Merry X-mas and all the best for 2009!

Just a short one to wish you all happy holidays and all the best for 2009! cheers

Paris X-mas shopping

View from the Pont des Arts. The "best" picnic spot in summer

Crazy month this one... with lots of private travelling: Mexico, USA, Munich, Valencia and this past weekend Paris (not to mention the upcoming trip to SA...heavy duty... are we enjoying the last days of something??!? :-)

Anyhow, Paris, our home between 2002 and 2007, is always worth a visit. We definitely miss it. A beatiful city with an incredible scenery, atmosphere and an awesome bar and restaurant offer. One of the capitals of the world. Munich is indeed a very small village in comparison.

Paying a visit to our beloved neighbourhood, Rue Montorgueil. Btw, the SFR shop moved on, a vine shop moved in. Left of Sabine is the entrance to our former appartment (windows 2nd floor above Litte Italy - btw, best pasta in town by far)

Great regattas to follow

The Cheminées Poujoulat ran aground in 40-45 knots when trying to stop for repairs

Despite my lack of posting about the Volvo Ocean Race and the Vendee Globe, there has been quite some incredible action in the past weeks.

Yann Elies being rescued by the Australian marine

At the Vendee Globe, half of the fleet has been eliminated, the current leader started two days late due to material problems and we have seen some dramatic scenes (lots of dismasting and hitting of floating objects, a boat running ashore, and a sailor rescued 800nm south of Australia as he fell from the mast and broke his femur...he is extremely lucky to be alive).

Extreme tight game in the Strait of Malaca

At the Volvo, Ericsson 4 had another impressive performance winning Leg 2 (Cape Town to Cochin, India). Now the boats are hours away to arrive in Singapore. The four leading boats are within 4 miles of each other. Nerve breaking arrival indeed!

UPDATE: it was indeed the closest finish ever. After 2,000nm, the top 4 reached Singapore within 20 minutes, the last 3 within 2 minutes and a half...vow.

The Roaring Twenties b-day party

Any excuse is good for a party, anyhow Javier, Silvia and Tomas picked a great theme for their already traditional birthday party this past Saturday in Valencia. The Roaring Twenties with the Wall Street crash of 1929 seem to fit pretty well with the current climate. Since we only live once, better to party than to worry seemed to be the idea. Fair enough.

Major coincidence- destiny?

Some time this past summer, Sabine came across the TV series "Moonlight" and inmediately became addicted to the (actually quite good) vampire thriller and romance story.  She watched all episodes on the web, downloaded them, watched them again and again.  The only break during the summer was our sailing trip, since my laptop battery could not cope with such a watching freenzy.  :-)

You cannot imagine how dissapointed she was when CBS unexpectedly decided to cancel the series...there is a large fan base out there pushing to reconsider the decision, so there is some hope, but with Twilight gaining traction, the CBS folks might think that there are too many vampire stories out there...not sure. 

Anyhow, two days ago we were having breakfast at the great Urth Cafe in West Hollywood when suddenly the lead actor of Moonlight, Alex O'Loughlin (aka Mick St John) walked in... Despite his new hairstyle ("I cut my hair" he said to us  :-), Sabine recognized him instantly.  She couldn't believe it and went almost nuts.  I have only seen her so nervous when she first met my parents.  It was very sweet.

After some discussions, I tricked her and approached Alex.  He was extremely nice, we had a short conversation and took a pic with his main German fan :-)

Small world indeed and what a major coincidence...from all stars in LA, we bumped into the number #1 in Sabine's list.  Very cool.  Sabine can still not believe it.  (me neither)