The previous post was a bit of escapism, telling you how I travel around between Stuttgart, Ulm, and Oberkochen, in order to escape the scarse supply of entertainment in town, and the dullness of not being online at home. Now, as to the latter, this has been remedied since about one month ago, which is now enabling me to post more regularly ... or so I wish. The former isn't actually so bad asit may have sounded in the revious post. I just needed to adjust a little more and find some hobbies I can pursue on my own.
I would like to prove that I have found more than one such occupation. In principle I have been a lover of photography (myself taking the photo, that is) for a long time. Recently I awarded myself for (re-)joining the work force with a new DSLR camera the technical possibilities of which certainly outdo my skills at this point. But I will accept the challenge and try to become an even more avid picture taker (and, by extension, an even more dedicated blogger) in the future. - The other hobby I have come to indulge in is cooking.
But let's have a look at the photos in this post. Starting out with the visit of my godchild and his parents (which, by coincidence, took place on the very weekend I had posted that whiny complaint about the lack of distraction in Oberkochen), we find that I am still in touch with them, and this time it took them only a few months to come and see me after I had moved to a new location. Not that I would blame them - having a family means a lot of your spare time is booked already. Nevertheless, (a)-(d) show that they were here, and we were having a great time together!
The next highlight was my quick and spontaneous getaway to Munich, for New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. Despite spending only one night there, I got to see much of the downtown area ((e), (f), (i), (j)), I rode the subway ("U-Bahn") to move around the city ((g) was taken at Marienplatz, beneath the City Hall), I went on top of the TV tower at the Olympic Stadium of 1972 ((h), I will have to do this again when it is allowed to access the open platform, so there won't be any reflections from the windows), I had several slices of really delicious pizza at La Pizzetta ((k), note that Munich is only a couple of hours away from Italy), and some equally satisfying ice cream next door at Häagen Dazs, but by then I had grown weary of walking in the rain, so I decided to return to the hotel and await the new year in a supine position (i.e., watching television). Nevertheless, on the way back I came by the central train station, where I bought a piccolo size bottle of champaign and a bag of potato chips for a proper welcome celebration for 2012. (After all, I was having much greater expectations for this year than I was having for the one before ...) So I did celebrate a bit, even if it wasn't in the company of other folks. And finally, the next day I had an original Bavarian lunch at Augustiner, a local micro brewery ((l) wild boar, a dumpling, mushrooms, and some berries). In fact, I had a late Bavarian lunch the day before, too, but there is no photo. Either way, Bavaria is beer country, so there was no peril of going thirsty ...
Back at home in Oberkochen, I recently continued to practice my photographing skills, and the results can be examined in (m)-(o). As to the cooking, last weekend I prepared scallops as my Sunday lunch ((p) a dish I have picked up from my mother's finer repertoire; i.e., for rather special occasions, or at least for a Sunday).
Today, I eventually decided to familiarize myself a little more with Oberkochen, and thus to climb on top of the Volkmarsberg, the local mountain with an outlook tower. Given the beatiful sunshine I seemed like a brilliant idea to do this, and to take the new camera out for yet another sightseeing session. I did get a few nice shots ((q)-(s)), but I never made it up to the tower. Unfortunately the sunshine comes at a price, which is a hefty freezing cold temperature. Americans would refer to this as being "in the low single digits": i.e., around 0-5°F. Everyone else is using the Ceslius scale, so it is around -15°C. After walking for about 15 min in that cold I arrived at a parking lot where Oberkochen borders the forest. There was a sign that the tower was another 25 min away, so I lost my enthusiasm and just took a few shots from the parking lot. After all it is already nicely above the town, and it offers a great view. I'll visit the outlook tower when I can do so safely without a jacket. Fingers crossed that there will be just as much sunshine as today on a weekend in spring, because the tower opens only on Saturday afternoons, and Sundays.
I would like to conclude by saying that I have come to view Oberkochen as my home every day a little more ... as long as I don't have to shovel snow!
