Christmas Time 2010

Christmas Time started this year with my best friend's wedding. Inka and Andreas got married in a white winter wonderland in Leipzig.

The next weekend I joined a cooking course to prepare gifts out of the kitchen. We were preparing more than 10 recipes including liquors, cookies, jams and chutneys.

The weekend before Christmas I went to Micha's birthday party in Regensburg. In the evening, we all went to the romantic Christmas market in the Castle of Thurn & Taxis. We drank Glühwein and Punsch.

For nearly four weeks so far, we have been really lucky as all the country is covered in white snow and the glistening sunlight conjured the countryside in a Winterwonderland.

Heidelberg

Last Friday, I left for Mannheim where I held a cultural seminar on the weekend. The weather was nice and sunny and the landscape around the motorway had turned into Indian summer with colors ranging from green over yellow to red.

On the way I visited the old town of Heidelberg. The city is crowned by the remains of the ancient castles lying in ruins already for centuries.

Single walls remained of former multi-stored palaces, but those facades are impressive because of their size and the beautiful statues. On the facade of the Otto Heinrich Palace are the statues of mystical heroes (David, Herakles, Samson, Josua), Roman Emperors, the five virtues (strength, faith, love, hope, justice) and personifications of the seven classical planets (Saturn, Mars, Venus, Merkur, Jupiter, Sol and Luna).

On the facade of the the Friedrich Palace, an ancestor gallery is displayed including Rupertus I. - who founded the University of Heidelberg in 1386 (the oldest in Germany).

The view of Heidelberg from the garden is splendid and the sky was showing off a nice blue.

The last must-see of the castle is the big barrel: the first one was installed in the 16th century, but it was later used as firewood in the Thirty Years' War. Another two were installed and taken apart before the fourth and final was built in 1751. It has a capacity of more than 200,000 liters, but was only filled thrice as it leaked.

Breakfast in Munich

My Italian friend Arianna from Bergamo was in town, so we went for breakfast at Café am Beethovenplatz.

A lovely place with a good breakfast menu. Ready to serve all kinds of people:

Brioche & Coffee for the Italian

and

a big breakfast with sausage, cheese and tea for the German.

Leipzig

This weekend I spent in Leipzig for the AIESEC Alumni Germany assembly. Besides the official part, we went to the House of History that concentrates on the German history after 1945, especially in the Eastern part. It was very interesting and emotional to see all the objects from my childhood.

After lunch we had a guided tour through the city starting at the university that is the second oldest in Germany, founded 1409. In front of one of the buildings is the statue of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, who was a philosopher, scientist, mathematician, historian and much more in the 17th/ 18th century.

Our next stop was Saint Nicholas Church - here the freedom prayers in 1989 were held that led to the Monday demonstration and finally led with other events to the Wende (Change) in the GDR.

Further we went to the central market - there is the old city hall built in the golden ratio. In December, trumpeters play their instruments from the balcony.

The second important church in the city centre is Saint Thomas Church where Johann Sebastian Bach worked as cantor and chief musician.

In the evening after the work, we went to Auerbachs Keller - the famous place from Johann Wolfgang Goethe's famous FAUST. The German author was a student in Leipzig and spent a considerable amount of time in this bar.

Statue of Dr. Faust and the Devil

Residence Munich

A day after the Oktoberfest, we went to explore the Residence of Munich - which was the cultural and political hub of the Duchy, then the Electorate and finally the Kingdom of Bavaria.

The Royal family of Wittelsbach lived and reigned from here. Every king made adjustments and decorated the interior to his fashion. The Residence was also used to keep and display the treasury and collections.

Caves garden

The audioguide led us first to the caves garden and from there to the Antiquarium, a renaissance hall where the king used to eat in public on a podium.

Antiquarium

The Residence comprises several building, 10 court yards and more than 100 showrooms, so we took some time to pass most of them - here my best of:

Ancestor Gallery

Colored window

Corridor

Entrance to the Imperial Hall

An apple in the street - where is Snow White?

200 years Oktoberfest

The Oktoberfest is celebrating its 200th anniversary. So here are the important questions:

Why are we celebrating it?

In 1810, Prince Ludwig of Bavaria and Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen got married and celebrated the wedding with a big horse race and invited all people.

Why is the Oktoberfest starting in September?

As the Bavarian weather can get quite rough in October, including snow storms, people petitioned to have it earlier. The area around the site was used for farming, so the Oktoberfest could only start after the harvest. In 1904, it was decided to have the main Sunday of the Oktoberfest between 28 September and 4 October and this rule is still practiced.

How many breweries brew for the Oktoberfest?

There are six breweries on the Oktoberfest: Augustiner, HackerPschorr, Hofbräu, Löwenbräu, Paulaner and Spatenbräu. Only the breweries within the city limits are allowed to supply the Oktoberfest.

Why is the local name of it "Wiesn"?

Wiesn is Bavarian for meadow and the site of the Oktoberfest was named "Theresienwiese" after Princess Therese. With time the locals shortened it to Wiesn and this became also the second name of the Oktoberfest.

What to do if you cannot get into the tents?
Take a ride with one of the 80 attractions like the Ferris Wheel, Merry-Go-Rounds, Roller Coasters, Power Towers, Top Spins, Whirligig and many nostalgic ones.

What do you do if have no money to go there?

As a girl, find a guy to pay for you.

As a guy, ask around for vouchers from other Oktoberfest guests (like this bike owner is trying).

IAA 2010 - Commercial Vehicle Show

The biennial IAA - the World's biggest commercial vehicle show - took place again from 23 to 30 September. I was already there two days before the opening for the press days and could make some good pictures of the buses and trucks.

First of all, the stand of MAN with the slogan "Consistently efficient". We had a lot of vehicles on display and the stand was always bursting with people.

There were also to future truck concepts presented by IVECO and MAN. While IVECO unveiled a truck with optimized interior and exterior, MAN proposed a total different shape and trailer.

IVECO Glider

MAN Concept S

Another hot topic were Hybrids - nearly all big manufacturers had hybrid buses and trucks on display that can save up to 35% of Diesel consumption by storing braking energy.

MAN Lion's City Hybrid

Solaris Urbino 18 Hybrid

Besides Hybrids and energy efficiency, the manufacturers worked on some interior details: lighting, seating and others.

Solaris InterUrbino

Of course, there were also some exotic vehicles and some manufacturers that bet on "Sex sells".

FIAT hostess

Delhi

The last stop of my journey is again Delhi - and this time I made it finally to the sights I had always missed.

At first I took the metro, then a bus and finally walked to Qutb Minar. That's a tall pillar which was built in the 13th century by the Qutb rulers, was later restored and storeys were added.

The Minar as well as the other buildings were carved with floral decorations and Muslim words.

Around the pillar there were built mosques, a university, tombs and other buildings. Alauddin Khilji wanted to challenge the Qutb Minar by building the Alai Minar that should have been twice as high but was abandoned after the construction of the first storey.

Besides the usual squirrels I found some new inhabitants on the monuments: green parrots.

The auto-rickshaw driver who took me to the next monument tried to cheat me telling me the night price in the middle of the day. I paid him the correct price and then walked up to the Lotus Temple of the Bahá'i religion. In the inside is a big prayer hall for people from all religions.

Next I headed to the Red Fort built by the Mughal rulers at the riverside that today is several hundred meters away.

The inside contains mosques, hamams, audience halls, royal quarters and many more.

The walls are decorated with semiprecious stone inlays in the art from Agra and the Taj Mahal which is no wonder as Moghul Shah Jahan ordered the construction of both buildings.

In the late afternoon, I hired a cycle rickshaw around Chandni Chowk and saw a lot of crowded streets and crowded vehicles - no matter whether cycle rickshaw or motor cycle all carried more than the allowed passengers through the bazars and to the mosque.

Early the next morning I had to leave for the airport, then my plane left for Helsinki and later to Munich.