Cakes part 2

coffee house Köhler in Magdeburg- very cute place with great service, small prices and classical music

Eierlikör cake

raspberry cake

Fly, fly away

One week of vacation is already over and my flight leaves at 3:50 PM local time (9:50 AM EST) from Munich.
My parents are so nice to drop me off at the airport before going on vacation in the Kleinwalsertal themselves. :-)

I had a great time, saw some dear friends and spend lots of time with my family. The weather was great besides the first 2 days- much too warm and too sunny for this time of the year but perfect for me. I ate some great food and missed out on even more (like Döner) because I didn't have enough time.The only sad part is that David wasn't with me. :-(


See you soon on the other side of this big pond called Atlantic!

Land of Solar power and wind energy

My parent's solar power system for hot water

the wind mills on route 81

some family with their own wind power and solar power systems

the wind mills on route 71

my parent's neighbors.. (some of them :-) )

They love the apples that fell and get a little fermented. :-)

apple picking at my parent's place

My mom, Kathrin and I picked only 1 tree but we picked a LOT! Check this out:

Magdeburg- the capital of Sachsen-Anhalt

Great weather again today!! I picked up my friend Kathrin from the rail station and we had a great time to discover Magdeburg, which I used to go to very often - to shop or to party. ;-)

The drainage cover with the crest of Magdeburg

The river Elbe

 Hundertwasser house

The 800 year old cathedral:

The old city wall is being dug out again.

Cathedral door knob

The cathedral garten:

Cakes at the Cafe Wien in Wernigerode

I went to this famous bakery/cafe years ago and it is still wonderful. Cute older waitresses with white aprons, old fashioned decoration and the best home-made cakes ever. Please take a look at the choices.

top row fom left to right:

cheese cake (but made from Quark not from cream cheese), plum pie and cherrie pie

rear row from left to right:

cylindrical cake with wine cream, black forrest cake, Bismarck-cream cake, Frankfurter wreath (it's a pound cake filled with butter cream and jam then covered with butter cream and hazelnut pieces)

front row from left to right:

Vienna Torte (some kind of chocolate cake), truffle cream cake and Nut-cream cake made with Lübecker marzipan

Hiking in the Harz Mountains

The castle

My parents and I went on a trip today to the city of Wernigerode to hike in the Harz Mountains on the Armeleuteberg which means Poor-people-Hill.

Weather was great and we enjoyed traditional German food on top of the mountain: wild boar roast with red cabbage and dumplings. :-)

Afterwards we went downtown and enjoyed some coffee and cake (pictures will follow!) in the old town.

View from the top

Hiking trail sign The old-fashioned town hall which many people choose to get married in.

The smallest house in Wernigerode:build in 1792 and only 9 feet wide!

The restaurant on top, it has the same name as the mountain itself.
Lunch!

German Breakfast (the hearty version)

Rolls, some cold cuts, some salami abd sausage salad. Yummy!

Baunschweig- Brunswick

I lived in this city for 2 years and it has a special place in my heart. Braunschweig is really old (founded 800 A.D.) and downtown is just for pedestrians, no cars. Great place to shop and to go out!

Yesterday I met my wonderful friend Kirsten and did a little sightseeing tour although much has changed since 2003! They even have a Starbucks now and we enjoyed some Lattes! ;-)

Fish!

Yummy Bismarckbrötchen aka sour Herings filet with pickles and onions

and today my favorite: sour Hering with pickels, apples and onions in a cream sauce with fresh potatoes from my parent's garden.

Ravensburg- citiy of towers

Town Hall

Post office

This tower is called the Mehlsack, which means Flour bag. Don't ask me why!

cute flower shop decoration that I liked

a very old timber framed house

Bakery!!

My brother showed me the wonderful city and although the weather wasn't too good we had a good time!

Ravensburg, "The city of towers and gates" is situated between Lake Constance and Allgaeu in a scenic landscape with a view of the Alps. In the past, the city was a major, medieval commercial centre. Today, with its 50,000 residents, it is the lively, economic hub of Upper Swabia and an attractive holiday destination.

German Breakfast (the sweet version)

Rolls, Rolls, Rolls or like they are called in this region: Knauzen.

We had croissants, sweet raisin rolls, normal rolls,(called Knauzen) a brezel and a big sourdough-cheese roll (called Seelen here, which means Souls).

Top that with butter, jam, honey or Nusspli, a haselnut spead. So yummy!!

Autobahn

Everyone was speeding- at least that's how it felt to me. I am not used to it anymore but I am sure I will adjust quickly!

Here is a speed limit of 80 miles/hour. Germans don't like speed limits. We want "Freie Fahrt für Freie Bürger" = free driving for free citizens. :-)

There are only 2 lanes in each direction here but the streets are sooo smoth, no pot-holes or frost hives!

Flight to Germany

I left on Tuesday evening in Boston- almost missed the boarding since they never anounced it over the speakers. :-) The airplane was a nice and new Airbus A330 and I had a nice seat in front of a wall so I could put my seat back! I was able to sleep 2.5-3.5 hours, which helped a lot to adjust to the time change.

I arrived in Munich on Wednesday morning at 9:15 AM local time which is 3:15 AM EST.


Here a picture from Germany. Can you see how clustered German cities and towns and how tiny the farmer's fields are?