From Monday to Wednesday (May 26 to 28), I pretty much repeated what I have described in my 2024 post "Berlin Week": I was at the same hotel, met (more or less) the same people, visited the same beautiful park and took part at the same conference. Here are my photos from this year (in reverse order again, sorry):
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| My meal for the way home |
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| Menue for the Gala Dinner on Tuesday night, page 1 |
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| page 2 |
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| Venue of this year's Gala Dinner |
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| The venue is called The Deep |
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| Ceiling at the hotel lobby |
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| Beautiful Volkspark Friedrichshain is just up the road |
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| View from my hotel room, St. Bartholomäus |
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| My room |
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| My room |
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| My meal for the journey to Berlin |
Arriving in Stuttgart with a 20 minute delay meant I wasn't home until 11:00 pm, and went to bed rather soon after what had been a long and exhausting day.
Good job that Thursday (May 29) was a holiday (Ascension)! It was cloudy and sunny at a max of about 20C/68F. At 1:00 pm, my sister and I went for a walk across the fields to Kornwestheim, taking in the cemetery there and saying hello to our grandparents who have a compartment in the columbarium.
A little after 3:00 pm we were at our Mum's and enjoyed coffee and cake with her.
On the way back, my sister and I made a short diversion to the cemetery where my Dad and friend R have been resting since 2022.
It was just the kind of quiet, peaceful day I needed after the busy first half of the week.
I was working from home on Friday (May 30), and because I had not seen my desk or checked my work emails all week, I had a lot of catching up to do and did not finish until 6:00 pm, which is very unusual for me on a Friday.
However, I was under no pressure, because O.K. and I were spending the weekend separately, meaning I neither had a train to catch nor things to prepare for him staying with me.
After a quick stocking up of groceries, from 7:00 to 9:00 pm I went for a walk to the lake (Monrepos) and back, which really did me good after having spent the entire day at my desk. It had been as warm as 26C/79F during the day and so the evening was still very mild and beautiful.
On Saturday (May 31), I made sure to do my cleaning early, before it was getting too warm - the day saw the thermometer rising to 30C/86F. I spent good part of the afternoon sorting my wardrobe, finally relegating the warm woolly jumpers and knitted dresses to the back and pulling out some things that needed ironing after having been folded away since last summer.
At 4:00 pm, my sister and I met at our Mum's again; it was too hot to sit on the balcony and so we sat inside with the blinds pulled down, which was very pleasant.
Later, I walked with my sister to her allotment to see how her flowers and vegetables were coming along. Sadly, much of her newly planted vegetables had been eaten by slugs, in spite of countermeasures.
By 6:00 pm I was home, an hour before the heavy thunderstorm descended on us that had been foretold, including a bit of hail (fortunately not very long and with only small hailstones) and plenty of rain.
Sunday (1st of June) was back to 26C/79F and saw a quick succession of sun, rain, thunder and lightning, and sun again. In the afternoon, my Mum and I met at the bus stop near the Torhaus (gatehouse) where I had celebrated my birthday in March. As I have mentioned then, it is actually a museum for local history, and every 1st Sunday of the month it is open to the public.
We had a look around at the exhibition and enjoyed coffee and cake.
Back home on my own, I finished the last bit of wardrobe sorting and then spent a quiet, restful evening on my own.
Of course, as is always the case when O.K. and I are not together on a weekend, we spoke on the phone at least twice a day.
During the night, heavy rainfall woke me; I went to the kitchen window and it was like looking against a wall of water, as if my house was behind or under a waterfall.
All that water was very welcome but I was of course hoping there wouldn't be too much damage in gardens and on fields.
Yes, the rain is much needed. I remember having to go to work conferences. Despite staying in nice hotels and having food provided, they are rather tiring. It's good you had some time to rest and relax afterwards.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy such events, both on a professional and personal level, but when I am already very busy at work, they just mean being extra busy before and afterwards. The day off was really welcome, though, even if it meant an extra long working day on Friday.
DeleteYou do a good job of balancing work and house work but yet setting aside time for your walks and your family. How quickly the weeks fly by, Meike!
ReplyDeleteIt is not always easy setting aside time for walks, but since they are elementary for my physical and mental wellbeing, I make them a priority, sometimes sacrificing (or postponing) other things.
DeleteYes, the weeks fly by, as do the months! I can't believe it is only seven weeks until my sister and I set off for our annual Yorkshire holiday.
I'm another one who found work conferences tiring, in part I think because there was so much seeing people from all over the world who were either new to me or old acquaintances I should catch up with. Not enough solo time for this introvert!
ReplyDeleteYou paint an interesting picture of your week and I love hotel room photos (mine are not usually that tidy).
Ceci
I know what you mean about wanting to catch up with old acquaintances and meet new people. I am not an introvert but I do need time to myself, and therefore I made sure to eat quickly (and not too much) at lunch break and then have a stroll at the nearby park, all on my own for a luxurious half hour.
DeleteWhen I stay at a hotel, I try to make the room my temporary home from home, which means it has to be tidy.
You had a nice hotel room. I love staying in hotels, but not so much conferences! I'm impressed you talk to OK twice a day. I sometimes go days without talking to Dave when he's traveling, though we do text daily.
ReplyDeleteThe hotel is nice, modern and stylish but not too much so, still leaving some of the 1920s architectonical features intact.
DeleteO.K. and I usually talk mornings and evenings except for pub quiz nights or when O.K. has band rehearsals.
Still not warm enough for summer clothes here... I too have rearranged my wardrobes a bit to be prepared, though!
ReplyDeleteThe thermometer has been up and down here a lot, but it has not dropped enough for me to want woolly jumpers or padded coats - I hope I won't need either until November or so :-)
DeleteWhat beautiful photos! 86 degrees is hot! Richard had problems with slugs. He had a container top that he filled with beer. Put it nestled down in the earth, level so that slugs would be able to crawl in. They drown in the beer, apparently. I think he said it worked! They must know to avoid us, we don't have them much anymore!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Kay!
DeleteMy sister knows about the beer method but doesn't want to have containers full of drowned slugs. It's the typical gardener's dilemma - she doesn't want to be cruel and kill animals, but she doesn't want them to eat up what she has planted, either.
I like the looks of your hotel room and meals and the beautiful park! I'm sorry about your sister's problem with slugs. That's terribly disappointing for a gardener! I understand not wanting to kill them, but there will never be a slug shortage and she deserves to get a harvest.
ReplyDeleteYes, a lot of thought and effort goes into that vegetable patch - and not from the slugs!! But apparently, it's not been too bad during the last week while she was away.
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