Sunday afternoon in the park and café

Sebastian found a curious friend from the next table, and I also chipped in with petting...

This was a better view of the café with a small band in the background

This is the park - notice the little white spots - those are "Knallerbsen" or "exploding peas - you throw them on the ground and they pop!

Here's me in front of a rusty old fence with a longing look....

Here is a colourful museum at the bus stop, so something to look at while you wait for the bus.



Today was a dry and pleasant fall day, so Sebastian and I spent the afternoon at a café - das Glashaus - no translation needed - and then went for a walk. We petted some dogs at the next table, and had hot chocolate, café au lait, and Mozart torte - a nice chocolatey cake. Then we walked for over an hour. It was cloudy and cool, but that is fall here. This week's Wednesday is a holiday - day of German unity - so I will see what we do then. When is your next holiday?

Happy October to you all....

Happy Birthday Sebastian! Hoch soll er leben!

Sebastian, on the right, with some of his co-workers at the bar. Notice the little red glasses - that is the Schnaps his family made.

Sebastian and his sister Jessica assess the situation behind the bar.

Hard at work.... and drawing good Urkrostitzer beer from just north of Leipzig.

Ja, hoch soll er leben, dreimal hoch! Yesterday - Friday - evening was Sebastian's birthday party. Since he has worked in one of the university sponsored bars as a bartender for several years, he threw the party there. It was a good time to visit with his family, his friends from the university, and enjoy some good German beer from the keg, along with some Schnaps made by Sebastian's family with Vodka and a local berry. Unfortunately, I had to leave early, since I had to get up early today to teach (on Saturday morning!), but Sebastian told me the last guests left at 3:15 am., so he was home a little after 4 am. And today it is gray, cold, and raining, so we are simply hanging low to wait for some sun tomorrow. I hope your weekend is going well too....

More memories of Weimar in August and looking forward to Fall...

How romantic... sitting and waiting for our meal, this carriage trotted by....

We wanted to have cake and coffee here, but all seats were taken!

So we settled for this café in Weimar, where we had cake and coffee and watched a horse-drawn carriage go by...

A double rainbow seen looking to the east from my east balcony just after a storm.

Fall has arrived, so I bid farewell to summer with these moments from August. Before the end of September the leaves are already changing to so many colors; I'll send pictures before too long.

But here I have more moments in Weimar: you have cake and coffee with us and sit at the lunch table as we are surprised by a carriage prancing by.

What does Fall mean to you? In Texas it means you finally get relief from the heat. In central Europe it means you get ready for real winter and lots of darkness for 4-5 months. And here in central Germany it also means the most colorful time of the year as the landscape dazzles you with orange, red, yellow, purple, brown, green, blue, and more colors of the dying/hibernating countryside.

But for me Fall is always the season that reminds me that death belongs to life and the cyle of life, and that death can also be stoundingly beautiful as it is a part of life and also matchlessly sad and full of grief.

PC or Mac?

Dear Readers,

Thanks you for your loyalty. Now I need your studied opinion. I am considering buying a new laptop, as my current device is 4.5 years old. Some of you are avid Mac fans, perhaps others prefer PCs. Which should I buy, and why? Tell me your glory and sweat and blood stories, please....lol. Don't just say: "buy a...." and period.
I'll post more new pics soon. So don't go away too long....

your Euromark in Leipzig.

Weimar and the End of August

The Rathaus (City Hall) of Weimar at town square - reserved majesty almost French in character.

The Russian Orthodox Church in the town cemetary - the Slavic influence here.

A garden in the city - an oasis of peace and tranquility

Sebastian peacefully searching out his lunch selection....

And I'm havin a conversation with some bathers at the well....



Hello all, we've been to Weimar, perhaps the most literary and cultural small town of Germany, and home to the Weimaraner - the breed of dog my family owned for 8 years. Goethe, Schiller, Wieland, and several other literary notables spent time here, and, as these pictures betray, this is a wonderful tourist attraction. It was warm on the day we visitied, so we could dine outdoors and enjoy the peace and baroque splendour of central Germany.

And, on another note, if you visit Germany, please notice that you must look long and hard to find a trash can - you cannot throw anything away! Unless, of course, you simply toss your refuse on the ground - not advisable, as this will garner you harsh words from others passing by. Where you buy things is where you find a trash can for refuse. That's it! So once you have something in your hand, it is not easy to get rid of it! The lesson - don't grab something unless you mean business!

In this sense I wish you a refuse-free weekend.

your Euromark

Where have all the days gone?

Welcome September! Autumn is about to fall on us, and we – in the northern hemisphere – will fall back into another time, as the sun will rise earlier after the time change. Where has time gone? I apologize for not updating this e-diary called a blog sooner. Summer seemed not to exist for me, I was so busy working. What was I doing? Translations, more classes, and now another new job teaching in a private business school every Wednesday and on some Saturday mornings. And the pay is good, so this also helps. I will teach the Saturday morning group how to make small talk in English. Not a bad way to spend Saturday morning: teaching people to talk about “nothing” and walking away with some nice money for it!

A week ago Saturday Sebastian and I went to Weimar for a day trip. We took the train on a weekend ticket deal, which meant per person we paid only 13 Euros for the round trip. Weimar, as you may know or remember, is a cultural center for Germany. The famous Anna Amalia Library is there. It burned down in 2004, sending numerous pricelss books up in smoke, but it still houses some essential original books, documents, and monographs of German literature. Weimar is also the namesake for the Weimar Republic, the German nation as it was known between the two world wars, before the national socialists under Hitler took power. And Weimar is also associated with Buchenwald, a concentration camp from WWII just a few kilometers from Weimar. And finally, the Weimaraner is a hunting dog which was carefully breeded in 19th century Weimar – a fabulous dog. I know, for my family had a Weimaraner. What else is there to say? The whole city has been restored, so you can visit the garden house in which Goethe wrote some of his Faust. Schiller also has a house in Weimar. What a strange mixture – a train station that brought many Jews and other undesireables for the Nazis to their death was our arrival point for a leisurely day of tourism. Our last stop before heading back to the train station was a splendid little café in Biedermeier style, where I had one of the best cups of coffee and almond apricot torte I have had in a long time. And the bill for this was 3 Euros 50 – less than 4 Dollars – not bad. Unfortunately, the rechargeable batteries for my digital camera need just that, so I cannot transfer my pictures of Weimar into my computer so you could see them. I hope to rectify that soon, though.
In Berlin at the New National Gallery there is a special exhibition of impressionist paintings from NY’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, so I hope to do the 1 hour train ride up there to see it before it leaves in October.

Oh, I have seen a number of films this summer. Bettina, I did see Shortbus – a good film with a comforting message that actually had nothing to do with sex, in my opinion. I saw Battle in Heaven – a Mexican film that was in my opinion a terrible film. Also Adam’s Apples, a funny Danish film about a crazy pastor in the Danish countryside, and a hilarious British film, the name of which I only know in the German: Sterben für Anfänger. And I saw the Simpsons film last week.
So, how has your summer been?