Radebeul

Well, in the meantime it's summer already :-) As a break from the weekly business routine we spent a long weekend in Radebeul, near Dresden. It is the perfect getaway location for someone like me. The houses, rolling hills and the vineyards under the blue sky looked pretty much like Tuscany. And it's just a two hours drive from Berlin.



And to make things even better I found another spot for my virtual collection of restaurants at an exceptional vista point. This one is in front of the Spitzhaus, built in 1622, a house where French, Greek and, of course, German Kings slept since then because of the beautiful location. (sorry, took no photo of the house itself, was distracted by the lovely view:-)



Of course we went there for dinner this evening. As a starter I had different kinds of goat cheese with strawberries, flavoured with green pepper and Balsamico vinegar, a surprising good combination..

Then, after fish and meat -yes, I was hungry after climbing the hills the whole day- I had the local Saxonian signature cake, the almost famous Eierschecke for dessert.
I liked it, so we went there again the next day and I had one more of it:-)

Spring, finally...

Rome - Day 4

Another beautiful day in a beautiful city..another short walk to some of the worlds most famous spots :-)After passing the usual sight of the Colosseum we walked alongside the Forum Romanum....
...to the Piazza Venetia......admiring the art of Italian traffic...
...and entered the steps of the Monumento Nazzionale, which is not exactly my favorite building and a rather modern one but offers an excellent view from the top of it. Here's the roof of the Pantheon with the 10meters hole in it...
...and the surprisingly empty Piazza Venezia from above, the Via Corso with so many shops leads to the Piazza del Popolo.....where we went later, right after buying a cool rugby shirt for me on the way and look into this small church.

Lots of others had the same idea of strolling around....
...they even took photos just like me :-)Then Piazza del Popolo with its fountain at the foot of an Egyptian obelisk which is even thousand years older than Rome, awful.

Then ahead, passing the designer shops at the Piazza Spagna.....to the Spanish Steps. It's famous because it's soo crowded...and crowded because it's so famous...strange again.Then to the Fontana di Trevi where everybody, including myself, is throwing a coin over the shoulder into the water to return to Rome someday. Goethe didn't do it and never came back...
..so everybody is making sure the coin gets into the water...pretty crowded place, too...
..but surely one of the most beautiful fountains of the world! :-)A couple of days later I took a picture of it at night..stay tuned

Rome - Day 3

Unshaved, tired, thirsty but very proud!!
"I firmly believe that any man's finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is the moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle..............victorious."
Vince Lombardi about victory

Rome - Day 2

Day 2 was dedicated to a "dinner for winner" :-)
Main course was a huge mountain of Pasta (some call it carbo-loading).