Off-Topic - What I learned from Transportation

It is 3.45 pm and I'm standing at the bus stop. The bus is going to come in five minutes. I've got a meeting with my masseuse at 5 pm and with the bus coming in 5 minutes everything will run smoothly.
It is 3.50 pm and no bus in sight. Well, these five minutes won't make a big difference, so I am still calm.
3.55 pm and no bus coming. I could walk to the tube station. It would take me 8 minutes, and I know the trains are passing every five minutes. But I've already been waiting for 10 minutes now, and walking now would mean having been waiting for nothing. So I keep on waiting.
It's 4 pm now, and still no bus coming. Okay, I will walk. I turn round, but can't resist to look back once more. The bus is coming!
I return to the bus stop. The bus is approaching the bus stop. It is full up to the last seat, and there are a lot of people standing in the middle. Well, I'll have to push myself in. The bus is coming nearer - and drives on, leaving me and at least seven other people behind. It is too full to let any more people in.
In the meantime, it is 4.10 pm. I'll have to run now in order to be on time at my masseuse's place. I finally get there five minutes late, and I have learnt something:

I could have avoided coming late if - from the beginning - I had walked. It would have been not so comfortable, but in the end, things would have run smoothly.
Looking for comfortable ways of doing something often makes the whole thing uncomfortable in the end.
Somebody tells you he's got a wonderful picture for your next blog post, and that he is going to mail it to you. You've told him about your blogging schedule, and he promises to mail you in time. So you stop thinking about the picture and concentrate on the words. You can guess what's happening. In the end you've got to look for it on your own - which puts additional stress on you. Mind you, I don't speak against relying on other people or certains things in general. But sometimes it is better to rely on yourself.

This is a contribution to the What-I-Learned-from-Transportation Group Writing Project on www.middlezonemusings.com.

Off the Road / Neben der Straße

Some days ago I went for a walk just around the place where I am living. I took my camera, because this forces me to see the things I otherwise would not. For example these blossoms. And these ones:




It hadn't been raining for a few days, so the grass is getting yellow. But still the blossoms look somewhat special. It's the beauty in the simple things which I like so much.

Die Bilder sind das Ergebnis eines Spaziergangs rund um das Viertel, in dem ich wohne. Ich nahm zu diesem Spaziergang die Kamera mit, und siehe da, ich nahm plötzlich Dinge wahr, an denen ich vorher achtlos vorbeigegangen wäre. Diese Blüten fand ich am Wegesrand, und obwohl die Dürre der letzten Tage das Gras ziemlich mitgenommen hat, sehen sie irgendwie besonders aus.

Bavaria Series #8 Bavarian Inns

A traditional inn

There are lots and lots of traditional inns in Bavaria. Every village has got its one or two inns - often big, impressive buildings like this one. They serve traditional bavarian food, like "Schweinsbraten mit Knödel" - roasted pork with dumplings. And of course nice, cool beer. Sometimes they offer traditional folk music, not so much for tourists, but of the locals' entertainment. And they are important meeting places for the people who live there: for the local clubs like the soccer club of the village, or the fire brigade.

In Bayern gibt es immer noch - glücklicherweise - sehr viele traditionelle Gasthäuser. Jedes Dorf hat sein eigenes Gasthaus, oft sogar mehr als eins. Oft sind es große, beeindruckende Gebäude wie dieses hier. Es wird traditionelle bayerische Küche serviert, z.B. Schweinsbraten mit Knödel, und natürlich schönes kühles Bier. Manchmal gibt es auch traditionelle bayerische Volksmusik - nicht für Touristen, sondern für die Einheimischen. Und diese Gasthäuser sind wichtige Treffpunkte für die Menschen, die hier leben: für die örtlichen Vereine wie den Fußballverein des Dorfes oder die Feuerwehr.

Bavaria Series #7 High up in the Mountains / Hoch in den bayerischen Bergen

This is high in the Bavarian Alps. In the summer, cows are grazing all over. The grass is very spicy, and so is the milk and the cheese then. The air is pure, so this is also the place for people with allergies.

Hoch oben in den Bayerischen Bergen. Im Sommer grasen hier überall Kühe. Das Gras ist sehr würzig, und so ist auch die Milch und der Käse. Die Luft ist rein - die ideale Gegend für Allergiker!

Bavaria Series #6 Landscapes - Spitzingsee

Spitzingsee is a small village (well mostly hotels, I must say) in the Bavarian Alps. It is also the name of the lake. It's a quite touristic place, but here I was lucky to take a picture without any people on it. Looking at these mountains man can feel really small...

Spitzingsee ist ein kleines Dorf (eigentlich besteht es nur aus Hotels) in den Bayerischen Alpen. Der See dort heißt ebenfalls Spitzingsee. Eigentlich ein Ort für Touristen, aber das sieht man hier nicht. Vor diesen Bergen kommt man sich als Mensch sehr klein vor...

Bavaria # 5 Landscapes - The Mountains

How many times did we pass that lake, my husband and me, when we spent our holidays in Bavaria! It's called the Sylvenstein Lake, and it's on the border to Austria. It is not a genuine lake, but a water supply dam, responsible for the region down north till Munich.

Wieviele Male sind mein Mann und ich an diesem Stausee vorbeigefahren, als wir unsere Ferien in Bayern verbrachten. Dies ist der Sylvenstein See, der für die Wasserversorgung bis hinunter nach München verantwortlich ist.

Bavaria # 4 Landscapes

peissenberg, originally uploaded by Ulla2004.

I took this picture on the "Hohe Peißenberg", which is in Upper Bavaria.
Normally you can hundreds of miles or kilometres from here, but on that day it was a bit misty. But I liked the small graveyard and the different shades of green. Could be anywhere in Italy, too, I think - don't you feel the southern atmosphere, too?

Diese Aufnahme wurde auf dem "Hohen Peißenberg" gemacht, einem Berg im Voralpenland in Bayern.
Normalerweise kann man von hier aus weit ins Land hineinsehen. An diesem Tag war es sehr dunstig; trotzdem reizten mich der kleine Friedhof und das viele Grün dazu, hier ein Foto zu machen. Die Landschaft könnte auch in Italien sein - spüren Sie nicht auch die südliche Atmsophäre?