Clubbing

I'm just back from a night out in Saarbrücken. Some friends and I went to the KuFa, to dance to the Techno Classix. =)

Sunset

What a gorgeous sunset on the Staden...
Looks like the tree captured the sun. =)

Schwenker Season!

Whoohoo, today was the first day of Schwenken for me! Schwenken is the Saarland version of a BBQ, the grill (Schwenker) is different though, as you can see. The grill can move freely over the coals. On it you can put meat (also called Schwenker), and preferably you have a Carsten with you (my friend in the picture, being the head of the BBQ, and... also called Schwenker here).
So you can say: The Schwenker is schwenking the Schwenkers on the Schwenker... =)

May Beetle

Wow, that's a rare one... I've never before seen a may beetle, only heard of it in "Max and Moritz". Today I didn't just see one, I also took a picture! =)

Fountain

Water flowing down a fountain at Bahnhofstrasse...

Driving in Saarbrücken

Here's a picture of what it would look like to drive through Saarbrücken with a car. In the distance, you can see road signs... believe me, Germany has loads of them. Every 50 metres there will be a new one telling you something contrary. =) No, it's not that bad, but there really are A LOT signs over here...
Saarbrücken has the peculiarity to be a town full of one-way-streets, and saying that is not an exaggeration. When I still had my car, my only way to survive here was to memorise every single one-way-street, that sometimes made a way 3 times as long as you would have taken if the road would have been directly connected.

French Boat

This boat with the French flag anchors at the Saar.
The background is one of the parts of Saarbrücken that will change completely soon, since the motorway will be put into a tunnel and a wider space for walking and biking will be created there.

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We have a Winner!
I chose a winner of the haiku (or rather spamku, as Gerald let me know =)... it's pattern is actually 6-7-5, but since these kind of poems are not real haiku anyway, I think I should let it count. It's some very sweet little lines, and I congratulate Carlos who does the wonderful Barcelona Photoblog for writing this:

Beauty Will Long Perdure
Thanks to Your Sweet Photographs
Keep Magic Alive

Please mail your address to blog@moonsoleil.de, and your surprise package will be on its way in the next days. =)
Thanks a lot to all writers, I appreciate your efforts a lot! Thank you also for your kind wishes!

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PS: Happy Birthday cpt.atom and vird!!!

Nice Facade

I just love seeing those old building facades with their impressive balcony balustrades...

Ministry Building

This modern building in Franz-Josef-Röder-Strasse accomodates different Saarbrücken ministries.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Saarbrücken Daily Photo!

Wohoo, Saarbrücken Daily Photo is one year old!
We were celebrating at a sushi party today (actually we were celebrating the birthday of a friend who also had a house warming party). So that's 3 in 1 for tonight! =)

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BIRTHDAY COMPETITION!!!
I just came up with the idea to have another competition: The one of you writing the most creative birthday wish as a comment, will win a surprise package from Saarbrücken!!!
There is one restriction though, since we celebrated having a sushi party: Your wish must be written in the form of a Haiku* (it's a Japanese poetry pattern, 5 syllables - 7 syllables - 5 syllables) !!!

The competition will be on for 3 days, until April 24th midnight (GMT).
So be creative and celebrate with me... =)

*If you want to read more about Haiku, check Wikipedia

Carrier Dog

In town today, I saw those two ladies and their dog. He was huge and cute, and he did the coolest thing: he was carrying their shopping bag!
Better than a carrier pigeon, eh?

Flat Iron?

Saarbrücken's (miniature) version of the flat iron building in New York... =)
This is a bank building in Trierer Strasse.

Ice Cream Parlour

The weather is still brilliant, so the ice cream parlours have guests again... not so many on this picture, but it's improving. =)

Town Hall Clock

I visited a friend yesterday, who is living right opposite of the town hall, so I had the chance to take a detail picture of the town hall clock from an interesting new perspective.

Berliner Promenade

Your tour guide: "On your left, you can see the Berliner Promenade, where you can stroll along and enjoy window shopping and have some ice cream. Below, the cars are parking along the Saar Banks. On the river Saar you can see some ships anchoring..."
It was an amazing day today, about 28 degrees C. I am already afraid of the hot summer, I have to admit.

Wildlife Park

With weather as beautiful as it is at the moment, I've visited the wildlife park again.
It was great to see all those cute animals again, just one downside: I was bitten by a donkey when I tried to feed him... ouch!

Koi Fountain

I went for dinner in the Chinese restaurant "China Town" today. They had a cool fountain in the entrance, the little pool was even filled with huuuge Koi karps.

Reindeer in Saarbrücken!!!

Unbelievable... in Duweiler, there are three reindeer that are raised as farm animals in the building of a former iron foundry. They are called Sternchen, Momo and Schorsch. =)
Reindeer are very hard to breed outside of Scandinavia, they often die in their new homes. The owners in Dudweiler try to keep them appropriate to the needs of the species, they even have a very informative website about their project (unfortunately in German, only).

Sculpture

This sculpture is located at our local tax office in Stadtgraben.
I liked the way the afternoon sun shines through it...

Walk Over the Old Bridge

This is the view you'll get when you walk over the Old Bridge that connects the St. Johanner Markt in downtown Saarbrücken with the Saarbrücken castle and its church.

Spring Blossoms

The weather is having a big impact on me, I am in such a good mood when I feel the warmth of the spring sun and see the blossoms of the trees in their beautiful colours.
Is it the same with you in your city?

Easter House

On this last day of the Easter holidays, Easter Monday, I saw this Easter house in Dudweiler.
The family living there seem to like decorating, and looked like a bunny and egg Disneyland. =)

Happy Easter!

My sister Angie after her successful hunt for easter eggs and presents.
In Germany we are convinced that easter bunnies hide coloured eggs for us in the garden. Yesterday I painted some eggs and we put them in little baskets together with small presents and hide them after telling the kids that we've seen the bunnies outside. The kids run and search while the grown-ups give them hints like "hot" or "cold" to ease their search. It's great fun for everyone.
I found a great embassy website that gives you more information on German Easter traditions if you want to know more...

Metal Bird Couple

Writing you with multi-coloured hands from painting eggs for tomorrow, I wanted to show you this cute bird couple that I have seen at the spring market.
If they were chicken they would be busy to produce eggs for Easter Sunday, they are painted and hidden for the kids tomorrow. I'll tell you more about this and show you pictures tomorrow.

Good Friday

We're having a spring market in town, and the chocolate factory Lindt is selling its goods in a stand of Galeria Kaufhof presenting a huge imitation of the famous Lindt bunny on top.
This is the first official Easter day, my first day off of my Easter holidays. My family arrived and television showed "The Passion of the Christ"... =)

Maundy Thursday

As Wikipedia told me: In the Christian calendar, Maundy Thursday — also called Holy Thursday and, in the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches, Great Thursday — is the feast or holy day on the Thursday before Easter that commemorates the Last Supper of Jesus Christ with the Apostles.
Saarbrücken heralds the Easter holidays with nice decorations that you can find along the Bahnhofstrasse.
I am going to give you introductions to German Easter traditions from tomorrow on, when we are going to have the first "real" holiday: Good Friday.

Building Art

The roof of this old house in Victoriastrasse has a wonderful relief on its facade.
Also, the shape of the facade is gorgeous in my opinion.

A Whiff of Purple

As usual, I have no idea which flower this is, but I thought it's sooo cute!

Convention Centre

This is the Congress Centrum Saar, an event centre hosting exhibitions, symposiums, conferences, concerts etc.
As you can see, the building is very modern, it has been renovated recently.
The next big event will be the Ultimate Style Challenge on April 7, a hip hop dancing contest.

Theme Day: A Public Mailbox

Today's request is to show you a public mail box.
I chose the mail box of our biggest mailing company, the Deutsche Post. They have the yellow mailboxes. On this picture, next to it there is a stamp vending machine.

1 Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) - 2 Tokyo (Japan) - 3 Singapore by Zannnie - 4 Bandung (Indonesia) - 5 Sydney by Sally (Australia) - 6 Newcastle (Australia) - 7 Singapore by Keropokman - 8 Vantaa (Finland) - 9 Melbourne by John, (Australia) - 10 Stavanger (Norway) - 11 London by Ham (UK) - 12 Melbourne by Michael, (Australia) - 13 Nelson (New Zealand) - 14 Port Vila (Vanuata) - 15 Rotterdam (Netherlands) - 16 St Kilda (Australia) - 17 Budapest (Hungary) - 18 Tuzla (B&H) - 19 Hyde (UK) - 20 Maple Ridge (Canada) - 21 Grenoble (France) - 22 Greenville, SC (USA) - 23 Villigen (Switzerland) - 24 Albuquerque, NM (USA) - 25 Mazatlan (Mexico) - 26 Montréal (Canada) - 27 Stayton, OR (USA) - 28 Shanghai (China) - 29 Arradon (France) - 30 Sequim, WA (USA) - 31 Newcastle upon Tyne (UK) - 32 Seattle, WA by Kim (USA) - 33 Minneapolis, MN (USA) - 34 Millerton by Sharon, CT (USA) - 35 Cottage Grove, MN (USA) - 36 Naples, FL (USA) - 37 Jakarta (Indonesia) - 38 Tel Aviv (Israel) - 39 Auckland (New Zealand) - 40 Vatican via Brussels (Belgium) - 41 Stockholm (Sweden) - 42 Boston, MA (USA) - 43 New York City, NY (USA) - 44 Paris (France) - 45 Sydney by Nathalie (Australia) - 46 Wailea, HI (USA) - 47 Saint Paul MN by Carol (USA) - 48 Mexico by Poly - 49 Cape Town (South Africa) - 50 Kitakami (Japan) - 51 Little Rock, AR (USA) - 52 Madrid (Spain) - 53 Manila (Philippines) - 54 Menton (France) - 55 Monmouth County, NJ (USA) - 56 Monte Carlo (Monaco) - 57 Oliver (Canada) - 58 Seoul (Korea) - 59 Tenerife (Spain) - 60 Joplin, MO (USA) - 61 Lubbock, TX (USA) - 62 San Diego, CA (USA) - 63 Nottingham (UK) - 64 Kyoto (Japan) - 65 Cork (Ireland) - 66 Ampang (Malaysia) - 67 Miami, FL (USA) - 68 Selma, NC (USA) - 69 Seattle, WA by Susan (USA) - 70 London by Jonemo (UK)