bollhala

Here we go again!

2011-07-24T16:01:00.001+02:00

Hopp St.Gallä!

Panta Rhei

2011-06-02T13:17:00.052+02:00

Heraklit: "We both step and do not step in the same rivers. We are and are not."

12.05.2011 - Munich

The plan was to cycle from Scuol to Budapest. The bikes were ready, everything packed and Seraina and I looking forward to our hols. The last few weeks were excellent: very warm and sunshine everyday. That of course changed on our first day of holidays... rain, cold, no cycle weather (at least not for us two "good-weather-athletes"). Three choices: change our holiday-plans and look for good weather somewhere else, wait at home until the sun is back or start by

train and shortcut the trip. The last option became our choice and Thursday morning we & our bicycles took the train to Munich. The night before we randomly booked over the internet a hotel in Munich which looked reasonably central . And indeed: Hotel Herzog close to Goetheplatz was what we needed: good beds, quiet, excellent shower and with 88EUR per room not too expensive. The first evening we had dinner at the "Gaststätte Fraunhofer" which turned out to be an excellent choice: typical bavarian food but as well as a lot of vegetarian dishes and of course great beer.

13.05.2011 - around Munich 53km / 2h

The weather was good for one day therefore time for our first "cycle-tour": english garden, olympia park, castle nymphenburg, Frühlingsfest @ Theresienwiesen. Munich is a great city! And it has one of the friendliest/most helpful owners of a bicycle shop. If you ever need something for your bike in Munich, visit Rolf von Ah at Häberlstrasse 23!

14.05.2011 - Munich

After a day on the bike we spent the day walking through this beautiful city. In the evening it was time for some culture: Holger Paetz @ Theater im Fraunhofer.

15.05.2011 - Dachau

Still raining... we extended our hotel for another night and visited the concentration camp memorial in Dachau... the bad weather mirrored our emotions.

16.05.2011 - Munich-Passau

Finally... the weather is supposed to be good from tomorrow onwards. Therefore we check out of the hotel and take the train to Passau where we want to start our cycling trip now. In Passau we take the first hotel next to the train station: IBB Hotel - unfortunately not the best choice: they charge us extra to lock in our bicycles... on the room is a bottle of water, but not a gift from the hotel, 3 EUR they want for it. The room doors are not really sound-proof and the "free wifi" is somewhere, but not in our room. At least the bar-keeper is a friendly guy. In Passau Seraina's bike has the one and only breakdown for this trip: flat tire. We give it to a professional to fix and are happy with the result! Now we can start!

17.05.2011 - Passau-Linz - 98.79km - 4h 24min

09:50 we start and @ 17:00 we are in Linz. In between: only sunshine, two ferry trips to cross the danube, the "Schlögener Schlinge" and a nice Jause....
Linz than is fully booked so we had to take a more expensive hotel which turned out to be worth every Euro: Hotel am Domplatz , what a difference to the previous night... (and we even got a free room upgrade!).

We finish this first cycling day with a short "cultural hike" above the roofs of Linz: Höhenrausch.2 ... wonderful!

18.05.2011 - Linz-Ybbs - 104.56km - 4h 45min

We start our cycling trip @ 9:39 after a delicious breakfast buffet. Coffee in the small city Enns lunch in the beautiful restaurant Jägerwirt. At a quarter to six in the evening we arrive in Ybbs and get a room in the "Gasthaus zum braunen Hirschen". Cheap, clean, a good sleep.

19.05.2011 - Ybbs-Krems - 65.21km - 3h 22min

Another beautiful day. We start our trip at 9:32 and follow the danube on the south to Melk. As usual we have enough time for a rest in this historical town. In Mitterarnsdorf we stop at the Gasthof zur Wachau for a glass of local white wine and a nice, huge "Schnitzel".
In Rossatzbach we take the ferry over to Dürnstein. A small town overlooked by the castle in which King Richard I Lionheart was held captive. On the north side we follow the danube to Krems where we find shortly after our arrival at 15:20 a room in the lovely Hotel Alte Post.

We probalby should have stayed at the hotel (pictures above) for dinner as well... the "Gozzoburg" which we went to only made points with the view over the town... Other than that it was another great day followed by deep sleep.

20.05.2011 - Krems-Klosterneuburg (Vienna) - 70.45km - 2h 59min

We start to get used to it: no clouds, warm weather: beautiful.

At 9:37 we start our ride first on the northside and after Altenwörth on the southside of the danube. While the public & the government in Switzerland were discussing the future of nuclear powerplants we had lunch in front of the only such powerplant in Austria. Important to mention that it never operated.

We switch first again to the northside afterwards to the southside and arrive at 14:00 in Klosterneuburg where we get a cheap room at the Hotel Anker (nothing special, but all we needed for the night). The plan was to go to Vienna for dinner. But first we had to look at the lovely old centre of Klosterneuburg followed by an apero in a "Heurigen".

In the evening we take the train to Vienna (getting a train ticket took longer than the ride into town) and of course visit first the Prater. We listened to a DRS 2 - Atlas - podcast about Vienna and therefore went to the Margaretenplatz for dinner. The featured restaurant however does not seem to be an "Insidertip". No chance to get a table in the garden. However, the food & drink were excellent.

21.05.2011 - Klosterneuburg-Bratislava - 86.71km - 3h 47min

Switzerland, Germany, Austria. Time for a new country!

At 09:40 we start and shortly after our coffeebreak on the danube-island in Vienna we cycle on the "Marchfeld"-causeway. 30km straight.... the first time I would not have minded some clouds.
At 15:09 we already arrived in Bratislava. 15years after I've been there the last time I was back. But wow... the city was not the same anymore. One memory I had was the canonball stuck in the church tower. Te last few years I spoke to several people who have been in Bratislave, some even who origined there. But nobody knew what I was talking about when I mentioned the "canonball in the churchtower". It was a good feeling when I saw it again myself. Knowing that my memories did not trick me the last 15years....

The original plan was to cycle to the tourism office and ask for a hotel room (it's not fun to look for a room by bike with all the luggage in a big city). The first difficulty was to find the tourism office (instead we found a "helpful" lady who told us that the tourism office closes at 3pm and who wanted to sell us a room in her house). At the end we stood in front of a hotel which didn't look that great and we thought that given the central location it looked affordable. I went in to check for available rooms and I found out that we actually did not stand "in front" of the hotel but "at the back". Inside (and from the front) the hotel (Art Hotel William) looked beautiful and we were not sure if we could afford it. The rates published at the hotel reception were as well higher than what we would have paid. But at the end we got a beautiful room for less than 100 Euros a night (including breakfast!) and our bikes got locked in a safe room for free. After a shower it was time to explore the city and for a drink. Sipping a coktail it suddenly started to hail. I loved it: sitting outside in hot temperature protected by a roof watching the tourist running for a shelter while enjoying my caipiroska... priceless.

A good dinner (at least it was good when I good all the dishes... the waitress was not really "experianced" to phrase it nicely) followed by a deep sleep ended another beautiful day.

22.05.2011 - Bratislava

Time for a break! It's defenitely worth to take one day off from bike-riding to explore Bratislava!

View from Slavin memorial onto St.Martins cathedral, Novy Most (New Bridge) and Castle.

Refreshing drink at the castle.

Strange coloured drink at the danube.

23.05.2011 - Bratislava-Komarno - 117.93km - 4h 54min

We knew that the break eventually would be over. However, far to quick it was Monday and we were at 9:05 on the road again. The majority of the day we would follow the biggest channel built by human beings. This enormous water-power-plant was subject of political crises, oecological protests and international lawsuits. At 15:48 we arrived in the little town Komarno and found in the Penzion Penita a nice little room (35EUR incl breakfast) to spend the night.

24.05.2011 - Komarno-Esztergom - 59.09km - 2h 29min

Most of our trip we followed "bicycle-only-roads" without any cars. That unfortunately changed now... either the roads were quite bad or with heavy traffic. We knew about that and therefore decided to cycle today only a short distance. We started at 10:0 and it did not take long until the road the first time disappeared for a few meters:

But nature again was great and all in all still a fund day! At 13:46 we arrive in Hungary, more precisely in Esztergom with it's beautiful basilica (in fact I don't care about the basilica... but the view from it's tower is just perfect!).

to be continued!

Provinzveranstaltung

2011-04-03T17:06:00.001+02:00

Live aus der Pampa: 0:1 hinten... Aber hier liegt noch was drin!

Chef Kenji

2010-12-21T08:19:00.001+01:00

Many Thanks Ken, that was delicious!

Toscana 2010 - Der Trailer II

2010-11-23T21:08:00.002+01:00

Toscana 2010 - Trailer I

2010-11-23T20:54:00.002+01:00

Kornati

2010-08-18T19:27:00.001+02:00

Croatia 2010

2010-08-17T18:51:00.001+02:00

Our plane...

Room view...

a little hike...

Apero....

Our chef...

My wine!

I'm lovin' it!!!

http://www.michgerber.ch/musik.html

2010-07-09T21:44:00.001+02:00

The Sound which goes with the pic:

http://www.michgerber.ch/musik.html

L'heure bleu

2010-07-09T21:26:00.001+02:00

Seich... im Schiff

2010-05-01T19:06:00.000+02:00

Do I see the goals? Tic!

2010-03-14T15:28:00.000+01:00

Position:Herdernstrasse,Zürich,Schweiz

Schön

2010-03-11T23:32:00.001+01:00

Position:Hohlstrasse,Zürich,Schweiz

Perfect!

2010-02-23T20:13:00.000+01:00

Position:Schweiz

Finally: it started again!

2010-02-06T17:48:00.000+01:00

Position:Schweiz

Hangover

2010-01-30T22:52:00.001+01:00

Apparently too much vodka, too many bleenies with caviar & too many russian Ladies....

Poor aprkus...

Carlo, help!

2010-01-30T19:14:00.000+01:00

The Smits say it's "off" - Carlo, explain!

Position:Holzmoosrütistrasse,Wädenswil,Schweiz

Food + Wine

2010-01-30T15:52:00.004+01:00

Quite funny if you invite some friends over for dinner and you find the setting of the evening the next day on a blog in japanese :-)

If you have a look at the author of this blog you would not think that eating is one of her biggest hobbies, but check it out yourself: her blog Food+ is amazing!

While Mari was blogging, Carlo was talking about it. But he is slowly catching up. And here it is, the second 'product' of the family. Food+ finally got a smaller brother: Wine+

Good work Mari & Carlo!

Stadtstreicher

2010-01-30T15:45:00.005+01:00

Weihnachten (09/01/10)

Olma (14/11/09)

Baustellen II (10/10/09)

Bermudadreieck (05/09/09)

Baustellen I (25/07/09)

Wurstverbrechen (20/02/09)

Turm in SG (23/01/09)

Schnee (19/12/08)

Gurke im Kebab (14/11/08)

Teure FCSG tickets (17/10/08)

Pain & Fun

2009-07-05T14:26:00.009+02:00

What a sunday morning.... quite a neutral start, first highlight the excellent coffee combined with the fact that my sunday newspapers are already in my letterbox. But than... the sports part of "Sonntagszeitung": Federer in the Wimbledon Final - nice , Cancellara in the "maillot jaune" - nice, the budget of "my" Soccer team: 7-8m CHF - hmmm.... ticketing income: 6.4m, sponsoring income: 4.3m let's add.... 6.4 + 4.3 = 10.7m.....
ALL other clubs in the first Swiss Soccer league have a higher budget than just ticketing & sponsoring income added but my bloody fcsg not... okok, one could say that they need to get rid of some debts. But the truth is that the owners of the new statium make a lot of money and the club which fills the stadium gets the debts... GRRR..... why bother supporting this money-wasting team?
Because it's THE team, green-white, the love of us "East-Enders" of Switzerland - one of the only things we can be proud of (actually... not really).
Hard to explain, hard to understand.
To be honest: I'm actually not proud of my club and it's management at all... but I'm bloody proud of my brother! The missing link? For ages he's now travelling to each and every game of FCSG to comment for a radio-station, more or less without being paid for. Him and his mate Jaan Schaller became kind of cult in St.Gallen and already three years ago the main newspaper of St.Gallen wrote an article about them: "Keine Ahnung von Fussball" pointing out their very special way of commenting games not just focussed on the game but more on the fun.

Jaan Schaller & Lukas Bollhalder

First I thought nobody really listens to them: a "real" soccer fan probably wants 'serious' commenters and everybody else would not listen to them as they couldn't care less about soccer... but it looks like I'm wrong and not the only followers of their show. Even the 'hard-core' supporters have a thread for them on their forum with some funny pictures.
Maybe one day his 'fame' will go beyond the "East-End" of Switzerland and he will not just write in the local newspaper about his parking fines, his balcony, about tipping in the supermarket, the open air or why it sometimes it is better to order fries instead of sausages.
However, I'll not stop supporting him!

2009-06-01T19:28:00.017+02:00

My Name: Bollhala and yes, I'm a jackass!

The quote:
The greatest sport ever. PERIOD. Misunderstood by jackasses who have never seen or been to a game.

The truth: I've seen it, iI've been there:

Memorial Day, 25th of May 2009, A beautiful warm evening and you are in NY. So what is your plan tonight? Right, you ignore whatever a reasonable person would suggest (like your girlfriend) and you take a 30min train ride out to the Citi Field in Queens ($2). In the packed train you promise that you'll immediately go back to Manhatten if no tickets below $20 are available.
You'll end up in a long queue in front of a ticket office roughly 2hours before the game starts and you promise again to the reasonable person next to you in the queue that $20 is the max you'll spend for a ticket - you end up paying $69 for one ticket. As a result the reasonable person does not speak to you for the next 3 hours (she pays you a beer though ($7.50)).
The first two hours she can't speak to you as you keep on talking to her: "Serioulsy, that sport is great! What you've seen on TV is not what you will experience now! Baseball is completely different live! Much more exciting than on TV! A happening! You'll have fun! And you might even become a sports-fan! And if not for the sport than for the athmosphere! And for the food! You'll see there's a huge variety of food available! And I read in the program that the Broadway-Cast of West Side Story will sing the anthem before the game!" - It's true, that's what I read - even 5mins before the anthem it said it on the big scoreboard (unf. I was too late to take the pic of it...)

However, the guy who wrote the program as well as the guy responsible for the scoreboard both forgot (like me) that on Memorial Day only one thing counts: the soldiers and the respect for the veterans.
As a result a soldier sang the anthem and the line up was broadcasted live from soldiers in iraq (their relatives got the chance to greet them live out of the stadium - all shown on the huge screen). A few airforce-planes flew over the Citi Field before the game and during the game you saw in every break during the 9 innings members of the army on the screens.

The seventh inning however apparently needed to be streched and Seargeant Elizabeth Quinones sang us the "Amazing Graze" (at least that's the song I recall).

What else can I remember? 3 more beers (3*$7.5 - needed to show the ID twice to proof my age (yeeha)), 1 hotdog ($4.50). Hotdogs & Burgers were the only food available if you wanted to queue for less than 30mins (didn't make the reasonable person joining me on that game happier). The game? Ended up 5-2 for the Mets which means you saw seven times within those 3.5 hours (most probably it took longer) a guy running around the bases. The rest of the time one team stood still on the field while two guys were throwing the ball to eachother and a guy stood between them swinging a stick but only hitting air or if hitting the ball the ball did not go into the field (and very rarely got into the field but landed directly in the glove of a guy standing there - which somehow was bad for the stick swinging guy). The stadium was full though (more than 40'000 people) and the crowd was screaming, waving, clapping and leaving 20mins before the game ended.... (A probably more accurate summary can be found here).
The atmosphere however was not even close to a 2nd league soccer game in St.Gallen...
At the end I fully understood why the reasonable person was pissed off of that evening before it even started... she (once more) was 100% right!

Promised

2009-05-07T16:19:00.003+02:00

Yes Gena,

I promise to visit you in Singapore if you stay there at least until the 7th of May 2011!

Have fun and try not to beat the whole SG Tradingfloor bloody! One bleeding trader here in CH was enough!

I miss you!

Lars

Per Carlo II ... and for Aprkus

2009-01-19T20:13:00.003+01:00

the suspenders are not yet properly in place and the shoes to small.... and the front is only visible on the 23rd!

Merry Xmas!

2008-12-24T22:33:00.005+01:00

3 weeks ... gone to fast

2008-10-30T16:55:00.006+01:00

Wow, that was quick....

Here we are, sitting in Patra, trying to kill time... After two Ouzo and one beer I needed a break (our boat is only leaving in 5 hours, and more booze now would probably make sure I enter the boat to anywhere but not to Venice)....

So why not update this poor blog a little bit...

First problem: how to change settings of the browser from greek hieroglyphics to latin letters? Many thanks to my office colleagues who changed the settings on my office pc so many times everytime I forgot to lock it that I`m now a semi-professional in changing it back (special thank to Aprkus - the builder - he will fix it if he can or wants). Second problem: whz is y and z mixed up on this bloody keyboard #%$( - whatever... thanks to bloukous for teaching me that lesson! A third "thanks" to didionre for the "whatever"..
But I guess as usual I'm loosing the point here...

In fact I need to say thank you to a few others first:

Thanks to SAC for driving me down and across the Peloponnes so savely! (I love you!)
Thanks to my father for the car!
Thanks to Lambros mother for the appartement (I'll need to pay you a new mosquito-protection shutter, sorry! But at least I was the laugh of Zacharo when I "ran" out to the balcony with the mosquito net still closed...)
Thanks to Lambros for his tips and friendship!
Thanks to Kaliroi, Kia Maria, Giorgia and Tassia for the unbeatable hospitality!
Thanks to my team @ ubs for holding the shop together and letting me go for 3 weeks!
Thanks to the "poor other half" for emptying our letter box (I'm looking forward to see you dressed up as Frank n'Further !)
Thanks to the intern for holding "welcome drinks" a second time as soon as I'm back!
Zakynthos - Zacharo - Pylos - Mani - Monemvasia - Nafplio - Diakopo ... All of it was worth it! Excellent weather, great food (but why the hell do they have to serve those horrible fries all the time?), beautiful views, nice hikes, friendly people. There were many highlights (more of them probably later with pics) and I can recommend our trip to everybody.
I can recommend as well to take a three week break! I know a little bit what happened in the financial world the last few weeks, but more or less I managed to "switch off". I can't even remember my office passwords anymore... nice!

End yes: we let our bycicles at home and I'm still a smoker.... :-( but hopefully only for a few more hours! I'll give it another try (attempt 137)!

I'm looking forward to see you soon (not so much to have my 99th month-end starting on monday...) !!!

correlation

2008-09-18T11:44:00.001+02:00

Due to the current situation in the markets the planned electrical power outage will not take place on 20 September 2008.
We will inform you in good time of the new date.

Porta Alpina - let us be brave!

2008-09-17T23:58:00.000+02:00

At the beginning I thought that's just another stupid idea: the tallest building of the world in the middle of the alps...
But end of june my father convinced me to go for a hike in the mountains over the weekend and to have a look at the construction site of the worlds longest tunnel Gotthard in Sedrun. (http://www.alptransit.ch/pages/e/). After an introduction at the visitor centre (http://www.basistunnel.ch/) we all got our helmets and orange jackets as well as a radio and went by train into the tunnel where they are digging the biggest hole into the mountains ever.

My father waiting for the train into the mountain

The construction site was impressive but what stayed more prominent in my memories was the discussion we had with our guide about the "Porta Alpina" (http://www.visiun-porta-alpina.ch).
To build the 153km of tunnel in a reasonable time, they "attack" the mountain from different construction sites. About in the middle of the tunnel is Sedrun, where a tunnel first goes 990m horizontal into the mountain and afterwards elevators bring the workers 800m down. The idea of some people is to make a train stop in the middle of the tunnel and build in proper elevators for visitors and tourists. This investment would cost about chf 50millions (compared to chf 10billions of the tunnel) and the elevators would become the tallest building of the world:

People complain about the costs of those elevators and they think not enough tourists would use the train to visit the alps to run the porta alpina cost-effective.

For me trains are the future. And visions important. Let's be brave. For once!

This person is responsible for your security

2008-09-16T23:43:00.000+02:00

Tell me why I don't like Mondays

2008-09-15T18:01:00.001+02:00

What a day....

Within the last 6month 3 out of the top 5 US Investment banks went "bust".

And I'm feeling sick as well....

The bleeding (green white) heart

2008-09-14T16:31:00.004+02:00

What a said sunday....

I'm sitting here in my living room, alone... my love far away. Ok, in fact she is 'only' 36.73 km away - I could be there in less than an hour. And after one week of working and not coming home in the evenings she'll be back on monday. I miss her and I'm looking forward to see, smell, feel her again in about 25hours.
But on Sundays there's always as well another love. A love which is gone by one league for at least one year: "My" soccer team FCSG (http://www.fcsg.ch).
On a rainy sunday like today I have to watch now ACB vs. YB on tv - who play in the top league infront of a few hundreds supporters, while "my" glorious team (the oldest in Switzerland) manages to fill its brand new wonderful stadion every time at least with 10-12'000 fans.
But unfortunately not in front of tv-cameras.
I thank my brother that he helps me to more or less overcome those sad moments. He's commenting all FCSG-games for his show 'Adrenalin' on the radio station Toxic.fm (http://www.toxic.fm/) together with his colleague Jaan Schaller and thanks to them I know now at least that it is half-time against Thun and that we are playing crap but leading 1:2... yehaa!
And soon, soon they play again at home and I'll be there, in the stadion, with my love, my other love.

"my" new, second home (http://www.afg-arena.ch)

Sand in Sand we stand

2008-09-13T18:03:00.001+02:00

I'm not a photographer (as you all can see) but just travelling by bicycle, tram, bus or on my feet (sometimes a boat or very seldom a plane comes in handy as well). And sometimes I pass sceneries were I'm happy I have my little camera with me. Like end of August 2008 in Rorschach where we 'accidentally' passed the Sand-sculptures festival (http://www.sandskulpturen.ch/) :

For BlouKous & the fisherman

2008-09-12T16:24:00.002+02:00

Enjoy your weekend in the Water!

Im gone fishing
I got me a line
Nothing I do is gonna make the difference
So Im taking the time

And you aint never gonna be happy
Anyhow, anyway
So Im gone fishing
And Im going today

Im gone fishing
Sounds crazy I know
I know nothing about fishing
But just watch me go

And when the time has come
I will look back and see Peace on the shoreline
That could have been me

You can waste a whole lifetime
Trying to be
What you think is expected of you
But youll never be free

May as well go fishing

(by Chris Rea)

46° 28' 33'' ; 7° 39' 54''

2008-09-11T19:02:00.001+02:00

Switzerland is full of secrets... and you will see them as soon as you open your eyes (don't really know if that's really the idea of a secret).
Up till recently it was only us Swiss talking about our own secrets but now it looks that also our neighbours seem to become interested. And on the 26th of August the german magazin "spiegel" revealed the location of the war-bunker of our government (http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/0,1518,570501,00.html).
Two days before this article I passed quite a funny building on my one-week bicycle tour following the river Rein from it's source to the Rheinfall - not that this building is in any way related to a Swiss army bunker - I guess they would throw me into jail imediately if I would say so... :-)

If you are interested into Swiss Army Fortifications (many of those old ones are not in use anymore and can be visited) look at the following pages, I'm sure you'll find a 'hole' close to your place:
http://www.schweizer-festungen.ch/links.htm#Museumsfestungen
http://www.bunker-suisse.ch/
http://www.festung-schweiz.ch/
http://www.fort.ch/flashsite.html

The Last Supper

2008-09-10T18:13:00.000+02:00

After two wonderful days in Vals (ok, if fact it was only one, as we needed one day to cycle there) the time came for our last dinner... ("per Carlo"):

My girlfriend started with "Fetamousse mit Guacamole und Grissini"

Whilst I enjoyed "Carpaccio vom geräuchten Bisonfilet mit pikanter Erdnusssauce"

We than got the soup (which were in fact 2 soups each) "Creme und Essenz von Rüebli und Pfälzerkarrotte" followed by our own salads from the big salad bar.

As a warm starter we ordered "Spaghetti mit Pesto"

Followed by "Duo vom Freilandlamm mit Schalottenconfit und Rotwein-Reduktion"

Speaking about "Rotwein", we decided to go with something more 'exclusive' that evening and ordered a "Schwarz Rot 2002" which is probably one of the best - if not the best Zweigelt Wine(s). Produced by Johann „Hans“ Schwarz, Fleischhauer aus Andau im Seewinkel with friendly help of Mr. K (which stands forAlois Kracher (quality) and Manfred Krankl (know-how)). I did not regret this choice!

And last, but not least, we finished with a "Apfel-Strudelteiggebäck in der Tasse serviert mit Vanilleschaum und Glace".

If you want to do you a favour, go to the Therme Vals, enjoy the nature, the beautiful spa and don't forget to try Urs Dietrichs kitchen!
yummy....

Love me like there's no tomorrow

2008-09-09T11:18:00.007+02:00

So LHC will be switched on tomorrow... and the Higgs Boson will be found... never? I personally think no evil dragon will jump out in Geneva and no black hole will swallow us. But the french nuclear power plants will just melt down as soon as they move the LHC-Start-up-Switch from "Hoff" to "On". And than we will be "doomed" (quote by snowman) anyway....

Therefore: Let's have a drink or two tonight and enjoy life!

And the bill we can send to Otto Rössler...

And if the lights don't start to dim tomorrow at 4pm... let's go for another drink and celebrate.

10:49 didionre the end of the world http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/end
10:52 fuhrigma with the exception that china seems to have a Japanese Flag, it's quite cool ... 10:59 wettstro http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/article1630897.ece
10:59 wettstro in case some needs a well based and founded explanation of tomorrows event 11:02 fuhrigma The best thing on this page is the comments
11:02 fuhrigma posted by: pmoffatt
11:02 fuhrigma WOW... well what I have to say?! let's start: NICKY the WORLD is going to be over...finished...kaput...
11:02 fuhrigma posted by: SunshiningTC
11:02 fuhrigma could someone arrange for one the black holes to swallow up my ex girlfriend before it disappears? t...
11:03 fuhrigma Posted by: joseatpolodotorg
11:03 fuhrigma ...any chance I can get my mother-in-law ringside seats?
11:04 fuhrigma Posted by: MackemEd
11:04 fuhrigma Our Labour government is a black hole that eats away at our quality of life.
11:04 fuhrigma Posted by: strewth
11:04 fuhrigma September 10th! Sod that! I don't get paid till the 15th! If you people think I'm doing all these hours just for you bunch of mad scientists to kill me off before I can spend it, you got another think coming! I'll coming over there and slap you myself!
11:05 fuhrigma Posted by: kutje
11:05 fuhrigma great news, wont have to pay the leccy/gas bills
11:06 weiterin Posted by: calliedosh
11:06 weiterin Oh bother, we've just bought a 37" tv,If I'd known the world was going to end I'd've bought a 50"tv
11:06 fuhrigma Posted by: peres123
11:06 fuhrigma Could they change it to Friday when my credit card is due? 11:06 fuhrigma Posted by: Stockley
11:06 fuhrigma Awesome, I'll make the most of my last days and do an Amy Winehouse, a George Bush and a Russian.
11:07 fuhrigma Posted by: toontart
11:07 fuhrigma Typical! The world is gonna end in nine days and my period has just started, shame I cant cram the rest of my lifetimes enjoyment into the next 9 days! 11:08 fuhrigma Posted by: Rinkystink
11:08 fuhrigma Hmm, I'm actually quite relieved that the world will end, as my life is practically over on the 9th anyway - I turn 30!
11:09 fuhrigma Posted by: Lord_Nelson
11:09 fuhrigma Hi all, i am posting from the future, just wanted to say don't worry, it all works out fine - Gordon Brown is the only person to vanish into a black hole, but turns out no one cared. Chavs no longer exist, beer is 10p a pint and the streets are now safe to walk on, no matter what the time of day or night is.
11:14 weiterin official anti-website: http://lhc-concern.info/
11:24 fuhrigma now I am terrified

Good night & Good Luck!

Run to the hills

2008-09-07T13:57:00.020+02:00

What do you expect 1'850m above sea level? Wonderful mountains? A great view? A beautiful green-blue lake? A massive dam? All that was there when we got out of the "Postauto" at the Lake Zervreila above Vals. As expected. What surprised me was the restaurant next to the lake (http://www.zervreila.ch/) - in fact not really the restaurant itself, but it's wine menue. Here's an extract out of it:

Weisswein
Löwengang, 2000 Südtiroler Chardonnay - Aus Magreid, Italien. Produziert und abgefüllt von Alois Lageder. 13Vol% - 75cl - Fr. 60.00
Piesporter Goldtröpfchen, St. Urbanshof 2004 - Die beste Lage heisst Goldtröpfchen und ist als Spitzenlage natürlich in der Klasse 1 eingestuft. Mit sanfter honigsüsser, zauberhafter Duftigkeit und Rasse. 8 Vol% - 75cl - Fr. 69.00
Grüner Veltliner, Ried Kreutles 2005 - Qualitätswein aus Oesterreich. Emmerich Knoll, Unter-Loiben. Weltbekanntes Weingut. Die Inlandnachfrage nach diesem Wein ist so gross, dass wir in der Schweiz um jede Flasche betteln müssen. 13 Vol% - 75cl - Fr. 55.00

Rotwein
Raritäten: Ornellaia 2000, Fr. 150.00 - Guidalberto 2002, Fr. 150.00 - Chàteau Cheval Blanc 1981, Chàteau Mouton Rothschild 1981/95, Chàteau Lafite Rothschild 1977. Preis auf Anfrage

Chàteau Citran, Bordeaux, Appelation Haut-Médoc, 2001 - Cru Burgeois, Mis en Bouteille en Château. Ein sensationeller Wein lobt der Schweizer Weinpabst René Gabriel den Citran. Wert heisst im Fall von Ch. Citran, viel Bordeaux für wenig Geld. 13 Vol% - 75cl - Fr. 47.00
Nuits Saint Georges, 2000 - Clos de L'Arlot, 1er Cru, Domaine de l'arlot. 13 Vol% - 75cl - Fr. 66.00
Mercurey, a.c. Château de Chamirey, 1999 - Sattes Kirschrot, verführerisch, modern, anhaltendes Finale. 13 Vol% - 75cl - Fr. 48.00

Zweigelt, Paul Achs, Burgenland 2004 - "Langer Acker" wächst an alten Reben in Gols am Neusiedlersee. Ernte am 9.9.02. Flaschenfüllung am 7.8.03. Ausbau in 40% neuen Barriques. Fruchtig, kräftig mit samtem Tanin. 13.5 Vol% - 75cl- Fr. 49.00
Zweigelt, Heidi Schröck 2004 - "Kräftn" Heidi Schröck hat mit 7.5 ha ein kleines Weingut in Rust am Neusiedlersee-Hinterland aufgebaut. Im Oesterreichischen Fachmagazin Falstaff wurde sie zur Winzerin des Jahres erkoren. 14 Vol% - 75cl - Fr. 48.00

Cordillera, Chile 2000 - Von Miguel Torres. 13.5 Vol% - 75cl - Fr. 55.00

Albada, Garnacha, Calatayud DO, Spanien, Tinto 2003 - Calatayud liegt zwischen Zaragoza und Madrid. Die Weine sind vom Typus her mit denen des Priorat vergleichbar. Feurig. Spanisch. 14.5 Vol% - 75cl - Fr. 34.00

Löwengang, Cabernet, Alois Lageder, Margeid. 13 Vol% - 75cl - Fr. 75.00

Chaminé, Alentejo 2005 - Der Däne Hans Christian Jörgensen besitzt das Weingut südöstlich von Lissabon. Der Wine Spectator wählte sie zum Leader der Region. Die jungen Rebstöcke sind Aragonez und Shyrah. 13.5 Vol% - 75cl - Fr. 38.20

Barol0, Dardi Le Rose Bussia 1997 - Die Traubensorte heisst Nebbiolo. 13.5 Vol% - 75cl - Fr. 72.00
Barolo, Prunotto Bussia 2003 - Ein typischer, gefälliger und in Italien sehr begehrter Wein. 14 Vol% - 75cl - Fr. 95.00
Barolo, Elio Altare, 1998 - Elio Altare gilt als eigentlicher Meister des Barolo. Seine Art der Weinproduktion ist Vorbild für eine ganze Barolo Winzergeneration. 14 Vol% - 75cl - Fr. 193.00
Dolcetto D'Alba, 2005 - Due Nebbiolo Traube bringt hier unvergleichliche Weine hervor. Dieser Wein wird von Elvio Cogno produziert. Kraft und Finesse sind die Schlagwörter zu diesem besonderen Tropfen. 13 Vol% - 75cl - Fr. 45.00

Magari, Gaja Toscana-Maremma, Livorno 2000 - Ca'Marcanda, Magari. So heisst der neue Wein von Gaja. Es wird wohl so sein wie bei allen Weinen von Gaja: man muss Freunde haben um an sie zu kommen. 14 Vol% - 75cl - Fr 95.00
Tignanello, Antinori 1998 - Nach langen Versuchen gelangte Antinori zu Überzeugung, dass die Mischung von 80% Sangiovese und 20% Cabernet zu aussergewöhnlichen Ergebnissen führt. Der Ausbau erfolgt in neuen 225 Lt. Barriquen. Dort reift der Wein 24 Monate. Nach der Abfüllung ruht der Wein mind. ein weiteres Jahr in der Flasche bevor er die Antinori Kellerei verlassen darf. Tignanello ist reich an Aroma, trocken, körperreich und samtig. Ein Wein von grosser Eleganz und Würde. 13.5 Vol% - 75cl - Fr. 120.00
Sassicaia, Tenuta San Guido 1998 + 2000 - A star was born! Als Marchese Mario Incisa della Roccetta 1943 die ersten Cabernet-Sauvignon und Cabernet-Franc-Setzlinge auf der Tenuta San Guido in Bolgheri pflanzte, hätte er sich wohl den fulminanten Erfolg seines Sassicaias nicht träumen lassen. Jetzt ist er sogar auf der Raumstation ISS. 13 Vol% - 75cl - Fr. 180.00
Chianti Classico, Castello di Ama 2003 - Unser Favorit! Dieser Chianti stammt aus dem Herzen des Chianti-Classico Gebietes und wird im klassischen Mix aus 85% Sangiovese und 15% Malvasia nera gekeltert. Heraus kommt ein exklusiver Klassewein, von dem nur kleine Mengen produziert werden. 13.5 Vol% - 75cl - Fr. 69.00

Amarone, Luigi Rigetti - Amarone della Valpolicella DOC Classico. Im Hinterland von Venedig wachsen in den Ausläufern der Alpen und hügeligem Gelände sehr gute Trauben. 15.5 Vol% - 75cl - Fr. 61.50

Sforzato, Lorenz Gredig, 2002 DOC - Körperreich, herb und kräftig. Für den Sforzato (Strohwein) werden die Trauben nach der Ernte auf Strohmatten getrocknet. Seit Generationen wird dieser tolle Wein aufwendig hergestellt. 15 Vol% - 75cl - Fr. 39.00

The Hess Collection, Cabernet Sauvignon 2002 - This cabernet sauvignon expresses the complex and intensely concentrated mountain character of grapes grown in our estate vineyards on the rugged slopes of mt. veeder, above the napa valles. 14.5 Vol% - 75cl - Fr. 59.00
Opus One, Robert Mondavi 2000 - Reserve of Reserves! Der Wein produziert Mondavi zusammen mit Philippe de Rothschild. Der bekannteste Wein von ganz Napa Valley, vielleicht von ganz USA. 14 Vol% - 75cl - Fr. 350.00
Shafer, Vineyards 2000 - John Shafer ist der Referenzpunkt für Kalifornien. Der Napa Valley Cabernet 2000 ist ein klassischer Napa-blend mit intensiver, schwarzbeeriger Frucht, gestützt von weichen Tanninen. 14.8 Vol% - 75cl - Fr. 89.00

Additionally there are beautiful wines from Southafrica, Australia, Graubünden, Tessin, Wallis, Waad, Neuenburg & Thurgau on the menue.

So many choices... at the end I took a beer. Prost.

Sunday, 24th of August - la principessa mangia

2008-09-07T13:24:00.005+02:00

Yesterday I loaded my meal from the Therme Vals "per Carlo" onto this page. For completeness reasons I'll add today the pics of the three dishes - which were different to my menue - of my girlfriend, again 'per Carlo':

Kalte Vorspeise: Kartoffelterrine mit Safran-Aioli

Warme Vorspeise: Wan-tan mit Pilz-Gemüsefüllung und Pflaumensauce

Dessert: Sauerrahm-Joghurtmousse mit Nektarinen und süssem Pesto

Thanks for taking the pics, principessa!
(glad I didn't tell you that in the elevator)

Per Carlo

2008-09-06T23:20:00.010+02:00

End of August it was: time for a break @ the Therme Vals (http://www.therme-vals.ch). I was not just looking forward to relax in the beautiful spa but as well to enjoy Urs Dietrichs kitchen with 14 GaultMillau points. When I mentioned my plans in the office Carlo, the Gourmet of our team, immediately requested pictures of every dish I have. Therefore...

Per Carlo:

Tartar vom Swiss Prime Beef mit flüssigem Eigelb und Paninitoast

Kressecrémesuppe mit gerösteten Pinien

Salat vom Büffet

Pojarski vom Kalbfleisch mit Kräuterrahm und Polenta

Brust und gebackener Flügel von der Poularde mit Kokos, Basmatireis und Thaicurry

Zwetschgen-Ciafouti mit geeistem Sangria

It was delicious!

Asiatinnen sollen Serben vor Aussterben retten

2008-09-05T11:39:00.000+02:00

( http://www.20min.ch/news/kreuz_und_quer/story/15031568 )

11:37 didionre this world is a brilliantly f***ed-up place

nothing to add to that!

what a performance

2008-09-01T15:03:00.000+02:00

SMI went up from 7000.50 to 7190.40 (about -2.7%)

Ha ha

2008-08-18T13:56:00.001+02:00

-----Original Message-----
From: Stripey
Sent: 30 July 2008 13:30
To: bollhala
Subject: Out of Office AutoReply

I will be out of the office from July 21, 2008 to January 31, 2009. Ha ha.
If you need IMMEDIATE assistance, please contact bollhala or wettstro, otherwise I will respond to your mail on February 1, 2009.
Your mail has not been forwarded.

Fine Cane Rods

2008-07-16T09:14:00.000+02:00

Looking for some fine bamboo fishing rods?

Visit Nick Hughes, Wädihoods best rod maker on
http://www.canesplitter.com/
!

Do it now!

Almost APRKUS

2008-02-29T17:08:00.000+01:00

17:06 fuhrigma G
17:06 fuhrigma E
17:06 fuhrigma T
17:06 fuhrigma A
17:06 fuhrigma L
17:06 fuhrigma I
17:06 fuhrigma F
17:06 fuhrigma E

Almost Empty

2005-06-21T10:06:00.000+02:00

Almost...