Waterfall Paradise

The last days we did a lot of hiking to waterfalls. Guinea has plenty of them, quite surprising if you think of an African country.

And they are wonderful, no restrictions for tourists. Yesterday we went swimming under a 50 m high waterfall, the chutes de Kambadaga.

Chutes de Kambadaga, Guinea

Today we will celebrate New Year in a discothek in Mamou, but currently there is no electricity except if you have your own generator, so things are unclear.

At least our BMW runs well at the moment.

We will leave Mamou for and visit the beaches and Conakry again on the remaining days of the vacation.

Fouta Djalon

We are in the Fouta Djalon currently, a mountain range in the west of Guinea. Yesterday we hiked from Mali-Ville near the Senegalese boarder. Few electricity and running water, so we are quite smelly currently. ;)

Our bought car broke down again, so we are waiting for successfull repair. It takes as long as it takes.

I wish all of you a happy New Year.

Some lessons from Guinea

We are still in Conakry, but things are sorting out slowly. We bought an old BMW yesterday, but it broke down on our first small trip to the beach. It is fixed currently.

This is the car...

...and this the money we had to pay in exchange of it.

One thing is sure. We'll leave town, but predictions are difficult to make, on which day.

Lesson 1: Things take as long as they take.
Lesson 2: Cars are under continuous repair.
Lesson 3: French keyboards suck!!!

One last word before electricity leaves us again. We do not have connections with our mobile phones in the capital, so we probably won't have it anywhere in the country.

See you, Jolle

Arrived in Guinea

We arrived safely yesterday evening in Guinea. It's hot and humid here, arount 30 degree celsius. Found an internet cafe in the main street of the capital, the avenue de la republique.

We'll try to buy a car and leave the town tomorrow to travel the country. Let's see. Life is good. :)

Moving on...

Hi folks,

Some time has passed. I haven't forgot you, but a lot of things happened the last weeks, so some things definitely missed my attention.

Well, the good news first. I moved from my old nice flat in the middle of Mannheim to a new and bigger one at the outskirts of Mannheim. To be exact, my stuff moved already, Astrid and me will follow soon. We have a nice 100m² apartment with a small garden, a perfect set for bbq, so you have to visit us as soon as everything is set in the beginning of 2008.

So the last weeks I was busy organizing the transfer, last weekend my flat was painted and cleaned, so it`s now ready for returing at the end of this week. Thanks again to all of you who helped me moving!!!!

The other good news is, that I will head for West Africa (Guinea) on 19th Dec for a three weeks trip with friends. That's the other reason that needed some attention the last weeks (lots of injections etc.).

The last news also involves a sad one, namely that I won`t see anyone of you during the christmas and New Years break. So I hope for the next year when things have settled a bit and I find time for some visits and hopefully also hosting of some guests. You're all welcome in our new home. There's plenty of space and food for you!

For those of you interested in my job as well. Currently and for the coming months I am in Basel (Switzerland) during the weeks.

See you soon, Jolle!
PS: For those of you who haven`t seen me in a while, my hair grew slightly longer. ;)

Autumn holidays

Last week Astrid and me did a short family trip. We visited my granny in Thuringia, then made short visit to Berlin before staying some days home in Schwerin. Sadly the weather wasn't that good for holidays and we had a cold. Anyway, it was nice to see the family again. Here are some impressions:


Astrid and Lea in front of the Reichstag, the German parliament building


The Brandenburg Gate


The Park Inn Hotel and the Berlin tv tower. The hotel building is the one where I will perform my house run next year thanks to a nice birthday present :)


Astrid and my sister with myself in front of the Schwerin Castle after a city guiding tour by my sister.


Astrid and Lea enjoying the Baltic Sea beach. And me as well ;)

A hut in the mountains

We just came back from a nice short trip to Austria. Toni celebrated his 30th birthday in the mountains, so we also used the trip for a small hike and a visit to the Bodensee on Sunday.


The party hut in the mountains...


...with this wonderful view!



A small hike next day, Lea is checking the path :)

It's one of these special moments...

...when you come home and meet a person at the front door, which is a neighbour you have never seen, but who moved in at the same time like you (1 year ago), plays the same instrument than you (Cello) and has the same name like you (Johannes). Unbelievable!

Some impressions from San Francisco

Here are some impressions from the San Francisco trip.


The famous cable cars


View down Lombard street towards Telegraph Hill (Poit tower)




Pier 39 with its famous sea lions


A photo from the 39th floor bar in the Marriott towers. You can see the bar and me reflected in the window and the panorama at the same time :)


Another shot of the panorama


Photo art: How to make a Jolle-"J" with a camera and a streetlamp


View from Twin Peaks towards the city center and the bay


University of San Francisco (USF) main building


Starting the bike tour at the Golden Gate brigde on Saturday


Later follwing old coast trails and roads




Muir beach, a small community north of San Francisco


Muir woods, home of the giant trees, the Coastal Redwoods, which are higher but not so massive like the Sequoias.


St. Pauli girl, the famous German beer (in America) ;)


A so called box car, the new trend in America. Will reach Europe as well, I assume


Typical American post boxes

San Francisco

We had some time to stroll around the city after the conference days, so I saw quite a bit of this town again. More than 10 years have passed since I've been here the last time. Not much changed at a first glance, it is still really wonderful.

Today I venture out on a bike to Sausalito. Let's see if I can make it to the redwoods. It's quite a bit far and steep to go there.

For the moment you'll just get a digital postcard.

A big hug...

...for all of you that made the way to Mannheim last Saturday to celebrate my 30th birthday with with me. I was really glad to see you. Thanks for the wonderful presents. I'm looking forward to read the fine books, eat from real dishes, go houserunning and rafting...



Sunday I sealed the apartment after a minimal clean-up and went out on a Odenwald tour with Astrid, before taking the Monday early morning flight to San Francisco.

I'll take care of the rest once I am back next Monday.

So again, thanks for coming and see you soon, Jolle!

America

Having just had a gigantic burger at Cheese Cake Factory, I am sitting in the hotel room packing my suitcase for tomorrows departure. Meanwhile they advertise a company, where you can buy life-insurances in a drive-through. There's nothing more to say. See you in 2 days!

Yes, it's been a long time already :)

Hickory Run State Park

Today I ventured out to see the surroundings of Philly and started in the Hickory Run State Park, a small but nice natural parc with lots of mountains, gorges, rivers, waterfalls...

It also hosts a rare boulder field which looks really incredible. I was lucky to spot a rainbow next to the lonesome tree that made his way through meters of stones to the surface.



I did some short hikes along the Shades of Death trail and the Stone trail and went to the Hawk Falls. It was hot as hell, over 30° with lots of small but heavy rainshowers, which made it even worse because of the high humidity. But nontheless it was a nice day out in nature with lots of lasting images in my mind.

Philly Tours

I am currently in Philadelphia for 2 weeks work before returning just in time for my birthday party next Saturday. Here you'll find a visual overview of what I am doing here in Philadelphia after work. :)

I hope to see many of you next week in Mannheim.

A summer weekend in North Hesse

I visited Astrid and her family in North Hesse last weekend. We went to an open air Shakespeare play at a forest stage and rowing on the Edersee near Kassel. It was nice. Thanks!

European jumping championship in Mannheim

Astrid made a small break from her long summer holiday and we went to the final of the European jumping championships in Mannheim on Sunday. Gold and Bronze medal were captured by Germans, the resulting athmosphere at the track was great, as you can imagine.

On the photo you can see the Swiss Christina Liebherr, who was at first place before the finals and who had some bad luck in the last round.

Big big burger

That's how an American dinner looks like, if you go to the Cheese Cake Factory in King of Prussia near Philadelphia. Hmmmm! :)

Rain & Sun

The weekend was fun. The trike tour on Saturday in the Alps was still rainy, but on Sunday the summer came back shortly for our sailing & pedalo trip on the Bodensee. Alltogether it's been a nice weekend with friends. See some photos at Marc's site.

Weekend at the Bodensee

This weekend I will be at the Bodensee with friends amidst the flood warnings and rainy weather. We planned to ride trikes on saturday and in sailing on sunday. I'm sure that we will have fun anyway.

I decided to quit

As already feared, training was'nt sufficient this year. The external conditions were perfect, but my fight started already at km 40 on the bike, so I decided to quit after 150 km. My muscles were sore and running a marathon in that shape was out of question. So now I will enjoy the rest of the day at the beach cheering the better trained. :) Jolle


Starting in Schwerin at Saturday


SThe bike park with the Baltic Sea in the background


Sunset at the campsite


A friend finishing

Ostseeman Triathlon

Tomorrow I'll drive to Gluecksburg, now the fourth year in a row. I again try to finish the Ostseeman, an Ironman distance triathlon. It would be my third one here, the first year I just ran the marathon in a relay team.



Again I trained less than needed and much less than the last years. I could not motivate myself enough, as I had planned. There are simply too much other things in life than triathlon training. So I guess, it will be the last long distance triathlon for now. Next year I'll concentrate more on ultraruns and smaller triathlons.

So, wish me luck for Sunday, this time I will definitely need it!

My summer holiday...

10 days vacation. Does not sound much. Is not much. Moreover the weather is not really like my dream of a summer holiday. Anyway, I try to make the best out of it.

It started on Saturday with a big open air live event in front of the Mannheim castle. Juli and Pink performed on the stage and it was really good.

Sunday I went to Zennern to visit Astrid at home and spend some days discovering the surrounding area. We went to Fritzlar, the next bigger town (see photo) and visited the documenta (modern art exposition) in Kassel.



Wednesday I continued to Schwerin and spent some time with my family.

Perfect conditions

Ladenburg was a great race. Luckily the rain didn't show up and it wasn't so hot like in 2005. Heiko and me jumped off the boat and started in the last row to avoid the trouble at the front. During the 1.8 km I lost sight of him and I left the Neckar after approx. 27 min, on position 300 of 350 starters. It took some time to get out of the neoprene, it is a bit too small for me, I guess.

The bike part was fantastic, I had a lot of fun overtaking around 100 competitors on the way up the two hills. When I arrived back in Ladenburg for last disciplin, the running, I was already on apporx. position 200. I found my rhythm pretty fast, it was a lot better than some weeks ago in Maxdorf, so I could speed up a little and overtake some more 50 people.

At the end I finished in 2:43 h, 5 minutes slower than in 2005. But I am totally happy with the result, regarding the small amount of training compared to that year.

The Ladenburg triathlon festival

Time has come again. Next weekend the Ladenburg olympic triathlon will again be hold near Mannheim. Having to skip it last year, I will compete again this year. Swimming in the Neckar, cycling a some mountains in the Odenwald forest and running a nice loop within the Ladenburg park, this is a really nice small triatlon.

And the starter crowd will again be magnificent, e.g. Ironman world champion Norman Stadler and Ironman European champion Timo Bracht will again fight a duel.

Tropical Mannheim

Puuh, after weeks of cold and rainy weather the summer finally hit. But this time a bit too much, if you ask me. 36°C we had yesterday in Mannheim.

So I had to reduce my planned triathlon training, it was simply too hot. I didn't do much more than a 13 km run and walk and a small bike tour in the Odenwald. That was enough to reach my current limit, puuh!

Holiday in Mannheim

My parents have been in Mannheim for a good week, visiting the city and surroundings. We have been to castle Auerbach and did a bike trip along the river Neckar to Bad Wimpfen, a very nice old city on top of a rock overlooking the Neckar valley. A very nice scenery.


The castle Auerbach


Me and my recumbent bike


Bad Wimpfen


Me and my parents on top of a city tower


Good old cobblestone


A friendly tree in Bad Wimpfen