Canada's most embarrassing mayor...

Source: Tagesschau.de

...now has made it into German news, too. The article summarizes the scandal pretty well, although only starting in May (as far as we remember Ford started acting strangely a long time before that). For everybody Non-Canadian who might not know the background:

Ford, who is the mayor of the City of Toronto, supposedly
- used substances (incl a DUI charge in Miami)
- is an alcoholic
- has insulted various people with offensive language
- was driving drunk
- was reading and texting while driving
- has threatened that he would kill somebody
- and on and on

Apparently the law does not provide the possibility to fire him during his term, so the Toronto City Council removed some of the most important aspects of his power.

Many of the comments of the article draw comparisons to Italy's Berlusconi who is widely considered as the worst politician alive in the view of many Germans. Looks like he has found a worthy competitor...

It's the Law: Winter Tyres!

A few years back Germany implemented a new highway code regulation that makes the installation of winter tyres on all axles compulsory from November 1st to April 15 for all passenger vehicles and motorcycles (yes, that goes for foreigners also), that is if the vehicle is driven through wintery conditions such as snow, black ice, or frost. Note: You are good, when it's just mild and wet in winter.

The rule is simple: If you get caught driving on summer tires you will get fined, if you get stuck or delay traffic you will get fined double, if you cause an accident you will get fined big time, gather some points and likely pay for the damage caused yourself (the insurance will cover for the damage to the aggrieved party, however it will reclaim moneys from the responsible party). Also, one could lose insurance coverage for the future.

Red: Winter tryres mandatory!

Source

We had recently fitted winter tyres to our car, surprised how cheap they were compared to cost in Canada. So far we haven't seen any snow but mornings are getting a bit nippy lately. Temperatures are around 0C (32F), and aren't climbing much during the day. 

No winter tyre conditions yet, but for all we care, the white stuff doesn't have to visit, because sans snow and ice we will be good just to ride on.

Visitors from the North

Mom, Sis and son had been over for the weekend, and we offered our usual tourist package, well some of it. Actually it was very little since we were mostly busy entertaining the little guy.

It involved strolling through Gengenbach Old Town to find a toilet for him, and then a walk along the river, for a stop over at a playground he had spotted earlier. Mom had to pose quickly for the few sights we got to see, meanwhile the little guy - unattended - got his hands (and his sleeves) wet.

He is attracted to everything watery, and this might even mean volunteering doing the dishes. Really!

Walking along the old town wall.

While the sky looks threatening.

Look, a playground!

And if there wasn't a playground around, but the need to climb aroused the little guy made do with what came across his path.

We watched two cats on a roof discussing the world's problems.

More water! Gimme rocks to throw (please)!

And another playground.

And somebody just made his day: A ride on a tractor!

It had been quite a different program compared to what we usually recommend to people visiting the area. However, we pretty much know all playgrounds in the vicinity now  ;-)

A Travel and Language Comic: Second Mother Tongue

Here is a very cute comic that shows the problems of English speaking folks trying to learn German while in Germany...

Itchy Feet: A Travel and Language Comic: Second Mother Tongue

A River and a Mountain

November seems to be bringing wet weather to the Black Forest. It was pouring with rain, with strong gales around 100km/h (62 mph), hence it wasn't ideal riding weather. My Harley might have been able to fight the wind gusts but the Vespas would have been pummeled and beaten off the road.

Stormy weather is at its best when close to water, so we drove to river Rhine to take a walk on the wild side - the Nature Habitat.

The French utility company EDF operates a number of hydro stations along the river and also (have to) do their share to preserve nature.

Weirs are controlling water levels, and help channeling the water into the Grand Canal d'Alsace where the ship's traffic is headed while another arm of the Rhine can meander freely through the meadows.

The waters were quite choppy and spilled over the barrier. At the edge of the canal huge warning signs are put up. This is not a swimming pool. The water is flowing fast and is full of dangerous eddies.

A network of bicycle roads and hiking trails lead through the habitat on the right side, and the area is usually quite popular with nature lovers, however today we had it all to ourselves.

The canal.

At the border. No walls, no barbed wire, no watch towers. Roland on the German side, and Sonja on the French side.

The Rhine forest provides habitat for critters as well as all kinds of plants that only grow where the Rhine flows naturally like he had done at the time before the river was straightened out in a 19th century ship traffic improvement project.

Relaxed and reasonably hungry we turned around at one point, knowing that a lot more hiking trails wait to be discovered at another day.

After a refreshing meal we continued our journey towards Kaiserstuhl. We were too tired for another expedition on foot so we decided just to drive around a little.

Eventually (well, it was a mere 35km further) we were back in the Black Forest, and although late in the day we decided to take one more detour.

A very nice twisty road leads up to the Kandel, with 1241m (4,072ft) the highest peak in the Middle Black Forest.

It was cold and windy and we were almost at level with the clouds. At least it wasn't snowing just yet, but it can't be long now until the Black Forest will be under a blanket of white stuff. Actually we are quite curious how the winters will be in this part of Germany. 

The light was almost gone so we headed for home, but we were glad to have spent the day outside despite the adverse weather conditions.

Too Old To Rock'n Roll?!

Roland: The number one musical hero of my youth was Manfred Mann, who somehow appeared to be an old man already at the height of his Earth Band at the end of the Seventies. I remember visiting London in 1980 where a radio station played 'For You' and the voice on the radio explained that "he is quite old now: Forty already!".

Manfred Mann's Earth Band is known in North America pretty much only for their version of Springsteen's 'Blinded By The Light', but in Europe they were a top act in the Seventies and early Eighties filling the biggest arenas. While their albums changed from Rock to Pop over the years their concerts continued to be a tour de force in improvisation: usually the song lengths doubled or tripled in comparison to the album versions, fired by speed changes, solos and moog vs. guitar duels.

Manfred Mann is 73 now and the Earth Band still exists, but nowadays they play smaller cities and venues. When I read that they would give a concert in Appenweier, a mere 30 minutes drive from our home,  I decided to get nostalgic again, being fully aware that this would be a whole 'nother trip than the perfectionist Peter Gabriel concert two weeks ago.

So after surviving a disastrous one hour gig by Barclay James Harvest featuring Les Holroyd (another big act in Europe in the 70s) I was not sure what to expect from my old heroes. When they finally entered the stage it became obvious right away that these guys are NOT to old to Rock'n Roll. The two founding members, Manfred Mann and Mick Rogers, seemed to have as much fun as they always did, the new singer did not have the slightest problems with the catalogue, and the rhythm section was as precise as always. Being the keyboarder of the band Manfred Mann is usually stuck behind his equipment but still he managed to dance over the stage a couple of times, even shaking his booty once! Not bad for a guy in his Seventies!

Unfortunately the set list did not change a lot during the last two decades(!), but the band manages to breathe new life into each and every song whenever I see them. But as much fun it was seeing them again, there is always the sad feeling involved that there won't be many more of these opportunities in the future...

Living a Little (as per Billy Connolly)

Billy Connolly said once: There's no such thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothing, so get yourself a sexy raincoat and live a little.

After yesterday's gorgeous weather we got a terrible thunderstorm last night that kept us awake for hours. We woke up to continued heavy rainfalls, and were somewhat content spending our Sunday playing inside. There was a household to maintain, and laundry to do. But by early afternoon the weather showed a slight improvement, and so we decided to go out for a little hike. We reckoned that the nearby All Saints Waterfalls must carry lots of water after last night's torrential rainfalls.

A short drive on a twisty road would lead us to an empty parking lot. It looked like people had shied away due to the adverse weather conditions. We donned our BC proof wet weather gear, and hiked up the trail (and climbed more than 230 steps).

As expected the falls roared with water. One could barely understand one's own word. There were big and small photo ops along the path, and we often stopped to snap a picture.

After climbing up the gorge for a bit more than a kilometer we ended up in a valley. It was the very same valley that we had visited a few times before but from another angle.

We had arrived on the premises of the monastery ruin of All Saints.

The gloomy light would make for an interesting atmosphere inside the broken walls, and we had a hard time parting with the ever changing motive whenever one was changing the perspective. This must truly be a photographer's heaven.

Eventually we moved on, and visited a little shop nearby that sold local produce such as jams, honey, local handcraft and schnapps in all varieties.

We were curious to taste the regional spirits, and were offered a sip of a pear schnapps and a peach liquor. The alcohol tickled our taste buds. The stuff was very fruity, and - to be honest - it was quite tasty.

Our final loop would lead us to a war memorial built in the mid twenties of the last century. Curiously it was surrounded by deer which didn't shy away upon our arrival. They must be used to visitors.

After recurring rainfalls finally the sun came out at the end of the day. It warmed up to an unbelievable 15C (59F) at five o'clock in the afternoon, and the light was simply beautiful.

We knew just the place to be, and drove up the nearby mountain (almost 1,000m - 3,300ft high). We expected to get to get a spectacular view from here.

And again, we were not disappointed.

Breathtaking vistas!

Sunday started out a bit dull due to the rain, and a certain lack of motivation. But once we had gotten out of our shelter the weather couldn't keep us apart from having a great day. Indeed we lived a little today  ;-)