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Year: 2008

Published on Leave a comment on USA – East Coast

In December 2008 we spent about one week in America. We wanted to see a lot of the East Coast and visit my sister who was there as an exchange student.

We did a very interesting roundtrip:

A - New York City
B - Whippany, New Jersey
C - Long Branch, New Jersey
D - Washington D.C.
E - Philadelphia
F - New York City

New York City We started our trip in New York City. After arriving at the hotel we walked through the city. We saw the Empire State Building, but there were too many people, so we decided to take the metro to South Ferry. From there we took the Staten Island Ferry and saw the beautiful sunset behind the Statue of Liberty. On our way back we stopped at Times Square. On the next day we woke up at about 3 am and started looking for a supermarket where we could buy some food. After breakfast we went to the Empire State Building again and there were still many people, but we decided to go up anyway. We had a great view of New York from top of it. In the afternoon we went to Penn Station to catch the train to New Jersey.

In Whippany we visited my sister and her host family. It was a great experience to stay with an American family for a few days. In the evening we had ''Big Mouth Burgers'' at chili''s. They were really great! Together with my sister''s American host family, some people from Brazil and a girl from the Ukraine we went to Maggie Moos to have great ice cream.

Lena's host family lent us a car and so we decided to drive to the beach in Long Branch. Unfortunately the weather was not very good, but we still enjoyed the time there!

The next day we continue our journey to Washington. Washington is a great city. We arrived there in the evening after a 5 hours bus drive from Newark. Our hotel was amazing! In the evening we walked through the city and saw the White House. The next morning we decided to do some sightseeing, so we went to: White House, Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Pentagon, Capitol, ...

Back to the north we pass by in Philadephia for one night. Philadelphia was a stopover on our way back to New York. We spent the evening again at chili''s. In the morning after breakfast at Dunkin Donuts we went to the Benjamin Franklin Bridge, passed the Hall of Indepence, Bell of Liberty and the place where George Washington lived.

Back in New York City we went to JFK airport and took the plane back to Germany.


 
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Published on Leave a comment on Laufbacher Eck

On a wonderful day in Ocotober we take the Nebelhorn cablecar to the Edmund-Probst Haus. From there we walk the Laufbacher Eck Weg. What a great view, behind every corner a new panorama! Beautiful with the coloured leaves. After a long walk we arrive at the Prinz Luitpold Hut. The hut is already closed. We use the winter room, have some dinner outside with view to the lake. The next morning we have to go down to the valley. What a wonderful weekend 🙂

Published on Leave a comment on Dossen Hut

This was our first time in the Bernese Oberland. Unfortunately it was raining when we woke up. Nevertheless we enjoyed the breakfast and took the bus to 'Schwarzalp'. From there we started to walk to Rosenlaui. We visited the glacier gorce which was great! We wanted to go to the Dossen Hut. It stopped raining and we decided to continue. The way to the Dossen Hut has some ladders and fixed ropes and is quite difficult. But the view is fantastic! You walk along the Rosenlaui glacier and can see the hut from the beginning of the path - but far far away. The ladders and ropes were no problem. But just in between these lightening rods the sky became darker and it started to rain.. a few minutes later a storm came - a thunderstorm! No panic now! That was the scariest moment we had so far in the mountains. Luckily we had just reached the end of the secured part of the path when the thunder came. We saw the bivouac and ran to it! It was open! What a great moment - we went into it and closed the door and all windows. We lit some lights and waited. We could hear the thunder, the rain and the storm outside. Actually this bivouac was really nice, but we were really scared because of the weather outside! When we looked around in the bivouac we saw that it was opened yesterday! Would we have been there two days earlier we wouldn't be able to have this security in the thunderstorm. We couldn't believe how much luck we had.. When the thunderstorm was over we looked outside. It was still a bit up to the hut. But the weather became better, so we continued. Now the most difficult part of the way began. We had to climb up a bit on a ridge without being secured.  But then we reached the hut safe and sound. We had a great view around and enjoyed the loneliness of the hut. Only three other people were there. But then the owner of the hut told us that we have to go down the next morning - because much snow was expected! So we had a great dinner, slept well and went all the way back to Rosenlaui the next morning. We took the bus back to Grindelwald. Very exhausted we reached the hostel and the next morning our muscles were aching heavily! One trip we will never forget.

Published on Leave a comment on London

In 2008 we spent two days in London to see some of the famous sights. London has about 250 parks, 600 galleries and more than 150 museums. So it was not so easy for us to decide where to go.

There are a couple of places which are worth seeing. We had only two days, so we decided to visit the following sights:

  • Tower Bridge
  • Piccadilly Circus
  • Tower of London
  • Covent Garden
  • Chinatown
  • Buckingham Palace
  • Harrods
  • Trafalgar Square
  • Hyde Park

A cheap place to stay in London is the Piccadilly Backpackers Hostel close to Piccadilly Circus.

After arriving in London we walked along the river Thames and saw the Houses of Parliament and the London Eye. Further on we saw Tower Bridge and the Tower of London.

In the evening we went to China Town to enjoy some chinese food.

The next day we took the tube to Harrods. It is the biggest posh shopping center in Europe. We were there in August and they had already opened the Christmas department. We walked through Hyde Park and saw Buckingham Palace and the Changing of the Guard at 11:30.

A nice place for lunch is Covent Carden which is a market and also full of small shops and street artists. There you can enjoy some English jacked potatoe with baked beans. On our way we crossed Trafalgar Square and visited the National Gallery.

Published on Leave a comment on Great time in Somerset

Somerset is located in the south west of England. It's in the countryside. We have some friends in Crewkerne and in 2008 we stayed there for a couple of days.

We did a trip to Lyme Regis which is a small town at the coast.

On the next day we did a cycling tour to Cricket St. Thomas Wildlife Park. They had many different animals and it was definitly worth a visit. Unfortunately the park was closed in 2009.

On our way back to Crewkerne we stopped at a pub to have lunch.