Back in the 'Burg

Last Saturday, A flew and F drove to Washington DC, and from there it was back to the 'Burg. Our house had a few minor surprises in store (a toilet leaking loads of water, a yard full of leaves and a non-functioning heating system), but the biggest surprise was when I arrived at my office today.

I was in fact dreading coming to the department, and I am not looking forward to next semester. But look at this!

 

My students rock!

Grenoble

I left Bonn a little bit earlier than planned, and added a last-minute visit to Grenoble to my itinerary. Look at the view from my hotel room! That is so much better than what I had in Bonn!

I am actually working hard here. Hopefully we will finish up our project, because I am not planning to do any more research after this semester. Doing only research is exhausting!

Counting down

Only 22 more nights, and I will be seeing the husband again! How nice of the shops to stock this count-down-until-reunited calendar for me, innit?

And Now: A Message from Our Dentist

Halloween

Yoga in the Alps

Here is a photo shoot from last summer, when we were hiking in Ötztal (and a good reason to use the yoga label on our blog again)!

At almost 3000 meters above sea level, Ellen decided that hiking alone was not enough exercise for her.

I don't know the names of yoga poses, but I do think that the previous one should be called "stubbed out cigarette butt".

Anke decided to join in as well.

Last Throes of Fall

My Commute

My commute is gorges!

It will be even prettier soon, with the leaves turning. After that, I have to find a new way to go to work, because this gorge will be closed.

That Seventies Feel

I bought a new old lens yesterday...



... and have been playing around with it today.



It is at the same time sharp and unsharp...



... which gives these photos that special 70s feel.

The last photo is a photo of my little house in Ithaca this morning.

I think this lens is great fun. Expect more weird pics in the future.

Rheinsteig -- Etappe 2+2.5

After returning from Corsica last Saturday, I wasted no time resting but headed right back to the Rheinsteig on Sunday.

After (unnecessarily) repeating part of the trail I had used to descend to the train last time, I finally hit on the Rheinsteig trail. Hurrah! Such a pretty sight, this blue little sign!

Things were starting to look up when I arrived at a Gasthaus which served Federweisser. I spent a pleasant hour drinking new wine, eating Sauerkrautsuppe and reading a book.

But! I had at least 20 km to go, so off I went again, taking a short detour to climb to Ruine Löwenburg.

Things started going downhill from then. Literally. Or do I mean figuratively?

I seem to not be very good at paying attention to little blue signs, and I have the sense of direction of a headless chicken. So I ended up walking in circles TWICE, and if that is not bad enough, I then vigorously hiked in the wrong direction for an hour and a half, so that by 5:30pm, I found myself 8 km from the nearest public transportation (there are buses, trains and trams literally everywhere around here, so this is really quite a feat!)

Fortunately, being a lonesome woman, it is never hard to get a lift, so I was actually at the Unkel train station by 6pm. Still, the whole experience has decreased my appetite for Rheinsteiging, so I am declaring an official moratorium on my endeavors until I find someone with a better sense of direction to walk with me.