Blogs from North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, Europe - page 3

Budicek 5/15. Rychle pobalenie sa na dve noci, nasadnutie do auta a smer fut.stadion dolna streda. Pred tento velkolepy svatostanok prichadzam presne o 6/00 (testovanie zacina o 7/00). Uz tu stepuje asi 5clenna skupinka dievok. No tie sa neprisli otestovat ale oni budu robit testy. Ma posielaju nech si idem este nakupit alebo proste nech este niekam idem, bo testy zacinaju az o 7/00. Co samozrejme neakceptujem a staviam sa k natiahnutej paske vo vyske clenkov pri budove. Som tu prvy, asi po 15.min prichadza dalsi zaujemca. Ukecana zenska zrejme uz v dochodcovskom veku resp tesne pred dochodkom. Vdaka nej cas ubeha dost rychlo. Postupne zacinaju prichadzat dalsi a dalsi ludia. Par desiatok miut pred zaciatkom testovania, prichadza miestny 78rocny spravca tunajsieho cintorina. Suverejne vyhlasuje, ze on ma privilegia a stavia sa na zaciatok rady. Ja ... read more

For me, board games have always been a social endeavour. I started out playing as a way to hang out with my friends. I carried it on as a way to meet more people, always preferring games that are full of interactions, dialogues and (hopefully friendly) negotiating. Living in New Zealand, the biggest convention that I had attended was about 150 people, where we got together and just played games for 2 days straight. When I heard about Essen, there was something about the size and scale of the event that my mind didn’t really comprehend. Two hundred THOUSAND people under one roof to mingle over board games seemed like the ultimate social board gaming experience. Accommodation preparation I knew that my ideal Essen trip would need to be with a group of other fun social ... read more

One of the things to do for Marion on this trip was to go to a German city on the Rhine. So off we went, and we invited Peter also, since he had not been this far into Germany yet. It’s only about a 75-minute drive, but the highway is quite busy with international trucking. We noticed almost right away when we entered Germany, that there looked to be more space and that land use was not as tightly organized. The highways too were not as numerous and had fewer interchanges. And believe it or not, the speed limits were a bit slower than the 130km/hr on most highways in the Netherlands. We found a central parking space close to the Altstadt or old city. We walked though the area with numerous restaurants, probably one or ... read more

July 22 Cologne We had a fabulous dinner last night with our new found friends, Diana, John, Beatriz and Terry. There was much laughter reminiscing about the ill fated windmill tour in the Netherlands but now we we sail on to Germany.......... This is our first time on tour in Germany and Cologne is our first port of call. We were told the city was nearly destroyed in WWII and that there is only a very small portion of any medieval buildings left. The biggest of these would be the Cologne Cathedral named after Saint Peter, so off we bused to explore what we could of Cologne which sits right at the waters edge on both sides of the Rhine. The enormous Cathedral is easily seen from a distance. The bus dropped us off in front ... read more

Short trip to my old birth place. Should be an interesting trip, a trip down memory lane, providing that everything works OK, and the timetable works. A trip that would not be allowed if certain family members had their way. Anyway, first message received this morning telling me that the flight would be delayed by 30 minutes. That will mean a bit of a rush from arriving in Düsseldorf to catch the 18.02 train To Bielefeld and Lemgo. Not a good start, got a phone message to tell me that my flight is delayed until 16.05. Which means, of course, that l will miss my connection and probably not get to my hotel until at least 23.00. Arrived at my least liked Manchester Airport and found the usual chaos. Information board tells me that my flight ... read more