Reconnecting

All the way back in 1982 I studied at the university in Wuerzburg for a year. It was sort of part of a new exchange program at the University of New Mexico, and Claudia from Wuerzburg went to Albuquerque while I was here. Her boyfriend, Uli, became my good friend in Wuerzburg, and Claudia and her friends hung out with Greg in Albuquerque a bit. Over the years, we have kept in touch, not always faithfully, but still, I knew they were in Altoetting, not far from Munich. We saw them last in 1999 (we think that's the year!) when Greg and I and the boys visited them and their kids on a big Germany trip. Yesterday I spent the day with Claudia and Uli, and it was such a great feeling to jump right back in where we left off. It is really true that the oldest friends are the best ones.

Yes, I ate all of this. It was so yummy!

Here's hoping the next Wiedersehen will not be so far away!

Toe-up Socks Are Finished!

These may look like ordinary knitted socks, but I think they are really special! As I wrote in my earlier post about these, they are knitted from toe to cuff, instead of the other way around. They fit perfectly. I really like this method of knitting socks, and I am so proud of them!

Beautiful Bavaria

Conrad was just here for a week long visit, and we took a couple of fun sightseeing trips together. Unfortunately, it rained most of the time he was here, but the sun shone gloriously for his last couple of days. We went on a hike together on one of the last days of rain, when it was down to just a drizzle. We started at the town of Tutzing on Starnberg, a large lake reachable from Munich by S-bahn or the regional rail. On a clear day, you can see the Alps all along the southern edge of the lake. The picture above shows the view of the lake from a forest and meadow area above Tutzing (called Ilkahoehe).

Here's Conrad on the trail. . .

and here's a nice meadow picture. It was such a memorable hike and day, despite the rain.

Switzerland

This past weekend I visited the parents of my sister-in-law Barbara in Switzerland. In all the time I've spent in Europe, I haven't seen much of Switzerland, so this was really a great opportunity to do that. Barbara's parents were wonderful, and the scenery was amazing! Above is a picture of the Oberhofen Castle on Thun Lake, not too far from Bern where Barbara's parents live.

Here are the Swiss Alps as seen from the town of Thun.

Above is the castle in Thun. For more pictures from my visit, click here.

A New Way to Knit Socks

This odd-looking item is a sock, knitted from the toe up, rather than from the cuff down to the toe. Knitting from the toe up has become quite popular recently, but like many things in knitting, I doubt that it's really new. I'm sure knitters have been doing it this way for centuries. I am enjoying it so far because it seems faster (not sure why that would be), and I can try it on as I go along. I also figured out that my guage on my last few pairs of socks has been too loose, and the socks don't fit as snugly as I would like. So for these I am using smaller needles and I cast on fewer stitches than usual. So far, they are nice and snug. The yarn is a self-striping, fingering weight, wool blend called "Meilenweit Merino," and the pattern is "wendy's toe-up sock pattern," found through ravelry.

Recently Read

The Old Devils (1986) by Kingsley Amis. A long, rambling and kinda crazy story about a group of Welsh friends who meet up again when they are getting on in years. I thought about putting this down several times while reading it, but I love Amis's humour, and the ending made it all worth it.

A Handful of Dust (1934) by Evelyn Waugh. I didn't remember that I had read this before until I was well into it, but it certainly was worth a re-read. It's one of the great ones! It chronicles the story of a young British couple in the 1920s. It's fascinating how modern their lives sound.

Das Wochenende (2010) by Bernhard Schlink. Schlink wrote the best-selling novel The Reader that was turned into a movie. In both novels he presents difficult moral issues that the characters struggle with. I appreciate what he tries to do, but I don't think he does it very well. Somehow, I don't find the situations he sets up to be believable, or maybe it's the characters that aren't believable.

Dreamers of the Day (2008) by Mary Doria Russell. I have been reading a fair amount of historical fiction lately that is really good and quite believable. This belongs to that category. I loved it. It's a beautifully told story about the Middle East in the days of Lawrence of Arabia and Winston Churchhill (between the world wars).

Romeo and Juliet (1597 (first appeared)) by William Shakespeare. What can I say, it's Romeo and Juliet!

Schliersee, Bavaria

This part of Bavaria is full of many small glacial lakes with charming villages around their shores. I hiked around this lake, called the Schliersee (photo from flickr), with some friends today. The hike was about 10 kilometers long, and there was a bit of a detour to go up the hillside to see the ruins of a fortress first built by the Romans in about 400 A.D. It was a gorgeous, sunny day in Bavaria, and many people were out enjoying the weather, but the trail was not too crowded. The same cannot be said of the train going back to Munich! There were so many of us crowded into the little local train, you would have thought it was the subway in Tokyo. But it was a great day, and a nice way to start the week.

Happy Birthday to Chris today!