Lake Starnberg

We feel very lucky that there are so many nice lakes around Munich which you can reach within an hour or two.

So what felt to be the last warm weekend of Summer we drove out to Lake Starnberg and found a little place where we could hang out, look at the water, through stones (for Matilda) and eat some leftover rice salad from the day before.

I will share the recipe soon on our Mostly Saturday blog!

Villa Carlotta - Lake Como II

Some more photos from the Villa Carlotta at Lake Como.

Time flies ...

Indeed it does and I guess with a child it even does a tiny little bit more (that is how it feels to me anyway). I started work again since a few weeks and Matilda is going to day care every day. It is a complete new twist for us to have me go back to work. The mornings are a lot more organized and I think we have already managed to develop a routine. It is so nice that I can bike to work which I love and it is nice being back as well, filling my head with different kind of thoughts again....I am glad though that I am able to work part-time and that I can spend the afternoons with Matilda which we mostly spend with friends in a park or close-by playground. The days seem (a lot) longer to me than before and I can tell that I am more tired in the evenings. I guess I have to transition a bit more into the new situation....so this is also why there has been such a big pause here on the blog ....

One thing I actually also noticed is that I stopped taking photos, also on Instagram. Just here and there I see something I snap a photo off but my analog cameras are getting dusty at home. I really want to change this and plan to make an effort at least on weekends.

So, this is why I am showing you a photo from earlier this year when we spend some time at Wills parents house in Fremantle, Matilda seems so much bigger now and has changed so much since then.

Maria

Merano - Crossing

We walked by this street every day a few times on our way into the centre of Meran. I always wanted to take a photo without a car or anyone crossing and to just focus on the stripes of street crossing and how they are seen in the street mirror and the shadow play of the sun. Well, on our last day I was finally able to take it and I am glad I waited.
I have taken a few photos where I thought it was worth the wait (like at the Getty in LA here). As much as I love having people in a photo I equally love to just take a photo of a scene itself without anyone in it. I hope you know what I try to say  :)

Hope you enjoy it, too.

Winter at the beach

Thank you so much for all your kind words about our move to Hamburg. The first two weeks went by and we have been slowly adjusting to the colder weather and few hours of daylight every day. We have been lucky and our first apartment application went through and we got the keys for our new place yesterday. Now all we need is our container which is on its way from Sydney.

I am so glad for all the photos I took while being in Sydney in the last years. It happened in the last weeks that we sat on the couch and flicked through them, remembering days, moments, chats, friends.....I came across these photos I took in 2013 at the Northern Beaches and I realized I never shared them even though I really like the mood and colours of those shots.

The other day I went for my first swim here after work. It was -4C and I took the train two stops further of our current home. I have never been to this bath but it was one of those old beautiful bathes with old tiles and high ceilings. When I asked where the pool for the laps is they pointed outside. Yes, the pool was outside. I wasn't sure if I can do it as I thought this is quiet an extreme contrast to the pool I was used to go to in Sydney. Well, I saw two elder people outside, swimming their laps, so I got changed and after slowly counting till 3 (maybe 5) I entered the water (which was of course heated) and started swimming my laps.

So here I was, swimming in this heated pool, my head cold and the rest of my body warm, the water was 'sending' clouds of steam into the cold and dark night air and every now and then the subway drove by. It was very different to the pool in Sydney but in its own way it was also very nice.

See you later Sydney!

In a few weeks time will we pack up our apartment here in Sydney, say goodbye to dear family & friends and move to the other side of the world! Again. It has been 4,5 amazing years here in Sydney and I am not sure if I have completely processed yet that this is all happening. While writing this my hair is still drying from my early swim, the sun is shining and there is no cloud at the sky. When you followed this blog in the last years you might have seen how special this place is and how fond we are of it. I really do think that Sydney is one of the best places to live. When we tell people about our decision to move we get very often asked why/really/are you sure?

It really is not easy when you call two places home and when those two places are 16,000km away from each other it is particularly hard to keep in touch and be part of people's life you really care about. We realize that we will always be in the situation to leave people & things we love behind us but at the same time we feel very privileged to call Australia and Germany our home. How lucky are we!? But you know, nothing is forever & it is important to be flexible and be open for new ideas and plans and that is what we are trying to do. We are excited to being back in Europe again and look forward to being closer to family and friends we have only seen a few times since I moved here, to more traveling and me speaking a bit more German. :)

A stormy sea

When my sister and her friend visited us a few weeks back the weather was quite rainy and the sky was so grey that it was hard to imagine how blue and without any clouds it was just a week before they arrived. Nevertheless we decided to go to the sea, as no matter which weather, I am always fascinated by the power of it and often stand there staring out and letting my thoughts drift.

So we went, the waves were high and the water not blue but white from hitting the shore over and over again. We stood there for minutes, just listening to the sound and watching the amounts of water moving, how it was forming itself to big waves & collapsing in itself over and over and over again.
It was beautiful!

Days off

The Easter break has been so good and needed. On days off I usually wake up particularly early, as if my body realizes that there are whole days which I can fill with things I like to do and wakes me up to really early hours. After the first cool Autumn days in the last week the warmer weather came back for the long weekend. On Good Friday we drove to Coogee and went to Wylies Baths. I ran out of film (35mm) and thought I had some frames left in the medium format camera I found at the flea market many months ago. I walked around and took photos of people reading & relaxing, those who went for for a swim or had ice cream, of lifeguards looking out to the sea and the pool and just some shades which got created by the sun that day. Later at home I found out that the film must have already been full and all the images I took weren't really captured anywhere but in my head.

Today after work I went for a swim and on my way back home the sun was setting in one of those beautiful ways. The sky appeared in all sorts of red and pink colours. It was beautiful. 

We are off to Melbourne for a few days tomorrow. It's been a long time since I went last and I can't wait to explore parts of the city! Maria

Exxopolis - Architects of Air

Last Sunday we walked through the Botanic gardens towards the Sydney opera house to have a look at the Exxopolis, which we had in town for the Sydney Festival and was built up right in front of the stairs of the opera.

The Exxopolis is a big inflatable dome which is inspired by nature, geometry and is more a world of colour and light as soon as you enter it. We got told that all pieces of this construct were glued together by hand which seemed incredible while we spent some time within the different areas, tunnels and rooms of it. I was pretty blown away by the different colour schemes and the intensity of the colours themselves within the dome. Every room, tunnel or corner seems to shine in a new way.

I was trying my luck this day and took my new camera with me to take a few shots and I am pleased with the result as I was a little worried that it could have been too dark to take film shots within the dome.

Green city

I walk to work almost every day. It is a beautiful 40 minutes walk through the botanic garden and the inner city itself. A few weeks back I had four photos left on a roll of film which I wanted to get developed on that day and decided to take them on my walk to work in the morning. Later after I picked up the film and looked at prints I noticed how green and tropical those four photos look. I also realized that I started taking for granted the beauty of things I see and pass every day on this walk. Those photos brought back my consciousness and since then I already discovered many other great corners on my walk in this wonderful city.

Being home

Time oh time...you are never standing still and you certainly are flying by when you are having fun.
The last 3 weeks we spent back home were so great. We traveled to Munich, Berlin and Hamburg and also spent some time in the small village I grew up in.

I celebrated my birthday on the first evening being back and it was so great to see my parents living room filling up with all those lovely people I haven't seen in 1,5 years. Over tea and cookies we exchanged so many stories and laughs and we even met the kids of our friends who we haven't had the chance to meet yet. Life is changing, life is good.

We celebrated New Years Eve with dear friends and a beautiful cooked meal in Munich. The weather was so amazing and I seem to always forget and than remember that I am very fond of those last few quiet days of the year. I can't really explain it but there just seems to be something special in the air. We welcomed the new year with a long walk and visit to the great Brandhorst museum ....

After a few days in Munich we flew up to Berlin. It seemed colder and darker up there but nevertheless we had a good time. This city has just always so much to give and show. We drank lots of good coffee and ate great food, browsed along the fancy shops in Mitte, discovered new streets in Neukölln & Kreuzberg and finally met the wonderful Sandra & her husband and were lucky to also spend lots of time with Trixi.

And of course there was Hamburg which was the next stop on the list. I love this place so much, it always reminds me of the great years I had when I lived there. I spent a whole week there which gave me a lot of time to catch up with friends, properly hang out with them and meet old and new places.

A few photos which I took with my phone while I was there.

Hope you all had a good start into the new year!

Maria