Farewell to the Oktoberfest from Berlin

We saw the opening of the Oktoberfest in Munich and I loved the way the band entered and marched around the giant tent, and then the beer started flowing....
I was so impressed to be invited to the final night of Oktoberfest celebrations at the Fischerhuette near the Schlacten See, just outside Berlin. It was such a Bavarian experience, so many Berliners wore their lederhosen and dirndl, the band played all night and everyone knew all the words, we ate superb schnitzel and just kept dancing on the benches....so impressed that no one even went near a table as they would have in Australia or England...
It was a fabulous night...can't wait for next year

a great day in London

What better way to spend a sunny autumn Sunday in London than heading off to the Tate Modern. We caught the tube to Mansion House, had a quick peek at St Paul's and the Crisis in Capitalism tent camp - there is a strong feeling of shared empathy - before walking across the now stable Millenium Bridge in full view of the old Bankside Power Station, now home to the Tate Modern. We explored two thematic combinations of their own collections on Level 5: Energy and Process, and States of Flux - both quite radical and representing stark contrasts between style, familiarity and engagement. It would have been good to have travelled up the river but the classic English customer service thwarted us - the first salesperson claimed she knew nothing about the boat tying up at the floating wharf "it is not my company" and the second decided to change shift oblivious to the realities of the timetable - so we decided to save our money and walk up along the Thames Path to South Bank, and cross the river along the Golden Jubilee Bridge towards Embankment. Then we caught the tube a few stops to Sloan Square, in time to discover the Chelsea Physic Garden before it closed. This secret garden by the river collects and protects plants from far and wide. Franki, our guide shared some of the history and the geographical diversity of its inhabitants. It was such a quiet and peaceful oasis to enjoy discovering what so many pharmaceutical plants look like...
And then we concluded the day with a brilliant thali in a very popular restaurant - Masala Zone in Earls Court Road. Although part of a chain of 8 London restaurants, it was impressive in decor, food and service. The tribal paintings reminded me of Aboriginal art, the food was an interesting twist on usual curry houses and we were treated so well, especially for London. I have not eaten Thalis very often outside of India, but it was great to sample a curry, dhal, vegetables all together with papadams and relishes...
so then it was just a cosy glass of red on the chesterfield in the Kings Head, hidden back on Hogarth Place, in a quaint neighbourhood of Earls Court... A superb day out with good friends, altho so sad to say good bye, only for now.

400 voices sing Carmina Burana at the Royal Albert Hall

Three times lucky and I was even more impressed than I have been before - this choral masterpiece in such a spectacular location as the Royal Albert Hall and with so many voices together and alone. Chilling, inspirational and just superb...The 24 poems written in German and Latin during the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries were not so obvious - but the music by Carl Orff written in 1936 was and continues to be absolutely primal and spectacular. A full orchestra will a very well developed percussion section set the scene for so many adult and schoolboy voices, complemented by impressive soloists. A spiritual evening in appreciation of life...

superb photographs appreciating animals and nature

There is something about good photography that takes my breath away and forces me to appreciate the beauty, simplicity, reality around me...I remember wanting to be a travel photographer and I also remember realising that I needed to support myself and now I can only be envious and truly appreciative of those who have managed to do this... The Natural History Musuem has an exhibition of 108 brilliant backlit photos in the Environment Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition and Exhibition. Whilst I might query whether a photo should have won or been a runner up across the varied categories, I can only enjoy the amazing talent, patience and perspectives of an international group of photographers. The verbal descriptions and technical summaries of each photo make for interesting reading and the experience cannot fail to be uplifting. This is despite the winning photo portraying my favourite birds, pelicans, being in the wrong place at the wrong time, in the recent giant oil spill. This photo is profound in meaning at so many levels. In contrast there is a virtual screen print of a brilliantly composed array of poppy flowers taken in the fields, just down the road in Wiltshire. What a great way to appreciate nature, in its many forms.

a little bit of Malaysia in Chelsea

it was a special Friday night in London - residents of 3 countries meeting up again - for the third time in 3 european countries - at a favourite Malaysian restaurant - Awana
we started early, because we could and the food was amazing, as always - great mixtures of asian tastes, artistically presented in rather a minimalist way with superb service. Ingredients were luxurious; duck, prawns, squid, pomello, green papaya, crab, scallops all complimented by spices and fresh vegetables. And the ultimate was the range of ice creams and sorbets; coconut, blood orange and star anise, tamarind, gin and tonic, lychee, lemongrass and chilli and so many more... What a wonderful way to reconnect and share the wonders of travelling in Italy by comparison with some harsh real life realities... and emphasise the importance of connecting with real friends at special times and places...

repaying The Debt?

A superb film, sitting on the edge of my seat until the disappointing ending....
A very believable trio of the Mossad recount and revisit their dastly deeds in the 1960's in a skillfully recreated East Berlin - I recognised Tempelhof Airport and several street scenes were very believable. The dynamic tension between the two men and 1 woman is well acted in the past and the present and the way the captive Nazi Dr from Birkenau interacts with them is quite challenging to watch. I guess the moral question is whether people can live with lies for the benefit of country and family for all their lives ... it is difficult to imagine my own personal reaction and I think the ending may have been a bit too English highbrow for me....

celebrating Sunday evening

the lights and colours of Gendarmenmarkt just around sunset are spectacular - and we were on our way to enjoy the Menu Classique at the wonderful french brasserie Entrecote, just down the road. The mixed green salad with walnuts was dressed beautifully. Our first 3 slices of Sirloin were covered in Fred's fantastic sauce beside a large handful of tiny streichholzkartoffeln, or matchstick french fries. After finishing this plate, we were offered some more slices of Sirloin and fries, which were all kept warm on a small tealight stove nearby... and the rest is a lovely memory... Languedoc wine, creme brulee, just relaxing after an active weekend....

the changing of the colours begins in Berlin

It was one of those cold crisp and clear weekends - we woke to perfect blue skies Saturday and Sunday - but it was still -1' at 9am on Saturday - I really wish I had gloves and a beanie as we cycled through the Tiergarten, and along the river, looking for wonderful red, yellow and brown leaves....
Sunday was warmer - you could feel the warmth of the sun - especially while having my first coffee on the Terrace at the Ampelmann restaurant - looking across the river to the Dom - then it was a fun cycle towards and along the Landwerk Canal - there are so many places to enjoy the sun by the water... and the changing leaf colours

Midnight in Paris - a little romantic nostalgia

I am always a little ambivalent about Woody Allen's movies - some are brilliant but his existential angst is sometimes a bit too much to bear, too close to reality to be entertaining...
But I usually go back to the cinema with an open mind - this time is was truly entertaining despite the cliches... it opened with a series of classical Parisian scenes in golden-brown light and in the rain at night - accompanied by light jazz - it gave everyone time to stop thinking and remember when they were last in Paris - a great personal introduction to being part of the escapism of the movie - the American voiceover was the beginning of the nightmare - a middle class capitalistic tea party loving american family on tour - typically the boyfriend/fiance did not fit in and preferred to reminisce to Paris in the 20's - we were treated to great scenes of the archetypal bohemian city with some wonderful tongue in cheek artistic characters - Gertrude Stein's open house was beautifully reproduced (it was great having seen some of the originals in July in San Fransisco MOMA) and we met so many of the great - Picasso, Hemingway, Matisse - each one echoed with audience slapstick laughter...There was an interesting flashback to Carla Bruni acting as a tour guidein the present in the Musee Rodin that was kind of fun... And the twist in the tale all happened as Gil, the escapist writer falls in love with Picasso's muse, who prefers to live in the 1890's in the belle epoch, and she walks away - leaving him to return to the present to confront the real issues he was running away from... a nice clear circle
the romantic nostalia was entertaining and expected - the cliches were also quite positively quirky and it all felt good with no real loose ends....

in the gorge of GeoParc Bletterbach

Since the end of the ice age, the river Etsch has carved out an 8km long gorge, through the different layers of sandstone and porphyry. It was a gentle path down into the gorge - and we could rock hop across the small river curling through the bottom. We passed various small waterfalls and there was a much larger one right up at the end. The walk up was via a set of twisting stairs, and from a distance the people looked like a giant centipede making its way up the rocky cliff. The views from the high meadow over to the Weisshorn at 2317 m were stunning. What a fun little morning walk - and a great warm up for visiting the very modern Kellerei Kaltern wineshop

A high traverse in the Rosengarten

Another stunning drive through the mountains towards the rose garden - a group of mountains that glow red in the sunset and were the home to dwarf king Laurin, who grew red roses. He kidnapped princess Simhilde and kept her in his rocky castle. When her brothers came to rescue her, he cast a magic spell and his castle and rose garden disappeared but he forgot about twilight!
This time we caught a very comfortable chairlft from the Frommer Alm up to the ski style Rosengarten Hut at 2339 m. We then took route 549, the Hirzlweg across the scree at the base of the mountains and past the imposing southern face of the Rotwand, round the corner to the Rotwand Hut. We sat in the sun eating our breakfast bread rolls and more apples looking up into the mountains, and appreciating the many paragliders enjoying the thermals. We returned along the lower path, via the Baita Masare Hut at 1995m, where we enjoyed a broth with fresh speckknodel. We wandered back through the forest and meadows to the carpark. We were lucky to return in time to enjoy our Veneziano aperitifs at the Castel Latemar and watch the amazing alpengluehen - a phenomenon where the mountains are illuminated by reflected pink sunlight.

A walking circuit round Langkofel in the Groedner Tal

It was an impressive drive up into the mountains as we caught glimpses of the bare and rugged white peaks of the Dolomites. We drove up to the Sellajoch Pass at 2231 m - to the base of three rugged peaks, the smaller Plattkofel and Zahnkofel on the left and the imposing Langkofel just in front of us at 3181 m high. We looked for the small cable car which would take us up to the Demetz Hut at 2681 m, just in the saddle. The views were stunning - across to the large high meadow of the Seiser Alm, dotted by small farms and fields. After a quick coffee and toilet stop we set off down the steep and stony couloir, zig zagging to the Langkofel Hut at 2253m. It was a rude awakening and a big achievement as we looked back up to where we had come from. We kept walking down the scree slope to the Ciaulonchsattel at 2113 m, where we found a few rocks to sit on under a tree. Lunch was a mixture of yesterday's fresh apples, schuttelbrot and kaminwurzen. So then the path started to flatten out a bit as we traversed the stony path under the sheer north wall of Langkofel in the shade and past a small glacier to the Tiesasattel and the Comici Hut at 2153m. There we treated ourselves to coffee and strudel and enjoyed the sunshine and great views across to the rocky monolith of Sella. It was a lovely walk through the meadows and the Stone City back to the car park. It was great to be up so high without having to slog up the steep slopes. I can't believe that only a week later, it is all covered in snow...

late summer in South Tyrol

I prefer to call it SuedTirol to reflect the Germanic culture, hidden at the foot of the Alps in northern Italy. This was not my first visit but it was planned to meet special friends, explore the Dolomites and enjoy great food and wine... all in a few short days...
We had a lucky start - to find an historic guesthouse in the small village of Montan, on the edge of the mountains just south of Bozen - the Gold Lion
It was built in the 1400s and is managed by the 4th generation of the Pichler family - Harald is a super chef, and his wife Barabara and their two daughters organised a brilliant breakfast. It was a great place for afternoon drinks on the terrace in the last of the afternoon sun and we were happy we took the halfboard option as the 4 course evening meals were locally sourced and impressive.