We arrived in the USA. The country where you just meet people on the train and they wish you a fantastic holiday. It’s so good to be back. It still feels a little home.

Start of our trip: Chicago. City feeling (staying on 23rd floor), skyscrapers, deep-dish pizza, the very best steaks, jazz & blues. And friends. The loop & the bean. And so the vacation begins.

Chicago – the windy City. The rainy city, the sunny city. We had everything in one day. That’s Chicago how we know it & love it.

Chicago love. We enjoyed every single minute. It’s so great to be back. Dear friends, thanks for being with us!

Jetlag gone. Kind of. Ready for kicking off our road trip: let’s go Route66. All the way from Chicago to Los Angeles. Yeah!

The car is packed with cold drinks and road trip music. Off we go! First planned stop is St. Louis, Missouri. Wohooooo!

Hungry for traveling & seeing friends again, we haven’t seen in a long time. Vacations are locked in. Flights are booked. It took us a long time to 1) decide where to and 2) click that button to book a flight. A luxurious problem & the last 2 years definitely leaving memories… It’s summer time, and the Covid situation is under control. Kind of.

Our required Covid test: negative. Yeah!

Tourist visa: confirmed & printed! Yeah!

Bags packed. Yeah!

Checked in. Not so easy but made it. Yeah!

Our travel destination: USA.

A road trip & meeting friends along the way! We are so excited to be back in the country we lived in. It feels like a very long time ago. Too long. 6 years. Time to be back: steak, wings, cheesecake & burgers on the food agenda. Oh, it’s going to be great! American friends, get ready, we are on our way!

Stay tuned. Bon voyage!

It’s my birthday. One year ago, hubby was brought back home from hospital. This year it’s party time. Together & with friends.

A little beauty program including hairdresser and a 2 hour Thai massage followed by a wonderful 6-course-dinner with hubby. In between I enjoyed taking every single birthday call or message yesterday! I pretty much talked all day – thanks for thinking of me ♥️

Friends for Sunday brunch in our garden. Weather was perfect.

I & we had a fantastic weekend. Thank you!

How do sunny weekends start back home in Frankonia? With a local brewery tour & tasting or learning what a beer & a pork schnitzel have in common. It was a great night out. Happy (early) Father’s Day!

A delayed Mother’s Day celebration.

It’s wedding time! My favorite cousin got married! We had a blast & a hangover next morning. Ouch!

A wonderful weekend back home. Goodbye family, see you soon again! 👋

Sometimes in life, we’re given second chances – opportunities to start over and make something different of our lives or learning to appreciate life after a traumatic (motorbike) accident. That’s us!

Today one year ago, the motorbike accident happened… memories coming back these days…

Every day is a good day for a BBQ or fresh flowers on the dining table! Every day is a good day to stop working on time to enjoy a walk outside! Every day is a good day to be thankful, especially for the simple things in life, we too often take for granted.

Happy 2nd birthday! Every day is a good day to celebrate! Cheers to life and all the beautiful moments we’ve had and we’ll have!

That’s why we sent flowers to the couple who was in the car and unfortunately got involved in the crash. Enjoy them!

The following song was running all day in the radio a year ago… music can be powerful.

⁃ Memories – song from Maroon 5

Here’s to the ones that we got

Cheers to the wish you were here, but you’re not

‘Cause the drinks bring back all the memories

Of everything we’ve been through

Toast to the ones here today

Toast to the ones that we lost on the way

‘Cause the drinks bring back all the memories

And the memories bring back, memories bring back you

There’s a time that I remember, when I did not know no pain

When I believed in forever, and everything would stay the same

Now my heart feel like December when somebody say your name

‘Cause I can’t reach out to call you, but I know I will one day, yeah

Everybody hurts sometimes

Everybody hurts someday, ayy ayy

But everything gon’ be alright

Go and raise a glass and say, ayy

Here’s to the ones that we got

Cheers to the wish you were here, but you’re not

‘Cause the drinks bring back all the memories

Of everything we’ve been through

Toast to the ones here today

Toast to the ones that we lost on the way

‘Cause the drinks bring back all the memories

And the memories bring back, memories bring back you

Doo doo, doo doo doo doo

Doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo

Doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo

Memories bring back, memories bring back you

There’s a time that I remember when I never felt so lost

When I felt all of the hatred was too powerful to stop (ooh, yeah)

Now my heart feel like an ember and it’s lighting up the dark

I’ll carry these torches for ya that you know I’ll never drop, yeah

Everybody hurts sometimes

Everybody hurts someday, ayy ayy

But everything gon’ be alright

Go and raise a glass and say, ayy

Here’s to the ones that we got (oh)

Cheers to the wish you were here, but you’re not

‘Cause the drinks bring back all the memories

Of everything we’ve been through (no, no)

Toast to the ones here today (ayy)

Toast to the ones that we lost on the way

‘Cause the drinks bring back all the memories (ayy)

And the memories bring back, memories bring back you

Doo doo, doo doo doo doo

Doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo

Doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo

Memories bring back, memories bring back you

Doo doo, doo doo doo doo

Doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo

Doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo (ooh, yeah)

Memories bring back, memories bring back you

Yeah, yeah, yeah

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, doh, doh

Memories bring back, memories bring back you

Cheers to all beautiful moments in the future! Create memories and enjoy them!

Give your loved ones an extra big hug today!

Happy Mother’s Day!

Vienna is all about coffee & cake, Franz & Sisi, Wiener Schnitzel & Wiener Waltzer, classical music & classical architecture, a city for foodies & art fans… and perfect for us. We had a fabulous girls weekend.

The Hundertwasser Building: an explosion of bright colors, different shapes, unmatched windows, and lines of all sorts.

Grownups turning into children again… enjoying the oldest amusement park in the world: the Prater.

Unique Traffic Lights.

City hunt for the best Sachertorte, Viennese classic dessert that consists of a decadent chocolate cake with apricot jam in the middle.

Not only the emperor’s favorite…

Oh and happy May 1st! The best month of the year 🙂

It’s spring. It’s Dandelion time. Nobody likes them. Especially not in the garden. Except hubby. 2 years ago he tried to produce a beer out of them. That kind of worked out: it tastes disgusting, so beer turned into vinegar. And that one is delicious, actually!

Here are some more interesting facts about the dandelion flower:

The dandelion is the only flower that represents the 3 celestial bodies of the sun, moon and stars. The yellow flower resembles the sun, the puff ball resembles the moon and the dispersing seeds resemble the stars.

The dandelion flower opens to greet the morning and closes in the evening to go to sleep.

Every part of the dandelion is useful: root, leaves, flower. It can be used for food (or beer!), medicine and dye for coloring.

Up until the 1800s people would pull grass out of their lawns to make room for dandelions and other useful “weeds” like chickweed, malva, and chamomile. Wow!!!

The name dandelion is taken from the French word “dent de lion” meaning lion’s tooth, referring to the coarsely-toothed leaves.

Dandelions have one of the longest flowering seasons of any plant.

Dandelion seeds are often transported away by a gust of wind and they travel like tiny parachutes. Seeds are often carried as many as 5 miles from their origin!

Animals such as birds, insects and butterflies consume nectar or seed of dandelion.

Dandelion flowers do not need to be pollinated to form seed.

Dandelion can be used in the production of wine and root beer. Root of dandelion can be used as a substitute for coffee.

Dandelions have sunk their roots deep into history. They were well known to ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, and have been used in Chinese traditional medicine for over a thousand years.

Dandelion is used in folk medicine to treat infections and liver disorders. Tea made of dandelion act as diuretic.

If you mow dandelions, they’ll grow shorter stalks to spite you.

Dandelions are, quite possibly, the most successful plants that exist, masters of survival worldwide (that’s unfortunate for gardeners).

Bee Happy Gardens.

One year ago, it was impossible to cross European borders for a weekend getaway.

We packed our bags for a glamping trip (another one of those trips which got delayed for months due to the pandemic). Dog on board. Bonjour France!

Arrived!

Nestled in a hilly landscape between the River Le Rhine and the Vosges mountains in the Alsace. Bonjour France!

We followed the house rules: do nothing, sleep in and wake up with the sun, enjoy the nature, put some wood in the stove, looking at the rain falling, listen to the sound of silence, afternoon siestas …. It was wonderful!

Weekend mood. Sunday mood.

Hubby developed a new shrimp marinade: olive oil, earl grey tea and IPA mixed with salt & pepper – super delicious!

Slow mornings. Breakfast is served!

WI-FI (uhm…what?)

A little trip to the Alsace villages… super beautiful!

A cup of tea and that book I wanted to read for a while… The sun, rain, nature, a crackling fire – a perfect weekend.

Favorite people & favorite photos.

We had a blast at the Easter weekend! Thanks for visiting us!

(Unfortunately) Australia is a bit far away for a day trip… Let’s go Pforzheim!

A trip to the amazing Great Barrier Reef.

The gasometer, built in 1912, served as a balancing tank for Pforzheim’s gas supply for almost 100 years and is now one of the last remaining bell gas tanks in the country. It presents today the world’s largest panoramic artworks by the artist Yadegar Asisi.

The artist:

Since 2003, the artist Yadegar Asisi has been creating monumental 360° panoramas up to 32 meters high and 110 meters in circumference. What began as a project in a listed former gasometer in Leipzig has since developed into a studio with panorama houses in currently seven cities. Asisi composes the visually powerful panoramas from his project-related research archive of up to 50.000 photographs, drawings, sketches and painting works. For the “collection of material”, he often carries out extensive research and photographic journeys on the respective topic: e.g. to Australia for the GREAT BARRIER REEF.

Tens of thousands of underwater photos and a collection of artistic sketches went into the creation of the panorama.

He captures the beauty of our natural world.

A journey to miracle.

In the panorama, the submarine world opens up as if from a vantage point below sea level. In color gradients of shades of blue, azure and green, the refraction of light in the ocean makes the strange world of corals and sea creatures glow in the panoramic image, especially near the surface of the water.

Wowed by the magical world coral reef.

Happily diving the Great Barrier Reef for hours… definitely a happy place.