Almabtrieb 2011

cows and lots of them

Almabtrieb means 'drive from the mountain pasture'.  You can read the wiki page here. 
So parents, Ludwig and I set out for the trip at 8:30 in the morning.
Ready set...go!!!

Wolfgang was the driver!

We got into the dorf/village of Krün. The tent on the right is where all the beer drinking is going on.  Look at those mountains, so pretty!

The first thing that we saw was the whipcracking, a traditional sport of Bavaria and Austria, if interested can read about it here. 

It was pretty cool, but really loud.

We started moving out of the city center and more to where the cows were coming from because there were just too many crowds. 

silly family ;) also they never want to pose for my pictures, and by they I mean Ludwig!

We had to wait for some time for the cows to come, but it was worth it.

They were coming right towards me, I was a little scared.

Some of the cows were so beautifully decorated to celebrate their homecoming from the mountains.

Here is a funny picture of me, being happy to see so many cows.

He does not like taking pictures, but I do not care ;)

more pretty cows

The tent was filled with so many people and even outside it was just so crowded that we decided to go somewhere else for a beer.

Unfortunately, everywhere we went was closed, probably due to the fact that Oktoberfest is going on in Munich.  It was frustrating.  We ended up being at our appartment drinking beer. 

The day itself was great, the weather was perfect, the cows were pretty and I got a beer at the end of the day. 

I hope you guys are enjoying your end of the summer as well.

Thanks for reading :)

I want a new lens for my camera!!!

I've been wanting a new lens for my camera for a long time now, but everything I really want is way too expensive, these lenses cost more then my camera :(  I have been doing a lot of research for long time now, and I think I would really like a wide angle (24mm) lens.  Instead of just dropping €400, I decided to first rent the lens and then see how I like it.  Also I will try to shop around and hopefully buy a used one, just wait and buy one in US or Ukraine if it is cheaper.  We will see! Today I went and rented the lens.  I had to speak German the whole time, which was a lot of fun, I think the guy appreciated my efforts.  I now have for the weekend a fancy shmancy wide angle 24mm f/2.8 canon lens.  Next time I want to rent 24mm f/1.4 which is like five times more expensive and I will probably never buy it in my life, but I will rent it ;)

So to celebrate I took some pictures!

In the city center they have so many fruit stands.  I just could not pass up these huge and juicy figs.

Stachus

Pedestrian Zone

Rathaus

Narrow streets

This is how people park in the city center, yikes.

And then I got hungry!!!  Hering sandwich and wheat beer, it was perfection!

So far I am pretty happy with the lens and hope to use it the whole weekend and will share will all of you some of the highlights.
I did not stay too long in the city because it was crazy busy, and you know why, because tommorrow OKTOBERFEST STARTS!!!!
Have a great weekend everyone!

dinner and a movie

We do not go out to dinner very often, but we definitely enjoy it once and a while.  This time we tried a modern Turkish restaurant and it was a delight.  We now have a luxury of walking to almost all the restaurants in town so you can have a cocktail or two and not be worried about driving.  After dinner we went home to watch Jane Eyer downloaded from iTunes.  It was the first grown up book I read, when I was about 11 years old and bored during a hot summer and nothing on TV.  I think I read it twice in Russian and twice in English, I love it that much.  I cried when I read it but I bawled during the movie.  I totally freaked Ludwig out!!!  Men, ahahha.  The things that stood out to me about the movie were of course great acting, muted colors, and music.  I obviously enjoyed the movie, Ludwig was confused and complained that he did not understand their accents, I had to translate ;)  It was a great night!

I AM BAAAAAAAAACK!!!!

Hello world!!!

I feel like I was gone for a century!  I missed you all so much, especially YOU internet, you connect me to so many people and so many wonderful things.  I think I am about to cry I am so happy.  You think I am exagerating, try going without internet for a month and a half, try it, I dare you, you would go insane!!!  I had iPad with 3G as my 'patch', but it was just not like a real thing....you know, video streaming, fast photo uploading, flashplayer, my god I am drooling!!!

So what I was doing this whole time I was gone? Well, we finally moved in.  Here are a bunch of photos of the empty apartment.

Living room and the corner where the dinning table goes.

Our wood burning 'oven' will be great during those cold Bavarian winters.

 Entrance hallway

Bathroom with a window!!! and pretty outdated brown/pink everything.

Master bedroom

Balcony

View from the balcony!!!

 I have also been addicted to shopping at the local green market :)

I got all of this for less then €20!!!

I've been trying to go to the lake as often as possible.  I bike there, swim for 30min and bike home.  I love it and will miss it so much in the winter.

Puchermeer

Okay more to come soon!  For now here is a kiss!

I missed you all!