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It all began with a New Year’s party with friends and my daughter Birte at Burbacherstraße, Bonn, overlooking the city and the fireworks—but no Y2k crash.

Birte firing up the new century on our balcony
(All pictures can be enlarged by clicking at them. Kindly “return” back.)

In January we traveled to Stockholm for a long weekend with Ericsson.

Gisela, phoning the old way

Carnival in Bonn

My mother as artist, sketching Sankt Valentin at Kiedrich

In April my uncle Heinz (from Madrid) invited all of us to celebrate his 85th birthday in Eltville, near Wiesbaden on the Rhine. We enjoyed a short but touching family reunion!

Easter time traditionally brings us to our farm and forest in South Tyrol, with blooming spring there, and snow on the mountains.

... see further pictures of the farm in the German stories “Siebenfarrer”, the old “roads” leading there, the history of the farm, and “before 1950”.

See pictures of our apartment and the garden here.

In June then we moved to our new (rented) apartment downtown Bonn, at Friedrichstraße; high ceilings, stucco, but with a new and modern part, partially in two stories—very romantic! Most exciting is our garden in the back, including six gold fish. We had 250 cartons full of things—and fitted all of it.

A surprise invitation by Deutsche Telekom’s mobile daughter, T-Mobil, brought us in style to London and Henley on Thames, with competing rowing crews from all the world.

End of July we flew to Colorado with Birte! She takes a senior high school year at »Ponderosa High School« (Ponderosa isn’t just a farm in a TV series!). Birte stays with a wonderful family at Parker, south of Denver. We traveled the US and Indian West for two weeks. Birte got her Driver’s License with 16 in Laramie, Wyoming, after one repetition due to speeding on the Main Road. We keep in good contact via e-mail.

Birte as Indian girl, and with a very small part of her host family.

Fritz and Birte at Laramie

In autumn we revisited Paris and Versailles. That’s not far from Bonn. We had great weather and lots of fun.

Louvre: at left Ingres’ Angélique, ca. 1819, to the right Gisela with Pierre Mignard (1612–1695), then Fritz at the Paris Opera

   The Harms family (Gisela’s) got together in November, for the East Freesian sport of “Boßeln”—basically public bowling on picturesque side streets.
   Gisela’s job at “Duales System”, with some excursions to Hannover’s Expo, where the company had a popular pavilion, continues happily.
   My part-time job at Ericsson in Düsseldorf is great! Besides that I write technical articles for the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”, und sometimes for PR agencies. It’s good to have work here, and not to commute all weekends from Stuttgart to Bonn, like last year. Living together is unbeatable!

G. boßeling