The benefit of travelling is meeting lots of people which somehow after a couple of days think they like you and then offer accommodation in case you ever come to their hometown. This was also the case with Jens which I met and travelled with (remember the 36 hour bus ride) in Mozambique. Little did he know that one day we will turn up on his doorstep in Cologne. That in short is the story how we ended up visiting Cologne (Jens was in fact excited to see us and he actually mean it when he invited me) Cologne is mostly famous for its massive Dome (I’m sure it’s the biggest in some category) which amazingly survived the second world war undamaged which is surprising as everything around it was levelled. The other two claims to ... read more

I said this about many places but we really didn’t intent to go to Italy to go skiing. The closest we ever got to plan a visit in Italy was Kellie's wish to rent a villa in Tuscany and learn cooking from an Italian Nona. Anyway I convinced her that December is not the best time to visit and sit in a cold villa so this plan was off the table. The reason why we went to Italy was me not planning anything (see that's a good thing) and being really surprised that after I told friends that I will be in Stuttgart sometime in the New Year the reply was “but we won’t be”. Wasn't a good conversation until he mentioned that they go skying and that there is a chance of some space being ... read more

Amman is certainly by far the most boring capital city we have been too. It is just too modern, the streets are clean, the traffic jams are small, no chaos, the people are friendly and there is not too much to see or do. We only went to a Roman theatre, Walked up to the old fort, marvelled at the third highest (126 meter) flagpole in the world and had some decent food and sweets. As usual the main ingredient in desserts or any sweet in the Middle East is sugar, sugar and more sugar which is then topped off with sugar water or honey. One of the local specialties which does not only contains sugar is made out of a mozzarella like cheese base with a crunchy top drenched with sugar water. Grown adults were ... read more

It’s a long story why we headed back down to Eilat at the Red Sea and it has to do with border crossings and visas and I spare you the details. More exciting (for me) was that the trip involved a car and me behind the wheel. I really miss driving around and being able to stop wherever we like. So we boarded our new four wheels and headed south again. One of the things not to miss when coming to Israel is to float in the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea has a very high concentration of salt and other stuff which makes the water a lot more dense than the usual salt water. Ein Gedi was our chosen point of entry. The Dead Sea is actually in danger of disappearing and the water level ... read more

There are many scary stories of people sitting in their underwear at the Israeli border for hours while being interviewed by the Israeli border guards. Luckily (or unfortunately as it would have been a great story) our Egypt - Israel border crossing was quite uneventful. I was asked lots of question (why do you want to come to Israel. Incorrect answer: to support the Palestinians, where do you live? Why do you live there? Do you want to work in Israel? Is this your girlfriend?) by a rather young Israeli woman behind the desk. She gave me the dreaded Israel stamp once she was satisfied that I am not an Arab trying to blow up the country or even worse want to illegally work in Israel. The Israeli entry stamp is dreaded (commonly known as Israeli ... read more