Summer in the city

We have two weeks of vacation and decided to stay in and around Mannheim.

The first days have already been exiting. Sunday I participated at the Heidelbergman, an Olympic distance triathlon. Monday we did a short trip to the Hunsrück to visit a friend who is breeding Haflinger horses. He had invited us on a coach ride and bbq.







In the next days I plan to do some running and horse riding, we have another tournament on Friday and there is plenty of things to do in the garden and home, if I get bored of relaxing.

Moreover I will practice a bit with my camera. Here are some impressions from our garden...







...and the fields around our horse stable in Straßenheim:







Sunset over Mannheim:

A new home

Last Tuesday Lea celebrated it´s 3rd birthday. And she became a proud owner of a new home. :)

Horses & Horses

Friday was public holiday in Germany. Nontheless it was very early (for my taste) when we drove to the new stables in Straßenheim to load Ray for a dressage tournament in Heidelberg.



No money this time - ;) - but still we were very satisfied with the overall performance.



After the tournament we went directly back to Straßenheim and took the chance to get some new photos of Andor. He is learning and evolving much to our joy.



And he seems to like the new surroundings in the stable with many other Haflinger comrades and lots of fresh hay and straw.



The other 3 girls that have moved with us to the new stables were also riding at the same time so we assembled the parade for a photo.

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!

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!

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.

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

Four summer days spent outdoors...

May first is a national holiday in Germany, so I made it a long weekend. The current summer weather with around 25°C during they day is simply too tempting.

Saturday I went to Alsbach to receive my "new used" race bike which I bought from protrainingtours.de. It's a nice black one and I immediately tried it out on a 70 km mountain tour back to Mannheim.

Sunday some collegues and friends participated in a Neckar valley cycling tour from Eberbach to Heidelberg. Not too hard and not too easy, a good mixture of exercise and rest.

Monday I spent time at home, planting some summer flowers on my balcony among other things. It was a funny trip buying flowers with my bike in a garden discount market out of town. :)



In some hours I will join a hiking tour in the Palantine woods with some friends to finalize this short break from work. It won't be the last for May, luckily.

Mannheim - Germany's hockey record champion

They did it again, the Mannheim Adler (Eagles) won their 6th championship over Nuremberg on 17th April. And we have been in the stadium experiencing this magic moment. Great.


The 3rd match in the play-off finals - and the last one


Finally - they won...


...and got the trophy again




Later that night at Mannheim's central place - the water tower