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We arrive in Singapore on Friday afternoon, July 31.
The Changi Airport welcomes us as promised : clean, quiet and efficient. I help myself to a mint, offered at the passport check point. I did brush my teeth on the Lufthansa flight, but now I can enter the clean city-nation with extra fresh breath.
We queue up at the taxi line and an official is assigning us one of the taxis which are pulling up into the loading lanes. The parkway into the city is lined with blooming flowers and we reach our hotel in about 20 minutes. The taxi is equipped with a fare computer which is a good thing. I study all the different fare structures and surcharges, posted on the inside of the door. The cab fare varies depending on the day of the week, hour of the day, distance traveled, district within the city, airport surcharge and a few other parameters. In the end it costs less than 20 USD.
Our hotel is beautiful: the Marina Mandarin is shaped like a pyramid with a 21 story open atrium lobby. We are greeted by smiling ladies in long red dresses, with slits revealing their thighs with every graceful step. These women are slim and good looking. So far I like Singapore!
A glass elevator takes us to the 15th floor: room 1509. Our luggage is being delivered within minutes. Everybody is very friendly and all this service is provided without any tips, which are not customary here! We change and head for the outdoor pool. The water feels refreshing and very soft on the skin. The hotel pool is actually filled with mineral water and has no chemical smell at all.
The hotel also provides us with bottled water which is “oxygenated water”, manufactured under the license of Dr.Who. I hope that we are not drinking H2O2!
At night, Gabi and I walk a few steps down to the Esplanade waterfront and have dinner at Harry’s Bar. The beer is more expensive than the food. Alcohol is being heavily taxed and I pay 16 S$ (or 11USD) for a small beer!
After dinner, we happen to walk by a free concert and have a seat in the water-front arena. We listen to a five person band, giving us a good introduction to this multi-ethnic society. Each band member has a different skin color and race, all working together. Before going to bed, we enjoy the city panorama from our balcony: the harbor, the mouth of the Singapore River with the Merlion statue (spouting a column of water) and the Fullerton Hotel to our left, City Hall and St.Andrew’s Cathedral straight ahead and the historic Raffles Hotel to our right.

We are in the air again; this time on a Lufhansa flight between Frankfurt and Singapore. Thanks to Lothar’s ingenuity, we are in Business class with seats claiming to go down to 180 degrees. I view the entertainment guide and see that there really aren’t any new films to be seen. Since having subscribed to Netflix, we are always on top of the latest films, we wish to view. It is already 11PM and the stewardess comes with a dinner menu, which I decline, since I am looking forward to my flat bed and a restful night of sleep. The flight is almost 12 hours long, so that should give me a good ten hours of snoozing time. Before dozing off , I hear the captain remind everyone, “Sie sind verpflichtet sich anzuschnallen”. In English, the captain would ask the passengers to”please fasten your seatbelts”. In German, the translation reads, “You are obligated to fasten your seatbelt”. To the point, wouldn’t you agree?

I try to adjust my seat. It goes down nicely, the top portion to 180 degrees but no matter what I do,  I can’t get my legs to reach that magic number. They are always dangling at least 15 degrees down. Now I know I shouldn’t complain because all those poor souls in Economy have much greater problems, but I feel like I’m sleeping on a slide. After many maneuvers, I finally find a position of comfort and am off into slumberland. The flight was rather smooth, except for some bumpy sections over the Caucasus and near the Himalayan Mtns. The captain came on only once with his obligatory warning.

When at a later time I ask Lothar about the bumps, he casually asks”what bumps”? Either he or I was under the influence of a possible side effect of the Lariam, which we are taking against the mosquitoes. Nightmares! Delusions!???

The next day, after having lost another night and day in time, at  4:00PM local time, we touch down in the city-state of Singapore.

We board our Lufthansa 747-400 and lift off in Frankfurt at 22:30 on July 30. The name of our jet is “Muenchen” and it takes us 6371 miles across Europe and Asia to Singapore. The flight takes 11 and 1/2 hours and we cover a lot of geography. I am putting my bed down at 23:00 and sleep for 9 out of the 11.5 hours.
After take-off we head east to Prag, then fly over Romania, the Black Sea, Russia, the Caucasus Mountains, the Caspian Sea near Baku, followed by Kabul in Afghanistan and Islamabad, Pakistan. I am glad that I see these places from a relatively safe distance of 10277 meters high. Later we cruise above India north of New Delhi, the Himalaya to our left, then near Kolkata towards Myanmar. The Bay of Bengal is a little bumpy, otherwise it is smooth sailing. We fly over Thailand between Chiang Mai and Bangkok, down the Malay Peninsula past Kuala Lumpur to our destination Singapore: 1 Degree 22N, 103 Degree 48E.

It is July 30th and we are waiting in the Frankfurt Airport Lufthansa Lounge for our flight to Singapore. So far I have not seen much food, but Franziskaner Weissbier is on tap. We arrived in Frankfurt only yesterday afternoon. Our Lufthansa A321 made the 353 mile jump across the Alps from Venice to Frankfurt. We had sunny skies and good views of the snow covered peaks, lakes and glaciers.
We rented a Fiat Punto and drove to Rodenbach, where Rolf was already grilling steaks and Maria busy with preparing the other dinner items. We spent a great evening with Maria, Margret and Rolf, having a tasty dinner outdoors and shooting the breeze. This morning Maria spoiled us with a Bavarian Weisswurst brunch and ice cream with waffles. We are lucky to have friends like them. (and not just because of the food!) Now we are back at the Frankfurt Airport and, after a 40 minute walk to C16, are making use of the amenities in the Lufthansa lounge. We will keep our base camp in Rodenbach in good memory.
Danke Maria und Rolf!

Via Brusada 32, Gardone Riviera, Italia: this is our home for six days, thanks to the foresight and hospitality of our friends Maria and Joachim, who rent the vacation condo year-round.
It is Monday, July 27, another hot and sunny day. At breakfast, we have a birds-eye view of Lake Garda from the apartment’s roof-top terrace. I navigate our Mercedes A180 rental car down the narrow streets to the marina. The streets are so small that the cars, parked along the curb, have to fold in their outside mirrors!
The marina staff has already retrieved Joachim’s fancy Mahogany Riva boat from the storage building and lowered it by crane on the lake. We are off and hit a perfect day for cruising: no whitecaps on the lake, great weather and little boat traffic on a weekday. There is no need to blast the boat’s horn : an old American police cruiser’s whining siren.
First we cruise south-east to visit Sirmione and see great castles, church towers and the ruins of a Roman Spa. The sulfur smell of the modern thermal baths is not to be missed!
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Today is July 24 and Carsten was born 29 years ago at 6:26 AM.
We are staying with Maria and Joachim in their beautiful vacation home, overlooking Lago Di Garda. After a morning swim, Joachim installs “Skype” on Gabi’s computer. Now we can make some inexpensive calls over the internet. Our first call goes to Carsten at 6:26, but unfortunately his voice mail answers. Gabi and I leave a message for the birthday boy, singing a Happy Birthday song. At night we send an SMS to Carsten, but are asleep by the time we get a reply.
We have lunch in a bar on the lake shore, and then Joachim invites us on board his classic shiny, wooden Riva boat.
It is another hot and sunny day in Italy. We cruise along the western lake shore, admiring “Belle Epoque” Grand Hotels and a private castle on Isola di Garda. After all this culture, it is time for a swim. We anchor in the “Cologne Bay”(our friends are from Cologne), and hang out for the afternoon. The water temperature is very comfortable and it feels good to cool off. The surrounding flora is very Mediterranean, with blooming plants, cypress and palm trees.
We are very greatful for Maria and Joachim’ hospitality.
I had sold our SeaRay boat 2 months ago and I regret it already. It would have been nice to have it on Lake Garda!

Today is July 22nd, our 32nd anniversary.
Gabi and I are staying at Hotel Gabrielli Sandwirth, located at Riva Degli Schiavoni along the San Marco waterfront.
We have breakfast with the birds in the hotel’s courtyard. One of us always has to guard the table against low flying pirates. The rest of the day is “Dolce Far Niente”. Gabi enjoys the true luxury of a vacation : to do absolutely nothing!
We retire to the hotel’s rooftop garden (the sign says “solarium”) and enjoy the sun and the scenery from our high perch. I watch the crazy boat traffic, with all the water taxis, tour boats, ferries, vaporetti and private yachts criss-crossing the canal below us. The tour boats fight for dock spaces to unload the hordes of Venice tourists.
We are staying cool in the shade and breeze of the terrace, and below us the “wretched, tired masses” voluntarily endure 100 Degree F temperature and blisters on their feet. The tour groups are 40 to 60 people in size, all being dragged along by their leader and listening over the audio guide.
Gabi is not moving, except from chaise to swing or banister for a change in scenery. San Marco cathedral and the Campanile are to our right, with the Canale Grande joining the Canale Della Giudecca. Straight across the water is the island with Santa Maria Maggiore cathedral. To our left is the yacht harbour, with 2 impressive dark blue yachts from Barbados: “Galaxy” and “Oxygen”.
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The media is showing plenty of coverage about the Moon landing on July 20, 1969. Neil Armstrong was the first man on the moon, but does not participate with all the media attention. Buzz Aldrin, on the other hand, seems to enjoy his spot in the limelight and can be seen on every TV show. He was the second man on the moon, but now reveals each small trivia, including his claim to be the first man on the moon to have emptied his bladder there.
I read in the Sueddeutsche paper that Munich Technical University scientists have measured the distance from Bavaria to the Moon. The laser beam traveled the 769000 kilometers in 2.56 seconds. Now I know how close the Moon is to Bavaria! Every year, the Moon does move 3,8 centimeters further away from us. Oh well, I can live with that.
Another space flight trivia: in 1970 future Apollo astronauts Eugene Cernan (Apollo 17), Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell (Apollo 14) were undergoing geological training in the Bavarian “Noerdlinger Ries”. Why would NASA train their astronauts in Bavaria?
Simple answer : it is the rock.
Approximately 143 million years ago, a meteorite hit this area north of Munich with a power comparable to several one hundred thousand Hiroshima Atomic Bombs. The resulting crater measures 500 meter deep and 25 kilometers wide. The Meteorite Suevit stone is apparently similar to the Moon rock.
The Americans also appreciated Bavarian food and beer enough to later donate a real piece of Moon Rock to the Noerdlingen Museum.

It is 56° F in Wuerzburg this morning and raining. This is supposed to be summer, but the last 2 weeks were cool with clouds and frequent rain showers.
We decide to drive south, but we see the first traffic jam on the Autobahn as we cross the superhighway in Wuerzburg-Heidingsfeld. Several German states have the beginning of school summer vacation this weekend and everybody is going south. I decide to take a detour over the county roads and enter the Autobahn near Rothenburg. We are in luck and less than 2 hours later check into The Parkhotel Jordanbad in Biberach. By 12:30, we soak in the spa’s warm, thermal pools. This has been a hospital and thermal spa for treating various ailments since 1290. 47 °C hot waters come from a depth of 1000 meters (about 3300ft) and are being used in different pools at varying temperatures.
We are in the adult-only section and follow a longstanding German tradition : bathing in your birthday suit. It is like Rousseau- Back to Nature- or back to the Stone Age, depending how you look at it.
We hang out in the pools and have our bodies massaged by under-water jets, relax on warm water bubble lounges and heat up in the 90°C
sauna. This is very strenous work, so we relax outdoors in the chaise lounges. We get dressed for dinner on the terrace of the hotel and enjoy the evening sunshine. Finally we have some nice weather. Tonight we will go back into the pools, prior to going to bed.

GEMÜTLICH is a German word, which can’t really be translated into English. It can mean comfy, cozy ; a feeling of being content with one’s surroundings, of feeling relaxed.

This morning after we had our first Stau ( very heavy traffic) on our way to Biberach, the next leg of our Spa vacation, we take a detour off the Autobahn and happen to see a McDonald’s with McCafe ……breakfast is saved. Inside the Cafe, Lothar enjoys a Croissant with a cappuccino and I, a breakfast panini with a cappuccino. How’s that for international! And as far as gemütlich goes, the fireplace in the Mc’Cafe created the ambiance. No, this is not in the southern hemisphere!

Due to the summerlike temperatures of 60’s, we had been following the weather rather closely and contemplated leaving the homeland behind and driving over the Alps to Austria or Switzerland , until we saw the weather there. Yes I mean saw; the German TV shows actual webcam shots of places around the world. On the screen, we saw SNOW, not on the summit, but in the foothills of the Alps. It would be considered a gemütlich sight, but not for July. So we decided to extend our Spa vacation. German s tend to enjoy a cross of bathing cultures between the southern Europeans of lounging around the waters of the pools and the northern Europeans, of cleansing the body through various steps of taking the saunas and baths.

After our gemuetliches breakfast, and a 20 mile detour, we are back on the Autobahn A 8 on our way to Biberach. Since my computer was out of juice, just had to plug him in to his own 110 volt plug, located in the cargo section of the car. What luxury! Lothar says we are going to go gemütlich today, in other words, take it easy, drive at 160 km/hr, not the over 240 the car can do . Gemütlich? I really need to revisit this word in the dictionary.