Holland sailing trip

I was never on such a big sailing boat before. Together with some colleagues I was heading to Holland once again, for a 3 day sailing boat trip. The first day, when leaving the harbour in Harlingen, can't be worse. Stormy weather, I was wearing all cloths I had with me. It was freezing cold, and no way out. The only thing that helps was to standy right next to the chimney, to get dry as soon as possible.

Bikes infront of church in Amsterdam, look at the front wheel

There was also a bit extra time to spend an evening in Amsterdam for Koninginnedag. The whole city was full of party and coloured in orange. Pretty cool to see. I also met some good old friends from Brielle. Good to see those guys again.

The partner boat, a little bit ahead of us

The weather was calming down a bit. Sometimes, I just found myself on deck, relaxing and falling asleep, with the sun in my face. Let the others do the work, I was taking a time out.

Sunset in habour of Makkum

Last night, we approached Makkum, and saw the sun setting this way. Nice finish, definitely.

Haven't been there before and almost seen everything

Hill top view from Parc de Montjuic towars Torre Agbar

Easter time, that means time to go somewhere and spend a long lovely weekend abroad. Rome came into my mind first, but the city might be fully booked. Thus, why not discovering Barcelona - a city with heaps of things to see.

Queue of umbrellas infront of the Pablo Picasso Museum, downtown Barcelona

Main Entrance to Park Güell

Fingerfood in a typical tavern - just make your choice

Sagrada Familia, still under construction, completion year unknown

Melchsee-Frutt once again

Claus, Hoschi and me (from right) at Bonistock ski station

Time for repeating the annual skiing action in Switzerland once again. Karl was awaiting our approach at Melchsee-Frutt on Wednesday, starting to ski on the following (sunny) Thursday. We took the last gondola to get to the top, and it didn't take long to be equipped with the first "Jagertee". The more relaxing the first evening was, the more will follow the next day.

View to the south, towards Sätteli, and Grimsel further on

Claus, without hesitation, was waking people up by firing some snowballs in one's face. Disgusting thing to start the day with, but effective. The weather was excellent, thus skiing was more than enjoyable. We finished the day off with having some drinks in the sauna, falling to bed almost dead, going into a coma for the rest of the night until snowballs were hitting the face early next morning ...

Without anyone else - enough space to rotate :)

Little roadtrip to the east - Prague

There is surely better weather to start with in a new year, but Prague was making it special in a certain way. The capital of the Czech Republic had some things to offer, Prague Castle, Charles Bridge, city centre for strolling around during daytime, having dinner somewhere in one of the numerous restaurants and a variety of clubs to go hard.

Surrounding mountains offer great lookouts down to the river Moldau (Vltava) and the city centre. Grab a coffee, sit down and relax.

Back in the UAE

Arriving back in UAE we had 1 day to explore Abu Dhabi as much as possible. That would mean a lot of walking through downtown Abi Dhabi (= "Father of Deer", pretty funny name). An impressive city, but way too big to walk around, and it's just not designed for doing so. One spectacular highlight was the Sheikh Zayed Mosque, the largest mosque in the UAE and numbers during Eid can be more than forty thousand people.

Always great to look at - Abu Dhabi skyline at night, seen from Abu Dhabi Theatre.

Crossing the border - entering Oman

After spending the first day in Oman, we picked up our car at the airport. Finishing the way off wasn't that easy. Numerous passport and border checkpoint were slowing us down, and it has been around midnight already. We stayed at Tobi's place, in the middle of somewhere, hard to find in the dark at 2 am. Next day: Off to Muscat.

The second day in Oman was starting with a little off road track up to Jebel Shams, Oman's highest mountain, surrounded by a massive canyon. I could rest there for hours, watching the eagles gliding the sky in cycles.

The desert Whahibi Sands in sunset. Sand as far as one can see, coloured in red. We hired a 4x4 incl. a driver to show us around a bit. Well, apperently, selt belts were not needed, everything's safe - or with other words: An offroad vehicle is simply not well equipped. Thus, I tried to grab everything that secured my stay in the Jeep while the Omani was rushing through the desert with more than 100 km/h. Luckily, we got stuck in the dunes after a while :) A must do!!!

First stop: Dubai

The flight was leaving Nuremberg at a moderate time, 10 am. Having a little stopover in Zurich, the 10 hour journey was continued without any inconveniences. Chilling and snoozing, drinking white and red wine and watching some movies, no problems to survive those few hours before entering Dubai. A taxi was waking me to the hotel at Deira City Centre. Haven't thought it could be that silent in such a mega city at 2 am. It was even difficult to get some food...

View across Dubai Creek to the old Dubai city centre. Important spot for trading everything: spices, tires, all kinds of electrical devices, jewellery, ... To cross the river, hop on those wooden boats called Abra, it just costs 20 Cent, and either you are on your own or travelling with 20 others. Perfect chance for the feet to get some rest.

Burj Khalifa, the highest tower on earth, 828m above sea level!!! The tourist platform at a hight of 452m is simply amazing. The elevator is kinda speeding to the sky with 10m/s, and the head feels like it's gonna be explode. Well, a bit!!!

View from the platform. Sand everywhere, and between that, roads, cars, skyskrapers and a few people ...