

7. We left Stuttgart with a 50min delay (luckily I’m not depending on train changes) and got slower on the way…

8. Due to continuous technical issues we couldn’t reach the normal speed 230kmh which caused further delay (120kmh) – let’s see how much it will be, my destination is „only“ 5.5 hr ride away (if it was any closer I’d go by car)

9. Solution: the train is now driving the other way round to solve the speed issue, fingers crossed we are not going back to Stuttgart.

The good news: I arrived. I arrived 2 hours later as expected but I made it to my final destination.

And maybe that’s the problem: not finding & analyzing the root cause (or not publishing it… maybe being on time isn’t possible with current rail system), but paying big bonuses. In my company you’d be fired!!! And why does public transportation have to create wins end of the year?

Plus points:

It was warm!

WiFi worked!

We got a free bottle of water!

Train updates communicated very frequently in app, via email and on train!

Updates communicated in English & German!

Well, I suggest to travel to other countries and find out why they are somehow capable of punctual trains for an affordable price!

Our next trip up north is again by car!

We had a beautiful 3rd Advent Weekend. It was cold & cozy. We had a house filled with kids and friends & laughter. We had a Feuerzangenbowle with our favorite neighbors in the garden. Strolling over more beautiful little Christmas markets. Made dessert to bring to a Sunday lunch invite.

7 days until Christmas. Enjoy 💫