We went over to Alison and Michi’s richtfest this Saturday. A Richtfest is a German tradition that takes place once the rough structure of a house is complete. This means that all the real building is done and it’s mainly cosmetic stuff left to do.
The builder decorates the house with a tree and then stands on the roof toasting the house and wishing it good luck. They then throw the glass they are drinking from to the ground and if it breaks it is good luck. In this case, the glass broke. Following this little celebration, we moved onto a pub to have food and drinks.
Not only a pleasant way to spend a day, but also nice to see another German tradition. Some photos are below – look carefully and you can see the tree on the roof. As usual click the thumbnails below for the full sized picture.
We’re back from our short break in Italy. It was a long drive, but it was worth it. The hotel (link in prevous post) was everything we hoped it would be and more. Usually, when you find what looks like a really nice place with some great pictures on the site your destined for disappointment. This time though, that wasn’t the case at all. The place is a wonderfully restored castle run by two very nice American people.
If you’re thinking about spending a few days anywhere in Italy, I can highly recommend the Castello di Sinio. Anyhow, enough waffle, here are some pics. Click them for a bigger picture and feel free to add comments to this post.
These are of the hotel.
The castle in Barolo
Me in Barbaesco
Clouds (there weren’t many around)
For those that don’t know, Crystal and I were married last weekend (2nd September). We had many people there who had not met each other before – people travelled from the UK, the US and even as far as Australia. So that people would have a chance to meet, we reserved 100 places in the Michaelibad biergarten for the Friday night.
Luckily the weather was good – and I really do mean luckily because it had rained for about the previous 4 weeks. Some selected photos are shown below (click the thumbnail to open a larger image). Feel free to leave comments.
We’re off to Italy early tomorrow morning for a few days, so that’s all for now. More next week. For those interested, we’re going here: http://www.hotelcastellodisinio.com/
Shane discovers german beer
Steve doing beer wench service
My folks and 
Crystal’s folks.
The Brown family
Crystal and Elaine
Stu and Uncle Bill
Stu and Josh
Crystal and Tom
Barbie, Sarah and Laura
