Archive for September, 2009

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Lake of Annecy

Dienstag, September 15th, 2009

Annecy is a nice small town. It is located on a lake that is perfect for sailing.

Sailing Boat Club on Lake of Annecy

Lake of Annecy

The old town center is very beautiful. I had a picture taken the Chinese style.The idea is that the person isin the center covering the building of interes almost completely and having the hand in the typical V sign.

Annecy Historic Island Building

Here is another picture of the town historical island from the other side.

Annecy Town Center

It was very nice to see Sandrine and Seb again after such a long time. Unfortunately they were too busy with work and their new apartment so they could not join us for any outdoor activity. Maybe next time we meet again 🙂

Friends

Posted in France, Outdoors | 1 Comment »

Via Ferrata D’Ugine Hike

Dienstag, September 15th, 2009

Near Thone we went on a short but nice alpine hike. It started off at 1450m altitude.

Alpine Hike near Annecy

The weather was not so good, but we were lucky that it did not rain. The advantage was we were almost alone.

Alpine Hike near Annecy

We had bought some bread and ham and tomatoes and cheese that we ate after quite some uphill hiking for lunch.

The Hikers after the Lunch Break

It started getting moister and more windy. The clouds were creeping up the mountain.

Alpine Lake

Ines Hiking in France near Annecy

The mountain ridges were quite impressive with very steep slopes.

Mountain Ridge near Thone

The route continued up along the ridge until the summit. I did then understand why climbing harness, carabiners and helmet were recommended for this route Via Ferrata D’Ugine.

Via Ferrata D’Ugine

The summit was at 2409m altitude.We had a nice view despite the cloudy weather. This picture shows the valley of Thones.

Valley of Thones

We had a short break at the summit despite the strong wind and watched the fast moving creeping clouds.

Hikers at the Summit

Clouds Creeping over Mountain Peaks

Our hike was a loop so the path we took down was different from the one we came up on. It was a more direct way and the steepness of the rough gravel alpine path gave us a good training for our thighs.

Alpine Descent

Posted in Climbing, Outdoors | 1 Comment »

Basel City

Montag, September 14th, 2009

We were planning on going rock climbing today. Marie had organized enough gear for us. But this morning everything was wet and it was raining 🙁

So instead of going climbing we decided to have a look at Basel in Switzerland. It is a nice small university city located on the Rhine river.

Rhine River in Basel

Rhine River in Basel

We went to the cathedral and the city hall.

Kreuzgang in Basel Cathedral

Basel Rathaus

Then we drove through Switzerland past the Lake of Neuchatel to meet other friends.

Lake of Neuchatel

Posted in Outdoors | 1 Comment »

Natooke on travel.sina.com

Montag, September 14th, 2009

I found an entry about our Natooke Juggling and bicycle shop on on the travel website of sina.com. What a surprise to be mentioned here as a special store on the cool Wudaoying hutong street in the center of Beijing.

北京最时髦的街巷淘宝完全攻略(组图)
http://travel.sina.com.cn 2009年09月14日10:52 精品购物指南

Natooke死飞自行车商店

Ines Brunn Fixed Gear Shop Natooke死飞自行车商店

Add：东城区五道营胡同甲19号；

这是五道营胡同里最有意思的一家商店了，由来自法国的伊泉经营，专门售卖“死飞”自行车的零件，所以你可以在这里DIY出心仪的个性“死飞自行车”。“死飞自行车”的英文为：“FIXED GEAR BIKE”，是一种在北京刚刚开始流行的街头运动，需要用脚力、腿力来控制单车的加速或刹车，还可以做很多花样技巧例如倒轮骑、漂移等。老板伊泉虽然是女孩子，却是资深死飞党，玩这项运动已经20多年的历史了，如果你想了解酷帅的“死飞”，可以来找她。

Posted in Beijing, China, Fixed Gear, Juggling, Media | Comments Closed

Potential New House

Sonntag, September 13th, 2009

We had a look at the potential new house of Marie and Do. They are hoping to sign the contract soon.

New House in Elsass

But they seem to already be very happy and excited about it that their ears even seem to be glowing.

Happy Couple

Posted in Beijing | 1 Comment »

Ruins of Castle Landskron

Sonntag, September 13th, 2009

There are quite some ruins of castles in the Vosges mountain range between Germany and France. We went to see the ruins of Castle Landskron (Chateau du Landskron) in the Alsace.

Ruins of Castle Landskron

Ruine der Burg Landskron

This castle had been built at the end of the 13th century by the Muench of Basel.

Chateau du Landskron

Ruins of Castle Landskron

Ruins of Castle Landskron

Ruins of Castle Landskron

The were many wars fought around the castle and it had changed from being possed by different people. The main destruction of the castle happened in the beginning of the 19th century and it had remained just as ruins since then.

Ruins of Castle Landskron

From the top of the castle there is a great view over the Rhine valley looking into the direction of the city of Basel.

The Rhine Valley

Also the Vosges mountains in the North and South are beautiful.

Vosges Mountains in Alsace

And it was a beautiful day to be outdoors.

Group Photo

Ines in the Sun on Castle Landskron

Posted in France, Outdoors | Comments Closed

Black Forest

Samstag, September 12th, 2009

We went to visit Marie and Do for the weekend who just just came back from a scuba diving holiday. As they live just at the „Dreilaendereck“ of Germany, Switzerland and France we decided to go for a walk in the black forest near Oetlingen.

Walking in the Forest

Her mother and sister also came for a visit. And the dog was happy to be on a long walk.

Walking in the Forest

Posted in Germany, Outdoors | 1 Comment »

Ex-Colleagues and Friends

Freitag, September 11th, 2009

It was nice to go and meet many ex-colleagues. Unfortunately many had already left the office as we arrived in the later afternoon. But it was nice to walk around and still see so many of the nice people.

We then drove to a public barbecue site with a nice view over the „Alb“ hills. It looked like it was going to rain but it actually stayed dry. I was happy to see that some of my friends came by bike.

Schwaebische Alb mit Rossberg

One of our friends had magically set up the fire and we soon could start the barbecue. Some of my friends are professional open fire barbecue guys and had specific barbecue forks (they used to give that as a present for anybody who turned 40, so if anybody had one he was usually older than 40) and other utensils.

Barbecue on over Open Fire

It was great to see these friends after such a long time. It did get a bit chilly when it got dark and the fire was almost out. Here are just some pictures we took throughout the evening.

Ines and Friends

Ines and Friends

Ines and Friends

Ines and Friends

Ines and Friends

Ines and Friends

Ines and Friends

Posted in Germany, Outdoors | Comments Closed

Breakfast in the Sun

Freitag, September 11th, 2009

It was again a beautiful morning. We had breakfast on the porch with some of the left-overs from the party last night like the delicious chocolate cake my mother had baked.

Breakfast on the Porch in the Sun

The „Pfefferbeisser“ sausages were just enough after I found some hidden ones in the fridge.

Pfefferbeisser

Then we soon had to pack our things and leave. So we took a goodbye picture with my parents in their garden. It is funny how they look taller than me because of the slight slope in their garden and my father standing on tip toes.

Ines and her Parents

Posted in Germany | 1 Comment »

Barbecue Party

Donnerstag, September 10th, 2009

As this stay in Germany is short I did not have enough time to visit my friends one by one. Therefore I decided to invite them for a barbecue at my parent’s house. Various friends from different sections of my life showed up, some of which I have not seen for about 10 years. It was so nice to talk to everybody that I seemed to have forgotten to take any pictures. Too bad. I will have to do that at the next barbecue party…

Preparing the Grill for the Barbecue

Posted in Germany | 1 Comment »

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