September 2006

No matter how many plastic surgeries they had, they'll never exactly look like me, no matter how much they're trying. Uhm ... maybe that's their secret to success.

However, because I'm a non-conformist, and because everyone else has done it before, I'm also posting this. I tried some other pictures of me as well with different results, because I don't think I really look much alike Barbra Streisand. I'm sure that I'm more a Doris Day. Uhm ... well ... you know ...


Do you want to try it with your own picture? Click here.

Are you ready to join me for the Cannstatter Wasen in Stuttgart? It's considered to be the second largest beer festival, only behind the Munich Oktoberfest. And it's even the biggest fair if you define size by the number of carousels, rollercoasters and carney booths (is that offensive?!). It took place for the first time in 1818. Please put on your Lederhosen, and let's go.


First of all there are these huge beer tents, where you can get "Hähnchen" (roasted chicken), "Schweinshaxen" (pork hock), and of course beer, beer, beer and beer.
Since I live in a big wine-growing area, there are also some tents where wine is the regular drink.


Here are some "Hähnchen" and "Schweinshaxen".


In the tent you don't drink your beer silently. There's "Volksmusik" (terrible German folk music), and many people are dancing on the tables. If you look closely, you can see them dance on the table. And by the way, this picture was taken in the early afternoon. You should see it at night ...


If you don't like chicken or pork, you can also have "Kartoffelpuffer" (potato fritter with apple sauce), "Dampfnudeln" (yeast dumpling filled with prunes and served with lots of powdered sugar, ground poppy seeds and melted butter), "Maultaschen" (Swabian ravioli), or "Steckerlfisch" (smoked fish that gets smoked on a stick).


Of course there are many nontypical dishes like pizza, hamburger, corn-on-the-cob. One thing, that isn't typical for this area, but has been a part of the fair for a very long time is the French village.


In the French village you can get many French delicacies, like snails, tarte flambee, and much more. And of course wine. Unfortunately nobody joined me for a French kiss.

The blue thing in the next picture is the "Fruchtsäule", a wooden column decorated with fruit, 26 meters high and weighing 3.5 tons. Every few years, a new fruit column with a new design is established. It's a kind of Thanksgiving symbol.


These hearts made of gingerbread are also very typical. They have things like "I love you" written on them, and boys usually give them to their girlfriends as a proof of their love. However, right before I came out, I once have been forced to buy one of those for a friend, she insisted. If she knew ...


Every year there's this amazing silhouette artist who cuts pictures of people out of black paper. And he's really unbelievably fast, accurate and detailed.

And of course there are many carousels, rollercoaster and booths.


This year there's this Psycho again. It's one of the hounted houses on the fair. My friend Udo and I were in there some years ago, and we both were very scared and afraid, so we held each other very close. Suddenly we realized that everybody outside could see us through one of the windows. It was a very funny situation. Oh dear, we were such pansies.

Here's another device where you can mix the chicken and the beer in your stomach.

And another one.


If you haven't thrown up yet, you may want to consider this bungee-thingy where two people sit in this small sphere that is attached to two rubber bands, and gets shot in the air. I like those things, unfortunately it's very expensive. Alas, it's the only thing I haven't tried on this fair so far.

Some dinosaurs. As if they were still interesting ...

And a rollercoaster with a Bavarian cashier booth. Soooo cheesy. Well, it fits to the rest.

And the world's largest portable Ferris wheel.

Something where you get your face washed (if it's greasy after you had some chicken), after the ride was over they all were wet to the bones. And to dry your hair again, you also get some loops. I suppose more than you wanted.

Another "scary" hounted house.

Of course there's much more, but I see that you're already yawning. Ok, let's go home ...


Thanks for joining me.

Today I got a call from my Dad. He told me that my Grandaunt Erika passed away this weekend.

She was the sister of my Granny. Now all old relatives on my father's side are dead. I can't believe Grandaunt Erika is dead. I havn't seen her often, since she was living in Hamburg which is at the other end of Germany, but she still was very lively for her age. I saw her maybe once or twice a year.

It's her on the picture to the left. It was taken in 2002 when I visited her in Hamburg. She was about 80 years old in 2002. Her husband, my granduncle, died about 20 years ago when I was eleven. He was the one who taught me my first magic tricks. I mean the good tricks. Not the ones every child could do. He knew some excellent tricks, and usually he explained them to me as a reward for something. For example he explained me one after I learned how to ride a bike, after I learned swimming, after ... you get the idea.

Here's another picture of my 2002 visit in Hamburg. On the right it's me, then her. And the man on the left side with the white shirt is my dad by the way. He and my aunt (his sister) are going to drive up to Hamburg for the funeral. And I don't know if I should join them or not.

Anyway, he's gonna call me as soon as he knows the details, and I'll decide then.

This will be the last post about my city and/or my hikes for I while, I promise. But today my roomie has joined for the walk. He saw the pictures I had taken yesterday, and he felt like walking with me today. He got infected, he already told me to join me again tomorrow. So today it wasn't my regular walk again, we went to the Bismarck Tower and a little bit further to a park that we've usually been visiting by bus.

Yesterday when I arrived at the Bismarck Tower I suddenly had a feeling like being in San Francisco. It reminded me very much. But I didn't tell anybody about that feeling. However, Jimmi wrote in a comment that it reminds him little bit of San Francisco. That made two of us. Funnily enough, when Sven arrived up there, he said, "well, this is a little bit like San Francisco." So, no doubt about that anymore. This is him and me in front of the tower. This was taken by autotimer. It actually consists of two pictures put together (bottom half and top half).


Then we jumped into our time machine and went back some years. We arrived at a nostalgic fair. It was very crowded and many children were running around. Strangely enough, there's no child on this picture.


Here's another part of the park. Please mind the horse, it's the icon of my city.


Well, here's the icon of Stuttgart. But you already knew that. This emblem is familiar to you, it's also on the hood of your Porsche, because Porsche is from Stuttgart. What? You don't have a Porsche? Well, ok, your Mercedes is from Stuttgart as well.


Ok, back to the park. Each year they have hundrets of different dalia. I like them very much, they're colorful and just nice. My roomie and I enjoy them every year. It's like a jungle of flowers.


Those are really high. I'm 6'0", but some are even higher.


In this park there's also this funny tower. It looks like a double helix.

I remember September 11, 2001 very well. I was at school, my BF was visiting our friends from New York. I wanted to go to New York as well, but I had to do some exams. I was studying with a fellow student when my cell phone rang. Timo had his wisdom teeth pulled that day and took a nap in front of the TV. He saw the news about a plane that crashed into the World Trade Center. He immediately called me and asked where my BF exactly stayed and told me about the sad news.

I went down into the computer lab and tried to see it on my own on cnn.com or any page like that. All servers were too busy, the complete internet just broke down that day. So I went home, I was completely shocked and felt like paralized. At home I just sat in front of my TV, and I wasn't even able to move or do anything. It was a pretty bad day. I've never felt more defenseless than that day. I was a little bit reliefed when I heard that my BF and my friends are ok. But I felt so sorry for all the poor people that were trapped in the building. Just minutes after the attacks in the USA there were many bomb threads in Germany as well. The main station in my city was evacuated like many other public places in Germany.

Thank God my Mom drove to Stuttgart and picked me up. I stayed some days with her, of course I didn't do the exams, I was too distracted by the whole thing. And after some days I was able to deal with all those impressions. But still, every time I think about it, deep sadness takes control.

I'm not American, but I was very proud of the Americans after the attacks. All the fire fighters, police men and volunteers. They all did a great job, and America can really be proud of them. Let's all hope that something like that won't happen ever again.

If tomorrow all the things were gone I’d worked for all my life,
And I had to start again with just my children and my wife.
I’d thank my lucky stars to be living here today,
‘Cause the flag still stands for freedom and they can’t take that away.

Credits: The picture was taken by John Makely from Baltimore Sun, the quote is a part of "God bless the USA" by Lee Greenwood.

I have such longing.
But I feel sure, I wasn't made for sorrow.
My time is coming, for happiness.
If not today, tomorrow.

Waiting so long, I've learned to cope.
Learned I must never give up hope.

Happiness waits for me
somewhere out there in the world,
and I dream of it with every breath I take.

Taken from the song "Happiness", sung by the absolutly fabulous and lovely Nina Hagen.

Recently on gimme5:

Warning, I'm going a "little bit" into detail in this post, bacause many of my friends were asking me these things in real life before, so maybe this is interesting for you as well. If you get bored, don't read the fine print.

1. Which beverage do you drink daily?
Tap water. Sometimes pure apple or orange juice.
A human body needs about 3 quart of water every day to flush out poison. Pure juices contain healthy minerals, vitamins and much more.

2. Tell us a meal you consider to be healthy.
Appetizer: Sliced tomatos with mozzarella cheese and basil, and some olives with garlic
Tomatos contain much Lycopene, which can prevent cancer of the pancreas, colon, bile, lung, skin and prostate, and it keeps the skin young. Tomatos also contain Tyrosine which makes you happy. Mozzarella cheese is a source of Proteine and Calcium, which is good for the immune system and many other vital bodily functions. Basil prevents the cells from damage caused by stress, it releases tension and is good for your memory. Olives contain much healthy mono-unsaturated fat to prevent heart attacks. Garlic goes well with olives, and it contains Adenosine to prevent heart attacks, strokes and thrombosis, and a special sulfur compound prevents prostate cancer.

Entree: Fried salmon with pasta and broccoli, one glass of red wine
Salmon contains a high amount of Omega-3 fatty acids, which are an important construction material for body cells, and they fight arteriosclerosis. Pasta is a side dish that doesn't raise your blood sugar too much (compared to potatos, fries, bread or rice). Broccoli has much Vitamin C, orange Carotenoids, green chlorophyll and Glucosinolates, which all prevent cancer, it also has much chromium which supports the insulin in lowering the blood sugar level. Red wine contains flavonoids that clean veins; Phenols prevent dangerous deposits in veins and keep the blood sugar level low; Salicylic acids reduce the risk of strokes; Resveratrol prevents cancer and cures inflammation; the Alcohol increases metabolism.

Dessert: Cottage cheese with fresh berries, little honey and coconut
Cottage cheese is a good source of proteine without fat. Proteine is important for the muscles and much more. Fresh berries are anti-aging-drugs, they have many vitamins and minerals, which are healthy, no doubt about that. Additionally, they contain Myricetin which boosts fat burning. Honey doesn't raise the blood sugar level too much, and contains vitamins, minerals and can fight germs. Coconut contains much Selenium which is one of the most important elements against cancer and a boost for the immune defence. While people in Northern America usually get enough Selenium in their food, people in Europe suffer under deficiency.

3. Tell us a meal you consider to be unhealthy.
Appetizer: Garlic bread
White bread contains much starch, which is actually just a kind of sugar. It raises the level of blood sugar very fast, which leads to a too high insulin level. While the blood contains much insulin, body cells take the sugar and the fat out of the blood and place it on your hips. I.e. the bread and the butter take the highway to your hips and will rest there. Additionally, because there was too much insulin, the blood suger level will decrease too much wich makes you nervous and hungry again.

Entree: Double cheese pizza, a glass of beer
Same problem here, too much insulin caused by the crust of the pizza, and too much fat from the cheese goes directly to your hips. Beer is the worst aliment in raising the blood sugar level, it just helps the crust of the pizza. If it's a frozen pizza (convenience food), it also may contain trans fats which can cause heart attacks, strokes, arteriosclerosis and much more.

Dessert: Apple crisp and ice cream
Same principle again, too much sugar, too much insulin, too much fat.

4. What do you like better, tee or coffee?
Actually I like both, but I trink way more tee.
Both contain caffeine which increases metabolism. They contain tanning agents that may prevent cancer. However, too much caffeine dehydrates and flushes out minerals.

5. What's your secret recipe to cure a hangover?
I've never had a real hangover (yes, I'm so boring). But I can give you my secret recipe how I prevent a hangover.
Before you're having a party fill up your minerals. Alcohol destroys Magnesium and dehydrates, so you have to drink much water and take a Magnesium pill. Since Zinc is a part of alcohol dehydrogenase, take that too, it helps the liver to break down alcohols which could otherwise be toxic. And take Nux Vomica, it is a homeopathic drug against hangover. Take it before the party starts, and again before you go to bed. This should do the trick.