Januar « 2009 « China, Asia, Climbing and Fixed Gear Bikes

Archive for Januar, 2009

Skiing in Austria

Sonntag, Januar 11th, 2009

What great weather! Sunshine, great snow, nicely prepared slopes and not many people. And this on a Sunday! We started early to make get as much of the fresh slopes as possible. But the weather continues to be extraordinarily cold: It was -15 degrees Celsius at our apartment. Fortunately but uncommonly it was warmer at 2000 meter altitude. But the temperature was still not really high.

“I am FREEZING!”

Taking a Break

Hartmut and Roman started with high velocity and kept that up throughout the day. It was interesting to see that the majority of people here in Austria all ski very fast. And now about 70% wear helmets. We did go to a ski hut to see if there would be a crowd watching the with big ski race. But there was not even a single person so we sat outside.

Ski Hut Rest

Roman and I realized that we had been skiing together before. But that was about 18 years ago! Wow… Time really flies. And he still can ski very well.

Skihaserl und Skikoenig

Posted in Outdoors | 1 Comment »

Dinner in Austria

Samstag, Januar 10th, 2009

Hartmut and I drove to Austria today. I have been to Carinthia many times but somehow forgot which would be the best shortcut from the highway. Roman was already awaiting us when we finally arrived. Hartmut started cooking right away. But we were lacking apples and tomatoes and it was after shop closing time (6pm). Roman went on a search for them and after quite a while finally was successful at a restaurant. Hartmut prepared a 3 course meal and was very satisfied afterwards. Also because we drank nice Champagne and wine.

“That was Nice”

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Sauna and the Experienced Gymnasts

Donnerstag, Januar 8th, 2009

My parents and I relaxed the whole morning and afternoon in the nearby spa and sauna. It was a wonderful winter day like in Beijing: Blue skies and sunshine but really cold. It was great to be in the hot sauna together with all the other naked and sweaty men and women. They used different fragrances combined with salt peeling for the official hourly „Aufguss“ in the main sauna. The grapefruit or ginger-lime was much better than the strawberry-chocolate smell at 100 degrees celcius. They also have different kinds of jakuzzi. Really relaxing.

It is sometimes great to be nostalgic. And it is also great to realize that you can still do things that you learned as a child. Even in gymnastics. I went to the gymnastics club where I was as a child. It is amazing that some of the guys I know for really many years still come to the club. We are all so experienced now. But still do gymnastics 🙂 Here are Klaus, Roland, Toralf, Jens and me.

Erlanger Turner

The Gymnastics Team

Posted in Germany | 1 Comment »

The „Teehaus“

Dienstag, Januar 6th, 2009

Today I met my best friends from university. Every year we get together in the place with the most different kind of teas offered in Erlangen – the „Teehaus“. They serve real tea leaves and give you a sand-glass to make sure you take out the leaves at the right moment. Today they were having a brunch buffet so we tried that. It was great as they were serving Italian antipasti, as well as salmon and everything else you could think of for a long breakfast. Alex, Martin and me tried to take a picture of ourselves and these are the results:

Photography Experiments

The Physicists

Afterwards I went again climbing, then artistic cycling and then to the juggling and acro balance group. It was a fun and long day full of sports and friends. In artistic cycling Paulina showed me again her newly invented „handlebar-kneeing“ that she claims to be really comfortable. I tried it too but it hurts. And I do not think I can do it as beautifully as her.

Lenkerknien

Posted in Fixed Gear, Germany | 4 Comments »

German Hair Dressers

Montag, Januar 5th, 2009

The moon and the stars were in the correct position for me to get a hair cut. I was about to leave home and just stop at the first barber shop that would cross my way when I hesitated as it was almost lunch time. As I am a clever girl I searched online for phone numbers of barber shops in the nearby town and called the first one to ask if they are open over lunch time. It turned out that I had to call 12 different hair dressers to find one that was open and had time for me to come on this day. In Beijing whatever time of day on whatever day you just walk up to any barber shop and can get your hair cut right away. I was startled that you even had to plan for a hair cut in Germany. Afterwards telling this story to a friend he just burst out laughing. He said that usually no barber shop is opened on Mondays anyway. he said I was lucky that I found one. It is good to learn new things every day.

In the evening I went out with a friend in Nuernberg. We first went to a Swedisch bar with cute looking Franconian ladies serving me the green colored happy hour cocktail before we were asked to leave at just after 1am by having the chairs around us put on the tables and the lights turned on really bright. It was very subtle – Franconian style. We then went to a small cave like underground bar Downtown. I really liked their high energy music, the perfect Margaritas, the posters behind the bar and the tiger fabric used as wallpaper in the entire bar. That would look great even in a bike shop!

Posted in Germany | 1 Comment »

Climbing and Acro Balance

Sonntag, Januar 4th, 2009

Hartmut took me climbing to an indoor wall in Nuernberg: the Climbing Factory. It is a very high wall and most of it is for lead climbing. That is great! There is a lot of overhangs in the routes which I love. The routes are clearly marked by colors and grades, nicely done.

Climbing Factory

Indoor Climbing Wall

I was happy lead climbing some UIAA 7- and 7 routes (French 6b and 6b+ or USA 5.10c and 5.10d). But then I saw another climber climbing the same routes with ease. I had to talk to him as I was amazed. It turned out that he is 66 years old and started climbing when he was 5. He said he has a friend that is 71 years old and even climbs a UIAA 9 route (French 7b or USA 5.12d). That is a goal for me. I want to be like that when I am older.

66 Year Old Climber

After that I went to the Erlangen Juggling Group. I wasn’t juggling at all as Gerhard was there and it is much more fun to do acro balance (partner acrobatics) together with him. He is so stable and just tells me what to do. We finally got the hand on hand to almost work. Even there he keeps his arms so stable despite my right side tilted handstand.

Hand on Hand 1

Hand on Hand 2

Hand on Hand 3

Posted in Climbing, Juggling | 2 Comments »

Train through Switzerland and Nuernberg

Samstag, Januar 3rd, 2009

To get back to Germany I again took a the train. This time it was more difficult to buy a ticket. In Chambery it was not possible to buy any other ticket than that of the first train I was to take to Geneva. After some difficulty it was actually possible to give me the connection data of the 3 other trains I was supposed to take, but only in handwritten form. She noted that I only have 40 minutes for the transfer in Geneva and I could try to buy a ticket there but it is only 40 minutes. I thought how stupid, sure I can buy a ticket within 40 minutes. Well, I was assuming I was in Germany. But in Geneva (Switzerland) I took a number for the international ticket center and found out I had to wait for 30 other people. So I decided to go to the counter for the „train ticket sale for immediate departure“. After waiting there for about 25 minutes and only advancing about 5 people worth I started worrying. I found 3 ticket machines of which 2 were not working and I tried to get a ticket all the way, but found out I could only get tickets for the Swiss part of the travel. My next transfer would be again in Switzerland and only 18 minutes and I was very worried how I would get a train ticket to Germany.

Genfer See

But fortunately in Olten there was no line at the ticket counter. In Frankfurt I heard the message that my train was 2 hours delayed. I was positively surprised that the German Bahn did sponsor a substitute ICE train leaving at the time on the schedule. Deutsche Bahn has improved a lot on their services. I even heard that people in France use Deutsche Bahn online for booking train tickets or checking schedules of trains in France.

After a full day on trains it was nice to get a delicious warm meal from Hartmut. He made a very fragrant and spicy soup. We drank a very nice Champagne with it.

The Chef in his Kitchen

Plates Prepared for the Soup

After a full day on trains and a delicious warm meal it was nice to do a late night walk in snowy Nuernberg and go for a drink. We walked past the Nuernberg castle and then around the small downtown streets crossing the Pegnitz river a few times.

Nuernberg Skyline