Buchstabensuppe

Croatia

So, we made it to the most southern point of our journey, to Dubrovnik. We are having a wonderful time so far, thats why we never wanted to go to an internet cafe before.

We have seen so many places, ate so many pizzas and met so many nice people. The highlights so far:

"Salzburger Nockerln" in the most famous resort of St. Wolfgang, Austria - "Weisses Roessl"

A funny night with VT friends in Zagreb

Plitvice Lakes National Park - a real paradise!

The sea organ in Zadar

Old buildings in Trogir

A funny night with the owner of our guesthouse near Trogir, sampling too much local wine and Schnapps

Old buildings in Split and the view onto them from the top

Waterfalls in Krka National Park

Swimming in the sea in Baška Voda (followed by a horrible sunburn)

Old buildings in Dubrovnik

I will tell you more once I get home. Tomorrow were off to Sarajevo, then Ljubljana. Cant wait!

Now something I really wanted to do all the time since I saw this keyboard first: ččččćććććššššđđđđžžžžžž ;-)

See ya!

Sabs

Das Leben der Anderen

Yesterday I finally watched the German Academy Award winning movie "Das Leben der Anderen" (The Lives of others").  When it was still on in the cinema in pre-Oscar days I was too busy to see it. Luckily it has won that Oscar so I got the chance to still watch it in the cinema even though is soooo 2006 ;)

This film by director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck - actually the first film he ever made - has to be one of the best films I have ever seen. The story is great. The actors are fantastic. The end is perfect. So is the music. The pictures. Goodness, I can't stop ;)

The story: In 1984 East Germany, Stasi agent Gerd Wiesler, a keenly idealistic supporter of the communist regime, is assigned to spy on playwright Georg Dreyman, who is suspected of Western leanings. Stasi agents secretly enter Dreyman's apartment in order to install small microphones and cables in the walls which connect the microphones to an attic space above the apartment, where Wiesler and an assistant take turns monitoring the activity below 24 hours a day, typing a report with anything they hear that might be relevant.

Wiesler soon finds out that the real reason why Dreyman is being spied on is that a minister and member of the Party's Central Committee is attracted to Dreyman's girlfriend, actress Christa-Maria; if Dreyman is arrested the minister will have free rein. This destroys Wiesler's motivation, as the job is not seriously investigating crimes against the Socialist state.

I won't tell you more here about the story. If you like to read the rest and spoil the suspense when seeing this movie (which I seriously recommend!) you can find the original text here.

My opinion:

• Loved the way the very realistic story is told. There's no pathos. No kitsch. Not even one boring moment.
• It's interesting to see the plot and the characters develop.
• Excellent actors, especially Ulrich Mühe, playing Wiesler, does a great job.
• This film contains no nostalgic memories of the GDR which were so popular a few years ago. How refreshing! After all sad stories like the one told happened all the time in the GDR. How could you be nostalgic about a system like this?

To cut a long story short: Why did this movie get only one Oscar? It deserved more. Go and see for yourself!

Pictures are taken from the (also fantastic) official German website.

47000 square pixels of fame

You can call me a real photographer from now on. ;) One of my old pictures from Oxford was chosen to illustrate an article about Harry Potter's Britain on the US movie website www.fandango.com. You can see it here.