200 Jahre Oktoberfestjubiläum, München 2010

200 years ago the royal wedding of Prins Ludwig and Princess Therese set the start of most probably the most famous Volksfest around the world: the Oktoberfest! To this year big anniversary a new historical part does welcome all the curious visitors...

Here one may choose between the "Museumzelt" and the" Kultuzelt", horse-racing and old-fashioned carousels ... The guests may enjoy the boat swing from 1925, smell and taste the famous fish grilled on stick or walk around while nibbeling on freshly cut cheese sticks

It was really pleasant experience for my lunch break and i have to say that here I did not encounter so many drunk people as outside of the Historisches Oktoberfest:-)

Bronsttijd in Hogeveluwe/ red deer rutting season in Hoge Veluwe

September is the rutting time for the red deer in the Nationalpark Hoge Veluwe. During that period the male herds (groups) break up as they compete for female attention. A stag has to work work if he wants to become a leader- this includes a lot of macho behavior, belling ( the deep throaty mating roar) and sometimes even fighting.

Together with the famous Dutch wildlife photographer Jan Vermeer myself and a group of enthusiastic photographers from my expats photography club "Images" enjoyed some great animal show yesterday afternoon...Jan brought some toys from Nikon like 400 and 500mm lenses:-) Thats why the really impressive results-as deers were not that close!

The only annoying thing was that it was not really a secret tip as more 200 photo-addicts were there too...

Kootwijkerzand in the morning light....

A very early morning walk today in the biggest living sand dune in Europe, Kootwijkerzand in the Veluwe-area. We were there shortly before sunrise (around 6.45 am) and enjoyed the yellow colours of the morning sun from a wooden platform.

Afterwards everyone went its own way in the search of some treasures. I had some fun with water drops and piece of wood looking like an animal:-)

Swedish nature: collecting berries and mushrooms in the forest...

Swedish forest have over 100.000 different mushrooms! Only around 100 of them are eatable. With my friend Karin, a real mushroom-connoisseur, we have collected in some 1,5 hours a bag of chanterelles (de. Pfifferling/ bg. Пачи крак) and 2-3 boletus(de. Steinpilze/ bg.манатарка). For our luck we also found some fresh blueberries as well as red lingonberries.

The mushrooms we did cook later in the frying pan with some edame-beans (on the top we put a piece of goat cheese). The berries were the final touch of our dessert: a Turkish yoghurt plus fresh honey (the one we got from the Rosendals terrass)....really yummy!

Attention: the mushroom below is one of the not edible ones! But it was nice for the picture...

Stockholm from above: view from the town hall (stadhusset)

An impressive view of the center of the city offers the beautiftul town hall of Stockholm. Only 30 persons (at once, entrance every 40 min) are allowed to enter and climb the stairs of the tow hall tower, leading to the top view platform.

At around 120 meters above the city one enjoys the great mix of colours and fresh air. The tower is decorated with the famous sign of three crowns.

Rosendals Terrass in Stockholm...

A lovely place for a walk and for a delicious and organic lunch (on a sunny day) is the Rosendals garden on the green Stockholm island Djurgarden. My friend Karin took me there directly from the airport. People may cut some flowers in the flower garden, other just enjoy having lunch under the apple and pear trees. Very relaxing atmosphere indeed...From the restaurant located in a green house we got the daily fish dish with some fresh veggies.

Afterwards we took a look in the garden shop: some creative garden pods and decoration ideas were on display. Later we even some really fresh honey from the local beekeeper-the jars were filed up in front of our eyes.

Stockholm: colourful capital on 14 islands!

Stockholm does definitely deserve the name "Venice of the North"! This colourful and impressive capital is at the same time cozy, beautiful and majestic. A walk through Gambla Stan, the old city center, is really nice thing to do early in the morning...The island Skeppsholmen hosts several museums such as: the Modern Art Museum, the East-Asian Museum and the Architectural Museum (the red building on the picture). The huge white sailing boat parked in its side is the most famous youth hostel n Stockholm.

A lovely hide-away from the busy touristic areas is the terasse of Evert Taube, on the island Riddarholmen. Evert was a Swedish musical composer, author and composer who was born in 1890 and lived until 1976, living most of his life in Stockholm, Sweden.I had a great local guide, my friend Karin, so here I would like to say a big "tack så mycket" for her super company and guided tours:)

Another breathtaking thing of Stockholm is the fact that over 30% of the city area is made up of waterways and another 30% is made up of parks and green spaces!!!in 2009, Stockholm was awarded title of first European Green Capital by the European Commission.