London calling

I have been a few times to the UK.. but only transfer at the London Heathrow Airport... Once as a kid with my parent to Dover with the Ferry. That was it so far.
But then came Karen, my good old colleague and friends soon to be married wife. She contacted me and Jacques, another colleague and friend from Paris, if we would like to come to Sittingbourne for a surprise Party for Clive.
He turns 60 next week, but for they travel to Jamaica for the wedding party etc. So she planned a surprise Party with Family and friends a few days before.
Jacques and I had a few days to think about it. After finding cheap flights from Paris and Stuttgart to London, we made it possible. Karen planned all the rest.
Clive did not know anything :-)

Jacques and I flew to London on March 14th. We took the Underground / Trains downtown and met there (I arrived at Heathrow, he at Gatwick). Jacques arrived earlier and had some time to make a Sightseeing Tour with those double Decker Buses. I had not that much time. But we met at Green Park near the Buckingham Palace and had lunch at the first ever Hard Rock Cafe. I am a big fan of those HRCs...
We walked around a bit and had at least a little sightseeing. Old Bond Street with lots of VIP stores, cars etc.
The sun came finally out, before it was cold and windy.
We walked by Buckingham Palace and went to Victoria Station.
Usually traveling to Sittingbourne/Kent takes less than 1 hour. But due to construction we had to take  also a bus as a transfer between Train Stations.
After 2 hours we arrived. Went to the Hotel, met Clives cousin Tony and took the cab to The Sun Inn.
Family and friends were already there. Jacques and I were the surprise surprise guests ... he might have expected his cousin and other friends, but not us :-)

When Clive finally arrived he did not noticed us right away. He looked around, was really surprise by the many people..He sat down at the bar, ordered a Pint and then looked around again. You should have seen his jaws dropping when he noticed Jacques and me :-)
That was fun :-)
What can I say, it was a great evening with good friends, new friends, good Music, food and Beer.
After a short trip to Clives house we went back to the Hotel at night.

Breakfast was perfect and Karen and Clive picked us up to show us the beautiful area they live in. We went to Rochester, saw the Castle and Church. I have to admit. roads there are pretty narrow, driving on the "wrong" side of the road, even as a passenger, is strange.. but KENT is beautiful...
Sweet little towns, bars, streets.
It was our first trip to London and this was also a wonderful beginning of the day.
Finally Clive and Karen dropped me off at Heathrow again and Jacques at Gatwick.
A perfect surprise weekend... We will always remember :-)

Skiing in Austria

Damn, it was already 9 years ago, that I had my last skiing trip. It was with my friends in 2006. Haven't been on the skiers since then. I started skiing pretty late with 25 years. I did ok, but I am not so crazy for skiing. It is fun.
So after 9 years I decided to come with my friends again. Direction Tyrol in Austria. Serfaus, Fiss, Ladis. Nice area. About 3 1/2 hours away from Stuttgart (well without traffic).
We had a little bed and breakfast. Very cure little house with a very lovely old lady taking care of us :-)
After we boarded my Citroen Jumpy with 6 guys heading to Austria, packed with skieers, stuff, beer we arrived on Friday in Faggen/Austria.
I had to rent my equipment, but since I did that online, I saved 15% :-)
We bought the ski passes and drove up to the Middlestation in Serfaus. 1980m
It was a breathtakinv view and a unbelievable weather. Blue skies..no clouds. Perfect. All the days before the weather was not so good. Cloudy, some snow, fog, not a beautiful weather...but we had the perfect timing.
Since I haven't been on the skiers for 9 years I started slowly on the blue labeled tracks. My friends were helping me a lot.
After a while I took the skilift many times to go up again and ski and practice.
It was a lot of fun. Not easy, but fun.
After a delicious lunch we took the track down to the town. The snow was already sluggish from the powerful sun, so I had some little trouble. But again, with the help of my friends it was all fine. They had a lot of fun anyway on the red and black tracks.
Apres Ski was of course also fun. Dinner took place at the Hotel Post in Prutz. Was ok, no huge portions unfortunately, but good food. Some last drinks were taken at the Bacchus Keller.. little stinky, smokey place. People were ok. But we are all non smokers and in Austria it is still allowed to smoke inside Bars and Restaurants. So we smelled like an ashtray.

Saturday we started early in the morning. We took a differend lift in Fiss. Different area. But since we were some of the first ones on the tracks it was perfect. I had some little issues, but I made it. Later on I practiced a lot and I improved also. Was much more fun. So after lunch I made the full way down again with much less trouble.
Apres Ski on Saturday was much better in Fiss at the Hexenalm. Fully crowded, funny music and lots of alcohol ( not for me as the driver).
But we had our fun. Dinner was at the Felsenburg Pizza Place. Very delicious Pizza and Pasta. Was a very good choice in Prutz.
Since we were all very tired we did not went to another Bar.

Sunday was our last day. Martin and I decided not to ski anymore. We enjoyed the beautiful sun on the Mountain. We wanted to hike a bit, but he had not so good shoes...so we just relaxed :-)
After the others finished skiing we packed the car and had a long trip back. Lots of traffic and 6 hours instead of 3 1/2.. That was not so nice. But overall a wonderful weekend :-)

Enjoy the pics:

Surprise..Party...BBQ

What a surpsrise...my Brother and two of my best friends bought cheap flight tickets and came from Hanover to Stuttgart. Well, I was speechless. We had lots of fun. BBQ...cars watching...