It’s a very easy recipe: a beautiful area (Altmühltal) + great company (my brother Jürgen) + a cute little convertible = a daytrip filled with fun, great talks, memories, connections! Very, VERY special!!!
We saw interesting buildings, for example a church built of willows. It was planted in 2009 and is growing since. We were lucky to watch a wedding ceremony there, just in time before the next rain shower!
We also saw a few interesting animals, some a few days old, others a few million years old:
Enjoying this beautiful day and exchanging stories from the time way back when we were little, which icecream we preferred, which games we played, etc. It’s always so much fun to spend time with Jürgen! And of course we had a stop at a cute little beergarden (the 13th apostle).
And then there was soccer and the German dream of another European championship. But it ended in a disappointing loss at the quarterfinals, which was – of course – questionable. What should have been called a penalty kick was not acknowledged, what should have been a win ended up with a loss, just a minute before overtime ended. Darn! What a disappointment!!! We were so close and the German summer dream ended prematurely…
Ok, the Spanish team wasn’t bad, they were mostly lucky. Lucky and skillful, but I just liked the Germans play, not giving up until the very end, with leg cramps and everything. But it is what it is – the German are going home….. well, they are already home because Germany is the host country. So the Germans are just staying where they are already!
Germany in July: rubber boots would be a good idea. Or at least a rainproof jacket, insulated, an umbrella and don’t forget a scarf! Outdoor venues are closed, it is freezing f🥶ing cold! Yikes. I’m wearing underwear, socks, long pants, T-Shirt, Sweatshirt, layers and layers, and I’m still cold. I have an extra wool blanket on my bed and I’m cold, despite wearing a nightshirt!
Paso Robles, California on the other hand is dealing with a heat wave right now. 47 degrees Celsius (=116 F), that’s when the air flimmers and everything comes to a standstill. PG&E (Pacific Gas & Electric) are switching off the power, air conditions won’t work, your barbecue steaks in the freezer will defrost and there won’t be any ice cubes for your drinks. Americans like to drink everything with ice cubes. I mean, they have a little taste of something in their glasses filled with ice cubes and when they’re finished, half the glass of ice cubes will be thrown in the sink. Hard to understand when you grow up in Europe…
When I moved to the US 26 year ago, I always thought that everything will be the same, except the language, and since I learned English at school, I thought I’m prepared for the challenge. Little did I know! The language I learned turned out to be the medieval cousin of the American language spoken in the US. Not only do Americans have a chewing gum in their mouth when they speak vs English people, who have a hot potato in their mouth, they also use different words and you have to be careful to stick with the proper vocabulary. So don’t buy rubbers for your children’s first day of school equipment when they are just in 3rd or 4th grade. That’s more appropriate for 10th grade, when they really need a rubber / eraser / condom 😳. And calling a doctors office to ask for a date with a gynecologist isn’t such a fun idea either, because a date is something very different than an appointment, one less professional and more romantic than the other. And there are so many more examples of “sitting in the clanger” which means to “put one’s foot in one’s mouth”. But luckily I got a big portion of humor and I hope all the people around me got the same, otherwise they’d just turn around and laugh, roll their eyes, be shocked or otherwise not be my friends anymore.
In college, where I teach fashion design, it is a bit challenging in its own way. Officially there are lots of possibilities to make mistakes and the list is long on what you can say or ask. For example I cannot ask a student where he/she/them is from. That is a micro-aggression, indicating that – because they look different or speak with an accent – I assume that they are not as good as their American classmates. I look different myself and my German accent is recognized as soon as I open my mouth. So I kinda sit in the same boat, but I’m not allowed to ask my students where they’re from?!? And in Fashion Design I’m supposed to say chest, high point, rear and bottocks instead of breast and butt. Sometimes I catch my students with this frozen expression of a shocked deer in the headlights because I say the name of a body part in an inappropriate way and I think: c’mon people, get rid of that prudish political correctness and start having fun again! 😳😳😳
Just another thunderstorm rolling in…Neuburg, where I spent a nice day with my sister Petra…Munich with everything your heart desires, family,the opera house,and Princess Sophie cake, rhubarb cake and delicious teaMy niece Saskia and her huge portion of tiramisu. I swear, I only tried a tiny bite! Or was it half of it? I can’t remember and it’s not that important…
This time I chose to chop up my flight to Germany in three segments. San Luis Obispo, CA -> Phoenix, AZ -> London, UK -> Munich, DE. It is nice to get off a crowded plane, stretch your legs and walk around before taking the next part of your journey. It is nice to use a restroom that is not miniature size and has a line waiting outside, it is nice to visit some stores, watch people stress about their connection and it is nice to walk seven minutes from your arriving gate to your departure gate when you have 90 minutes between flights.
And then there is Heathrow International Airport in London. Layover: 90 minutes. Time to use a restroom or watch people = 0 minutes. Because at Heathrow, they don’t want you to pee and they are very successful with people who watch you stressing from your arriving terminal to the departing terminal. Visiting store time = 0 minutes, walking = 0. Everything has to be done running. And then you think you arrived at what you thought is terminal 5, but this is just a bus station with a mile long line of people who are all stressed catching the next bus or the second or third bus, because time is running out. And when you finally made it into a bus, you get a sightseeing tour of the Heathrow Airport, because there is no direct drive from point A to B. At Heathrow, the connection is the longest possible way from A to B. It took me 90 minutes to hurry to my connection flight, and I hate to be forced to hurry. I wanted to use the restroom, I wanted to watch people and not be the one being watched. I don’t like Heathrow. Never have, never will…..
But I made it just in time, jumped onto my third airplane and safely flew towards my final destination: Munich! And then there was this mayor storm. The airport was shut down, because a mega thunderstorm decided to give us a little hello party. The delay itself was not so much of a problem, but all the catching up the airport had to do. All those airplanes that had to circle around before landing were in a big rush to land and unload all those people, who were in a sour mood by then. Don’t ask me how the pointy elbows felt at the baggage claim. Everybody had a reason to feel more important and therefore use their elbows to make their way to the luggage. Maybe because they didn’t know that the suitcases, once on the distribution belt, will circle around again and again. It is coming back eventually. It is not falling off the edge of the flat surface of the earth if you can’t get it off the luggage belt the first time around. But people know so little sometimes!
„Viktor&Rolf is the avant-garde luxury fashion house founded in 1993 by fashion artists Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren after their graduation from the Arnhem Academy of Art and Design. Widely recognized and respected for its provocative Haute Couture and conceptual glamour, the house of Viktor&Rolf aspires to create spectacular beauty and unexpected elegance through an unconventional approach to fashion.“
Why do we wear clothing? Is it to show our religious or societal rank? Or because we need protection against the elements? Or because we want to be modest? Whatever the reason, that piece of garment has to be designed and produced, it has to follow rules of chemistry and physics. Materials like icecubes won’t work, especially in warm climates. And then there is gravity. And Viktor&Rolf, who question everything I just mentioned in this paragraph.
This long dress with its simple silhouette is made of fabric that is usually used for blue-screen technology. When the models walked down the runway, the blue-screen material was replaced by videos of thunderstorm, fireworks, nature, etc. The material of the dress was used as a screen, a canvas to go beyond and dissolves the material itself. This plays tricks with your imagination and dissolves the boundary an outfit usually has: inside the dress is the body, and the dress is the border to the outside.
Another way to break all the rules of convention are those outfits below. Fashion designers create gaps and openings in fabrics to stimulate curiosity, to enhance comfort and wearability. But an opening doesn’t have to be limited to a strapless or one-shoulder top, a backless dress or a miniskirt. Why not remove areas in-between? It’s still a long dress, but with maximal exposure.
And don’t forget the fun! Fun with fooling gravity, fun with questioning symmetry, fun with material choices that get your heart smiling and your mind remembering times when you scribbled your first fashion designs with no rule catalog weighing you down.
Viktor&Rolf also show those classics that awe everybody who has an appreciation for a garment that took 600 hours of work, haute couture at its best! This dress was worn by the Dutch princess Mabel van Oranje-Nassau‘s nuptials with Prince Friso. The white satin dress, including a 3-meter train is decorated with 248 silk bows.
Another favorite: it looks like it’s made of 1 yard of nude jersey and some fabric markers. Simple, comfortable, and why not? It takes guts to design an outfit like that, but hey, it’s Viktor&Rolf!
The last time I attended a highschool reunion was 30 years ago. It was our 10th and it was not very well attended. Mostly the nerdy kids, that had landed a great job; they bragged about “my house, my car, my boat” stuff and I couldn’t keep up with any of their lives. I was a single mom with two boys, I had a masters degree, but no house, no car and no boat either.
Then…… and now
This time, 30 years later, we really enjoyed each other’s company. We gave each other hugs, because – as one of my class mates said – now we’re brave enough to do so! Very sweet! We talked about life, fate, disappointments, new beginnings. We talked about trauma, struggles, bumps and loosing loved ones. Starting families, blending families, we enjoyed talking about kids and a few already had grandchildren! No house, no car, no boat was mentioned. Very funny: now that I have a house, a car and a boat. Technically it’s 2.5 houses and it is Ted’s boat, but that’s not the point. The point is: I enjoyed seeing my classmates again and sharing stories. It was a very hot and humid day and the white wine was plenty. This event left a warm fuzzy feeling around my heart and I felt closer to my buddies than ever before. Except Ulrike, my BFF! Knowing somebody so well at the age of 20 and still be so close at the age of 60 is special and I feel spoiled…..
Anticipation is a mixture between expectation and prediction. Expectation leans more to wishes, predictions more to the known. Maybe it is a right side vs left side of the brain thing? Who knows???
I know anticipation really well, I’m in the middle of an overdose right now: the next trip awaits me and it’s packed with predictions (high school reunion in the heart of Bavaria! Cruise through the Caribbean! Broadway shows in New York City! etc) and expectations (will I recognize those people I went to school with? Will the hurricane season be in full swing? Will my non-profit loose momentum during those 6 weeks while I’m gone?, etc) All those hard facts, the predictions have a „!“, whereas the expectations end up with a „?“. What’s more exciting?
We shall see and I’ll make sure to keep you posted. Let the journey begin…
Every time I leave Munich it is tough. It is tough to leave my family, my friends, it is tough to leave all those hugs & kisses, all those tears.
But then there is the good- bye treat at the airport, which are white sausages, pretzel and sweet mustard. It is the ultimate Bavarian comfort food that makes it a little easier to leave – kind of like a band aid with a Mickey Mouse print…
There are a few rules how to eat them though:
You cannot eat them after 12pm! The saying is: a white sausage shouldn’t hear the 12 o‘clock church bell ringing! They are made fresh every day in the morning and they have to be eaten immediately. Therefore white sausages are eaten for breakfast. And yes, traditionally you have to drink Wheat beer with them. And yes, beer for breakfast – it is Bavaria for heaven’s sake! 🍺
You should never cut the white sausage like you’d cut any other sausage: they have to be peeled, but lengthwise! Or alternatively you can grab them with your hands and suck them out of the skin…
White sausage, cut and peeled lengthwise
You have to eat sweet mustard with white sausages, any other mustard would be a crime. Similar to eating French fries with honey instead of ketchup. The combination of white sausages with a salty pretzel (which is actually called a Brezn), and sweet mustard is the ultimate taste combination made in heaven. In the Bavarian heaven. In the Italian heaven, the ultimate combination is tomatoes and basil, in the French heaven it is butter. Butter with everything and anything…
And here I am, on my way into the airport, via the Bavarian heaven
