Varied Week

Last week was very varied both in terms of weather and activities.

On Monday (19 May), I returned from O.K.'s at the usual time with both my trains being punctual. The day was sunny and warm at 22C/71F, and after a busy day working from home, I went for my standard walk to Benningen, which was very nice.

Another day working from home followed on Tuesday (20 May), at 23C/73F a tad warmer than the day before, sunny at first and then cloudy. 

My sister and I and our team met at the pub that evening and had much fun with the pub quiz - although less so in the first half, when we missed four points and didn't see a chance to make up for that in the second half. Miraculously, though, we had a full score in the second half and ended up coming third, walking out with a bottle of sparkling wine (always the third prize). It was still very mild when we left the pub some time after 10:30 pm; I had brought a scarf for the way home just in case, but didn't need it.

Two more quiz nights are lined up for our team before the summer break.

Wednesday (21 May) saw me working at the office like (nearly) every Wednesday. It was a long and exhausting day with many meetings, both in person and online, plus my boss wanting to discuss a lot of things before his leaving for two weeks in Italy.

I was glad when it was time to leave the office and take my usual two local trains back to Ludwigsburg, where I had a 15 minute walk (in the rain - finally!!) to the Italian restaurant near my Mum's. My Mum had invited me along for a meal with her good friend who lives downstairs in the same house, and the friend's brother. The four of us enjoyed our food, drinks and conversation, but after the day I'd had I didn't last very long before going back home.

We were all happy to finally see that rain!

It was still raining on and off, and rather chilly, on Thursday (22 May). I didn't finish work (from home) until 6:00 pm, which amounted to a 10-hour-day, something I used to do regularly when I was younger but find a lot more demanding now at 57.

The rain had stopped by that time, and I really needed a walk. My old Asperg-Eglosheim circuit of roughly 1 1/2 hours was just right, so that I was home again before I got too hungry.

On Friday (23 May) I was happy to spend my lunch break getting a massage at the nearby day spa. Work continued until 20 to 4:00 pm, after which I cleaned, did a quick groceries shop and got everything ready for O.K. spending the weekend here.

At almost exactly 10:00 pm he arrived (we had agreed that it was going to be later than usual), and we had a light meal of fried slices of beetroot and leafy mixed salad with feta and tomatoes.

For my birthday in March, friends had given me two tickets for a wine presentation at an Italian wine dealer at the other end of town. The presentation was on Saturday (24 May), and so after a leisurely breakfast, we started to walk across town.

First stop was for an espresso at our currently favourite coffee bar, then I had the (daft) idea of taking in the Krämer-Markt (a market with stalls offering all sorts of goods from kitchenware to clothes, toys and cleaning products, food and knick-knacks you wouldn't believe anybody wants) and the funfair, both set up in occasion of the annual Horse Market.

The Krämer-Markt was extremely busy and it was hard to just walk through. I kept a tight hold on my handbag until we came out at the top end. It was much better on the funfair, with a lot less people about - I guess it was too early for most folks to start on the rides and everything.

We then meandered through various residential streets (we both like to look at people's houses, not out of a wish to pry, more like looking at pictures in a gallery or window-shopping) and arrived at the wine shop.

The presentation was organised at three tables where staff presented sparkling wines, prosecco and champagne (table 1), white and rosé wines (table 2) and reds (table 3). It wasn't as strictly separated as it sounds here, but that was the general idea. Everybody who had a ticket was given a list of all the wines, where they could make notes of those they had tasted, and of course in the end could place orders.

O.K. and I tried two or three at each table and found some wines very nice, while others left us indifferent. We didn't order anything, but I kept the list and may consult it next time I need a present.

It was very busy, and sometimes we had to wait until someone was available to talk to and give us a sip of the wine we wanted to taste. After two hours, we both felt we had enough of the busy-ness and didn't want to taste any more wines.

Instead, we took a quick stroll in the palace grounds before going home, where we had about 45 minutes to rest before it was time to leave again - to the same Italian restaurant where I'd been on Wednesday :-)

A friend of ours had invited us to celebrate his 50th birthday, and it was nice to see him, his partner, my Mum and my sister. The six of us had an enjoyable evening.

Sunday (25 May) would not only have been my Opa's (Mum's Dad) 110th birthday, but it was also the day of the traditional Horse Market parade. If you have been reading my blog for a while, you know about this. If not, you'll have to wait until my next post - I have taken so many photos (again!) of the parade that I want them in an extra post.

The parade took up only part of the day, of course. 

In the morning, I went to a nearby bakery that is open on Sundays, getting fresh croissants and rolls for our breakfast.

Early afternoon, we walked into town to watch the parade, followed by a walk on the fields north of where I live.

O.K. had things lined up to do at home and therefore didn't want to leave late, and so we had our evening meal of spaghetti with fried fennel early. He left at 7:00 pm, and with the evening light being so beautiful and still more than two hours of daylight left, I didn't want to stay in and went for another walk, this time on the fields south of where I live. Also, I knew I was going to get no walks for the next three days, because I had a work-related trip to Berlin coming up, which was all the more motivation for that extra evening walk.

I was lucky to spot a segment of a rainbow, happening to look in the right direction at the right time - it only lasted a minute or so before it dissolved.

I had actually been looking this way (west) to admire the sunset, and only when I turned my head the opposite direction (east) did I spot the rainbow!

On Saturday, my Mum had surprised me with a gift: This hand-crocheted fox with a little "book"! On the blue notecard, my Mum had written "I am Paige, the reading fox". Isn't that sweet? I am not ashamed to say that I was almost welling up right there at the restaurant. Paige now lives on my book shelf.

A Hike Repeated

My previous post ended with the promise of an extra post about our Sunday hike of last week, so here it is.

Back in October 2020, O.K. and I first did a circuit called Durbacher Weinpanorama (literally "wine panorama of Durbach", Durbach being a small town nearly entirely dedicated to wine, from making to selling, not far from O.K.'s village. You can find my 2020 post about that day here.

Of course, it being May, this time there were no colourful leaves on the trees and in the vineyards, but it was a beautiful day of sunshine and summer-like temperatures of 21-23 C / 70-73 F, with the many shades of green in the woods and the wildflower meadows at their best.

The entire circuit is about 15 km, but because of a fruitless detour which sounded interesting because it was supposed to be the ruins of an ancient fortress (but turned out to be just a patch of very overgrown hills, with brambles and nettles lining hardly detectable paths), we ended up with a bit over 16 km.

Sign announcing the ruins that made me want to do the detour.

It was a very enjoyable day, in spite of me doing my usual puffing and panting act on the steeper uphill bits, and some of the steep downhill bits being a bit treacherous because the gravelly, sandy ground was extremely dry and slipping away under our hiking boots.

Starting out from the parking lot along wildflower meadows

Compare this wall of the chapel ruins in the woods with the photo of the same spot I took in October 2020 (see the link at the start of this post) - this one looks much nicer, doesn't it.

Our lunch break consisted of the sandwiches O.K. had prepared for us, plus some extras we usually pack when we plan a hike like that, such as fresh bell pepper cut into strips, a few small tomatoes and some fresh strawberries plus an apple. The bench where we sat for our "al fresco" meal provided us with a beautiful view:

We stopped for a drink at castle Staufenberg, a place you have seen once or twice on my blog before, and were lucky to find a table right by the wall with great views.

View from castle Staufenberg

In the courtyard

The outside wall

Looking back towards the castle after our break

The same view zoomed in

Chapel at the crossing leading to the castle

A working farm; typically they will do a mix of vineyard and woodland work; many of the places around here also have Christmas tree plantations and make schnaps and liqueur.

The same view zoomed in. Doesn't it look like something you'd find on a model railway?

The Black Forest should be renamed Green Forest!

Back home, neither of us felt much like cooking, and so we freshened up a bit, changed out of our hiking clothes into regular things and drove the short distance to one of the neighbouring villages, where we had a decent meal at a typical village restaurant.

It had been a wonderful day, and I am glad we repeated that hike.

A Week of Little Work and Lots of Walking

I could really get used to the way last week went for me! Since I was still on holiday for the first half of the week and only went back to work on Thursday, I had plenty of time to go walking (the weather was good, too), and O.K. and I went for a good hike on Sunday.

After breakfast at the hotel on Monday (12 May), we checked out and were back in Ludwigsburg less than 2 1/2 hours later - Austria really isn't all that far from the South of Germany, especially not when you don't end up in a traffic jam.

In Haldensee, the morning had been chilly at 12C/53F, but my hometown welcomed me at a very pleasant 21C/70F. 

Good-bye views from our hotel room on Monday morning, before...

...and after breakfast.

I unpacked quickly and started the washing machine, and we were ready to go.

For the evening, we had arranged to meet my Mum and my sister for pizza at the Italian restaurant within easy walking distance from my Mum's, but the afternoon was too nice to stay home.

O.K. and I had ice creams first and then walked to the palace grounds to discover how much things had grown and changed since our last visit.

The rhododenron were at their best - and some even already a little past it:

View of some rhododendron and azaleas from the top of Emichsburg, the folly castle in the park

This one is called Giant Laurel, but it really is a variety of rhododendron like the others.

The same area earlier seen from above, now on the ground, with Emichsburg at the back.

Sand art; this year's motto is "variety of species", as captured here in this "sea" scene.

Of course, Charles Darwin has to be there when it's about species! The poor man does look somewhat unhappy, but then again he had some rather sad events in his life, such as the death of his young daughter.

A view of Ludwigsburg palace you have seen several times.

As expected, our evening at La Mona Lisa was nice, and the food as good as always.

O.K. left for his home on Tuesday (13 May) around lunch time, so that both of us had ample time to ease back into daily life and get everything sorted after our time away.

The weather was as beautiful as the day before, and after dealing with my laundry and getting my groceries in, I walked to Benningen.

Wildflowers on a meadow at the outskirts of Benningen

I took the train back as usual, and then went to my Mum's. After helping her switching her winter and summer wardrobes (it involves carrying stuff up and down a metal ladder to and from the attic, something we prefer her not doing on her own), we ate together, and then I went home.

Wednesday (14 May) was the last of my holiday, and I had planned on doing what you may remember being my Mum and my favourite walk together, back in the day when my parents still had their allotment near Steinheim and my Mum was fit enough to walk there from Marbach.

I'd not been to Steinheim since February (click here for the photos from that walk). Of course, now everything was so much greener and luscious, and the birdsong in the woods was wonderful.

My first photo stop on this walk is nearly always this one, looking back towards the way I have come up from Marbach on a lane between vineyards.

The first houses of Steinheim can be seen ahead.

River Murr, as seen from the bridge leading into Steinheim.

The village of Lehrhof, another regular photo stop.

And my favourite bit, "my" grassy path - this time, it was rather overgrown with pleny of flying, buzzing and crawling things about.

Wild garlic lines the steps to the bottom of the valley.

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Wildflower meadow at the bottom of the valley.

Into the woods, dappled with sunlight.

The short train rides to and from Marbach included, I was out and about for four hours with only a short stop on a bench to eat my sandwich and drink some water.

Back to work on Thursday (15 May)! I went to the office and had so many meetings and calls that the day passed like a whirlwind. In all my work-related inboxes combined, I only had 117 emails to go through - it was obvious that many of my colleagues and clients had not been too hard at work while I was away; in fact, many of them had taken time off around May Day, too.

The day was sunny but VERY windy, and I decided against walking home from either Zuffenhausen or Kornwestheim, and instead spent a quiet evening in.

Friday (16 May) started as cold as 6C/42F after a starry night but went up to 17C/62F in the afternoon.

Working from home was unremarkable, and in the late afternoon, I packed my little red suitcase and went to the train station.

My train to Offenburg was on time (hooray!), and O.K. enjoyed our customary "Weekend Welcome" meal of salad, bread and cheese.

O.K. spent good part of Saturday (17 May) catching up with jobs around his Mum's house and garden while I was doing a bit of light housework at the cottage. Later, O.K.'s sister and her husband as well as O.K. and I gathered on his Mum's patio for coffee and delicious rhubarb cake, made with rhubarb grown on the family allotment.

Quite out of the blue (literally), a bit later some unexpected rain fell, but it was really not more than a fine drizzle and didn't last long. In the meantime, O.K. made a typical May meal for the two of us: roasted green asparagus, slices of cold ham, tomatoes and bread, accompanied by a well chilled dry white.

Afterwards, with the rain having stopped, we untertook an evening walk around the village, with just enough light left to make the lanes still walkable. I enjoyed this particular evening atmosphere very much.

On Sunday (18 May), we decided on a hike we'd done once before (and covered parts of it during other walks): The Durbacher Weinpanorama. The first time was in October 2020, and very different from now - the vineyards were so colourful back then, but this time, the meadows were in bloom, and the various shades of green in the woods were gorgeous.

I believe that this hike deserves its own post, and therefore you'll have to wait another day or two :-)