Quick Stop in Atlanta

The fact, that I had a 7 hour delay in Atlanta on my way back
to Germany made it possible to meet some old friends and go
forlunch. Phil, a colleague from Atlanta and his wife Amy
picked meup at the Atlanta Airport after my arrival from
Austin. We drove to the well known Willamson Bros. BBQ
Restaurant, that we visited quite often in 2008 during the
project that time.
Also Les and Phil's son Matthew with girlfriend came and we
had a very nice and delicious lunch. I had a full rack of
Baby Back Ribs...hmmm,
Now I am waiting at the Lounge in Terminal D for my
next flight.
Free snacks and drinks help to kill the hours.
Soon I will be back in the arms of my family :-)

Christmas Tree at the Capitol in Austin

I took the chance to photograph the Christmas Tree at the Capitol in Austin

Christmas Parade and lots of lights in Austin

It was our last weekend together in Austin. Dagmar and Josefine have left Austin now and they are heading back home to the boys (into snowy and cold Germany). But we enjoyed this week and weekend with sunny, beautiful weather.

So we went to Georgetown, a bit north of Austin to visit Russ and Rachel and see the Christmas Parade there in the historic town of Georgetown.
After finding a parking spot we walked down to the center and waited for the parade. Was pretty strange for us. Since it is icy cold and snowy in germany right now and you always have that back in mind when you think about Christmas we watched a great Parade with 27C (80F) and lots of sun. It was hot. Well, why not. So we saw all kinds of stuff. Santa Claus, Grinch, Hot Rods, Miss Georgetown, lots of kids and and and

After the Parade we enjoyed the Christmas market with Russ and Rachel. Well, when there is no snow, they make snow. So there was a snow place where kids could make snow balls and walk in the melting ice/snow. There was also a snow hill, where you could slide down on a tube. Crazy :-)
Back on Russ' Farm we enjoyed the sun, watched the new chicken, the horse and the old cars that are collected there. Josefine definitely has fun with old cars...

Back in Austin we went downtown to see the Xmas lightning there. We did not know that there was also Night at the Museum and so on, so streets were crowded. Was fun. Live music from the Clubs on 6th Street. Xmas tree at the Capitol and much more. Last thing we did, was stopping at the famous 37th Street in Austin next to Guadaloupe Street. That street has a more than 20 year tradition to light the houses all differently with thousands of lamps. Was nice to see that crazy lightshow. So enjoy some pictures

37th Street
Airbrush on a Truck
Lights on Congress Ave
The Austin Capitol
Josefine and Rachel making bubbles
Josefine and I in the Aston Martin DBS
My two Bond Girls :-)
Josefine running away from the old Studebaker
Russ feeding the horse
25 year old Sassie
display of small houses in a window
when there is no snow, you make some for sledding
Make a snowball
Parade
Santa was there of course
Some nice old cars

Sweet Pontiac GTO
a Pony
yeah, they needed shade from the hot sun
The Grinch was there
Miss Gerogetown 2010
Parade and Music
The beinning of the Parade

A beautiful weekend in Houston and Galveston

We used the long weekend to go to Houston and check out a big carshow and visit Linde in Galveston. Weather has changed since Thursday. From almost 30C (upper 80s) down to 10-20C (50-70F) and even frost at night. So we had to pack our jackets and explore Houston. Not even shure if it was due to the long weekend, but downtown Houston was veeerrryy quiet. Almost empty. Around was a lot of traffic, but inside it was like a ghosttown.
We walked from our currently Hotel (currently under renovation, but still great) to the carshow. It was the O'Reilly Autorama show. Tons of custom cars, Hot Rods, restorated cars... Was a great thing to see those cars. Mustangs, Cobras, Corvettes...

See more pictures here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/bigmek71/Houston_OReillyAutorama?authkey=Gv1sRgCMeU4Ji3mIuJqwE&feat=directlink

On saturday we drove down to Galveston at the golf of mexico. Weather was warmer than the day before. Warm enough to walk on the beach with Linde and even go into the water with the feet :-)

The three of us
With Linde on the beach

A hardcore surfer girl

Houston


Debby Ryan from the Disney TV Series ZACK and CODY giving autographs
The BATMOBILE
A nice 1930 Ford Model A Roadster

Fried Thanksgiving Turkey

We were in the great situation that a colleague, Brad, invited us to participate his 13th Thanksgiving Dinner with fried Turkeys. It was a really great experience. I have had a regular Thanksgiving turkey several years ago, but having a fried turkey was something new. A great crowd of Brads friends, family and colleagues gave us as some newbies a warm welcome and we had a great day. We were, needless to say, stuffed.

Again on 6th Street

It was the last night for some of my colleagues from Japan and Germany, so we went to 6th Street. Dagmar and Josefine dropped us off and we went to some Live Music Bars. Blue Moon, Dizzy Rooster. Also Coyote Ugly was on the list. Since my japanese colleague heard from his colleague it is good. Well it is good, sometimes. But I guess due to Thanks giving all the nice waitresses were on vacation and the more ugly Coyote's were present. So we took off very fast. The Live Music was good at the Blue Moon. Dizzy Rooster was ok, but not pretty crowded. Music was more Rock. Was a nice night on 6th. Now we will enjoy a Thanks Giving Turkey at a colleagues place near Round Rock.