The 1st summer day in Merano

Here it is the 1st summer day in Merano!!
And this blog celebrates its first birthday!!!

Sacred Heart

Tonight we could also enjoy the Sacred Heart celebration. It's just magic...

;) Can you see them? ;)

More about it in Italian
More about it in German

Pic by P. Ohnewein

My hibernation... abroad!

It's amazing how fast time passes...!
Shame on me, hibernating like that for over two months...!
Well, there are good reasons for not being online during the last time :) I had the awesome chance to enjoy some free time abroad, where I could recharge my batteries with new cultures, languages, colours, food, architecture... I love travelling!!!

While I took my dreamy parentheses around Europe, Merano kept drinking wine, playing music and celebrating Christmas with many other enthusiasts :)
November was the time for the world's best wines in the Kurhaus with the WineFestival, a long red carpet welcomed the visitors on the Freiheitsstrasse and many precious wines were awaiting them in the inside.

As soon as the gastronomic tent of the MIWF was removed, diligent men started mounting the little wooden houses of the Christmas Market. This year the weather was gentle, it snew 3-4 times, the mountains are still covered by a white blanket :) What I can't stop watching during the Christmas Market, are the black sheep staying in a small cot on the Thermenplatz: mummy, daddy and their children, they are just soooo cute! People go mad for them!

In December I was particularly diligent and Christmas-minded :) I made a lot of Christmas biscuits! It's a nice South Tyrolean tradition I love! South Tyrolean women start baking biscuits various weeks before Christmas (the more they are kept in the box, the better they get) and give them as a gift to those people who deserve them ;)
I still have a small number of them, which I gelously conserve in my last, smallest box...

Thanks to the big effort of the Tourist Authority, the New Year was celebrated with music and fireworks and my city colourfully started its 2010!

Since last Friday the days have become sunnier and brighter, my narcissi are miraculously coming up from their dried little bulbs... Wow...
I'll talk to you soon again, my winter sleep has finished :)

Good things for me & for the community

This week I did some good things for me and for the community.
I had a bad start Monday morning, chaos and stress all the time, but then I could spend my lunch-time at the fitness center of the Merano Thermal Baths. After a nice aerobics training and a restoring shower the world really looks much friendlier :) The plans for the night were also pretty interesting: a gorgeous concert by the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra at the Kurhaus, the second of the long series branded Merano Music Festival. That kind of music, the beautiful late summer atmosphere and the majesty of the Kurhaus are a veritable life blood for the souls...
Apropos blood, today I went to the hospital of Merano to make a donation. The ambience is always very nice there. Dr. Platter, responsible for the the medical part of the organisation, uses to come over to the volunteers just like a father would do, asking them if the're all right. The nurses do their job with professionlism and tranquillity, also really caring for the patients well-being. There is always nice music accompaning you while you wait for your turn and after having donated you can have the second part of the foreseen breakfast. You are allowed to leave the place, only when you are sure to be all right. I am a bit weekened because of the donation, but I also feel good because I know I've done something good for the community. :)