Recording Session at Philharmonie Essen

Well, I guess it's really about time, that I write something, since the other teammember wrote most of the last entries. Main reason is, that I don't have a digital camera, so that it's often too boring to post something, since I can't present pictures. But with this...:

Kunstkopf von Neumann (guess: left or right?!)

...TADA! I have some pictures I can present.

Since it is Trinkas goal, to have as much pins as possible on her virtual world map, we have to visit each of Germanies cities at least once, so that she can say, that she has been in EACH AND EVERY city of Germany. So, Essen is conquered now.
We would love to go to other European cities too, but since Trinka requires soooper pooper expensive visas for every country we want to visit, we have to concentrate on Germany first.... Then Europe.... And then the world...

So, in Essen we recorded an orchestra and several choirs, as part of my study. Pretty big and pretty interesting, since we set up several microphone arrays and all instruments seperately. Would be too much work, to describe everything in detail. Most of all it was interesting, since I learned about microphe setup. But now Trinka is as same as professional, since she helped out with maximum power, as it is normal for a production designer. Now, she can say, that she is a production designer / director / filmmaker / sound engineer... So, there should be firms who want to hire her immediately!!! hahaha

Philharmonie Essen

Well, even though we are separated, we are soooper busy and important! I write my thesis and Trinka shoots 3 movies at once. Ludwigsburg, Berlin, Köln.... Germany is already homezone for Team Lässig. So will be Manila...!
And: We are application pros, too! Watch your mail box... you might have received an application from us already. YAY!

Hahahaha...

So, spring time is definitely there, and so does the heat come. Let's see if it will be sooper hot before Trinka leaves, so that the change to Manilas tropical temperatures won't be too much of a shock...

YAY!

Train Travel Along South Rheinland

So the ICE train was actually 22 minutes late. It was a nice sunny day and I though it would suck to spend the nice afternoon on a train to Ludwigsburg. But as I realized later on, it was a perfect day to be on a train that follows the river Rhine down south of Germany. And wow! Walled cities and medieval castles atop hillsides galore! I had a great view of the towns and cities that dot the Rhine, caught a glimpse of their trade and farms lands and wished Flo and I were exploring their nooks and crannies on our bikes and rewarding ourselves with a beer later on.

It’s finally really Frühlings in Germany and with the sun out and with much warmer temperatures, people are out with a vengeance, on their bikes, taking a walk, playing ball, all of them (us!) proudly wearing 1 or 2 thin shirts and enjoying the sun.

And guess what, I also got a good glimpse of Mainz, Mannheim and Heidelberg from the train!

I was afraid of falling asleep on the train, not because I was scared someone would steal my bags but because I might snore away and miss the whole Rhineland experience. (But well, the train ride on the third hour got pretty boring. Hahaha.)

For a free 29e ticket ride on the ICE just to help out for 8 days for free on a student project, I’d say this train ride was pretty worth it.

Hamburg and the Flotrinkian + Charley Invasion!

Hamburg was mainly about the following:

1. Visiting Charley
2. ESSEN!
3. and HARBOUR EXPLORATION!

The first night was pretty surreal, having realized that you’re on an escapade with a friend from back home in another country! Add to this was the fact that 2 Filipinos, a Peruvian and a German were going around Reeperbahn (Hamburg’s red light district) with the goal of staying awake to catch the famed 5am Hamburg Fisch Markt. Thus, we partied in an Irish bar, gorged on Turkish food, hung out in a bar with really ugly pole dancers and sang our guts out in a Filipino Karaoke joint where the Germans were hogging the microphone and singing so badly out of tune. By the time we got to the Fisch market surviving 6 hours of “partying”, the Peruvian Johnny was down and drunk and fast asleep, the two Filipinos still chatty, (with one with aching feet and a runner’s knee—that’s me!) and the German Flori, bored but happily drinking his hot chocolate and eating his Berliner.

Partying Party

Turkish Delight

Poledancers!

Sexy Cakes for Sale!

5am: Derranged and Sleepy

Sunday was spent walking around Hamburg, seeing the Rathaus,; going up the burned Church and getting a real nice view of Hamburg; see real swans! (hahaha) and eating .70e ice cream and once again gorging on delicious German-Turkish food! That night we also went down the hundred year old Elbe Tunnel and got a glimpse of Charley’s luxury liner.

Flori, Is that you?

Yay!

Elbe Tunnel Man

The next day, we took a river cruise down the Speicherstadt. Hamburg has the biggest cargo storage in the world! Various cargo get stored in these warehouses as old as the port itself, keeping an even 12 degree temperature for food, carpets and other items of trade from all over the world.

href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw8fQ-7pKJiJYjbLdNQjY8KKVAcw8xks0eHGiV9k2cLIubvujoOC-Bv_GG9heUGdipbOYbd8TIeYV0sbSnbcgm8S_zxutrgXtci4vuRultOnbCZgAYNkS1spSWLXXusNLWtIt_TX93uU3i/s1600-h/IMG_0427.jpg">Speicherstadt

Hording Place of World Trade

The tour of the Speicherstadt also takes you through the Elbe river where you get to see cargo ships and huge containers unloading as well as huge ships dry docked (like a car going into repair), their bottoms repainted and the ships getting an overhaul in preparation for the next trip overseas.





We met up with Charley afterwards for some ice cream (of course!) and kite flying. (Charley has the actual kiteflying pics. hahaha)

Macho Kite Builder

Kite Flying Day

Charley got her first taste of authentic German food. We had fish and some leberkase and Hamburg’s beer which unfortunately rates even below Kölsch on my review of good German drinks.

Fisch!!! Lecker!!!

Leberkase!

Satisfied Dinner Guests

The Runaway Design Team

Sexy Flotrinkian

Rounds of drinks with Derek wrapped up our days in Hamburg and it’s always a nice couple of hours relaxing and laughing in a warm house with great breakfast! Thanks for having us over Derek!

The Host with the Most!

And then, we said “See you later” to cheeky Charley who's off on her world adventure tour, and then we were off back to Bonn, back to work and back to the German daily grind and back to the usual Flotrinkian adventures, and now to more serious ones like Diplomaarbeiten and the process of filmmaking and creating the great Flotrinkian empire!

"Germanisms"

Germans are funny. I like their style of greeting, with people saying loud "HALLO!"s and even louder "HALLOCHEN!!!!"s ---pronounced "halloooooooooooochen (which means a little hello but saying it still in such a BIG way!). There's "Tchuss" for goodbye and for the preppy or annoyingly cute "Tchussieeeeee!". There's always "Bis gleich or Bis später, Bis dann" which are "See you in a bit", "See you later" or "See you then" and all these other variations that are Hochdeutsch and nothing "improper".

But what I've observed is that Germans don't just say goodbye or see you later, when they hug you or shake your hand to bid you farewell. They also say, "Machs gut" which means, "Make it good". AND I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!

"Machst gut" is like a battle cry for each time you separate ways and step out into the world. "Machs gut!" is just everything you need to hear to tell yourself "YES I WILL!" and you don't just slide out the door or walk away! You march out the door! And you march with your head held high and with a spring in your step and say, "You can count on it that I will make it good!"

I would say "Machs gut" is as German as its weißbeer, its Spätzler, its Sauerkraut and Leberkäse. But maybe saying this "Machst gut" greeting to Kölsch brewers won't improve Cologne beer's taste.

Hahaha. Okay, I obviously have my beer biases.

But for all things, hello, goodbye, see you later alligator or take care millionare, I think "Machs gut" sufficiently and effectively encourages you to just make sure you're in a good state the next time you meet up with people. No "boohoo"s or "Oh nein"s, only "Hey guess what!?!"s and "Omigosh, you'll never believe what just happened!!!"

:)

And make it good Team Lässig will!

Flori's Geburstag Celebrations II

Well of course, Flori has to have more than one birthday celebration! So a month and a half later, following the surprise birthday parties of Zuhal and Anna, Florian got his own surprise party on April 4, 2008 (video evidence of Florian's shock soon to be uploaded). With quite a feast with an all-out international cuisine (Philippines, Turkey, Austrian and German (obviously beer!).

I'd like to thank all our sponsors: Millo and Thorsten for luring our unsuspecting victim into the Bonn Swimmbad; Anna, Evamaria and Zuhal for the awesome awesome food and Lars for the beer and for all those who expressed their desire to come but couldn't. :)

Expectant Guests

The Spread

Birthday Bee

Zu viel Essen!

Man Love

The Surprise Entourage + Birthday Bee

Flori's Geburstag Celebrations

Whee!!!

It's another team Lässig road trip, but this time at this part of chilly world. The occasion? Flori's birthday and Flotrinkian reunification of course! The goals: See some real snow, real castles and some real old towns, and off to the south we went armed with our trusty foto-apparaten, snow clothes, Naschen, Flo's mom's special CD collection and Flo's Dad's special road machine!

The great thing about Germany is that a lot of its medieval self still remains. You hear a lot about walled cities and places like Köln and Bonn, pretty much have some of their centuries old gates still standing. These landmarks are great time machines and walking along cobblestoned streets of Germany's cities, it's easy to imagine the click-clopping of horses and the rolling of wagon wheels while awaiting the slow rumble of steel gates welcoming you in to sell your crops.

We were on the way to Schwangau, south of Germany, where King Ludwig's II Neuschwanstein Castle is (Cinderella's castle!), when the car navigator mentioned that we were very near Roteburg, which is the only walled city left in Germany. And thus, our first stop in the city famous for its wall and Sneeballen!!!

The Great wall of Roteburg!

Walking the Wall

Can you spot the Flobee?

Flo! I thought Germans were tall!!!

Mmmmmmm

It was a nice clear day with clear hopes that Spring was finally in sight. We weren't the only ones with a good idea for a road trip with the hordes of Niederländern with their skis and yellow plated cars stealing some of our thunder on the Autobahn, but luckily, driving at an even 180-240Kph, we made it to Schwangau by 3pm (of course with many many Foto-pause along the way) and settled in a nice homestay that had double rooms for only 35euros (with free breakfast!!!) per day, with a nice view of Cinderella' castle.

But of course, this wasn't the first stop. We decided to go to the "house" where King Ludwig's II spent his childhood and have a little picnic by the lake where Flo and I had a grand time throwing rocks just to see who could break the ice first and have Flo's "I'm sexy and still 28" picture posing. (email me for mass orders!)

Looks more like Goldilocks' castle

:)

Such a Sexy Star

That evening, we had an advance celebration of Flobee's birthday with of course, Almdudler, some ice cream, nuts and Flo falling asleep to stupid German TV.

zzzzzzz

Und dann, the next day! Happy Birthday Flori! Yay!!!! On to Neuschwanstein Castle!!!!



King Ludwig II personally dedicated the castle and its grandioseness to Richard Wagner's plays. It's a pretty wild place, with a planned 72 rooms (only 15 finished, most of it the maid's quarters and his room!), mosaic floors, large chandeliers decked with colored crystals and wall to ceiling murals depicting scenes from Wagner's famous operas! There's even a cave inside that leads into the King's room (which of course is just a set built from a scene from a Wagner play.) Most amazing of all, even better than the automatic toilet flushing (which at 1899, was pretty modern!) is the King's bedroom which took over four years to build, with its walls and poster bed all intricately carved in wood! The King died a day after he moved in the castle (after he was declared by the Bavarian Kingdom a looney and was found drowned in the nearby lake with his therapist. (and the plot thickens!!! I personally think he was gay and had an affair with his therapist and they drowned each other while making mad passionate...hmmm.)

It's a nice hike up and around the castle and people who've been back and back to the castle say that we were lucky because it was such a nice sunny day.

Schön!

And King Flori for a day wanted a real snow day up the Gondola at nearby Tegelsberg where we had a well spent 25euro (each) privilege of a nice snow hike (and some snowball fights), an awesome view (for Flori's medium format photomachen) and finally, my chance to build snowpeople!

Birthday Bee!

Highest peaks in Deutschland!

My pride and joy: My first pair of Snowpeople!

Afterwards, we headed on to Freiburg, passing by the Bodensee and the Black Forest. It was a nice ride for we would stop the car for each time we see nice scenery to take pictures or whenever we needed a fresh air break which was good for stargazing.

Freiburg is a nice little city with canals and an intact Altstadt and cobblestoned streets. We stayed at a 17 person common room at the Black Forest Youth Hostel (for only 13 euros/night!) that boasts of a good kitchen, clean showers and a large living room which has a pool table and even a little piano! We were going to meet Ollie the next day in Feldberg for some real snow fun! Wheeee!!!

Und dann!

Yay!!!! Feldberg is like Puerto Galera on the weekends (at least during winter). Its slopes were filled with skiers, snowboards and little children with their sleds. We were pretty bad ass that day, the boys with their snowboards and me with my red sled with special handbrakes! (I could easily out run the other five year olds on the slope!). At the end of the day, was the well deserved Essen comprised of Wurst and Pommes! Lecker!

Ollie and Flori!!!

Mein Schlitten!!!

Feldberg Snee Champions!

Alsace's was the agenda for the next day. A quick ride around the colorful wine country which used to be German territory was awesome. At the time that we went, the fields were just newly sowed and plowed and the vineyards beginning to crawl around and get fruity. The tour de France sometimes passes this route. Maybe Flotrinkian should come here and do a tour de Flotrinkian around our favorite destinations...

French Towns as seen from atop a crumbling watch tower!

A seemingly familiar Manila esquinita (only this is more French. Hahaha )

Farbig! I like!

...

Fertig! Now, on to the next adventure!

Yay!