10th February 2010, 23:21
| #91 |
| Team-BHP Support   Join Date: May 2004 Location: Bangalore
Posts: 20,347
Thanked: 16,778 Times
| I never knew all that snow can melt so fast! Anyways please continue with dipped choco stuff  i meant even in winter |
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11th February 2010, 05:32
| #92 | |
| BHPian  Join Date: May 2009 Location: PB-08/Adelaide
Posts: 143
Thanked: 42 Times
| Quote:
 Last edited by Punzabi : 11th February 2010 at 05:34. | |
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11th February 2010, 09:41
| #93 |
| Distinguished - BHPian   | YetiBlog® - Sunday 27th December 2009 I wake up and run straight to the window hoping for a repeat performance of yesterday. Alas that not not the case. Far from it. The gloom is back. As I will find out later, yesterday was to be my ONLY day of sunshine in this trip. The temperature has dropped below zero again and the sun is hiding completely. My ears are now both completely blocked as is my nose. I have no fever but this is a seriously difficult cold. And has stayed with me for far too many days now. Slowly everyone in the house is falling ill. The BIL is down almost completely, one of the kids is down. The others are feeling low. This weather really sucks. Today we are to go to Hattenheim – a little town (population a couple of thousand) which is very close to the famous Rhine tourist town of Rüdesheim. I smile as I think of normally_crazy and his description of the place. He has been to Rüdesheim, but I have not. TheOne®’s mother lives in this place, a sleepy, picturesque quiet little town along the river.  The drive in this weather takes an hour and a half. Thankfully it is not snowing. The water in the windshield washer has turned to ice - he should have put this special compound they sell at the pumps here Soon we're at picturesque little Hattenheim.  Breakfast – a delicious breakfast awaits us when we reach. The problem with Christmas time is that I always put on a lot of weight in Germany because of the cold weather and the warm love.  While we eat, the snow begins to fall. Light perfect snowflakes come floating down and I try my best to capture them on my camera. The snowflakes are typical copybook snowflakes. Perfect snowflakey flakes. Beautiful patterns straight out of a little kaleidoscope.    After breakfast we laze around and watch some old movie on TV. Good cheer all around.   Say, would you like to go see my Harley? Would I? YES. Well, as you know it is only registered from March to October so we cannot go for a ride. That's fine, maybe we can start her up and stuff.    After this, it is decided that even though it has just started snowing, we will be brave enough to go sight-seeing. The plan? First to go up to the Niederwalddenkmal - the war memorial which has the statue of Germania herself and overlook the beautiful Rhine river. Later we could either go and check out Rüdesheim or whatever else we like. Of course I am the only real tourist here and I nod enthusiastically. Let's do it!!   And we're off. God it's cold. Last edited by Sam Kapasi : 11th February 2010 at 09:45. |
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11th February 2010, 10:55
| #94 |
| Senior - BHPian  | The last 2 photos in your last post bring back some good ol' memories. Waiting for more Sam. Did you get the Rudeshiem coin ? |
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11th February 2010, 12:32
| #95 |
| Distinguished - BHPian | YetiBlog® - Saturday 26th December 2009 We're at the area or the Neiderwalddenkmal. This memorial was built at the end of the Franco-Prussian war and shows the personification of the country and it's people - she is called Germania. We are high up in the forest area overlooking the stunning Rhine and the vineyards that surround it. Clearly this is not the best time of the year to be seeing this. I can only imagine how beautiful it must be here in the summer. I'd like to return in the sunshine.                   We can either go now to Ruedesheim for a stroll or perhaps go for Kaffee und Kuchen (Coffee and Cake) to a really old castle about 10kms from here across the Rhein. I'm ok with either, for me both will be new. Well the others have not been to the castle. So let's go there. Yes and then if we have time we can come back to Ruedesheim. And so we walk back to our car.  By now the snow has settled in strong. This winter is not being merciful to the people of Germany. And certainly not being merciful to a man raised in a tropical country with a bad cold, badly blocked ears and a stuffy nose. But how beautiful everything is...   And so we drive, us following the BMW 1er on snowy, wet roads.  To my left and right are vineyards -- bare and frozen over, complaining to each other about how wonderful they looked in the summer not many months ago.  Last edited by Sam Kapasi : 11th February 2010 at 12:44. |
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11th February 2010, 13:48
| #96 |
| Senior - BHPian | Sam, Some pictures of Germania and surroundings in summer.       |
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11th February 2010, 14:43
| #97 |
| Distinguished - BHPian | YetiBlog® - Sunday 27th December 2009 Gautam - how many years ago were your photos taken? So funny to see everything differently. Before the age of the digital camera. Anyways, let us use your photo as a reference. ----------------------------------------- We drive down the hill past the Niederwald area, past Ruedesheim and upto the ferry signal. We must take a ferry to cross the Rhine, get on the other side and continue driving.     On the Ferry, we park our cars and enjoy the fresh (icy-cold did someone say?) air and start goofing around a little bit.     Somewhere in all the laughing and running around, I seem to have lost one glove. This upsets me a bit. I had these nice 3M gloves that TheOne® had given me on my first winter in Germany and now one is lost. We're back on solid ground. It should be a 10 minute drive at the very most, but it appears our guide has miscalculated. 10kms away turns into almost an hour. The castle is about 40 kms away and strangely, we have crossed at least 3 more beautiful castles on the way here. But finally, we're there. A beautiful medieval castle that has now been converted into a hotel. Here we will stop for Coffee, Cake and Conversation.                It gets past sunset by the time we leave the castle. Too late to see Ruedesheim, but I am sure there will be more occasions. I have had a lovely day, truly enjoyable. It will be a long dark cold drive home and by the time we reach home, we're tired and sleepy. It doesn't even feel like I've been here 7 whole days already. My nose has started to open up a little, but both my ears are in deep trouble. It now occurs to me that I will have to fly home in a few days and to fly with 2 blocked ears is very dangerous for my hearing. It worries me a little. Last edited by Sam Kapasi : 11th February 2010 at 14:46. |
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12th February 2010, 17:59
| #98 |
| Distinguished - BHPian | YetiBlog® - Monday 28th December 2009 No plan. My nose is running sometimes and jammed sometimes. Funny how my cold has stayed all these days with me. I stay in bed and read for while. What are we going to do today? I know. I put my book down. I feel like cooking. She smiles. OK. It'll make you feel good. When I'm low I always like to cook, it lifts me up. It's funny. When I'm happy and relaxed I like to cook. When I'm upset I like to cook too. What do you feel like cooking? A nice stew. Your family would like that. And so it was that we got dressed and went out to the supermarket to buy stuff for my stew. Fresh veggies and meat, a few spices, some coconut milk, stuff to drink and chips and chocolates. We would also have a nice spielabend. A what, did I hear you say?? TheOne®'s family loves spielabend. A games evening. It could be any game, from board games to charades. Thanks to them, I too have started enjoying these relaxing evenings. Dinner at about 7 and then play games and eat and drink together till about 2am. Nice. We walk around the town center for a bit. Everything's all decked up for the season.   I get my stuff and we're home again. Play with the kids for a bit. Relaxed and happy, I get into the kitchen. A simple stew, simple and aromatic. Fresh chopped veggies, lots of water, lots of rich coconut milk, simple spices - cloves and black pepper and turkey meat. Some fantastic warm German bread to eat with it and the meal is ready for all. Well, almost all. Even though it is very slightly spicy (just slightly) - it is too much for the kids who end up eating bread and cheese. I wonder what a nincompoop both the kids must think I am. I don't speak their language, I don't cook their food, lol. TheOne®'s other sister comes with her partner and we make a wonderful evening of it all. My friend Klaus is to come see us soon at Bad Nauheim  Last edited by Sam Kapasi : 12th February 2010 at 18:01. |
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12th February 2010, 18:24
| #99 |
| Distinguished - BHPian | YetiBlog® - Tuesday, 29th December 2009 Well, at least we have a plan today. By now, both of us have given up the idea of going somewhere else for a holiday. It's too late. Any place worth going to is now booked. Looks like we're spending new year's eve in Bad Nauheim. Well, at least we're with family. It will be nice. And my friend is coming over to be with us as well. But that's not today. Today we have offered to help TheOne®'s young brother to move house. Today we will take 2 or 3 cars, go to his place, help him dismantle the furniture and pack it up into cartons. Stuff the cars and drive back and forth between the two houses. That's the plan. Are the 2 places far apart? He looks at me. This is Bad Nauheim. Nothing is far from each other. He lives in the beautiful Rose district where everyone grows, uhm, roses. lol. Oh well, we're there, chop-chop, time to get into my shirt sleeves, get my gloves on (I now have NEW ones) and start hauling. At least it isn't... Perhaps I spoke to soon. Before one can say "Jack Robinson" the snow come flying down. Heavy snow. Extreme Moving!! yells the BIL as we haul sofas and stuff into the Pajero running up and down the driveway. It's like extreme sports only we're moving sh*t and nobody pays us he laughs. I'm panting and working hard. I'm wet with snow and still in my shirt sleeves. If I stop working for even 10 minutes I'll freeze to death.     Driving the Pajero up and down the driveway I begin to realise what 4X4 really is all about. He's got a nice place. We start moving stuff into the new house.   Just watch adds the BIL, the minute we finish working it will bloody stop snowing. Stupid weather. We're hauling cartons back and forth. It's the last one in the Pajero. We're very tired and are happy it is almost over. TheOne®'s brother reaches for the carton. Let me.. BHUAAASSSHHHHH!!!! The silence is only broken by the sound of falling snow and a voice that says Oh crap.  The carton bottom was wet. Last edited by Sam Kapasi : 12th February 2010 at 18:30. |
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12th February 2010, 18:43
| #100 | |
| BANNED Join Date: May 2009 Location: Pune
Posts: 234
Thanked: 0 Times
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 .I can still recollect my experience with Thai airways. It was a connecting flight Singapur - KL - Mumbai. Though authorities had confirmed that i need not have to bother about my luggage at KL, it will automatically get transferred to connecting KL - Mumbai flight, i was little worried. (i had every reason for that.) But when i landed in mumbai, i must say - they had done their job pretty well. Last edited by idea1979 : 12th February 2010 at 18:45. | |
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12th February 2010, 19:01
| #101 | |
| Team-BHP Support  | Quote:
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12th February 2010, 19:19
| #102 | |
| BHPian Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Chennai
Posts: 437
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Oh Absolutely. I used to get up early in the morning (I was in living in Michigan, US) when I was living in a "single family home" to clean up the sidewalk since in case some one slips and falls, they could potentially sue us. I got so fed up of shoveling snow that I bought a gasoline powered snow shovel | |
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12th February 2010, 20:01
| #103 |
| Distinguished - BHPian | YetiBlog® - Tuesday, 29th December 2009 I cannot see Avatar in Germany. Every single movie they show here is dubbed in German. No choice. Well there is ONE theatre that shows movies in English. Really? Yup, it's in Frankfurt. They show English movies, in English. Cool. They're showing 2012. Have you seen it? I have not. Let's go see it. Nobody else wants to accompany us. Looks like it's just TheOne®'s brother and I. He's going to pick me up later in the evening. We spend the rest of the day visiting TheOne®'s uncles and aunts.  Later that evening he comes over to pick me up. So what's the name of the Cinema? Turmpalast. I've never been there but I know they show movies in the original language. They have 6 or 7 screens Turmpalast. The Tower Palace. Sounds exciting. The Turmpalast is not a palace. It does not even have a tower. Alarm bells are ringing in my head. Zwei bitte. The guy from the counter gives us the tickets. There's no seat numbers on the tickets, I say. Free-Seating, replies the ticket guy. Alarm bells are ringing. It's a bit small isn't it? I say, looking at the 8 feet high ceiling in the lobby. I am sure the cinema hall is nice and big says the young boy. I take my cinema seriously. If I go to the cinema to watch a movie, I like a good cinema, good projection, good screen, good sound. Good seats. You wait says the chinese lady at the entrance. But it's time! Movie late. You wait. She sounds like she's rapping. Alarm bells are ringing. 15 minutes later we try to get in. Hall 6 not open, she says. She glares at us. Morons. No she doesn't say it, but I can feel it in her voice. 15 minutes later. So when will hall 6 open? It opened 10 minutes ago. You go fast. Damn. We rush inside the cinema hall. ...... 40 seats facing a 10 foot screen. It stinks in here. Somebody is swigging a drink on the row ahead. 35 seats are taken. The carpet is damp and torn. The print is scratched. Like watching a 60s rerun. The sound SUCKS. It sounds like it's coming only from the left side of the screen. Oh wait it IS coming only from the left side of the screen. How stupid. 2012 is a movie about sound and picture. Take away both of those and what have you got? A stinky cinema hall with torn seats. I was so p*ssed I could scream, lol. And so ladies and gentlemen, the worst experience of any cinema I've ever had, came from Germany. Do not go to the Turmpalast to see a movie. |
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12th February 2010, 21:54
| #104 | |
| BHPian  Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Bangalore
Posts: 116
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| Quote:
 Last edited by aah78 : 24th February 2010 at 00:40. Reason: Quote fixed. | |
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12th February 2010, 22:33
| #105 |
| Team-BHP Support Join Date: May 2004 Location: Bangalore
Posts: 20,347
Thanked: 16,778 Times
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