Toll im Quadrat – not ‘just’ a Flamenco Revue

The yodelling flamingo“Toll im Quadrat” – roughly translated it can mean either “great in a square” or “great squared” – was a show at the Klinik Hohe Mark in Oberursel last Friday.

Advertised as being “not just a Flamenco Revue”, it was a mixture of dance, songs and one might even say sketches performed by local graphic designer and dancer Nathalie Karg with John “Lobito” Opheim on the guitar and singer and percussionist Manuel Lojo “Ardillita” in front of an audience of 140 people.

Much of the music had a Spanish feel to it, even to the extent of “My Way” sung in Spanish, with more serious tones such as the homage to Salvador Dalí but mixed with light-hearted elements and in some cases performed against daring backdrops, such as a large photo of a cucumber.

Spanish and the cucumber

Would you perform in Spanish in front of a giant cucumber?

After the interval, [Read more…]

Germany 10 years ago today (11th September 2001)

Today is 11th September 2011 and most of the media in Germany has at some point in the last week been looking back at the events in New York 10 years ago.

I’d like to tell you how I spent that day.

I was at home in my flat at first.  I had left my job at Psion in Bad Homburg and was using up the rest of my holiday allowance.

Ironically, I had just watched the film “Independence Day” and turned on my computer to look at my e-mails.  At that time I was still using an analogue modem to go on-line, and I believe my browser was set to load a page called “My Yahoo!” where I had, amongst other things, a news ticker.

It was on that news ticker that I first read about the attacks in New York.  At first the headline just spoke about a plane flying into the World Trade Center, and I imagined something the size of a Cessna.

But then I turned the television on.  It was just before the second plane flew into WTC2.  I knew then, that the planes were a lot bigger. [Read more…]

Restaurant Riff – in Ralswiek – on Rügen

It is only now that I am back home writing this article, that I realise the perfect alliteration of the name.  Restaurant Riff, in Ralswiek on Rügen, Ralswiek being the village and Rügen the island.

And it was at the Resaurant Riff (in Ralswiek, on Rügen) that I spent a pleasant afternoon before going to the Störtebeker Festspiele a few weeks ago.

The restaurant is located next to Ralswiek’s harbour, so the tables outside offer a fantastic view across the area of water known as the Großer Jasmunder Bodden whilst at the same time being protected from the wind coming in off the sea.

Restaurant Riff in Ralswiek on Rügen

Restaurant Riff in Ralswiek on Rügen

Opening at 10am and offering breakfast, Riff stays open until midnight, although only from Easter until mid October. [Read more…]

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