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 💫

And the tradition continuous…. 2nd Advent weekend in Bremen with my sister, her family & my mom.

It was fabulous: strolling over Christmas markets, enjoying a wonderful Christmas concert, watching Christmas movies on the couch all snuggled together, an early Christmas gift exchange (we were all very good kids), decorated windows with hand painted winter pictures (until pens were empty), and of course we made the obligatory ginger bread house which was this year a Santa clause carriage pulled by two reindeers.

So much love. So much joy. So much quality time. Delicious food & cookies & home baked Christmas bread.

Love y’all! Merry Christmas!

And just like that… it’s December.

We came back from Thailand a week ago, took us a couple of days, but we are acclimatized (what choice did we have).

We found our winter coats, scarfs, long pants, woolen jumpers… and we got fire wood for our little Swedish oven.

Just in time for winter weather…

Time to continue our yearly tradition: Irish Breakfast followed by finding the best Christmas tree and taking it home. All of that in best company with our friends. What fun Sunday.

Happy first Advent!

The video:

https://news.sky.com/story/charlies-bar-christmas-advert-northern-ireland-pubs-tear-jerker-video-goes-viral-13017386

The bar’s manager says the reaction to the advert – which highlights how lonely people can feel over the festive period – has been amazing.

A budget Christmas advert by a pub in Northern Ireland has gone viral – with the manager describing the reaction as beyond her “wildest dreams”.

Charlie’s Bar in Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, unveiled the ad on Friday, which features an elderly man walking alone after placing flowers on a grave.

After being ignored by several people, he enters the bar and is joined by a couple and their curious dog, who stay and drink with him.

The song People Help The People, originally written and released by English-band Cherry Ghost and covered by British singer-songwriter Birdy in 2011, accompanies the advert.

It ends with the quote: “There are no strangers here, only friends you haven’t met yet.”

It has racked up millions of views on X, formerly Twitter, and more than 60,000 likes on TikTok after being posted online – but cost only £700 to make.

It even prompted reaction from John Lewis, which has itself become synonymous with tear-jerking festive adverts.

“We’re not crying, you are. Merry Christmas,” the department store’s official TikTok account wrote underneath the video.

Others even claimed it is better than the stores effort this year.

Lisa McGee, creator of sitcom Derry Girls, also praised the ad – while Catherine Nelson, a Sinn Fein councillor, said: “Oh my goodness me – I am a blubbing mess.”

Una Burns, the manager at Charlie’s, said she wanted to create an advert that would “resonate with people”.

She told Sky News the love shown for the ad was “completely overwhelming” and “never in our wildest dreams did we expect this reaction”.

On the inspiration for the video, she said: “It’s just what I had seen in the pub over the years.

“And I suppose I just wanted to get across that message that it’s not always a joyful, happy time for everybody – that some people find it really tough, and just to be kind – and that a smile or a simple hello can go a long way.”

Ms Burns said new customers had already visited the pub after seeing the advert.

She’s also now considering making it an annual event.

Star of the advert, Martin McManus, said a friend had put him forward and that he got the part after they saw his photo.

“I’m not hoping to get rich from it or anything like that,” he joked.

“I enjoy drama, I’ve been at it for years and years; it’s great to get success like this – it’s snowballed, you know?”

He said the ad sent an important message that some people are on their own at Christmas.

“There’s also a sad side to it – particularly as you get older because you’re thinking about all your family that’s dead and gone,” he told Sky News.

“There’s so many things that go through your mind.”

Mr McManus said he’ll be spending Christmas with his son and his partner.

Aoife Teague, the content creator behind the video, was reunited with Mr McManus and the other actors in the video on Monday.

She previously created a St Patrick’s Day advert for the bar, but said the reaction to the festive ad had been amazing – particularly the comparisons to John Lewis.

“It’s a dream, it’s absolutely unbelievable,” she said. “For people to think it’s similar – to say they like it as much as one of their ads.”

“It’s important to highlight that not everyone has that magical feeling at Christmas time,” she added.

Article from Lauren Russell, News reporter @laurenvrussell

Well, enjoy watching this beautiful video and don’t worry if one or the other tear is rolling… Merry Christmas!

‘There are no strangers here, only friends you haven’t yet met’ (W. B. Yeats)

„It costs us nothing to be kind, just a smile or hello makes a difference to so many.“

@Pitter patter nursery store: „Everyone is running round this time of the year & this video really makes you stop & think of what is important!! Best Christmas ad ❤️“

„@Xmas princess 2023: in absolute tears at this 😭😭💖💖 coming up to the toughest time of the year for many always remember kindest doesn’t cost a thing“

„@Sarah Arti723: Christmas captured. It’s about presence not presents ❤️🎄“

Christmas can be a lonely time. Take care of your loved ones and others! 💜

We are back in good old & cold Germany.

Temperature change from 30C degrees in Thailand to ~ -2C degrees in Germany. Brrrrr.

Changing from A/C to a nice fire in the oven.

Changing from bikini to winter coat.

Handing in flip flops for winter boots.

Beach sand to snow.

Street food markets to Christmas markets.

Changing from Pina Colada to mulled wine.

Changing from a dip in the sea to the bath tub with hot water at home.

First day back at work: 7:00am -2C degrees and snow.

Brrrrrrrr. It’s cold outside, baby!

The only thing which remains: the Thai massage.

My mind is still at the beach 😎