Murder Mystery Party

A friend of mine hosted a Murder Mystery Party "Murder in the Med" at his flat today.
We played for about 6 hours, and finally found out who the murderer was (Sören in the middle - despite his innocent look).
We had great fun, I can highly recommend a Halloween Murder Mystery Party. (Maybe not this adventure though, I played better ones.)

Strangest Building

This might be the strangest building in my town.
Lady Moni Bar, a brothel, seems to be squeezed into this corner, being much smaller than the surrounding areas and having walls that are inclined. I'd love to see what it looks like from the inside... =)

Circus

The circus is in town! Circus Barelli, claiming to have the tallest tent and the only horse-riding tiger worldwide, are in Saarbrücken for a month from now.
(Personally, I won't go. I don't think animals are treated right in this business.)

Persian Restaurant

Some friends and I went to a restaurant serving Persian specialities today.
It was a great little place in Mainzer Strasse, the prices were cheap and the food incredibly good.
Of course we also shared a shisha (strawbeery flavour, yummy) before we left, when some Persian guests started playing music on a sitar giving us a very nice insight view of their culture (you can see them in the background).

Gone for a Walk

It's such a gorgeous weather at the moment, I'll be gone for a walk!
(Actually, that's my sister walking down Saarbrücken's favourite spot for a Sunday walk: the Staden.)

Schwenker

I can't believe I've been blogging so long without telling you about one of the favourite hobbies (or philosophies) of the Saarländers: schwenken! Here, you don't have barbecues, but meat is put on swinging grills on a tripod, called Schwenker. The meat (also called Schwenker, not steak!) is now hanging above the fire on the moving grill.
On campus, I saw a very unique version of such a Schwenker, probably the result of a long night with too much beer. =)

(For further information on this Saarland tradition, please read the Wikipedia-entries in English or German. For some pictures of normal Schwenker, check saartanisch.de)

The Couple and the Tree

This big tree looks like it is watching over the couple in the park.
I wonder how many couples the tree has seen in his long life... doesn't it look mighty and important next to them?

Nursing Home

This is the downtowm residental home for the elderly.
Quite an ugly building from the 60s or 70s, but they have a great view over the river (the calm area). Personally, I'd still prefer to be nursed in a home in, let's say, the Canary Islands, Hawai'i (hoping for many male nurses =) or any other nice and warm place with a beach and great weather.

Graffiti Wall

Along one bench of the Saar river there is a looong wall were artists and wanna-be's spray graffitis. (I'm sure the painted wall is about 500 metres long.)
It's interesting to go there from time to time to check if something has changed.

Playground

Oh, don't you miss being a child?
The sun was shining today, a really beautiful autuum day, so the playground was packed full with children having fun. The little girl was waiting for her mom to make the swing go faster.

Cheapest Hotel

As far as I know, this is the cheapest hotel in Saarbrücken centre. You pay 35 Euros for what they claim to be 3 star rooms.
To be honest, I don't really trust this offer and probably wouldn't consider staying in this place. It looks quite run-down to me, and you can find much nicer ones for about 10 Euros more not far away...

(Please note that this is a subjective opinion made from the outside looks of the hotel only, I'v never been in there!)

Another Sky Picture

Sorry, I'm addicted to sky pictures... =)
I just love it, so you have to cope somehow... SORRY!

Mining Museum

Close to Saarbrücken, in Bexbach, you can find the mining museum of the Saarland (Saarländisches Bergbaumuseum) that me and my colleagues visited some days ago on our annual day out.
The museum shows you interesting facts of the mining business, the life of the workers and the problems they deal with today.
(In Saarland, we are still mining for coal, even if we don't have enough material to fill in the large galleries anymore - that's why some areas here have miniature earthquakes and some villages might even be completely destroyed.)

More Autuum Colours

This is what I meant yesterday when I said that I love the colour range in autuum... It looks just gorgeous!
Which is your favourite season?

Autuum Leaves

Oh my, time is passing quick again this year... The trees are already start losing their leaves, most of them are brightly coloured now though, or both - like this one.
Autuum is my favourite season, and I'm always fascinated by the spectrum of colours that you can see in nature.

PS: I'm sorry I post this picture so late, I'm ill and therefore couldn't blog. =(

Another School

I've shown you one of the modern Saarbrücken school buildings lately, today I'll present you the Otto-Hahn-Gymnasium at Landwehrplatz.
It was founded in 1856, and has its focus on technical education.
You can read more about Otto Hahn, the German chemist who gave the name to the school, here.

Parkdeck Kebab

Döner Kebab, a Germanized version of the Turkish kebab, is really common as a meal for lunch or dinner here (like fast food for us), so we have loads of those little diners around.
This is a luxury one, with chairs, tables and even a tent protecting the guests from the rain.
It's called Parkdeck, because that's what its neighbouring.

Halloween already?

Some bars and restaurants start advertising for their Halloween parties already.
For Germans, this is still a relatively uncommon party (we are usually more the carnival people) , even though it got much bigger during the last years. I hope to go to a private Halloween party this year... maybe I'll post a costume picture then. =)

Candle in the Window

This is a window in the "König von Bayern"-restaurant.
I'm not sure if it's still from ages ago, or if it's just a modern imitation... Well, it's cute either way. =)

And the winner is...

... Felicia! She was right, it's the base of a lamp post!!! Congratulations!!!
It's not close to the water though, it's standing next to the town hall. Even though this picture is quite dark, I chose to show you the lamp like that, because I loved the silhouette against the sky.
It's quite dark, but you can see yesterday's animals at the base of the lamp.

Make a Guess!

Here's a little quiz for today: What do you think what those cute animals could be a part of?

Pretzel Mobile

Today, we went to the König von Bayern (King of Bavaria) for the first time.
It's actually not just a beer garden, but also a very nice restaurant (though it has a very touristy Bavarian touch).
Anyway, also for the first time ever, I saw this kind of food art hanging from the ceiling: a pretzel mobile... Isn't that cool? =)

Saarbrücken School

This is what most German schools look like...
This is a secondary school at Ludwigsberg. School buildings usually have 3 or 4 storeys, and the recreation areas are... well, let's say... designed frugally. =)
At least schools here are usually surrounded by trees and small meadows, quite different from where I've grown up.

Church Garden

A picture from sunnier days... (I'm sitting here wrapped in my duvet in front of the computer... brrrrr!)
This is the garden at the centrally located church Johanneskirche.

Fountain Detail

This is a detail of the fountain at St. Johanner Markt. A wonderful old fountain in middle of the town.
If you look closely, you'll see a pigeon sit on top of it, enjoying the view. =)

Glowing Spider

Sorry. no picture weather at all today, so I took a picture of my (un)friendly neighborhood spider, which glowed in the flashlight... It's gone now, so wish me luck that it didn't come into my bedroom... *soooo scared*

Afternoon Tree =)

Today, the heavy rain really pissed me off. I tried to get away from work when the rain had stopped, still angry about the mud and puddles.
But then I saw the gorgeous afternoon light coming through the trees, and the lonely one in the center almost looking like it was surrounded by a little lake. I loved this view and thought I should show it to you, because that's what finally got me out of my bad mood. =)

Fences

I found this red fence somehow fascinating today.
Only after I downloaded the picture from my camera, I realised that there are basically four different fences in the picture... that's odd!

Bridge (De-)Construction

The massive bridge at Ludwigskreisel is being deconstructed.
Because of the new Euro train station, there will be probably be a new bridge... a shame really, because the old bridge looked wonderful with its brickstones and massive bows where the cars drive through...

Colour in the Rain

Such a horrible weather all day today: rainy, cold and windy... =(
Being in a bad mood because of that, that huuuge colourful umbrella gave me the biggest smile and the impression that not everything turns into grey on such a day. Thank you!

Theme Day: Taxis

Yeah! It's theme day again! This time, we're showing you the Taxis driving around in our hometowns. German taxis by law had to have this dull yellow colour, but since some time ago, they are also allowed to have other colours. (One of the taxis in this picture is silver actually... hard to see though.)

Look at Taxis all around the world:
Porto - Albuquerque - London - Seattle, WA (USA) [Kim] - Edinburgh - Stayton, OR - Greenville, SC - Budapest - Antigua, Guatemala - Alexandria, VA - Manila - Twin Cities - Szentes - Paris - Portsmouth - Ryde - Sydney - Oulu - Singapore [keropok] - Santiago - Melbourne, Aust - Dubai UAE - Bandung (Indonesia) - Copenhagen - Sequim - Singapore - Tenerife - Sharon, CT - Tuzla, B&H - Jakarta (Indonesia) - Rotterdam - Brussels - Stavanger (Norway) - Aliso Viejo, CA - Oshawa, ON, Canada - Vantaa, Finland - Newcastle upon Tyne - Hong Kong - Shang Hai - Brussels - San Diego, CA (USA) - Sydney (Nathalie) - St Paul (USA) - Delta - Trujillo - Trier

PS: I'm sorry to be late again, but blogger is driving me mad at the moment, it won't publish my posts... =(