Welcome 2009!

2008 is gone, the flu is still with me. Can´t I trade?

Well, we are back from some wonderful days spent with our families. After Christmas Eve with my parents, we headed on to Duisburg, to stay with Dani´s family. I started feeling really sick on the 25th and the flu has stuck with me ever since. Two days ago, it finally started to get better, as the medicine seems to start working. Woo-hooo! On the other hand, I thought I was pretty good at fighting the recession, with me spending money on LOTS of tissues at the stores! ;)

Despite the flu and missing out on a few things, I really liked our little vacation time. Duisburg has it´s nice spots and is not at all as ugly a town as my first impression persuaded me to believe when we passed by it many years ago and I was only 12 or so then. I especially liked the town hall and the old church right beside it. I was also fascinated with "the sad ruins" as I secretly dubbed them. With that I meant the many deserted industry buildings and factories that have closed down since their glorious days. Duisburg was and still is an industrial city and, much like Allentown in the United States (Ha, I still hear Billy Joel singing his song in my head now), had many people unemployed when the mines and factory sites closed down. What remains are huge lots of land with odd and surreal looking buildings, structures and machines (at least in my opinion), with that creepy air of decay about that you can feel around any building or house that is left to decay. Sad and yet interesting. One evening we visited one abandoned Krupp factory site and it was open to explore for the public. That night, there was hardly any light but we went on to explore one huge tower that used to be sort of a melting pot if i remember correctly. My friend Chrie and I agreed that the whole lot looked eerily like a movie set for a science fiction flick (Welcome to the 50's vision of Martian architecture... ;) ). It was a really tall tower that was accessable by frail looking ladders made of steel. Steel, I reminded myself, is really strong and should support my weight, even if I can´t see the ground anymore because below me everything laid in darkness and somehow I felt a bit dizzy. When did this happen??? I was never afraid of heights when I was little. In fact, I always made fun of mom then, because she was. I don´t know when this happened. I need to do something about it, I think. I don´t want to feel like the Vertigo man! It was ok though, as my friend and my husband had me walk in the middle and so I felt better. Odd how you can deceive your mind ;). Anyways I am rambling but I still have the excuse that my flu-infused mind is at fault. The view from the tower was worth all the work climbing up. It was great. What first helped me calm down was the sight of a nearby illuminated IKEA sign. It was the first thing I saw when we looked over the city :). Loved it!

Back to 2008: Check out this beautiful slideshow / video that my friend Christy sent me as a gift for Christmas. She posted it on Youtube. Click this LINK HERE to see the pictures she took at my wedding. Matt and her made my day with that cool thing! (Nice touch at the beginning and the end, Christy ;)! )
Leaving you in that spirit, have a happy new year and all for one and one for all!