Flood Barriers

This morning I woke up to the sound of fork-lifts driving back and forth in front of our flat. I didn't know what it was till I looked out the window later in the morning. Flood barriers are being installed in case of a flood. Will we have a flood later this week? Check out the pictures:

Flood Barriers

You'll notice that in the background (on the other side of the river), there are cruise ships that are still arriving on a daily basis in Regensburg. The weather lately hasn't been cooperating, but it's that time of the season where it's always cloudy and foggy in the mornings. I noticed that the visitors still seem to enjoy Regensburg when I go for a walk in the Altstadt.

We'll see what happens with the flood. The water level looks pretty low but it could rise at a moments notice.

Bis später!

Rosa

For Your Own Safety...Keep Out of The Castle Schleissheim!

This Sunday the weather was crappy - rain, snow, cold and miserable.
But we did our usual Sunday trip, this time to Schleissheim, just north of Munich. It's about an hour from Regensburg.

Anyway, just before entering the park grounds you can see this sign:

We advise that after Closing of the park - within the limits of the law - the game in this park is being hunted. For your own safety we ask you to adhere to the opeining hours.
Holy Moly. Are they really saying that I might get some birdshot if I don't get off the royal park grounds? Are they kidding? Or was that how they enforced opening hours a hundred years ago? I have no idea.

Anyway, after sneaking our way in without getting shot at, we made it into the castles. Yes, castles - as there are actually three - the old one, the new one, and the hunting lodge (Altes Schloss, Neues Schloss, Schloss Lustheim). The Old Castle contains changing exhibitions - religious artefacts and other stuff. The New Castle with it's large spacious halls serves as a gallery for old paintings. And the hunting lodge should only be entered a few minutes before they close - otherwise you'll wait hours as your wife marvels at all that precious china. This is not a castle for men - no torture chamber, no weapon gallery, no cannons or suits of armor. And way too much pink in the decoration. Yuck. ;-)

So, if the weather is halfway decent I can really recommend visiting this place:


Alle Photos

Cheers, Matthias

Fall in Regensburg - Smell of Burnt Sugar

Fall in Regensburg
The temperature drops, and the beergarden is empty.
Fog is rising from the Danube and stays for days.
It smells of burnt sugar and dirt.
Trucks full of sugar beets roll through town.
Ah yes. The sugar plant is running again.



Every year the same spectacle - all the farmers bring their sugar beets to the plant, where the brown dirty beets are processed into snow white sugar.
Only this year might be the last, as the plant is gonna close. Can't compete against imported sugar from Latin America and elsewhere. I'm happy we won't have to stand the smell much longer - but there's gonna be some folks without a job soon.

Fall can be depressing...

IKEA in Regensburg

We're trying to free up one bedroom and move the office into our living room.
But then, how do you hide a computer workstation from view?

I've been scanning the internet for some ideas - but I think it'll be IKEA time again. Got some general idea, and with Google's free CAD software "sketchup" I sketched my ideas out...



And for all those IKEA fans out there I found this great tale of IKEA madness:
IKEA Jones and the Dresser of Doom
.

Cheers, Matthias

Oktoberfest - 6 Million Liters Later

Two weeks ago some friends and us went to Munich to visit the infamous Oktoberfest.


Now, this was actually the first time I ever went there myself - in all the years before I never ventured there, stuck to the smaller local festivities like Dult in Regensburg or the Gäubodenfest in Straubing.

Gotta tell you, we had a blast. A lot of rides with people screaming their heads off.
But then the real entertainment starts in the Bierzelt (beer tent) - with thousands of people just getting shitfaced, dancing on the tables, and so on. We were there in the early afternoon, and we already saw a few folks had reached their limits. Can't imagine this place late at night.


If you've never been there you must watch the movie "BEERFEST". It actually is a quite truthful documentary** about Germany - and very very entertaining.
If you haven't seen it, make sure to get the DVD and a case of beer (sixpack won't be enough).

If beer doesn't interest you that much, you may want to check out all the eye candy at display. I just LOVE these bavarian dresses - gives me more insights into the bavarian culture... :-)


Anyways - here's a few more photos of Oktoberfest 2007...

Prost - Matthias


**) About as truthful as a "documentary" by Michael Moore.