Family Blog

The starting point for today is again the parket place at Rifugio Forni. The first goal on our tour is the Rifugio Pizzino. After a break we continue to the Passo di Zebru nord (3000m or 9800ft).

On the way back we pass again the Rifugio Forni but decide to continue on a slightly different path.

back to: Thursday | next day: Saturday

We go by car to the Refugio Forni, which is the starting point for our tour today. The first stop is a wonderful lake in 2800m or 9100 ft (Lago della Manzina).

On the way forward to the Monta Confinale we had problem to find a way up the the Bivacco del Piero - the first group found a way, the 2nd group gave up and went back to the lake to wait on the other group.

back to: Wednesday | next day: Friday

Today we took the same cable car as yesterday, but took the tour to the Monte Sobretta, a mountain of a height of 3200m (10,500 ft). We were a group of 17 people and the break on top of the mountain was long enought to get a sunburn.

back to: Tuesday | next day: Thursday

On the 2nd day (Thursday) we took the cable car to the top station Sombretta (2751m). The tour for today is planned for 2 1/2 hours and not stressful but there are some passages with a steep downhill.

At about 1:00 PM we reach the hut at the top station and had a break. After lunch most of the group go back to Santa Catarina by cable car, some went downhill.

back to: Monday | next day: Wednesday

In the last week of August we hike together with friends of the Vitruvia in the Italian Alps. We were over 30 people from 8 to eighties, divided in 2 till 3 groups for the different hiking tours.

The first day we took the small tour around Santa Catarina. On the way up to the ristorante "Paradiso" a group of 20 downhill bikers crossed our way. And these were not the only biker we saw at this day (and week).

On the way back to the valley we saw also some donkeys which is not unusual for this area. It was a nice first tour for the first day of the week.

next day: Tuesday

On our vacation in the Algarve (Portugal) we visited also Cape Saint Vincent, the most south western part of Europe, also known as the end of the world. You can find there impressive cliffs, a lighthouse and the last bratwurst stand before America.

“New Year’s Day: Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual.”
(Mark Twain)

It's true, Christmas can feel like a lot of work, particularly for mothers. But when you look back on all the Christmases in your life, you'll find you've created family traditions and lasting memories. Those memories, good and bad, are really what help to keep a family together over the long haul.

(Caroline Kennedy)

Stage Seven

Three years ago we started the Black Forest Trail in Pforzheim with stage 1 till 3. This week we continue the "Westweg" with stage 7 and started our hike at Wilhemshöhe, near Schonach. The weather was a little bit misty, but dry. And the whole trail we meet only one pair of hikers. We pass several upland moors and after 34 km we reach our goal at Thurner. We stay over night in an old farm which was run by an 80-year-old and very nice woman.

Stage Eight

Next day the weather was sunny - till Titisee. We took a break at the lake and watched the tourists from different parts of the world. When we continued our hike you could see the first clouds over the mountains. Half an hour later it was raining cats and dogs. We stopped at a cafe at the camping place and waited for the end of the rain. At Bärental there is a railway station and we decided to go back to Freiburg to our son - just before it started raining again.

Stage Nine

Next day the weather forecast promised sun till the late afternoon. So we decided to go back to Bärental to start the next stage. We pass the Feldberg (the highest mountain of the Black Forest) and climb on top of the Herzogenhorn (1415m). The trip today was an up and down (9400m up, 9300 down) through the forest. Althoug the sky was getting dark we continued the trail because we had no chance to call Manuel (no net). On a higher place where we had reception we call him but we had till 4 km to walk to reach the next road. At Weißenbachsattel near Todtmoos we waited on him with a Black Forest cake at a restaurant.

Yesterday Philip was one of the students of the SimTech course who got his Bachelor's degree.

Yesterday we get post from Poland. Sylwia, who was a host pupil some years ago, sent us a selfmade egg and easter chicken. Thank you, Sylwia and happy Easter to Poland and the rest of the world!

Yesterday was Long Night of the Museums in Stuttgart. One of the highlights were the Porsche Museum and the Daimler Museum. But there were also locations opened where you cannot get in normally. One of such museums was the one at Alcatel Lucent, where I work 20 years ago (not at the museum, but at some machines you could see there). You see i.a. a PBX from the beginning of the 20th century in action (ok, this machine was devoloped before my time at Alcatel Lucent) and an old phone booth with coin slots which remembered me at my youth.

At the harbour of Stuttgart you could take a boat tour but there were so many people and you have to wait about 30 minutes. So we decided to take one of the buses labeled with "Wine Tour" and to visit an old wine press and a wine cellar in Untertürkheim, which was a bunker in former times.

To go back home we used an old tram to get to the train station. All in all it was a great night which was too short.

Last week we returned from one week vacation on Malta. Malta is the smallest country of the EU and a very historic island. Although it has only 400,000 inhabitants it has many churches - one for each day, as our neighbour told us. And some of them are really old.

In Rabat we were in an underground chapel of the 4th century. And there were also graves in the Catacombs of St Agatha's. In other cities (e.g. in Mellieħa) there were catacombs which were used as shelter in the 2nd World War.

We also visited Popeye Village where 1980 the Walt Disney movie "Popeye" was shot. The village was built only for the movie and is now a little attraction - if you are a child.

There are only a few beaches with sands on Malta. Most of the coast are rocks and beautiful cliffs where you can walk (or dive if you like). And you can reach nearly each part of the island by bus.

Unusually for us was the left-hand traffic (Malta was a part of the British Empire till 1964). Each time I want to cross the road we look to the wrong side. And sometimes we started to enter the bus on the wrong side.

“Youth is when you are allowed to stay up late on New Year's Eve. Middle age is when you are forced to.”
(Bill Vaughn)