It's brandnew and size does matter: The newest exhibition in Reykjavík features 23 life-size mammals, that are (or once were) found around the North Atlantic island. "Whales of Iceland" opened with the beginning of March 2015 and the pure largeness of its exhibits - the biggest whale is 23 meters long - is worth the visit! All the animals on display are replicas, sculptured by a local artist. But have a look by yourself!
Colourful and cold: Round about 120.000 of Island's total population of 325.000 people live in or around Reykjavík, Island's capital. Downtown is packed with bars and cafes, where Islanders and tourists spend their time. No wonder; what else would YOU do during a winternight, that lasts two full month?
It's the classical tour for visitors of Iceland: The so-called Golden Circle, which allows you to visit three mayor places of interest within one day. It comprises Gullfoss Waterfall, Thingvellir National Park and hot spring area around Haukadalur with the famous natural phenomena: geysers.
Gulfoss Waterfall: a most impressive glacial runoff, noisy, deathly cold and in winter partly frozen.
Thingvellir National Park: a world heritage site of historical and geological importance: location of the ancient viking's annual parliament and also a place, where the Eurasian and the Norther American plates are visually drift apart - by means of 2 centimeters or 0,8 inch per year.
Geyser in Haukadalur: site of the Great Geysir, which actually is THE one geyser, that gave name to all other geysers and, furthermore, is the only Icelandic word, that was
adopted by other languages in the world.
To travel Iceland, the northernmost state of Europe, has always been on my bucket list of places to see before I die - as well as New Zealand (haven'n been there yet), South Africa (haven'n been there yet) or Tierra del Fuego (haven'n been there yet either). But when my office offered me to visit the land of the Vikings for a short business trip, I took my chance. I didn't regret it at all, despite the cold in February: geyser landscapes, vulcanoe beaches, frozen waterfalls... here are some impressions of what I saw (more to come soon!).
Did you know, that the city Barcelona in Spain is home for hundreds of dragons? In fact, some locals call their home town even "Drakcelona"...! We didn't know all that - but Johannes does. The German author and historian, who lives and works in Barcelona since 2000, guided us through the old streets of the Catalonian capital to explain us where and why the dragons hide (his homepage: Barcelona Dragon Tours). It was thrilling!
For the car lover in you, a visit to the Mercedes-Benz-Museum is a must when you are in Stuttgart! Located in Stuttgart-Untertürkheim, near the plant grounds of the manufacturer Daimler AG, it offers 125 years of automobile history since 1886, when Gottlieb Daimler and Carl Benz invented the automobile. The museum, constructed by Durch architect Ben van Berkel and opened in 2006, is built like a double helix, spaning seven floors. You start on top with the beginning of the automobile and walk down the aisle in a chronological tour towards the present - past those legends in the history of Mercedes cars like the victorious Silver Arrows or the fabulous Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing.
What a winter wonder world! New Year's Day we spent with family in Meßstetten, at the western side of the Swabian Alp. Here in the mountains, nearly 1000 meter (1800 feet) above sea level, we experienced an undreamt gorgious winter atmosphere on the first day of 2015.
Party, presents and snow: The day before christmas eve night we threw a little block party for the people in our street. Nothing big, just a few hours of drinking beer, winter-bbq and talking.This year we celebrated our pre-christmas-party with our neighbours the fifth year in a row! We went to church on the 24th, had tagliatelle with grilled king prawns for dinner and watched two happy girls unwrap their (roundabout) 1000 Christmas presents...While the nicest gift for all of us was still to come: snow on the morning after Christmas covered our community in white!
Festive flea market, frost and snow, Bratwurst with cinnamon and orange, gospel songs and christmas tales, Glühwein (mulled wine) for the parents and hot punch for the kids: We spent a cold, but great afternoon and evening at Hohenzollern Castle ("Burg Hohenzollern"), the ancestral seat of the Prussian Royal family near Hechingen at the Western rim of the Swabian Alp. Unfortunately, the fog up there was so intense, we could barely see from one end of the bailey to the other. But at least we were there - later that night, three hours after we left, they closed the location for the forthcoming days due to danger of ice breakage!
The combination of fog, cold temperature and high wind causes a bizarre phenomen on the wind-exposed plateaus of the Swabian Alps: nature turns into fascinating ice scenes like in Disney's animated comedy "Frozen"!
