Hello long weekend!

Stuttgart – Paris – Bretagne & return.

Traveling by train. Next stop Paris. A French dinner. A night in Paris including breakfast before rolling on to Brittany. Oh, I am loving it.

Bonjour Paris & Au revoir. Back on the train & on the way to the Bretagne, an area on the very North-Western edge of France with many cute little villages & amazing (sea) food! That’s where our friend lives.

I’m not surprised to have discovered another beautiful area in France: “La Bretagne” as the locals pronounce it proudly. Heavenly food. Fantastic weather. Great company. We had a beautiful, delicious relaxed weekend at the coast!

Thanks for showing us your beautiful home! We enjoyed it so much, we may come back soon. And next time we keep space for crepe… Crepes are to Bretons what pasta is to Italians 😉

Au revoir!

A rainy September. A beautiful October.

Bye bye, October!

Covid & lockdown. I think we all have things we missed. For me one of them was watching a film in the cinema. Watching Netflix or any other streaming server at home is just not the same.

The cinema takes me to a different world. The big screen which becomes even bigger once the film starts and the curtain is fully open. The light goes off, the film is starting. It’s magic. It’s high jacking me into a different world for 90 or more amazing minutes (if the film is great).

Autokino. Cinemas with alternative films. Or how about the cinema with the biggest screen in the world (!). Watching The Beatles concert on huge screen with Dolby surround system was fantastic the other day. Or how about watching a film in bed? It’s the best! Not sure if I can go back to a normal seated cinema again. Lol.

And salted popcorn is a must!

I received a birthday Halloween party invite of my god child weeks ago. Of course I’m going. She turned 8. The party on a Wednesday. No problem thanks to work & travel by train for a change: hubby sick but laptop on board. Gifts on board. Work & travel.

She didn’t know. It was a surprise. And what a surprise.

Wow, what a party! Everyone was dressed fabulous!

Very happy that I joined the first choir class (not my gens, I’m only singing in the shower). How fun!

Very impressed of my other nieces English & Spanish skills. Conversations in English are now on the agenda. Nice!

A quick trip to Madagaskar.

Back to the roots: using wind energy in flat lands close to the sea. Today a Café in an old Windmill. My birthday gift invite.

We had a fantastic weekend. Thanks & see you soon again! Back in a few weeks…

Sitting on the train, German Indian summer passing by my window, a feast for the eyes. Happy fall y’all!

Covid is over. Yeah! First chance to visit the Cannstatter Wasen since we have moved to Stuttgart (3 years ago!). Also on board: our friends from Ireland & Hungary.

We kicked off the Octoberfest weekend Friday night with a beautiful dinner at our place.

2 out of 4 Irish friends made it. The other 2 missed their airplane in Dublin and arrived in Düsseldorf (instead of Frankfurt). At that time they had 11 hours to make it to the Stuttgarter Wasen… and… they made it. Yeah!

Guys, we had a blast! Thanks for coming over! Safe travels back home (fingers crossed 🤞🏻 everyone will catch the airplane tonight…). Hope to see you soon again (Cannstatter Frühlingsfest or so…).

Time for another nap now…

Long time planned and finally happening. A day trip to our favorite neighbor country France.

While hubby is recovering from his team event(s)… a friend and I had a fantastic time in the Alsace: breakfast, various shopping, macarons & coffee, and a delicious dinner or ladies having fun.

A very delicious day is ending 🇫🇷 ♥️ we are so lucky to live pretty much next door. We’ll be back soon again!

Today is the first day of fall (day and night are of nearly equal length). I love the colors of fall. I love to dress for fall temperatures inviting for it.

Temperatures turned down over night and it became pretty chilly.

In the office: heating is off (energy saving). At home: heating is off (energy saving, one exception was made for our visitor from SC, USA). It looks like an interesting winter ahead.

We decided to go with the Chinese approach (3 year approved concept): wearing winter coat, scarf and hat in the (home) office (like in the good old Shanghai days). Heating the home with the Raclette grill and enjoying the nice side effect: dinner (and red wine for the soul). Heat blanket in bed. Ready for winter.

Looking forward to colorful leaves, watching film & series on the sofa wrapped in a blanket, pumpkin soup & looking forward to Christmas. Yeah!

Happy fall, y’all!

The other morning I came down to our kitchen and it smelled like a little chocolate factory… Hubby started brewing a Porter including chocolate malt and roasted barley. Sounds delicious? We’ll find out the taste in a few weeks. Also part of that brew: leftover hops from last years garden harvest. Luckily & just in time the new hops are ready to be harvested.

Hubby becoming more and more professional in brewing beer. The newest equipment: a dryer for drying hops (last year he dried the hops sitting on a board on top of my manual washing dryer with a fan below blowing on them…).

His beer is becoming famous and certain deals are in negotiation: exchanging beer for beef. Maybe the best currency these days.

The dream of a home brewer: the fresh homebrew only a handle pull away. Once you go tap, you never go back. So it’s time to take it to the next level: building a “keezer”. Who knows what a “Keezer” is? Well, it’s turning a chest freezer into a bar and turning (men’s) heads.

Voila, the bar is ready! Now it’s time to fill it with beer! Hang on, that’s already happened (a parallel process, of course!). We are having 3 times 20 liters of beer on tap. (And 20 liters of sparking water, as a side note).

A dream became true: the house bar is ready. Next challenge accepted: clean up the garage to create an “Irish pub” feeling. Let’s see how long this will take. Cheers!

Wäre es nach der „Operation Unicorn“ gegangen, würde die verstorbene Queen Elizabeth II. noch einmal Zug fahren. Der Royal Train, so sah es das im Vorfeld gefertigte Protokoll des Königshauses vor, hätte den Sarg von Edinburgh nach London bringen sollen. Und dann wäre die Deutsche Bahn involviert, denn die DB betreibt den Zug seit 2007 – und wird dafür mit einem königlichen Siegel ausgezeichnet.

Wohoo.

Der Zug sollte langsam fahren, damit die Landsleute an der Strecke Abschied nehmen könnten. Andere Züge im öffentlichen Personenverkehr und Güterbahnen hätten für die letzte Zugfahrt der Queen weichen müssen. Der „Guardian“ berichtet außerdem, dass ein „Sweeper“-Zug hinter dem Royal Train hätte hinterherfahren sollen, um die Gleise von möglichen Trauerbeigaben freizuräumen.

Es kommt aber anders: Der Sarg der verstorbenen Monarchin wird nun Dienstagabend per Flugzeug nach London gebracht. Mögliche Gründe: Die Sicherung der Strecke wäre aufwendig und teuer. Oder aber:

…I agree, the airplane is likely a much more reliable option…

By the way, in maximaler Länge käme der Royal Train heute auf neun Waggons – darunter Speisewagen mit Küche, Personalschlafwagen und Gepäckabteile sowie je ein Schlaf- und Salonwagen für die Royals.

Die königliche Zugflotte hat einen nahezu mythischen Status in Großbritannien. Frühere Monarchen haben die Waggons regelmäßig für Fahrten innerhalb von England und Schottland genutzt. Inzwischen wird der Zug vom Königshaus nur noch bei Bedarf angemietet.

Die königlichen Wagen des Royal Trains werden in einem Depot nahe Milton Keynes geparkt und gewartet. Sie stammen aus den Jahren 1977 bis 1987. Angeblich dürften nur sehr erfahrene Lokführer den Zug fahren. Sie müssten in der Lage sein, den Zug innerhalb von gut 15 Zentimetern eines vorgesehenen Punktes anzuhalten.

Viel geblieben ist von den Traditionen der Vergangenheit aber nicht mehr. Frühere Monarchen wurden mit viel Tamtam nach Zugfahrten im Royal Train an den Bahnhöfen empfangen. Heute soll bei Ankunft und Abfahrt noch ein roter Teppich auf dem Bahnsteig ausgelegt werden.

R.I.P. Queen Elizabeth II.

We had it all planned: the date, the destination, our sisters weekend. And then the popular virus, called Covid, came in between. My sister is positive & not feeling well at all. Meh. This blog is for you, your virtual weekend with me ♥️

I found short term a „proxy“ – our mum!

And here we are, in Constance at Lake Constance, the south of Germany, where it’s possible to visit 4 countries within one day: Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Lichtenstein.

This blog is a virtual city tour of Constance and other areas at the beautiful Lake Constance for my sister. Hope you feel better soon! Big hugs & kisses!

You were missed! Hope you feel better soon again! Looking forward to seeing you again soon 😘