Let it Snow

Isnt it amazing, thats from my window, in the morning.
I woke up and saw that the city was covered in white gold, twas so pretty, and the park outside my window had yet to have a single step ruin the perfection of the snow blanket that fell over Zagreb.


This was as I walked toward a tram station in New Zagreb, where i was picking up some documents related to work, i loves how the trees and the tracks looked.



Snow is so amazing, it covers all the imperfections and makes everything a pristine white, until people wake up, move around, cars make their way, then it becomes a gray/black mixture that looks like rain puddles and is far from the perfection it was before.

What i loved most about the snow today, as i was taking my grandma to her doctor, was that there was a beautiful blue clear sky above me, with a sun shining so bright, white gold all around the floor, and snow was still falling, there were amazing flakes trickling down.....

Adventures in Germany I

I have just come back from an amazing vacation in Germany, I was there for 15 days. I arrived in Stuttgart, and went right to Mannheim to see Jen, who had a little cold, that she managed to brave very well. We made it to Heidelberg with her buddy Fabian and some other peoples the following night, for what was an eventful night (I broke my jacket in two places, we met people who are going to MBA in the USA without taking the GMAT, and we managed to freeze our asses off). I had my UniClub experience the following night, now this is truly something everyone should have: You arrive in this restaurant/bar/wooden place, where they have great beer on tap in all sizes, with large tables and lots of cushy pillows to sit on, if you look up onto the ceiling you will notice that there are tables glued to it, looking down at you like a mirror, with cutlery, menu's and everything glued on, but the real treat is the SCHNITZEL! Two big pieces that come with a mountain of thin crispy french fries, and a large portion of salad....MMMMmmmmMMMMM

Then was the train ride to Bad Oeynhausen, which lasted 6 long hours, mainly due to severe train delays cause of an engine problem, and more likely the fact that half of Germany was on a train going somewhere for the holidays. But the ride was worth it, we get to Jen's parents house and we have fresh squeezed OJ waiting for us, and dinner....MMMMmmmMMMMM again. Delicious, you really could not have asked for more, it was some soft meat in a sick sauce, man i was drooling over it! Christmas came and went, I gave some hopefully good presents, and I received some lovely ones a scarf, tie, soft as all hell towel, sweater, chocolates, etc. And ate a good piece of fish, very nice! There also was a 7km walk around some swamps, which was good, cause the air was fresh, and the walk was nice, i like to walk, and i mean the swamps were not much, in fact not even swampy, a few ponds, and some amazing sunset pictures, and others



We went hiking up the Brocken, which was a total trip, it looked like a winter wonderland. I seriously felt as if i was in the disney cartoon, and there was someone singing

Gone away is the bluebird,
Here to stay is a new bird
He sings a love song,
As we go along,
Walking in a winter wonderland.

Damn disney, im looking for a clip and i cannot find anything, they are tight asses with videos of that little mouse. Suffice it to say that it was amazing, a clear blue sky

and snow everywhere, pine trees covered with snow, and the whole time i was expecting a white tiger or moose or some other winter animal to come out of the trees and greet us....and half the time we were walking on half a meter of snow on top of little streams or who knows what, but it was not a path by any means, we just kind of went into the forest and navigated, SPECTACULAR!....and i love this picture
Thats my Jenny chilling over a bridge with a stream flowing underneath, with the top kind of fake frozen, but the current strong underneath...the solitude you feel while walking is crazy, one moment there are 10 other people there, and you turn a corner and you feel as if there is no one for miles, and you are lost in a forest and who knows what kind of snow wolf will eat you


There is a feeling of peacefulness and total calm that you feel as you climb a winding path towards a target with snow all around you. The sun beating down on you, making you reconsider wearing that sweater under the jacket as you begin to sweat, and yet the snow is showing no signs of giving up its domination of the terrain. As soon as you turn a corner you are more grateful for the sweater's warmth as the shade makes the temperature drop several degrees in an instant.

Tomorrow on the blog: Skiing, LARGE, New Years, Mannheim, Train Scams, Leaving Jen, Zagreb again

If

IF

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream-and not make dreams your master;
If you can think-and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings-nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And-which is more-you'll be a Man, my son!

Rudyard Kipling