A Day Out

At the end of my previous post I have mentioned a family outing on Saturday. Back in August, my sister and I gave our Mum a birthday present: A trip on a pleasure boat on the river Neckar.

Such river cruises were more common for us when I was younger. As a child, I remember boat trips with my parents and grandparents as well as with my class at school when I was 9 or 10 years old. I always enjoyed those cruises; watching the landscape slowly change from vineyards to villages and towns and back to vineyards and meadows, seeing other boats, waving to people walking along the river or on those other boats, and so on.

My Mum had the choice of various lengths of trips (one way or a round trip), of the direction of travel (north or south) and of the people she wanted to come with her.

On Saturday, five of us met at the pier down by the Neckar in Hoheneck, a suburb of Ludwigsburg (and many centuries older than the city itself) at 10:30 in the morning: My Mum, my sister and I, O.K. and Mum's friend R.

Our boat was the "Weinkönigin" - Wine Queen - and it was chock full of people! The five of us just about managed to find a table on board; not outside but in (which was just as well in view of the sun and the possibility of wasps, but not ideal in terms of noise).

Of course nearly everyone was talking, chatting, laughing or asking questions at the same time - the level of noise was not far away from what it's like at "my" Irish Pub on quiz nights.

Never mind - we were here to have fun, and fun we had! We ordered snacks and drinks and did what everybody else did: Watch the landscape outside, listen to the occasional commentary provided, and talk.

Three hours, several stops and locks later, we arrived at Besigheim, famous for its wines.

We had a stroll around the picturesque old town before settling for a restaurant where we had a late but delicious lunch. Another short stroll took us past a café where some of us bought ice creams to take away.

As you can see from the photos, the day couldn't have been more beautiful: Blue sky, fluffy white clouds, not too hot - just really gorgeous.

We stopped at a church for a while, listening to organ practice and admiring the carved altar (which had its 500th birthday in 2020).

The garlands were strung in preparation for Besigheim's wine fest next week.

 

View of the old town from across the bridge. The river here is the Enz, not the Neckar (on which we came).

Oddly shaped old houses were everywhere.

Who's scaling the wall here?

Click to enlarge for this panoramic view from the top of the old city wall.

Shortly after 5:00 pm, we boarded a packed train back to Ludwigsburg. The train ride took only 15 minutes as opposed to the 3 hours the boat would have taken.

Somehow we were not quite ready to split up and go home yet, and so we remained for another couple of hours or so at the open-air bar at the train station, listening to the music, people-watching and enjoying a few drinks.

In between, something like a fashion show took place: Women in Burkina Faso, as part of a project organised by volunteers from Ludwigsburg, had been working on skirts, bags and other accessories made from colourful traditional fabrics, and were now presenting the items (which were all for sale, with the proceeds going to the project).

It was dark by the time we left; a pleasant end to a good day out.