Energy makes me travel, energy makes me write at 1 am :-)

For the reason of the potential and belief that the renewable energy sector will gain further ground in the worldwide supply of electricity, I got to travel to Spain. For the reason of the natural and human need of FOOD, I am now writing this little post.

Intro: A little bit drunk and THE need to write:
After two(!) Sangrias I am a little bit drunk (I know my friends, I still do not support alcohol any better) sitting in my bedroom in the heart of Madrid and feel like writing. For some reason, tonight there no "fear of thw white sheet", actually I want to write about five topics in the same moment, but the force of the cause asks me to go step by step.

Main part: Tapas new defined:
I check into my hotel at 10pm. On the way from the train station I oberved well my surroundings and got a glimpse of a merket, at 100m from my hotel. Let's check it out. What I saw makes me write this article at 1am, half drunk (see intro). It is called "Mercado San Miguel", located inthe old city centre of Madrid. Inside there are JUST Tapas stalls. There is the "jamon and sausage" bar, the ostra (asuter) stall, of course you'll find variations of empanadas and empanaditas, cheese counter, Sangria (my fate), variations of fish tapas and even sweet and sushi tapas! My proceedings: I inspect everything carefully before taking the right decisions. Before I arrived in the Mercado I was like "you are not really hungry, don't eat". After I made the tour the question was not which tapas to eat, instead, the question was which Tapa NOT to eat. So, I agree, the sushi tapas are teasing, but come on, I just arrived in Madrid, the capital of Spain. Some real jamon, freshly cut from the leg? I had it yesterday, need something different. Eating auster makes me feel bad for the animals. I go for five different kinds of fish/meat combination of tapas and just loved it. However, one thing is the food, the other is the concept I fell in love with. People constantly stand and circulate in the hall. There is no place to sit down, but once ordered the tapas, you stay next to the food stall, which also serves as a bar. People talk, the atmosphere is living from locals being social and enjoying life. Wonderful, this is great, I love it.

Conclusion: I am really tired but looking forward not to sleep: Life is precious!
Travelling and discovering new places is such an enrichment in life. How can I miss out on doing so and learn more about a different culture and everything that goes along with? I don't know, but I know tomorrow I will continue to be an explorer and challenge Madrid. But for now, I need to sleep, hopefully not too long, every hour of sleep is one less exploring.

Proud to introduce two new friends!


Last weekend I went hiking: From Schynige Platte up to the mountain hut, having a Raclette there and a short night sleep. The other day, we went up to 2700m, on top of the Faulhorn, before descending to the mountain lake where we jumped into 8degree celsius warm water twice.
And immediately after: Emergency Power Supply was needed:
Then, it went down to Grindelwald and back home by train. This is a short version and of course I could elaborate more on the beauty of the landscpe, the view etc. as I did before. This would all just be a repetition of what I had written previously.


What I actually realized past weekend is how good it is to spend time with people that are close to me but also to meet new friends. When I think back and try to remember when I met last time someone (outside of the daily business activities, that would not really count) I can call now "friend", I can not remember. Isn't that sad? There are so many interesting and fun people in the world sharing common interest, ready to tell their stories and to laugh. But during my life the past 18 months I rarely met any of thos (except when I was travelling outside Switzerland) Why? There is a variety of reason starting with "I am full worker", focusing rather on existing friendships and family than new friends, but certainly also to be in the Sargans area and be in a society where people are culturally rather "reserved". It is sad.


The happier I am, that I can count now two new creatures of the planet earth "my friends". ... and all started wit a "teambuilding task à la Andrea" (I droped my Swiss army knife which fell between two big stones and it was kind of a mission to get it out). That set the ground for so much fun, jokes and good conversations and I am confident there is more of it to come. This trip was so much more than hiking, it felt much longer and so intense in terms of the experience.