Riding in the snow

It has been a white christmas and it is still snowing from time to time. I was riding out with Andor today. It was a bit exciting for him in the snow plus he also learned crossing highway bridges and passing kids with firecrackers. He was a bit excited but learned his lesson.


The picture is from a day before when I went out with Andor, Astrid and the dogs

Some opera

Today at 8:00 pm there will be a live transmission of Arte liveweb of "Moscow Cheryomuski" (Dmitri Shostakovich) from the Opera Lyon. My sister´s boyfriend Mikael Babajanyan sings the role of Fedja Drebedniov. It is sung in Russian with spoken French dialogues. It is a very funny opera, lots to laugh, so if you get a chance to see it please do so.

See the video here live or the recording:

New York City

New York City, always a place to spend time. But this time I prefered hiking in the mountains over the city and just spend one afternoon/evening in NYC.







View from New Jersey on Manhattan.



Times Square

College Football - The Scarlet Knights from Rutgers

One evening we went to a football match of the college league. The Scarlet Knights from Rutgers university were playing versus University of Florida.

A Walk in the Woods - my steps on the Appalachian Trail (New York State)

In November I have been to the US for another training. 2 weeks in Parsippany, half an hour east of New York City.

The first weekend I used to go hiking the Appalachian trail. I choose the section in the Bear Mountain and Harriman State Park, the oldest part of the trail.





The Bear Mountain bridge crossing the Hudson River

















The Lemon Squeezer

Mexico

The fourth and last country of the South America trip was Mexico.



Mexico - a country of...



...the Beatle,...



...Mariachis,...



...tequila - planted...



...and the final liquid (here served with lemon and tomatoe juice),...



...chili,...



...colorful dancers,...



...and the former historic center of South America:...



...The old city of Teotihuacan.

Colombia - Bogota

In the third country, Colombia, we did not have time to explore a lot. Two days of work in Bogota before we had to leave again.

But at least we drove an evening through the city...



Skyline of Colombia

... and went to a nice event bar.











Incredibly delicious meat

Venezuela - Los Roques

Venezuela was the second country on our business trip. After 2 days in Maraquai (2 hours west of Caracas) we had the Saturday off and chose to fly to Los Roques, a small Carribean Island which can be reached with an hour flight from Caracas.



The outskirts of Caracas, Venezuela´s capital



Interesting architecture...



...and lots of oldtimers and youngtimers.

Having arrived in Los Roques they drove us to a small neighboring island with turquoise waters and excellent snorkeling.



Los Roques - the beach at the small airstrip



Pelicans - lots of them.



"Cooling down" in the Carribean Sea.



Turquoise water.



The part of the island where we did some snorkeling.

Ecuador

I am currently on a business trip to South America to give some training in SAP. The first country is Ecuador. Luckily we arrived 2 days earlier because my suitcase got stuck in Venezuela on the way and arrived a day late. It also gave us time to get accustomed to the climate and hight of Quito, the capital of Ecuador, which is situated in a 2800 m high valley framed by the so-called Avenue de la Volcanos, a range of volcanos, the highest ones being almost 6000m. You can feel the thin air as soon as you run some meters.

We felt very welcome and the local team organized a lot to also show us something of Quito and the surroundings.

Please find some photo impressions below.



The Panamericana north of Quito



An Ecuadorian Family Car



Indians at the Cascades of Peguche



Cathedral (Basilica del Vote Nacional)in Quito's old town



The view on the virgin of Quito from a rooftop restaurant in the old town

Astrid's big show

We have been in Marbach today for this years stallion parade. Astrid was riding Amurat, a horse of Mannheims haflinger breeder Kurt Antes, in front of more than 10.000 people.



A great horse...



...and a great overall show.



We'll be there again next Saturday and Sunday for the last 2 shows.

Bike tour Rheinfelden > Mannheim (335 km)

I always wanted to cycle from the project in Rheinfelden, Switzerland home to Mannheim. It is very simple, just follow the Rhine river downstream passing such nice cities like Basel, Strassburg and Karlsruhe and many more scenic towns and villages.

I started Thursday evening after work with my old travel bike and arrived on Saturday lunch time after 335 km and 17 cycling hours.



I followed the Canal du Rhone au Rhin that runs parallel to the Rhine for a while...



...before coming to wonderful Strassburg.



The evening of the second day, the passing sun shining through the mistletoes.