My language ability

I was told tonight that I speak very good English!

Yes, it was by an American. A Harvard graduate. I am not joking.

What's up in Tubingen

Hello everyone - that's right, no picture this time. This is because I have lost my digital camera. Actually I think it got stolen out of my bag at a party, but I'm not sure. The travel insurance will cover some of the loss after I run around to the police, town hall etc to do all the paperwork.

In other exciting news, I have a 5000 word assignment to write in the next 10 days, a surprise mini-exam in Italian on Wednesday, and my passport is still at the Russian embassy after problems with the company that runs the Russian component of the Scandinavia/Russia tour that Ally and I are doing in August.

Just when I have all these other things to keep me indoors, it's meant to continue being 30 degrees every day for the next week. We did hang out at the pool yesterday though, and even got some surveys done for our assignments while we were there.

Maybe tomorrow Susan and I will book flights to Italy and Spain for September to make us feel better about everything! We're planning on flying Germany to Venice (Italy), Rome to Valencia (Spain) then Madrid to Germany and the three flights combined will cost us about 120 EUR (~A$190). Gotta love the European economy!

Schloss Lichtenstein

Kate and me at Schloss Lichtenstein, a castle from the 1800s that was actually built on top of the ruins of another castle that used to stand on the same spot in the 1400s.

We are still trying to figure out how they built this castle on this steep cliff. I would love to know your theories. You can click on "Comments" below to help me solve the mystery! 

Stocherkahnrennen

This year was the 50th annual Stocherkahnrennen (Punt boat races) in Tubingen. These men, the Viking team, were wearing bear skins and making warrior-like primal noises. Even their dragon's red eyes lit up. Not sure whether they won or not, though!! The winner gets a pig on a spit, and the losing team has to drink half a litre of fish oil.

A new take on the Pope-Mobile, perhaps? You know you're in southern Germany when a cardboard pope-mobile has a Mercedes logo (the factory is in Stuttgart, very close to Tubi).
 

This banner literally means "We are Pope" - or maybe my translation skills aren't quite as good as I thought! The television crew at the front of this picture actually tried to interview us on camera, with disastrous results - the cameraman had to speak English to us and tell us what to say. They made us say "The Pope is the best!" and we wonder if maybe they're going to take our words terribly out of context and broadcast them sometime!! 

Yesterday we went on a Saturday wander/day hike to the Wurmlinger Kapelle (chapel) which is on the top of a large hill about 8km west of Tubingen... The weather was beautiful and there were great views over the surrounding towns.
 

Kate and Susan posing on the country path with the German cows. 

A picture of the mirrored ceiling inside the Schloss. Who could those two tourists be? It's Martina and Steph! 

Schloss Ludwigsburg just north of Stuttgart - I like this one because it's a Baroque castle and so it's all pastels and gold, very preeety!