Far East Cynic

Pumpkin Fest

In Ludwigsburg, they are running a Pumpkin Fest. In German, the word for Pumpkin is Kurbis(with an umlaut). It’s held in the garden of the palace in Ludwigsburg. Probably most amazing-besides the Pumpkin Wine, Soup, and Pasta-and beer-is the Pumpkin Figures. See for your self: And Elvis, had to stop by: And

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Match Withdrawal

I watched the USA get into the knockout round by the skin of its teeth. Losing a match to Germany that Germany controlled pretty much from the start. Living here in Germany, it was kind of like being a Red Sox fan with seats on the first base line at

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Greetings from Berlin.

When you are depressed, what is the cure? Road Trip! Currently in Berlin, seeing the sights and admiring the construction ongoing in the “East”. This is a city undergoing loads of change. Since it was off limits to me back in the Cold War era-its nice to see it now.

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Dresden ( and a bit of Poland)

A couple of weekends ago we went to Dresden. I found the trip remarkable for a couple of reasons. 1) I never imagined in my youth, that I would ever be in what was once “East” Germany, and 2) I was surprised at how charming and well developed the city

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Super Soaker

Yesterday we drove down through Austria into Italy and into Vicenza. We are staying here while we visit Venice for a couple of days. There is just one problem ( well two actually). Today it rained all damn day. Not just a sprinkle, but the kind of steady, get on

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Wahlzeit

In English, election time-which was the headline of a special edition of Das Bild newspaper yesterday -which was delivered free to our house. All indicators show that Merkel is on cruise control to a third term as the Kanzlerin ( Chancellor). However because one of her coalition partners lost badly-the

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Triberg

A couple of weeks back the S.O. and I drove to the Black Forest and vistied Germany's highest waterfall in Triberg. Its a beautiful-if somewhat too touristy place. There are a variety of hiking trails that take you up the side of the falls-short and long. Problem is, on a

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And the election kicks into full swing.

I am seeing more and more posters on the roads these days-from more than just the usual suspects: Of course our friends, the Pirate Party are still out in force:   It translates to: "Imagine you were asked. For more participation and particulars of the citizens in political decisions" And the

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Election season is here!

It's August and Germany is having parliamentary elections this year. The election to the 18th German Bundestag will be held on 22 September 2013. As a result the campaign posters started cropping up on the lamp posts this past week. Angela Merkel, so called "Queen of Europe" is up for

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A rare sunny day

Two weeks ago the sun actually saw fit to make an appearance here. The S.O. and I decided to take advantage of it and go walking through the woods behind our house and to the nearby town of Waldenbuch. Who, unbeknown to us, was having the festival celebrating their 650th

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