Thursday 7 April 2016

Closer Than Ever...

...I was to some of the snow-covered mountain tops of the Alps at the border between the south of Germany and Austria.
Skip two posts back to see the first part of my Sunday flight(s); this is the promised second part.

After the delicious plum cake and coffee we had in Kempten, my pilot friend steered our small plane across the region called Allgäu, towards the mountains. We flew right above the place where I spent New Year's Eve and went for a nice long walk on New Year's Day - I could clearly see the house where my sister and I had been staying, and the lake where we went walking.

The mountain in the picture below is called Grünten. According to wikipedia, it is 1.783 m above sea level and about 600 m higher than the region at its foot.


A long time ago, when I was still a little Librarian, I spent a memorable summer holiday in the area with my family. It was planned that we climb the Grünten one day. But the day before, I ran bare-footed across a meadow of clover and grass to get to the lake for a swim, and stepped into a bee that was innocently sitting on a white clover blossom. My big toe (and the rest of me) did not agree with the bee sting, and I was ill for the rest of the holiday. My Mum stayed at the house with me, while my Dad and sister climbed the Grünten alone.
And here I was, nearly 4 decades later, and saw the same mountain in a way I could not have guessed back then!

Next, we flew a little to the East, entering a valley called Tannheimer Tal. (That's Austria already.) The closer we were to the mountains, the stronger the winds became, and as we climbed higher, it also became a little cooler. We even saw a lake below that was still frozen over! (The lake is called Haldensee, just in case any of you want to check on google maps where we were.)



I took many pictures, many more than I am going to show you here, but it was difficult - not only because of light conditions and reflections from the window pane, but also because we were being buffeted about by the wind quite a lot.

Still, I hope this small selection of pictures will give you an idea of how majestic and impressive this part of the world is, especially seen like this:


The strange thing was, even though the motor's noise was constantly very much there (I would have been worried if not!), I felt the silence out there. Not an eerie silence, just... silence, complete, quiet silence, maybe briefly broken by the cry of a large bird of prey I once saw flying past (no chance to capture it on camera), and of course by our little plane.

Rote Flüh. This - the clearest of all my mountain pictures - was taken by the pilot.
Kanisfluh
The "fences" have been placed there by helicopter. They are supposed to protect the valley below from avalanches.
Klimmspitze, Lechtal; 2.464 m above sea level

As I said, it was very windy up here, with turbulences shaking us about quite a lot. It wasn't scary; I knew I could trust my pilot friend 100 %, and he did not run any unnecessary risk. It was just not very comfortable on the narrow, relatively hard seat, and while I didn't feel exactly sick, I had to focus on myself and for a while neither spoke nor took pictures.

We followed the Lechtal (Lech being a river) for a while (to a place called Warth) and then took a right turn, following the valley of the "Bregenzer Ach", eventually leaving the high Alps behind us near Bregenz. Lake Constance was well visible, but I was not in the right position for pictures - and I still didn't feel like clicking away again.

Landing in Leutkirch, we took the welcome chance to stretch our legs and take some refreshments. It was really sunny and warm there! 


Shortly afterwards, the last part of our trip saw us heading north again. We crossed Stuttgart airport (like last year) and were already in sight of Pattonville's landing strip, when all the having been bumped about caught up with me - can you believe I needed my bag (brought along for just that purpose) literally on the last few hundred metres of our flight?! I felt somewhat embarrassed, but immediately much better, and glad I had not eaten since that piece of cake at around 11:00 am!
My friend told me not to worry and explained that it happens every now and then even to seasoned pilots, especially to glider pilots on their first flight after the winter.

It had been an eventful and most impressive flight experience altogether. As a treat just as much for the pilot as for myself, we had dinner at the Indian restaurant near where I live.
I wonder if it will take another year now before we'll be flying together again!

22 comments:

  1. What a fantastic trip Meike! And the pictures give a good sense of what it was like up there. I was alarmed to read that the pilot took one of the pictures! Who was holding the steering wheel? How close you came to not being sick!

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    1. He had one hand on the steering and the other on the camera, it's not a very large or heavy camera. He flies alone most of the time and is used to taking pictures that way, he must have taken thousands over the years, knowing very well how to tip the plane to get the perfect viewing angle.

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  2. What an absolutely wonderful, wonderful experience. As for the rough flight I sympathise. I've never actually been sick but after an absolutely awful scheduled flight in an Islander many years ago I did vow not to fly in a storm again. Of course life doesn't allow for such decisions.

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    1. I just couldn't believe I would be sick at the very last minute! Normally, I am not given to motion sickness, but this time I couldn't avoid it, much as I wanted to.

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  3. Wow! I'm almost speechless. What an incredible experience that must have been. Thank you for sharing it with us!

    I've mentioned to you before that I have a friend named Alexander who getting his master's degree in German and European history. He's been to Germany several times, and I just found out that he and his wife will be spending the summer there this year. I will find out what part and let you know.

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    1. It was fantastic, Jennifer, and sharing it with you all is an added bonus!
      Please do let me know if there is anything I can do to make Alexander and his wife's summer in Germany easier/more pleasant.

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  4. To bee or not to bee!!

    What a wonderful place...and what a wonderful way to have seen it...from a different perspective.

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    1. It truly was wonderful, Lee, something I will remember for a long, long time.

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  5. This sounds like an absolutely magical experience (except for those few moments at the end when it wasn't!). I think it is always wonderful to fly over places one knows from the different perspective of being on land, but you had such amazing land to fly over! I think I would love to experience that silence. In 2005 when my husband, son and I were returning from Skagway to Juneau, Alaska, we flew in a small plane south over the Lynn canal and could see whales breaching. Our world is so beautiful.

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    1. An experience I feel very lucky to have had, that's for sure! Indeed our world is very beautiful. I imagine seeing whales the way you did is something one never forgets.

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  6. Gorgeous pictures - worth the ending :) good on ya!

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  7. Wonderful photos! I have been in the alps but that was on a bus tour (1990). I get easily motion-sick even on the road. As for that tour I remember sitting at the front of the bus when we went up the alps. I got a good view, and did not get sick... but still felt a bit dizzy :)

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    1. I am not very good at riding on buses, especially not in the rear. Trains are no problem, though, and planes normally aren't, either.

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  8. Wow, those are some fantastic shots you got out the plane window!
    The Alps, I have wanted to see them since the age of 8!! Thank you!

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    1. What attracted little 8-year-old Kay to the Alps, I wonder? Were you learning about them at school at the time?

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    2. The sound of music. I heard a woman
      AT MY MOMS BEAUTY SALON SAY THAT JULIE ANDREWS SINGING IN THE PREVIEW YOU KNOW WHERE SHE ALMOST GOT BLOWN AWAY FROM THE HELICOPTER that was the
      Alps! PS not my moms salon it was where she got her hair done when I was eight. I liked to listen to the women I learned lots!! Ha!
      😊

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    3. Oops, I don't suppose you meant to "shout" all that, did you? :-)
      Ah, "The sound of music" - now you have planted that song in my head... I'll be humming it all day!
      By the way, I like to listen to the elderly ladies at my hairdresser's, too. Sometimes I even add a comment or two.

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  9. Oh goodness, that's amazing. How wonderful to first of all have a friend who's a pilot with use of a plane, and then to live in such a stunning part of the world with such dramatic scenery to look at on your flight! Those mountains really do take your breath away. x

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    1. Stunning is the right word, Gillian! Looking at the mountains or walking/hiking there is great, but I don't think I would want to live close to them all the time. With fog and dark days, they can feel oppressive.

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  10. I live in Bavaria and I did not realize how close this was to me...I am intrigued! Beautiful pictures :)

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    1. Hello and welcome to my blog!
      Bavaria is so full of great places to go, whether it is picturesque towns and villages or beautiful landscape.

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