Category Archives: Travel

Little Adventures in Autumn

In other news, I enjoyed the autumn holidays (we had two weeks off from school) – we went to a friend’s birthday party and another friend’s wedding near Stuttgart the first weekend.

On the second weekend my sister and her boyfriend from Hamburg visited us. Together we went to the Rhine and visited Boppard (where we rode the chair lift to the Vierseenblick which offers a great view over the Rhine valley) and the Marksburg castle (good website if you turn off the sound, check out the panorama photos) which dates back to the 14th century.

During the last week I spent two days in Stuttgart visiting with a friend. But now I’ve been back in school for a week and will have three math tests to grade by tomorrow, two of which I’ll have to finish preparing now.

The weather has been really nice in the past couple of days – if you want to know how nice, check out André‘s photos from today! I especially like the peacock butterfly and the dandelion.

Sunny autumn

Yesterday and today were beautiful days here in the Hunsrück – there was fog in the morning, but it cleared after a few hours, and then it was sunny and quite warm (though a bit windy today). Since the weather was worse during the previous week this inspired me to take a few photos in the garden.

Here’s a late insect (I don’t think it’s a bee, it just mimics one) busy gathering some nectar – I didn’t think I would see any this late in the year.

bee on a yellow flower

And here are some pretty purple flowers for you, Garret. Happy Birthday!

bee on a yellow flower

Click the photos to enlarge.

Diese Woche in der Zeit

Einen Tag vor den Herbstferien komme ich mal wieder dazu, nicht nur die Zeit am Tag des Erscheinens zu lesen, sondern auch auf ein paar lesenswerte Artikel aufmerksam zu machen:

Wirtschaft: An die Kette gelegt. “Die Buchpreisbindung sollte kleinen Händlern und Verlegern das Überleben sichern. Doch inzwischen fördert sie die Konzentration in der Branche.” Von Jens Uehlecke.

Aus der Reihe Patient Kind: Fataler Irrtum in der Abwehr. “Neue Therapien sollen Allergien bekämpfen. Die Ärzte träumen von einer wirksamen Prävention.” Von Ute Eberle.

Literatur: Krimskrams ist Gold wert. “Die Jury von ZEIT und Radio Bremen stellt vor: Antje von Stemms Kindersachbuch »Extrembasteln«”.

Leben: Wohin mit den Eltern? “Weshalb wir überfordert sind, wenn Mutter oder Vater zu Pflegefällen werden.” Von Susanne Mayer.

»Sie ist eine Lady« “Wie ist es, wenn die eigene Mutter wieder zu Hause einzieht? Ingrid Noll kennt sich damit aus – sie pflegt ihre 105 Jahre alte Mutter. Ein Gespräch mit der Schriftstellerin.”

Reisen: Gut gepolstert zu den Göttern. “Komfortabler kommt man nicht von Mumbai nach Goa. Der Luxuszug »Deccan Odyssey« lässt Indiens Wunder wie einen langen Film vorüberziehen. Draußen ist es 43 Grad heiß, drinnen reicht Pravakar Schnittchen.” Von Karin Ceballos Betancur.

Schule: Die Mathe-Revolution. “»Sinus« verändert den Mathematikunterricht an deutschen Schulen. Ein Beispiel aus Brandenburg zeigt, wie.” Von Julian Hans.

Impressions from Tuscany

I’m back! The school trip went fine, without major problems. We didn’t lose any students, nobody got ill or injured, and we didn’t miss any trains. Even though I always was a little nervous in the back of my head (as you have to be as a teacher responsible for 23 students, even when they’re legally grown-ups) I had fun and enjoyed the trip myself. We landed in Cologne around five yesterday, but it was 8:30 pm when I finally made it home. One thing you don’t get to do much on such a trip as a teacher is sleep, so I had to catch up today before I return to school tomorrow.

Here are a few photos of some famous landmarks we visited on our trip:

I’m sure you know this one: It’s the leaning tower of Pisa (Wikipedia entry in English, auf Deutsch), la Torre Pendente, which we visited on Monday. It is not only leaning but also bent because it started to lean while still being built. It is moving with a rate of one millimetre per year even after having been stabilized a couple of years ago.

Pisa Torre Pendente

On Wednesday, we went to Firenze (Florence, Florenz) and saw the Cathedral (below), the Palazzo Vecchio, the Ponte Vecchio, and visited the Museum of the History of Science. (My favourite exhibit, by the way, was the replica of Lorenzo della Volpaia’s planetary clock.)

Firenze Duomo

On Thursday, we went to Lucca (English, deutsch), a beautiful city that has conserved a lot of its old charm within the original city walls. Here’s the former amphitheatre, which has been converted into houses.

Lucca Anfiteatro

And last but not least, here’s a photo of the Mediterranean Sea, taken at the beach near our hotel in Viareggio (English (deutsch).

Viareggio Mare

More pictures to come when/if I find the time…