Visiting Thomas and the 16th p53 workshop in Stockholm

After Doreen's wedding party (15.06.), I drove to Frankfurt airport in the morning. From their, Franzi went to Hamburg with my car and I flew to Stockholm for the 16th p53 workshop and to visit Thomas. On my arrival I was quickly reminded that almost everything in Sweden is payed by credit card, such as the bus :) Thomas picked me up from the bus stop and showed me his comfy flat in Bergshamra including a guest room dedicated to me only :P
I started early morning for the conference which took place at the Waterfront Congress Center. A very nice location... maybe a bit too big for our conference of ~400 scientists. During the days I visited the conference, while Thomas and Nadine were working... at evening Thomas and I went out for some beers with his friends from university and watched games of the football world cup :D Although it was about midsummer in Stockholm, it was cold after my arrival. While in Germany they proclaimed the hottest weekend since ages, Swede's press was pronouncing the coldest midsummer ever... lucky me... always when I visit Sweden it is cold such as in November 2011 and March 2010. If at all, July until September might be the nice months in Sweden^^ One of the highlights of the conference was a dinner in the city hall of Stockholm, where usually the Nobel Laureates dine every year.
Franzi joined us for midsummer (20.06.). We visited a traditional Swedish midsummer event... though, it is rather a holiday for families instead of partying as I hoped it would be :P On the way back we walked past Ulriksdal Palaca. At the evening we had BBQ dinner with some friends of Thomas. The next day (21.06.) we went sightseeing, as it was Franzi's first time to Stockholm. Starting with a visit of the city hall. Then a walk to the palace, where we watched a guard exchange, and through the old center of Gamla Stan. Further walking past the beautiful museums until Skansen. There we entered the ABBA museum, which turned out to be a lot of fun! Mexican dinner in Södermalm and an evening walk across Slussterassen. A creat tourist day in Stockholm... solely missed warm weather :P The next morning (22.06.) we just had a walk at Brunnsviken lake in Bergshamra before Franzi and I caught our flight back to Germany.

Exploring Swedish midsummer...

traditional Swedish clothing at midsummer fest

Group picture at Stockholms landmark :)

Group picture at the top of Slussterassen

My first wedding party: Mannheim, Bobenheim, Battenberg

From Danny's place I drove to Mannheim (11.06.) and checked in at our hotel room. Then I went to Mannheim center to buy smart shoes as I forgot to bring mine for the wedding. Later Franzi arrived by train from Leipzig at the central station.
The next morning (12.06.) we went to the first wedding part at the civil registry service (Standesamt). This was only for family as well as groomsman and main bridesmaid. Franzi was the latter. The ceremony was followed by a come together with drinks and later lunch. Afterwards we separated, Franzi and I went for swimming :)
The next day (13.06.) Franzi showed me around Mannheim. The old castle - today main university building... as well as the parks that are filled with all these cute rabbits^^

After wedding at the civil registry service
I, Franzi, Lukas, Doreen, Alex, Nora

Franzi enjoying the sparkling wine^^

Lunch :D

The important day arrived (14.06.)... Franzi helped the bride in the morning. Together with the groom's sister and the groomsman I prepared the flat of bride and groom. Then we drove to Bobenheim am Berg and checked in at the Exquisit hotel which was comfy but pricey. The preparations of the bride continued. Together we went to the church in Battenberg where the Christian marriage took place. A cute church and a nice pastor. After the ceremony we went to an old vineyard to celebrate. A pleasant party, great food and a lot of fun :) see for yourself...

Don't look! Bride and groom are kissing...
(can you spot the cheaters?)

Franzi and I

Having fun^^
Steffen, Lukas, Laura, Doreen, Franzi, I

Playing games...

Fun at the photobox...

sweeties^^

Laughing with the groom...

3) Geneve, Lausanne, Fribourg and Bern

The next morning (10.06.) we drove to Geneve center and parked our car near Parc de la Grange. Just like in Zürich, the water in Geneve was cristal clear. We walked past Pont du Mont Blanc and along the Rhone until we crossed another bridge back. Then we walked through Geneve's center and up Cathedral Saint-Pierre from where we had a great view. It is great to see the lake as well as mountains of th alps in the back. A charming city :)
We continued to drive through Switzerland and stopped in Lausanne next to the Cathedral. From there we also enjoyed a great view over the city before we walked up and down through the narrow alleys of Lausanne's center. Before we continued to Fribourg we also visited the Cathedral inside.
Fribourg is not a big city, still we had troubles to find the center^^ We parked our car near the central station, which is still a few hundred meters away from Fribourg's center. It's location atop a hill is great and provided us nice views again.
Our last place to visit was Bern this day. Unluckily some bad weather came up there. In Bern we parked right in the center beneath the main market. Bern was filled with flags and fountains. The latter Bern is very famous for. As well as for his old clock tower. We even spotted one of the two brown bears at Bärengraben. Then it started raining and after some light dinner at McDonalds again (everything else turned out to be whooping expensive), we decided to drive back to Danny's place that night. We visited the places we planned to visit and rather wanted to save the 100+€ on accomodation. 300km remaining after driving only 150km from Geneve to Bern^^ The rain became a true rainstorm and we had some troubles filling up gasoline in Bern... that unluckily burned some money. But after an hour and a half we were back in Germany, fully filled our tank and arrived at Danny's place at midnight.

cristal clear water in Geneve while crossing the Pont du Mont Blanc

View from Cathedral Saint-Pierre

Geneve's landmark - the huge water fountain in the lake

Lausanne's great Cathedral

up and down the narrow alleys of Lausanne :)

view of Fribourg's center (upper left) and its valley (right)

Bern's main street in the historic center colored by flags

Bern's famous clock tower

beutiful little Bern :)

2) Milan and the way through Aosta Valley and Mont Blanc

From Astona we drove to Ponte Tresa right past the border on the Italian side. There we went to a supermarket to buy things for brunch. We were happy about the low prices compared to Switzerland^^ Then we enjoyed our food at the shore of Lago Lugano. Afterwards we drove to Milan. There we first parked our car in an underground parking house in the city and visited the main Piazza del Duomo with the famour Duomo di Milano. The buildings in Milan are impressive and remembered me of Vienna. Especially the empressive Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. At a nearby McDonalds we bought some ice cream suiting the sunny day and we used the internet there to find and book an accomodation for the night. We decided to stay at Hotel Mokinba King. It was supposed to have 4* but it was definitely not worth more than 3*. However, the price we payed was half of the normal price and the location was great. So we still considered it a good deal :) And we found some free parking around Parco Sempiore, which was just 20min walking. We then continued to explore Milan's center. At the evening we were searching for some dinner and were extremely unlucky. The worst pizza I remember to have eaten for a steep price. And when we were looking for some drinks afterwards, all places in Milan center were closed. No bars and not even cheap stores sold any more drinks. We were extremely disappointed by Milan's nightlife. I just hope for Milan's people that there are some better places outside the city center. Or maybe Milan's people keep everything closed on Monday evenings... one day we might solve this puzzle^^
The next day (09.06.) we drove towards Geneve. On the way we past the beautiful Aosta Valley. Our lunch there was disappointing as well, even if not as bad as the pizza the day before. I assume good Italian food can rather be found in the south than in the north. Our way continued to Mont Blanc, Central Europe's highest mountain. It was the first time I saw a glacier! But we should have checked the costs to go through its tunnel beforehand... it cost us more than 50€. On the other side a beautiful scenery was waiting as well. We decided to stop and have some walk. First we went to Cascade du Dard before we decided to climb uphill a path next to Torrent de la Creuse. I was pushing Danny's limits^^ We stopped when a thunderstorm was approaching and drove to Annemasse next to Geneve. As it is on the French side it offers much cheaper accomodation. We filled our tank, ate at the local McDonalds and found the Park & Suits hotel. Close to the Swiss border for our trip the next day... we then bought some beer at a local store, sat nearby the hotel and finally enjoyed some drinks again^^

Piazza del Duomo with Duomo di Milano

impressive Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II

Funny art place :)

Milan's streets after sunset...

...some of the streets are really cosy

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II at night

Piazza del Duomo at night with a nice moon...

...which I was happy to take a photo of :) I like my new camera^^

Aosta Valley

Lunch in Aosta Valley before going through Mont Blanc tunnel...
Danny finds that "great" food funny^^

A glacier above the Mont Blanc tunnel

Nice nature near Cascade du Dard

1) Rhine Falls, Zürich and Astano

Friday (06.06.) afternoon I drove from Leipzig to Danny in Tübingen. After some dinner, several beers and good talks we went to sleep. The next morning (07.06.) we started early from Tübingen towards Switzerland. Our first stop was for the Rhine Falls near Schaffenhausen. A nice place to stop on your way... maybe not worth it to make a trip there only for these waterfalls which rather make a big cascade. We then continued to Zürich. We parked our car close to the central station. Danny was in Zürich before and so showed me the city. I was surprised by several things in the city... first of all the air felt very clear, almost like visiting a hill village instead of a town. Second, the city was more silent than many villages because of a lot of noise reducing mechanisms that are implemented in roads and tram system. Finally, the water quality in the harbour was astonishing... I could see the ground but not a single piece of waste in the water. This is incredible considering the city has over 400,000 citizens! Though, all this comes with very high prices. We bought some ice cream that cost us 3,50€ a scoop. After Zürich we drove to Lugano. The way offered amazing sceneries and we also drove through the famous Gotthardt Tunnel. In Lugano we ate pizza and pasta at some outside place during sundown. We were luckily to find a Couchsurfing host last minute - Nichola from Astona. Luckily the place was on our gps map. Still, the ride was quite an adventure as Nichola's place was close to tiny Astona but still an unpaved road downhill through a forest away. This was another of the very remarkable CS-experiences we had. Nichola lives in a small house built on old farm house ruins... the farmers left a century ago. The place is all forest on a steep hill with a few handmade terraces for farming. He grows not only his own vegetables but also makes his own lemonade and coffee. He also produces Shishas and has a selfmade server computer. The strangest ensemble of highest technology in purest nature I have ever seen. We played some table soccer and had many great talks. The coffee he offered us the next morning was incredible and just as good as the one I drank in Costa Rica. The only thing we could offer in return was bringing his rubbish with our car to Astano^^

I at the Rhine Falls

Clear air and water make the harbour views great!

Cristal clear water in Zürich

Amazing scenery on our way from Zürich to Lugano

View of Nichola's place in the forest from his window

Tiny but cute Astano