It’s February, the month of Valentine’s Day. The month of love and lovers. February is notably a month used to communicate love. Specifically, millions around the globe take part in Valentine’s Day on February 14 to show their significant others how much they care. February is typically a month that is either dreaded by some or looked forward to by others… 

And so I just had a new blog idea: I’m going to share for the next couple of days poetry, love letters of great men (in hope this will lead to motivate my own man for a love letter. Lol.) or anything else to do with love 💕

Today, a love letter from the following great man:

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Mark Twain 

To Olivia Langdon

1869 in Buffalo, New York

Livy dear,

I have already mailed today’s letter, but I am so proud of my privilege of writing the dearest girl in the world whenever I please, that I must add a few lines if only to say I love you, Livy. For I do love you, Livy… as the dew loves the flowers; as the birds love the sunshine; as the wavelets love the breeze; as mothers love their first-born; as memory loves old faces; as the yearning tides love the moon; as the angels love the pure in heart… Take my kiss and my benediction, and try to be reconciled to the fact that I am

Yours forever,

Sam

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Last Night in Stuttgart: redeem my birthday gift from last year from friends. A different kind of dining tour through Stuttgart: we felt a bit like Sherlock Holmes on a bar tour. Lol. 

How it works: 3 locations. Each one in walking distance from each other. All of them a surprise. We get the info on the go via email. 

Let’s get started:

Location #1: welcome drink at a bar in Stuttgart’s “red light district”

We got to choose our aperitif a la card. 

About 45min later, next location was shared via email. Walking off that Gin&Tonic. 

Location #2: the starter at a cafe

Only created for us: 

Excited and waiting for the next location to be shared via email. Walking through Stuttgart’s party streets. 

Location #3: main dish & dessert 

Sharing truffle pasta and tuna.

Not sharing: this super delicious dessert. 

It all worked out. We found all surprise location. The restaurants all expected us. Great choice of locations.

That was exciting, delicious, different and so much fun. A great night out in great company. 

Thanks, for the fantastic gift 💝

@dear friends, my birthday is coming up again in May… just in case you need an idea for a gift. Lol. 😍

January 2025 is already almost over. And what a month it was. 

Back to the office. My department moved to a new office location. Brand new building. Parking spots incl. reserved spots for ladies. Huge windows & light. Nice! 

Winter in Swabia. Most mornings were chilly. Some mornings -8.5C degrees. Super icey streets early in the morning. 

A weekend in London. 

Trumps inauguration. Puh! And all of that for the next 4 years… 

Storm “Eowyn” in Ireland and other parts of the UK. Scott’s family is out of electric, no electric heating and no cell network… fingers crossed it will be all back in the next 10 days 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻

Yesterday a day of spring in Swabia: +16C (!!!) degrees and garden work started. Crazy. Forecast is again cold. 

Forecast for February:

Goodbye, January!

London. The city of Paddington. The Tower Bridge. Charles Dickens. Shakespeare. The Christmas movie “Love actually”. The London Eye. Fish & chip. The city of freedom where you can dress whatever you fancy (and nobody cares). My old home for a year when I was 18. I just love London. It’s timeless. It’s class. 

And us here for a weekend ♥️

Friday nights are for comedy. Saturday nights, too! 

Pub crawl.

Eating us through London. 

You are my cup of tea, London!

Postcard-worthy scenes: 

Charles dickens enjoyed a pint of beer here back in the days. More recently Beyoncé. And now us! 

The Banksy tunnel in London is an urban art haven. Its walls boast a mesmerizing array of thought-provoking pieces, showcasing Banksy’s signature style. Navigating through this street art gallery is a visual treat, each mural telling a unique story. The atmosphere is vibrant, attracting both art enthusiasts and curious passersby.

A fun weekend including shopping, Chinese hot pot, Indian infused English breakfast, a daily fish & chip dose, sticky toffee puddings with glotted cream (goes well with a pint of beer) – our taste buds were doing a happy dance. A weekend filled with comedy, seeing parts of London we haven’t seen and all of that with our fabulous friend ♥️ Great weekend! 

London is always a good idea ♥️

Bye for now!

We arrived in Tampa, a beautiful bay city along Florida’s Gulf Coast with a laid-back vibe. It’s all about Christmas decoration & flipflops. Chilling. Reading. Friendly Americans chatting to us and dreaming of a life in Europe. Great food. Swimming in the pool listening to Christmas songs interrupted by the acceleration of V8 engines (love). Soaking in that sun. 

We were in that strange bit of time between Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve where none of us really knew what day it was and every day seemed the same. We happily spent those days in Tampa. 

Not everything worked out. I arrived with a stomach bug (Christmas gift from Germany). Our shuttle bus at the airport for our rental car reservation never arrived and therefore no rental car. And a new rental car confirmation two days later turned out into “sorry, no cars are available, we couldn’t reach you” followed by a 10-minute walk on the pavement to a diner at 8am: mamas kitchen breakfast. A good old style breakfast and new plans for the day: shopping via uber. 

Best dessert in the world: key lime 🍋‍🟩 pie!

Yes it is!

Dinners are also fantastic.

December 27th: enjoying the pool at 27C degrees and Christmas songs in the background 🎄Life is good!

Here should have been a photo of the Kennedy Space Center… but thanks to no availability of rental cars… we missed it. Or we just have to come back another time. 

Ready for hopping on our Western Caribbean cruise to Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula. Cruising into the New Year 🎊

Bye, bye, Florida 👋

New Year’s Eve: sleeping in, sun bathing, a little swim, dressing, fancy dinner and New York style ball drop down followed by greeting the new year at the pool.

Happy new year! 🎆 

Hello new year, hola Mexico! 

First day of the new year: refreshing rain in paradise! 

Day 2 in the new year: Cozumel in Mexico 🇲🇽

Swimming in crystal clear waters. Soaking in the Mexican sun. In love with this little beach paradise.

This is a happy face with salt in the hair, sand everywhere and far too many margaritas. A fun day! 

Amazing sunsets, getting better night by night. 

Daily margaritas followed by siestas. Soaking in the sun. Swimming in the turquoise crystal clear water. Snorkeling. Tequila tasting. Our learning from being on a cruise: don’t shower before the ship is moving… we (I mean hubby) flooded the whole room. Ups. We also killed the room A/C, like 10 years ago in SC… nothing to add. Lol. We had a fabulous time on the cruise, especially with our dining buddies from Atlanta & Cuba.

Back in Tampa, Florida. Finally the rental car reservation worked out, we were hitting the road.

We are still in love with this country 🇺🇸 Despite plastic cups and big televisions showing sports games everywhere… we love the country which starts counting on floor “1” and not on “zero” like most other countries. Charlie’s Heimat. The country we got married. Wi-Fi everywhere for free (truly enjoyed the internet-free days on the cruise). Free tap water. Indoor rooms cooled down, it feels like winter in Germany (something we’ll probably never get used to). Stiff necks included. Lol. Friendly people. Smiles everywhere. Cuban Uber drivers. The delicious food (burger, steak, fresh seafood, key lime pie…). Coke refill. Shopping, of course. Cities at its extreme when preparing for a sports game. Surrounded by the beautiful sound of V8 engines (yeah, those muscle cars) and finally driving one ourselves. And gasoline prices like nowhere else (3.09$/Gallon). 

We had an absolutely fantastic time! Thanks and hope to be back soon 🇺🇸

Bye for now 🌞

2024 was wow! What a year! A(nother) tough one. Too many wars. An automotive crisis. More flood catastrophes. And Dubai chocolate. WTF. 

Bye, bye 2024! 👋

But hey, a lot of good things happened as well. Sometimes, we need to decide to focus on the bright side of life. I for example hacked my Social Media algorithm to positive news. It worked (fuxx you, Mr Zuckerberg)! 💪🏻 Or like one of the attacked men in Solingen: he decided to not be mad but rather thankful for being alive and “dancing his life” from now on, which I think is very inspiring. 

Let’s go, this was 2024:

In January, farmers demonstrated and blocked roads & autobahn in Germany. Me in the middle of it on the way to Hildesheim for a business trip. The subjects of the protests are the abolition of tax breaks of on farmers and the policies of the federal government.

The German “Kaiser” passed away:

2024 was a summer of sports:

The European Soccer Championship was hosted in Germany. So much fun, despite the German team being kicked out by Spain in the quarterfinal. The last tragic minutes of the game: Germany equalised in the 89th minute to send the game to extra time at 1-1, only for Spain’s Mikel Merino to score a 119th-minute winner. However, the game could have been set on a different course had Germany’s appeals for a penalty not been waved away when the ball struck Marc Cucurella’s hand in extra time.

The Summer Olympic Games in Paris, France: we may not remember the Games for Germans medals… but for the beautiful scenery. I mean who plays beach volleyball in front of the Eifel Tower ♥️

We needed some positive news. The Olympic Games provided that over the summer. Thanks!

2024 was a year of fighting for democracy. In Germany, more than a million people demonstrated pro democracy and against the AfD. Let’s keep fighting!!! 

2024 wasn’t a good year for Boeing. Loosing airplane parts in the air and a whistleblower sharing insider info about production problems.

Alexej Nawalny – one of many hero’s this year. Putins biggest critics died in a Russian prison (likely murdered…) in February. He was only 47 years old! He was tormented but he didn’t keep silent. Thank you 🙏 we’ll never forget you.

> 20 diplomats in Germany who acted covered up as Russian agents. WTF! 

It was a year of music. So many concerts. So many wonderful musicians. One of them Taylor Swift. She finished her marathon tour with 149(!!!) shows, the last one in Vancouver, Canada.

The ladies are taking over the music stage: Taylor Swift, Adele, Billie Eilish, Beyoncé, Pink… and so many more female rock stars. They are not only dominating the charts but producing and selling their own music! 

The British Royals had a bit of a stressful year: cancer, family fights and web shitstorms. Hoping for a better one next year! 

The hero of Taiwan: Roger, an 8 year old Labrador helped finding people after one of the strongest earthquakes earlier this year. His first career as drug supporter didn’t work out, but he turned into a hero now. Everyone deserves second chances! 🐶

Europe is back in space: “Ariane 6” made its first flight. Yeah! 🚀

US president Joe Biden is quitting and handing over and supporting Kamala after a TV debate with Donald Trump in July. Good choice! 

Mona Lisa keeps smiling, despite the latest incident earlier this year: 2 members of a French activity group smashed pumpkin soup over the painting of Mona Lisa in the Louvre in Paris. Why? To make us aware of the global miss leading situation in food production. Ok… that’s France.

Cannabis – a plant changing Germany. It’s now legal to plant and smoke the weed. Guess who had plants in the garden… 

Volkswagen: anniversary for the Golf and a huge crisis for the brand itself. 

…and our VW Bus broke down 😥 Goodbye Bulli!

Politics – a scary change of parties in the East of Germany, Sarah Wagenknecht making her way from an outsider to winning votes, and we all remember who won the election in the USA: Trumps comeback. He even survived 2 attacks. 

On fire: FC St. Pauli celebrated its promotion to the German soccer league. Congratulations ⚽️ 

Polar lights not only at the North Pole but also in the north of Germany. Beautiful! 

War and no end in sight: Ukraine. Nach Russlands Überfall: Der 18. November markiert den 1000. Kriegstag in der Ukraine.

Notre Dame is renovated and opened its doors again: Trump was there, too. Of course! 

Iceland 🇮🇸 has it all: earthquakes, geysers, volcanic eruptions… all pretty normal for Iceland but since 2023 a little out of control. Hello climate change!

France, a female oriented country: introduced the “guaranteed freedom” for abortion. Of course that was done on March 8th, the International Women’s Day. Next goal: make it a law in all European countries 🙏 Thanks, Macron! 

2024 was also a year filled with celebrations… my 40th birthday & our 10-year anniversary. 

…and the Oscar goes to Ken… I mean Ryan Gosling. Neither Barbie alias Margot Robbie, nor Greta Gerwig (Regisseur of Barbie) got nominated… at least Ken showed his disappointment. 

Oasis is back together. On Tour in 2025! 

Heroes 🦸🏻‍♀️: Marlene Engelhorn, a German-Austrian inheritor, decided to give away 25 million euro to different organizations. Wow! That’s very generous. 

What’s that hype about “Dubai Chocolate“? 

Floods in Spain, Valencia. Hello climate change! 

Talking about politics: Ende der Koalition: Kanzler Olaf Scholz (SPD) wirft Finanzminister Christian Lindner (FDP) raus.

Another hero, maybe even person of the year 2024 🦸🏻‍♀️: Gisèle Pelicot

December 19 is a historic day, marking the end of the Mazan rape trial with a verdict. If 2024 « belonged » to any one person, it was #GisèlePelicot, whose 50 rapists – including her husband of five decades who was drugging her with anxiolytics before recruiting men to rape her some 200 times, over a ten-year period – were found guilty today in Avignon, with a 20 year sentence for Dominique Pelicot. During this lengthy trial, which began on September 2, Gisèle Pelicot who is 71 years old, emerged as a feminist icon making headlines on every media outlets across the world.

Today, after the sentence, she said she had never regretted her decision to allow the trial to be public, stating: « I’m thinking of the unrecognized victims, I want you to know that we share the same struggle. When I opened the doors to this trial on September 2, I wanted for society to be able to take up the debates that followed. I am now confident in our ability to collectively grasp a future in which everyone, women and men alike, can live in harmony and mutual understanding », finally adding: « I want to express my most profound gratitude to all the people who supported me throughout this ordeal. Your testimonies deeply moved me, and gave me the strength to come back every day to face those long days of hearings ».

What a year! Continuously wishing for Love & World PEACE next year!

Another year almost over! May the rest of 2024 be a good one and the new year be your best one yet!

Happy New Year, everyone! 🎆

Silvester. Ein neues Jahr beginnt. In Washington wird am 3. Januar der neue Kongress vereidigt, zweieinhalb Wochen später der US-Präsident. Donald Trumps zweite Amtszeit beginnt am 20. Januar um 12 Uhr mittags.

Wishes for 2025:

December 22nd, yesterday (sorry, you missed it) was the most important day in Spain to have a chance of becoming rich: the lottery “El Gordo” is promising the highest wins of the while year. 🤑 

Canadian kids can mail their post directly to Santa Claus, address: Santa Claus, Northpole, HoH oHo. Each kid is getting a response back! Santa is really existing, I always knew it! 🎅 

In Poland, kids are getting their presents once a star is visible in the sky, to remember the night when Jesus baby was born in Bethlehem. 💫 

I want to celebrate in Slovakia next year: family’s are throwing pudding on their living room ceiling. The tradition says that brings good luck. 🍀 

New Year’s Eve in Sweden: 3pm Family gathering to watch a Donald Duck Christmas special, a tradition since 1960 to gather the Family together. 📺 

A Christmas cat in Iceland: the cat’s name is “Jolakoetturinn” and she’s making sure that kids are getting new clothes for Christmas. If you don’t, the cat is going to eat you, so the legend. 🐱 

Rollerblading in Caracas, Venezuela. Roads are closed so everyone can rollerblade to the Christmas church on Christmas Eve. The tradition is linking believe with movement and makes everyone happy on Christmas morning. 🛼

Did you know that Christmas dinner in Japan is chicken wings from KFC? A tradition since 1974. My colleague, at the moment living in Germany, is going to beak that tradition this year for the first time. Also, we just passed on our Christmas tree to the Japanese couple – their first one ❤️ and we are driving home for Christmas now 🚗 💨🎄 ~ our Family tradition.

Have a wonderful sparkling Christmas, everyone! ✨

Let’s all take a moment to say a prayer for those impacted by the senseless tragedy in Magdeburg. 🙏 I am heartbroken for these people who were just out celebrating and spreading holiday cheer. 

Merry Christmas everyone, may the holidays bring you wonderful memories and may we all do our part to continue to spread Peace and Love. ❤️🎄

A dinner show. Fine dining. Art. Technology. Each course an art piece. Some of them created by ourselves. 7 paintings ~ the Art of Dining.

Act1 – Italy: Michelangelo

Act2 – UK: Banksy 

Act3 – Spain: Pablo Picasso 

Act4 – USA: Jackson Pollock

…delicious painting!

Act5 – USA: Andy Warhol

Act6 – Spain: Salvador Dali

Act7 – Netherlands: Vincent Van Gogh

Wow! That was an interactive 7-course dinner show, transporting our senses to an incomparable experience of taste and entertainment. 🖼️ 🎨 🧑‍🎨

Christmas is a magical time of year. From holiday tradition to time spent with loved ones. It’s just something about it that brings out the best in all of us ✨

Talking about the good old times. Christmas memories. Childhood memories. Making new memories. We all had a wonderful weekend. 

Now on my way home. Suitcase is loaded with gifts, cookies & the best memories 🥰

Thank you ❤️

Ready for the final work days in 2024. The countdown is on…

It’s in December on a crisp Monday (or any other day in the week) late afternoon. We are stepping out of our home, bundled up in multiple layers of warm clothing with a wool cap on top of our hat & a big scarf around our neck. We are ready and prepared to go to the Christmas market. Yeah ✨✨✨

The days are short during this time of the year. Even though it’s only early evening the towns & villages are already developed in darkness. That’s why all the windows are so beautifully decorated and lit up. And so is the Christmas market. Shining ✨✨✨

Beautiful smells of cinnamon, bratwurst, roasted chestnuts, popcorn and mulled wine are leading us to the entrance of the Christmas market. Mmmmhhhhhh…

Time to enjoy delicious local favourites such as Currywurst and gingerbread. Moreover, these go well with a steaming glass of gluhwein. Listen to beautiful music from choirs and brass bands as you wander the stalls. The markets offer great gifts and souvenirs, too. Many of these are made by local artisans.

Visiting Christmas markets is one of the best ways to get into the holiday spirit.

The perfect place to go to do holiday shopping, enjoy a variety of holiday treats, and admire beautiful lights and decorations.

Christmas mood ❤️