"Fasching" ( Carnival in Bleiburg.)

It is the last day of this year's Carnival. Shrove Tuesday. ( Fasching Dienstag).
Tomorrow is "Ash Wednesday" and all the fun and joy is supposed to be over.
Bleiburg celebrates this day with a "Children's Carnival".
They gather in front of City Hall and our Mayor welcomes them.
Children and Parents.
Cookies, Candies and Hot Drinks are being served.
"Glühwein" and Schnaps for the parents. Soft drinks for the children.
An Accordion player entertains the assembled crowd, Songs are sung by the kids and
a good time is being had by all.

Bleiburg's future is safe and sound.

No fear of the town running out of people.

Pretty mothers and proud fathers bring even their toddlers.

Center top: Bleiburg's Mayor and Vice Mayor

above and below: what else is there to say?

Even though the button-accordion plays a happy tune,

the kid in green seems not to like the music a whole lot.

Mayor Stefan Visotschnig

flanked by two mothers who kept the spirit.

Springtime, just around the Corner

I could not believe it.
There it is, only the end of February, and what do I find in our garden?
Beautiful Snowbells!
Harbingers of Spring.

some more of Africa

Male and Female Impala

surround a Zebra

The fastest of them all:

A Cheetah and its prey.

Back to Africa

Although departure to Africa is not until 14th May, some 80 days in the future, the anticipation, not to say excitement, is slowly building. One might think that after 12 such Safaris I would get used to the adventure and approach the 13th trip with a certain equanimity. This, however, is not so.
Africa, for me, holds a never ending challenge, a new vista, another discovery.
Even if I have taken literally hundreds of photographs of elephants, for instance, this next one just might be the all time best image ever of such a marvelous animal.
Will I be able to improve upon some of the lion images from previous Safaris?
Can there be a more graphic shot of a black maned Lion of the Kalahari, than the ones I was lucky to get during my visit there two years ago?
Of course there can! And it is this possibility and a thousand others which drive me there again and again.

Through the Looking Glass

Anyway, that's my 'Looking Glass'

The view from our livingroom window.

Two Sunfish sailboats.

Pythagoras of Samos

According to him, in a right angle triangle a2 +b2 = c2

where a and b meet there is, by definition, a 90 degree angle.

the other two angles add up to also 90 degrees.

so, in accordance with the formula, if a = 5, and b = 10, 

c must be 11.18.....

in  this case c is 0.894% longer than b.

If I now extend the base line (b) from 10 to 100, we get the following result:

25+10,000 = c sq

c = 100.125, which is 0.998% longer than b

let me now extend base line b to infinite.

does that mean that the hypotenuse "c" must also be infinite and the angle where a meets c must now also be 90 degrees. Are we now dealing with two parallel lines b and c, which will never meet

at best we are no longer dealing with a triangle, but a square.

unless one considers the theorem that parallel lines meet in infinity.

Or is this whole thing a bunch of h.s. since there is no "infinity" in Geometry?

or is there?

Bertstravel

wonders about the craziest things.

More Joy in Austria

Yes, it happened today.
In the men's slalom Austrian ski stars shone brilliantly on the World Championship Alpine Skiing firmament.
Not only did Marcel Hirscher grab the Gold by 68/100th of a second over his team mate, newcomer Manuel Feller who, in turn,  outdistanced Felix Neureuther of Germany by 25/100th of a second, but he lead the Austrian team to the overall nations cup.
With 3 Golds, 4 Silvers and 2 Bronze, Austria defeated Switzerland in the total medal count with 9:7.
Canada and the USA garnered 3 medals each for 4th place.

It was a wonderful competition.

Marcel Hirscher leaving the starting gate.

Half way down the course Marcel is leading by 0.15 seconds.

Marcel Hirscher and his team mate, Silver Medalist,  Manuel Feller.

They call him the "King of St. Moritz!"

Feller, Hirscher and Neureuther.

Back to the stuff that's REALLY important

It could have been 1-2-3 Austria.
Unfortunately,  #2 in the first leg of the men's Giant Slalom could not duplicate his form in the second leg and came in "only" in fifth place.
Marcel Hirscher came in 1st place for the Gold Medal
Roland Leitinger placed second for the Silver Medal,
and Leif Christian Haugen spoilt the Austrian sweep by placing third.
Despite this, all of Austria is in Euphoria.

Gold and Silver Medals for Austria!!

Three Austrians among the first 5 skiers.

Marcel Hirscher!

That's how he grabbed the Gold.

Marcel is obviously happy.

and Leif Christian Haugen is happy with his Bronze.

The Portrait of a Winner!

Now For A Change Of Pace

A man and a woman share a compartment on the train from Innsbruck  to St. Moritz.
She is looking out the window, admiring the countryside rushing by, while he, without concentration is leafing through a magazine. Suddenly she takes her eyes off the countryside, looks at him and says: "I know you would like to talk to me, but you are too shy to start a conversation."
He looks at her and says: "Actually, you are quite correct. But how did you know this?"
"It's easy," she smiles,  "I am a Psychologist, specializing in male-female relationships. With emphasis on Sex therapy!"
"This is most interesting" he says, "I have often wondered if the men of different Nationalities have different sexual characteristics."
Again, she smiles at him: "But of course they do! For instance research has proven beyond doubt that the North American Indians are the most imaginative in relation to sex, while men of Polish extraction possess the greatest sexual stamina."
"I find this absolutely fascinating" he says with a broad smile on his face, and continues: "I am terribly sorry to have been so rude, not having introduced myself."
With a small bow in her direction he says: "Let me introduce myself: 
My name is Kowalski. Winnetou Kowalski."

Bertstravels
told you that the above would
have nothing to do with skiing.

FIS World Championships - Downhill - Men

There was dense fog on Saturday on the downhill course in St. Moritz.
Visibility was limited to a degree where existing conditions would have been dangerous.
The race was postponed to Sunday afternoon.
The ladies downhill at 11am, the men's at 1.30 PM.
Weather conditions were very good and one of the most exciting races took place.
Each of the first 8 racers topped the one before. Times got more and more unbelievable. Speeds in excess of 120 km/h were the minimum required to win this competition.
Finally, when all was done and we were able to release our grip on each other's hands, the results were almost too good to be true.

Top speeds and long jumps were the order of the day.

a picture which shows the speed and concentration of the racers!

The Swiss Beat Feuz, winner of the gold medal

You may not see Manuel,

but feast your eyes on this scenery.

Speed personified.

with start number 13, Beat beat all competitors.

(his name is pronounced Be-at)

Eric Guay raced to the Silver Medal, 

only 12/100th of a second behind the winner,

and 25/100th of a second later, the Austrian Max Franz 

grabbed the Bronze,

only 2/100th of a second quicker than the next two finishers.

What a race this was.

Looking forward to the Slalom races tomorrow.

They should be something to experience.

Bertstravels

wishes he were in St. Moritz

instead of stealing these images from a TV set.

It's shameful

FIS World Championship - Ladies' Downhill

With speeds of up to 120 km/h these ladies hurl themselves down a slope with a maximum of 80 degrees decline. It is breathtaking even to watch it on a Television set.
I sit there, in my comfortable easy chair and suddenly I think: "I go that fast in my car, on the "Autobahn" only rarely. If the Autobahn would suddenly drop at an angle of 80 degrees, I'd get out and walk."

Here are some pix of the winners of this ladies' race:

Stephanie Venier, the surprise  Austrian Silver Medallist

and, of course: Lindsay Vonn!

Ilka Suhec from neighbouring Slovenia

skied superbly to the Downhill Goldmedal.