Back home...

I spent the weekend at "home" in Rhineland Palatine, visiting my family and being there for my dad´s birthday. It was fun! My bros girlfriend Maria from Denmark moved into our house a couple of days ago do get her master´s degree in nuclear medicine in Germany (and to be with my bro) and I gotta say I´m really happy for my brother. Maria is a sweet person and I have seldom seen my brother happier than in the past two years...good for him! I was really psyched to see my dog after his big surgery and was relieved to see him happy and in shape again. Lot´s of walking! In order to remind everybody that it still is winter, the snow came back (1 foot of snow) over night from Friday to Saturday...that meant snow shoveling. I love snow shoveling. I always used to do it when I still lived at the place and it was fun and a bit of reminiscing as well to do it again. Hobos was of course super stoked on the weather, being a mini sized polar bear, he really likes snow!
My dad`s birthday started with me getting rolls the ecologically correct way (that is walking to the village, gosh, I love walking in crisp, clean air) and proceeded with a most amazing dinner cheffed up by my brother. Didn´t like the entree too much but the main dish and the dessert were extraordinary!
I didn´t climb much. Snow and a very low psyche on gym climbing made me take Hobos for a lot of walks which I would have done anyway but prevented any other extraordinary achievements. So I gained quite some weight...
On a side note, I also came to a decision regarding my plans for this year...Ticino over Easter, Gorges du Tarn in the beginning of September and then US...the exact Gorges du Tarn date is a little dependent on the road closure date of Tioga Pass (don´t wanna drive Sonora again) but that´s the plan. Sounds like a jolly good time (and well deserved) after finishing my thesis and psychology exams!
Here are some shots!