Sunday, February 24, 2013

Glückliches Neues Jahr! Bonne Année! Happy New Year!

Just a few days after Christmas, Herm and I made our way to Gatwick Airport for a flight out to Munich.

This was my second time visiting the city and I have to say that I am a fan. Last time I was in Munich was in 2010 with Bronwyn, whom I was living with at the time in Logroño, Spain.



Bronwyn and I visiting Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau Royal Castles outside the city in 2010.





We arrived and went straight to our AirBnb apartment. It was perfect accommodation, good location and cheap. Upon our arrival we were welcomed by marzipan on the pillows and various informative brochures on the city. 









We spent our time touring all over the city. Doing the usual touristy stuff, eating some great food and tasting some amazing German beer.





Augustiner Weißbier
















Lowengarten, an amazing German restaurant close to our apartment.








For New Years, our friend Max, a native Bavarian, invited us to a New Year's party with friends of his in the city.

The party was a blast. As midnight neared we went outside to a nearby park (where the annual Oktoberfest celebrations take place). The tradition in Munich is to set off fireworks and so Max bought Herm and I a ton of them to set off in the park. It was a bit sketchy as there were groups of people every 10 feet setting off fireworks... despite the apparent danger, it was an awesome sight!














On New Year's Day we picked up our rental car and set out on the autobahn.





Not knowing what specific car we had reserved we were pretty psyched to find out it was a Mini Cooper. 







For those who don't know, the autobahn is the German motorway that has virtually no speed limit... 


We drove west, crossing into France, to Strasbourg. We stayed in an apart-hotel for 3 nights making various day trips. 




On the first day we checked out Strasbourg for the morning and in the afternoon we drove down to the town of Colmar





Herm and I in Strasbourg.















Eating tarte flambee, typical of Alsace,
and vin chaud in Colmar.





On our way back to Strasbourg we had a craving for fondue (yes, neither French nor German....) and so we found some in Obernai, France. 







The next day we drove to Freiburg, where Herm's grandparents are from.





Herm eating some Curry Wurst in front of Freiburg's Cathedral. 









Stopping in St. Peter, a small town Herm remembered visiting as a kid. 



We also made the time to drive around the Black Forest and the Canadian in me was quite excited to see some snow. 










Wurstsalat, a typical dish of southern Germany. Unfortunately I would not recommend it... 













We drove back to Munich the day before our flight back to London. On our way we stopped in Karlsruhe to visit our friend Andy who had been living in Madrid not too long ago. He showed us around the city and his university campus.












Since we had an insanely early flight we decided to stay close to the airport. We ended up going all out on a luxury hotel right at the airport. 

The television even greeted me... :-)





Herm and I in the Black Forest
(Photo courtesy of Herm's skills)


Happy (Belated) New Years!

(Throughout our trip we sent a few postcards to our good friend Reca, take a look at a blog post of hers about receiving them! Quite funny...)

A British Christmas in 2012

On December 20th I was off to have a British Christmas! An unusual holiday away from the family I attempted to bring some of the Kennell family traditions to London.

Herm making 3D snowflakes! 

Not actually an annual tradition but something I had made my students do in school...naturally Hermann suffered the same fate. 




Stringing popcorn!









Homemade egg nog!


It being a staple at Christmas and virtually impossible to find in London, we made it ourselves, a first for both of us. 






Trip to Brighton!

Ok so maybe not a Christmas tradition... but a nice weekend trip over the holiday. 









Not the best weather...but of course very British. 



























Christmas Tree decorating!





And the final product, presents and all.









Herm made Calzones for Christmas dinner!










Christmas baking!

Mince meat pie
Christmas cookies















Happy (Belated) Holidays!

Last bits of 2012...

After a brief (ok...rather long) hiatus I return with some updates! Much has happened over the past few months including some travel, celebrations, work and a bunch of Ultimate.

Starting where I left off...the week after returning from CFC I was off to London to visit Herm for the first time.



Herm's new home in Finsbury Park! 
(Top floor)



Herm and I at Tower Bridge














I returned to Madrid on the Monday evening and Herm wasn't far behind as he arrived in Madrid only a day later for an upcoming tournament.

Thanks to a long weekend the Quijotes were able to organise a day tournament for local teams, Ultimate Frisbee in Madrid.


Post-game salutation

It's no high-5 in Spain...kisses are customary!

(Photo credits to fellow Dulcinea, Vanessa)



That weekend was Chiripones, a  beach hat tournament in Huelva organised by Fribillanas, the Andalusian team based in Sevilla.



Q+D at Chiripones
(Photo credit to Frisbillanas)











It was a great weekend spent on the beach. The tournament had a tribal theme and so my team was called the Zulus (pictured right).

(Photo cred to Zulu teammate, Alvaro)




I was honoured to be given the team's "talisman" for being a team player (pictured left).




(Photo cred to Ruthie)













Post-tournament, Herm returned to London and the following weekend the Quijotes celebrated the autumn finals of our in-house league.








Unfortunately my team lost both semis and finals...but was a great time and I was proud to win top offensive and defensive player!

(Liga photo credit to Vanessa)

In the evening I was host to the team's Christmas party.

I prepared for the party with some decorations (left), food was contributed by everyone (below),...















...and a good time (not pictured) was had by all! 


My apartment on the other hand took a bit of a hit and the neighbours weren't too happy. 



Max helping me clean and enjoying some leftover jamon...






The week after I finished work for the holiday season!