Oktoberfest...

... its difficult to describe the atmosphere, so here is a video which should bring back memories to those who have experienced it.

(To view the video you need to go to the blog...) 

Going local to the extreme...Oktoberfest

We were so lucky with the weather - 24 degrees and blue skies - very unusual for early October. We met up with an old friend of Al's - Terri - who was in Munich visiting friends. 

It doesn't get more German than this!

Or maybe it does.... very scary, but when Al got his lederhosen, I thought why not... I was still feeling a bit self conscious when this photo was taken...

But then I realised that EVERYONE dresses up for the Oktoberfest

With Terri and her friends - Jane, Carl and Matthew

Going local...cont...

... continuing on our mission to see Germany, we took advantage of the public holiday on Wednesday and headed down to Bavaria.  Neuschwantein castle has been on our 'to do' list for a while and it didn't disappoint - well worth the visit but you have to time it well to avoid the peak tourist season.

The perfect way to get around.

We found this stunning lake around 5km north of Fussen.

A classic case of one-upmanship.... Mad King Ludwig II wasn't

 satisfied with is parents castle....

...so he built his own higher up the hill (looking down on his parents home).  This castle was the inspiration for the Disney castle so there were loads of tourists.  Not so bad in autumn but apparently 6000 per day in summer visit the castle.

Cycling back from the castles to the hotel via the most beautiful crystal clear lakes. 

Getting some practice before the Oktoberfest.  Neither Al and I are big beer drinkers to Munich should be interesting...

Frankfurt in the distance...

We are still amazed by our view... this was taken about a week ago at 7am ish.  The first sky scraper on the left is the new ECB (still under contruction).  We are due to move in sometime in 2014.

Man of leisure....

... so as most of you know by now, Google bought out Motorola and with all acquisitions, there are some tough decisions to be made.  It was no surprise to us that they applied the 'last in first out' formula so Al is now a man of leisure. One would think that this is not such brilliant news for the guys involved but from the scene that greeted me as I came home on Friday afternoon, everyone seems to be taking the news quite comfortably ...

Greetings from Paris

... sorry, I couldn't resist this one...I`m in Paris attending a course at the OECD and this is the venue ... pretty impressive hey?  Al is joining me tomorrow and then we will be spending the weekend here.  Paris pretty much closes down in August so it is pretty quiet (except for the tourist spots) which makes a change from the usual hectic pace. 

Love to you all
Saskia

  

Back by popular demand...

... or more accurately because of the guilty complex we are rapidly developing as Gabi, Warren, EJ & RJ are all blogging away and we have been receiving some very not so subtle comments....

1) OK, here we go.... since coming back from Spain, things have been rather quiet.  We have had a shocking summer this year so on the 1st fairly decent day we cycled into 'Mainhatten' for the afternoon.

 2) On the 2nd decent day, Sprague popped in on his way back to the USA.  A chilled out braai on Friday evening and then breakfast on the terrace before taking him back to the airport.

3) A while ago we decided that we had to make an effort to see more of Germany because we were always going away and not really taking advantage of what is on our doorstep.  This weekend we were planning to go to Neuschwanstein but the weather wasnt looking too promising so at the last minute we decided to put the bikes in the car and head to Bamburg which is only 2 1/2 hours away. Its a lovely medieval town - beautifully preserved as it wasnt bombed in the war.  Well worth the trip.

Oki doki, thats all from us for now...