Definition of a great weekend: The 12th kite festival of Laichingen (Drachenfest) in combination with perfect late summer wheather! Spectacular air shows, sensational self-built flying objects and thousands of visitors, most of them with their own kites, created an atmosphere of joy and relaxation. The last time I saw that many bright, intense and neon colours was almost two decades ago at Venice Beach, Southern California...
This guy was amazing! He showed up at the kite festival of Laichingen, sat down on the meadow behind his box and started to reel off a line of 200 (!) identical small silver kites. There was only a light breeze and it took him about 20 minutes to unwind all of them. People ware fascinated to watch the shining snake growing into the blue sky.
I asked him, how long he worked on creating this line. He gave me a big grin and responded: "Long. Very long."
The temperature was 11° C, when we left. It was raining cats and dogs. The fog was so intense, we could hardly see more than 100 meters in front of us. But the intention was to go sailing on Lake Constance (Bodensee) - and so we did. It was the best idea we could have! Real, fast sailing for a landlubber like me: Wind strength about 6 Beaufort, 9 knots, high waves. After 20 minutes I was soaked. We started in Friedrichshafen, sailed across the lake to Switzerland and came back within two hours. What an experience!
Not far away from our front door, this smooth snake (coronella austriaca, in German: Glatt- oder Schlingnatter) tried to have a little nosh. The chosen delicacy was a slowworm, barely smaller than its gobbler. I don't know, for how long already the snake tried to swallow the worm. But as they were hugging in the middle of the lane, I tried to save them from getting run over. What led to the snake's decision to better hide for cover hungry.
Low water but high sun: We just came back from a fantastic canoeing weekend on the Danube river. Our base camp was in Sigmaringen, where we spent the night in a wooden hut on a campground. For our next time or those of you who want to try it also, some words of advice:
1. Check with the organizer prior, not only the necesssary water level bur also where the tour will start
2. Do not choose the nearby restaurant "Palmengarten" for dinner, since the food is ordinary and the service is low
3. Bring swimwear! Without jumping into the chilly water it's only half the fun!
Here are some still lifes from our vacation on the beautiful island of Crete (summer of 2011). Enjoy!
(1) secret beach at the East coast of Akrotiri
(2) bucket full of self-spooned sea salt
(3) harbor basin of Chania
(4) collectables from seabed
(5) bay of Loutros
(6) hourly refreshement
(7) danger sign in the White mountains (Lefka Ori)
(8) sunset at old harbor of Chania
(9) small shells, beach of Elafonisi
(10) pink beach of Elafonisi
(11) shadow play
(12) MacGyver's car on Crete
(13) beach of Falassarna
(14) mountain village in Lefka Ori
(15) vista point at the West coast
(16) fishing boats in Loutros
(17) potpourri of flowerpots
(18) pure pool pleasure
(19) sea shell art
(20) typical colors of Greece
(21) a lost Greek guy
(22) still life with steering wheel
(23) our favourite soft drink: Gerani lemonatha
(24) final greetings from paradise...
Giorgi's Blue Apartments is a small hotel near the sea, situated in Kalathas, ten kilometers from the town center of Chania, West Crete. The hotel consists of 19 fully equipped furnished, spacious and sunny apartments. All have a splendid sea view. The hotel also features a large swimming pool, children's pool and pool bar. The place is ideal for windsurfing, snorkeling, scuba diving, fishing, shell collecting, walking, climbing and, most of all: relaxing. Usually guests just call it "The Paradise"...
It is not only that food on Crete tastes much better than at home. Tomatoes, cucumbers, greens, meat and fish also look much better - amazing! I'd wish the vegetables in our supermarkets had the chance to gain as much sun and taste like the local food of the Cretans.
(1) boiled octopus - (2) chorta (wild greens) - (3) okra - (4) Greek salad with Feta-cheese - (5) BBQ-chicken - (6) stuffed green peppers - (7) fried fish - (8) fresh fish with onions and tomatoes
There are so many ancient castles and castle ruins in our area, we probably will need years to see and explore them all! Reussenstein e.g. we just passed by accident, saw the massive, splendid walls, stopped the car and walked the path to the steep rugged rock. The view down the cliff on the valley (Neidlinger Tal) we highly recommend - for all who have the guts.
Unfortunately, I forgot my camera. Images were taken with my mobile's cheap cam.
Our neighbour's daughter's boyfriend found three little baby hares in a field. In the beginning, they needed to be fed every third hour; in the meantime, four weeks later, the feeding bottle is reduced to four times a day. The hares grew a lot, but they are still the attraction among all children of our neighbourhood - including Sophia...
