Monday 6 July 2015

More Woods!

These days, I am a bit behind with posts. I've been rather busy with many other things and did not want to scribble a hurried post only so that there would be something, anything, to read on my blog. Today, I have a bit more time, and so I start catching up by showing you yet another walk in the woods we took on Sunday three weeks ago.

As you can see, it was another beautiful day; sunny and warm, so that a walk in woodland was a very good idea.
 



 
We took a late lunch break between vineyards and woods, eating our sandwiches and fresh strawberries. 

View towards Stuttgart Fernsehturm ("Television Tower", built in 1954 and a famous landmark around here; 217 m tall)
Then we walked further on and soon arrived at a path leading to an old quarry. It was never used as a source for building material. Instead, it shows thin, multi-coloured layers of marl and sandstone which the owners and workers of the vineyards used to fertilize the ground between the vines with. You can see the strips of marl near the top of the quarry.
The vineyards are still there, but marl is not used as a fertilizer any longer. Nowadays, the quarry is a designated nature monument; it can be seen from the steep path and steps, but it is not allowed to go in there. 
Legend has it that the place is haunted: When it was still in use, it belonged to the neighbouring communities (it was never owned by just one person or family). The mayors of those communities were not always law-abiding and sometimes took money out of their community's treasury for their personal profit. It is said that the ghosts of those dishonest mayors sometimes roam the quarry at night.
Well, it was full daylight when we were there, and all we saw was a little brown mouse busily running across the groundcovering plants.



Our walk was much longer than the few pictures I am showing you here make it appear, and we enjoyed very much being out there for some hours to get the best of both worlds - sunshine as well as the relative coolness of the trees.

14 comments:

  1. I know what you mean about the coolness of trees Miss Arian. When the weather is especially hot, it is nice to walk through woodland or by streams. I wonder if the little brown mouse was a reincarnation of one of those selfish bürgermeisters. Perhaps you should have challenged the mouse to justify his actions during his previous life. Was he perchance wearing a mouse-sized chain of office?

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    1. He ran so fast we couldn't make out what (if anything) Mayor Mouse was wearing, but he certainly was in a hurry to hide from the public eye!

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  2. Trees giving shadow is a real blessing on a hot day :)

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    1. It was not as hot yet as it is now, but the shade was still welcome :-)

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  3. Another lovely walk.........I really prefer to walk in the shade of trees when it is hot and sunny......And a gentle breeze is great, too.

    So, I'm wondering if the mouse was reincarnated......

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    1. It was even lovelier than what the pictures convey, Kristi!
      As for the mouse, I guess we'll never find out...

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  4. Your bright sunshine spilling into the trees reminds me of our walks here lately. It seems that it is hard to convey it, our eyes see it better than the camera, I think!
    I just went back and read your posts about walking in the woods and I really liked the artist who made the Hare's fountain. I looked at the website in German and even though I can't read German, I was able to figure out a good deal of it.

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    1. You are so right, Kay; I walk there and look at those wonderful woods and take pictures left, right and centre - and more often than not, I am slightly disappointed because the results are nowhere near as beautiful as the original.
      When I was at the museum and learned something about the artist, I was amazed to find out how many of his works I'd known all my life but never knew (or asked) about the man behind them.

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  5. A pleasant walk, as always, thank you, Meike.

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    1. You are welcome, John; thanks for coming along!

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  6. Here in Sicily 34° C and it's getting hotter and hotter!

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