Die Spatzen pfeifen’s von den Dächern: Tim Raue verläßt nach fünf erfolgreichen Jahren das Restaurant 44 im Swissotel Berlin. Der – laut Gault Millau – Koch des Jahres 2007 eröffnet hinter dem Adlon Hotel, nahe dem Club Felix, in der Wilhelm- / Behrensstraße, sein eigenes Restaurant. Im “Ma” will Raue zum Jahreswechsel in zwei Restaurants seine asiatisch geprägte Kreativküche präsentieren.

Der ambitionierte und hochdekorierte Koch sagte laut Brancheninsidern zwar immer, dass ihm Berlin zu klein sei. Doch jetzt will er offensichtlich seine Aromenküche vervollkommnen. Seine Frau Marie-Anne wird Geschäftsführerin des neuen Restaurant-Komplexes. Für das asiatisch angehauchte Interieur zeichnet Anna-Maria Jagdfeld verantwortlich, die schon für manches Fundus-Objekt erfolgreich Hand anlegte.

Danijel Kresovic wird ab Mitte Januar Nachfolger von Raue im 44. Er kochte seit Mai 2005 im Restaurant Daimlers am Kurfürstendamm, vorher im Harlekin (Hotel Esplanade) und im Kreuzberger Jolesch.

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“Ich bin acht Jahre alt. Einige meiner Freunde sagen, es gibt keinen Weihnachtsmann. Papa sagt, was in der ‘Sun’ steht, ist immer wahr. Bitte sagen Sie mir: Gibt es einen Weihnachtsmann?”

“Virginia, Deine kleinen Freunde haben nicht recht. Sie sind angekränkelt vom Skeptizismus eines skeptischen Zeitalters. Sie glauben nur, was sie sehen: Sie glauben, dass es nicht geben kann, was sie mit ihrem kleinen Geist nicht erfassen können. Aller Menschengeist ist klein, Virginia, ob er nun einem Erwachsenen oder einem Kind gehört. Im Weltall verliert er sich wie ein winziges Insekt. Solcher Ameisenverstand reicht nicht aus, die ganze Wahrheit zu erfassen und zu begreifen. Ja, Virginia, es gibt den Weihnachtsmann.

Es gibt ihn so gewiss wie die Liebe und die Großherzigkeit und die Treue. Uund Du weißt ja, dass es all das gibt, und dehalb kann unser Leben schön und heiter sein. Wie dunkel wäre die Welt, wenn es keinen Weihnachtsmann gäbe! Sie wäre so dunkel, als gäbe es keine Virginia. Es gäbe keinen Glauben, keine Poesie – gar nichts, was das Leben erst erträglich machte. Ein Flackerrest an sichtbarem Schönen bliebe übrig. Aber das ewige Licht der Kindheit, das die Welt erfüllt, müsste verlöschen. Es gibt einen Weihnachtsmann, sonst könntest Du auch den Märchen nicht glauben. Du könntest Deinen Papa bitten, er solle an Heiligabend Leute ausschicken, den Weihnachtsmann zu fangen. Und keiner von ihnen würden den Weihnachtsmann zu Gesicht bekommen. Aber was würde das schon beweisen?

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So, ten days South-Africa – and finally I have to go back to my home and to my work! Having been here from the 4th to the 13th of december really was a pleasure! My wake-up call is at 4.15 am, I have to leave the hotel at 5 am, my plane, SA 262, will leave at 7.50 am from CPT and arrive at 6.45 pm at FRA. The next train I can get will bring me down to MUC. Unfortunately SAA has no direct link from CPT to MUC. Well, LTU does…

I want to say thanx again to those supporting me these days and spending so much time with me and/or supplying me with so many unforgetable pictures in my head.
- South African Airways
- Avis
- Jaci’s Lodge
- Ant’s Nest
- Grootbos Reserve
- Blaauwklippen Vineyard
- Protea Fire & Ice Hotel

And of course “Cheers” and “Gesundheit!” to all the nice people (Deon, Tessa & Ant, Michael Lutzeyer, Kai Schliebusch, Rolf Zeitvogel, Joe – just to name some) I met in this time down here! It really was fun all the time! C u l8r!

Today the sun tried to hide between lots of clouds and even a little bit rain. So I descided to make a christmas shopping tour at V&A Waterfront. But in the early afternoon the sun suceeded and I saw that Table Mountain is free from clouds. So I jumped into my car and rushed up to the cable car station.

So finally I made it. I was already frightend that I would have been in Cape Town but not at the top of the Table Mountain. When there are clouds on it the Capetonians call it Table Clothes. And it fits. I went up with the Cable Car and spent some two hours up there. Meanwhile I met two couples from Munich, Bavaria up there. The one was just finishing a boat cruising tour, beginning at Genua and now flying back tomorrow to Munich. The later is just beginning a trip through South Africa and will stay until after christmas. Cheers to you both! And drive safely, as everyone down here wishes.

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So that is the place where you can go base-jumping. Or bungee jumping. Or whatever extreme you like. The Protea hotel group recently gave the formerly known Extreme Hotel the new name Fire & Ice Hotel. Let’s see if Willy Bogner has been here already…

The hotel is not far away from the hottest street in town, the Long Street. It provides everything young people need. But when I was checking in this late afternoon, there was no power. So the boy had to bring up my luggage 4 floors… – my luggage weighs about 20kg. And the reservation first gave a wrong room number because the computers where off. Well I finaly got a nice room and enjoyed later, when the power was back, the Bose sound system with plug-in for my iPod.

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Where should you go out to have dinner when you are new in Cape Town? You go straight to Long Street. Here you find some of the hottest places in Cape Town. For african kitchen I can recommend Nyoni’s Kraal, a very nice, stylish but also still african restaurant.

These guys have a wide variety of braai, curry, seafood and other african or south-african dishes on the menu. I enjoyed today some marinated snoek pieces with assorted vegetables as a starter, followed by a Cape Malay Bobotie, some kind of meat on rice… Very delicious.

“We want to be the cherry on the cream” told me today Rolf Zeitvogel, General Manager and Wine Maker at the Blaauwklippen Vineyard in Stellenbosch, South Africa. And indeed, this magnificent site is on the best way to be one of the big names in the african wine business. The vineyard is since some few years on the way from a mass production to quality and especially to fit the wines for culinary tastes. Wines for the restaurants, that is what this german owned south african vineyard is going to promote.

After a very nice guided tour through the cellar and some nice insight views of the vineyards, thanks to Crescenda, a 29 years old native south-african girl, who studied german at Stellenbosch University and learned the wine business on the go at Paarl, I spent some delicious wine tasting hours with Rolf Zeitvogel.

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Today I have some kind of a day off. I left Grootbos at noon. Before I was out with Nzuzu, a very kind staff member who showed me yesterday his township, out in the hills looking for the several plants, the flowers of the Grootbos Nature Reserve. I drove off from the coast and now I am in the Wine Region, a little town called Franschhoek.

This town is so amazingly french, Old Europe. Just around the corner is a huge Hugenott memorial. Coming from the coast I popped in the Arabella Western Cape & Spa Hotel. A nice, modern business and Golf Hotel, belonging to the ArabellaStarwood Group. This house provides everything for the normal guest of a five star hotel. The guestrooms are modern, but could be like this also everywhere around the world. International high-class comfort. The golf course is very nice, directly at the coast with some spectacular views.
What I find some kind of funny and haven’t seen it before: the men’s urinals are full of ice cubes. Does it help against smelling?

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After this awesome trip yesterday on the sea for the marine big five I am looking like a lobster today. Well, I had a cap on my head. But the wind was so stormy that I preferred to keep the cap in my pocket and to hope that the sun will not be too intensive…

So now I am a little bit grilled and hope that it will soon turn to brown…

Today, I have had two absolute different emotions: at one hand we have been on a boat out on the ocean. And we have really seen on the first trip outside on the sea the marine big five. I have seen and made a lot of pictures of the white shark (!), the whales, the dolphins, the seals and of a lot of penguins. I would love to give you some pictures, but this connection here is much to slow. So I will send you the pix on my flickr account when I am back in Germany.

Nevertheless I have been with a guide from the Grootbos reserve in one of the next townships. We have been driving trough this township slowly. And I must really say that not only the first trip but also the second was really touching. We have been at the final ceremony of a football competitioin where the under 15 years old kid get their reward. And this special football place is sponsored by the first mayor football league from South Africa. This is the first not natural football place in South Africa. These guys here are really happy to leave so close to such a positive and sustainable lodge like Grootbos.

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This evening I arrived at the Grootbos Resort. This is also an outstanding hotel. But in comparison with both the other hotels I have been in more a hotel than a game reserve. I have also a house for my own. It’s more some kind of a family suite. A nice house to stay in. And the view over the landscape to the coast, the waterfront and the sea is just wonderful. But at the other hand I was sitting alone at my table while in the other hotels I always had lovely people to eat and chat with.

This day started already very early. I had a 3 hrs drive from Ants Lodge to Jo’burg Airport. But this tiny, nice Toyota Corolla made at least 160km/h, downhill 170, so it was no problem for me to be at the airport in time, to give the car back to Avis and to check in.

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Yesterday I drove from Jaci’s Lodge up north to Ant’s Nest, in the Waterberg Region in the Northern District of South Africa. Even though the weather today could be warmer it is wonderful. My drive yesterday was somehow adventorous. I was on a gravel road and stuck deep in the mud. Thanx to black power, a farmer and his two sons, I got out of the mud. But you should see now this Avis Toyota Corolla. Full with red mud…

Today I was horse riding. Through the beautiful landscape. And we have been with our horses just some few metres away from the wild animals. They see us, horse and man, as one entity, as one other wild animal. So there is no conflict. We have seen girafs, wildebeests (gnus), kudus, ipalas, zebras and many more. And we have been just some 5 metres away from 4 rhinos. This is so amazing, so fascinating, you can’t imagine. And here, the lodge from Ant and Tessa is also very nice, cosy and absolutely spacious. I don’t only have a room. I have a whole floor for me. A huge room for eating and living, a wonderful bedroom, a nice and lovely decorated bath room. And imagine: some weeks ago famous tennis player Justine Henin was here too. This afternoon I will see Ant’s Hill, the second Lodge they have here.

My ranger told me today to write to you folx that I am still alive. After having seen Elefants, Kudus, Gnus, Tigers, Girafs, Zebras, Wild Dogs, Buffalos, thousands of birds, millions of insects, but desperately seeking the black rhinos, I am sitting here writing you a short message. I am in Jaci’s Lodge in the Madikwe Reserve. This is close to Sun City. A 3.5 hrs drive north-west of Johannesburg in South Africa. Here everything is private. No one may drive into this game reserve without a permission, without a reservation in one of the 4- and 5-star hotel resorts.

But be careful, when driving here: suddenly you are in front of a wild animal. And some of them -see above – could be dangerous. So when checking in I had to sign a paper that when behaving wrong I also could get hurt or die… thanx a lot so far. But here at Jaci’s Safari Lodge everything is safe. Well, yesterday evening a Stachelschwein was sitting in front of my own lodge. By the way: this lodge is absolutely open to nearly every side. I am looking from my bed into the bush, I can hear the birds, the animals. And this morning while preparing for breakfast I saw a Erdmaennchen just in front of me. Lovely.

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Heute abend gehts los: Ich steige in den SAA-Flieger und komme morgen früh in Johannesburg an. Von dort gehts mit einem Avis-Mitwagen erst zu Jacis Lodge, dann zum Ants Resort, am 08.12. fliege ich von Johannesburg nach Kapstadt und fahre zuerst mit einem Avis-Mietwagen in das Grootbos Resort.

Ich hoffe, dass dort auch Webzugang besteht und ich Sie/Euch, meine Leser, auf dem Laufenden halten kann. Und meine Fotos werde ich dann hier und in meinem Flickr-Account einstellen. Am 13. Dezember gehts wieder nach Deutschland zurück. Und dann werde ich bestimmt viele schöne Geschichten für Artikel und viele schöne Bilder im Gepäck zurückbringen.

Sie wurde 1999 in Orvieto als Tochter von “Slow Food” gegründet: Die Bewegung “Cittaslow”. Mittlerweile zählt sie weltweit 80 Gemeinden in aller Welt. Jetzt kommt eine hinzu und wird gleichzeitig die kleinste sein: Die 260 Einwohner zählende Dorfgemeinde Marihn in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Sie liegt im Dreieck zwischen Waren, Neubrandenburg und Neustrelitz.

Marihn erhält am 8. Dezember im Rahmen einer kleinen Feier die Zertifizierung, die den örtlichen Lebenswert – das gesunde, lebensfreundliche und regionaltypische Lebensumfeld – auszeichnet. Die internationale Jury war sich einig, dass mit der Wiederbelebung der dörflichen Gutsstruktur, nachhaltiger Maßnahmen im Umweltschutz und bei der Infrastruktur – vor allem durch die Wiederherstellung und Erweiterung des Ensembles Schloss und “Garten von Marihn” in besonderer Weise die regionale Lebensqualität gefördert wird.

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