Archives for 2009

Hexe Lilli – Der Drache und das magische Zauberbuch

Ich war am Wochenende mit meiner Familie im Kino und wir haben uns den Film Hexe Lilli – Der Drache und das magische Zauberbuch angesehen.

In dem Film ging es darum, dass die Hexe Surulunda eine Nachfolgerin für sich sucht und Hektor den Drachen damit beauftragt, bzw. ihn mit ihrem Zauberbuch losschickt. Denn durch einen Besuch von Hieronymus merkt Surulunda, dass sie nicht mehr so gut auf das Buch aufpassen kann wie sie sollte. Nur hat der böse Zauberer Hieronymus etwas dagegen, denn er hätte selbst gerne das Zauberbuch. In einem aufregenden Duell zwischen Lilli und Hieronymus entscheidet sich wer am Ende der Schlauere ist, das Zauberbuch bekommt und ob Lilli Surulunda’s Nachfolgerin wird.

Bekannte Gesichter sind auch dabei, Michael Mittermeier gibt Hektor dem Drachen seine Stimme, Surulunda wird von Pilar Pardem einer spanischen Schauspielerin verkörpert. Und Lilli wird von Alina Freund gespielt. Außerdem spielt Anja Kling Lilli’s Mutter. Ich persönlich finde, dass alle Schauspieler sehr gut zum Film passen.

Die Handlung des Films ist recht einfach gehalten, sodass auch Kinder dem Film gut folgen können. Trotzdem ist er spannend und abwechslungsreich. Und nicht nur meine Tochter hat sich mit Hektor prächtig amüsiert. Ich finde ihn gut gemacht und auch für größere Kinder gibt es versteckte Witze. Die Spezialeffekte machen den Film spannend, wirken aber nicht übertrieben. Alles in allem ein gelungener Film, den man bestimmt nochmal schauen möchte. Und vielleicht gibt es ja eine Fortsetzung der Geschichte. Meine Tochter würde sich sicher freuen zu sehen wie es weitergeht.

Osterei

An Osterei is an Easter Egg, and can refer to different types of eggs.  There are boiled eggs that have been coloured, blown-out egg-shells that have been decorated, and chocolate eggs that often have fillings inside them.

As in many countries, the eggs represent the spring and fertility, and is a tradition that goes back to the 13th Century, even though the term “Osterei” was probably first used in the 17th Century.

Many people hang decorated eggs on twigs in their front gardens.

To hear a simple explanation and a short discussion in German, listen to the podcast:

(Press the “play” button to listen to the podcast)

Download a transcript

Download the MP3 file | Subscribe to the podcast

Hiring a car

One thing popular amongst visitors to Lanzarote is to hire a car for the day to see more of the island than just the resort that they are staying it.  Of course, once you are in your hotel room or appartment there is not much chance to compare prices other than the local offers.

That maybe OK for a day trip, but what about if you want to hire a car for the whole duration of your stay?

General advice (in Germany, at least) would be to book a car with a major hire company before you go, thus getting a better price and possibly even a discount if you happen to belong to an automobile club that has an arrangement with the car hire company, than you may get by just turning up at the airport and trying to hire a car there.

However, experience has shown that this advice may not always be correct.  In the days of the World Wide Web, is it possible to hire a car with a Lanzarote-based agency and get a better deal than you might do at home?

To find out, I tried to book a hire car from Arrecife Airport – a small class “B” one with air conditioning – for the last week in August, and was offered the following prices:

ADAC (German equivalent to the AA) offered me a 5-door Seat Ibiza for 185EUR including insurance, tax and unlimited mileage.

Sixt did not have Lanzarote or Arrecife in their list of hire-points for Spain.

Hertz offered me 5-door Opel Astra for 321EUR, or 260EUR if I paid immediately.

Expedia had a 4-door VW Polo (via EuropCar) for 209EUR in their system.

Then I turned to a local site – the German sounding AutoReisen.es who are specialised in car rental on the Canary Islands have a website in 4 languages.  Their offer, including tax, insurance, unlimited mileage, a child seat, an additional driver and no cancellation charge for a 5-door Fiat Punto was 132EUR!

So yes, it is possible to get a good deal by booking directly with island-based companies.  As with everything, you should compare with offers from companies in your own country, but I was unable to find a better deal for the dates and car type that I was looking for.

Just one question remains: what do you do with the unlimited mileage on an island this size?

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