Here in Germany, that is a holiday - everything is closed. It is "Allerheiligen", All Saints, and many Catholics visit the graves of their loved ones and light candles.
Admittedly, for O.K. and myself such a holiday on a Friday means we have more time together than on a regular weekend, and I took the train to Offenburg in the early afternoon.
The day wasn't as bright and sunny as much of October had been, but with the bright yellow leaves of the mulberry tree in front of my bedroom window, it appeared as if the sun was looking in.
It was still dry by the time I walked to the station, but overcast. On the platform where my train was due (the first of three different ones I had to take), a historic steam railway was waiting. I've seen this train a few times before; it sometimes runs on Sundays and holidays, and is rather popular. More often than I've seen it, I have heard it - the train station is near enough my house for me to hear the steamwhistle!
The locomotive is called "Feuriger Elias", fiery Elias. The carriages are not quite as old, but I am old enough to remember the look and feel of them from my earliest childhood - long before the newer and faster trains with many new stops in the Stuttgart area were created in 1977, when I was 9 years old.
The conductor and other staff were in uniforms from those times, too; I thought they looked much better and more elegant than today's polyester suits. I didn't want to take photos of the people but couldn't avoid them altogether; after all, they were in a public place.
The last picture is of sunrise seen from my kitchen window on the 4th of November. We've had many more as beautiful as that - I could almost show you one every day.
And now, as I said, we're already in the middle of the month! In less than a fortnight, our Christmas Market will start. Guess who will be going to the opening :-)
I liked your pictures of the old steam train. I thought there was another train called Fiery Elias who went up the mountains in Bavaria - a sort of cog railway. Is it a common name for old steam trains in Germany? I don't even know who Elias was!
ReplyDeleteElias was an Old Testament prophet. I really have no idea whether the name is common for old steam engines; "ours" is the only one I know!
DeleteThose carriages remind me of when I had the opportunity to take the Berlin-Braunschweig train before re-unification.
ReplyDeleteI can imagine that they used similar ones there and then. While the two Germanies were still divided, I never was in the Eastern part.
DeleteOld steam trans seam to fascinate everyone of every age. Obviously I remember the old steam trains and travelled on them but even youngsters nowadays love them.
ReplyDeleteThey always draw a crowd, don't they!
DeleteMy dad was a railway and steam engine "enthusiast". He also wrote / participated in writing books about old railways in Sweden. During my childhood and teens I actually went on a lot more steam trains than on modern ones, because of all the museum railways we always ended up visiting on our holidays... Both in Sweden and in Britain!
ReplyDeleteI remember you mentioning on your blog that your Dad was a railway enthusiast. Did you go on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway? Steve and I saw it in stations such as Pickering but never actually went on it.
DeleteNot that I can recall (or deduct from my photo album). Googling it now I see that it only reopened in 1973. The last time I was in Yorkshire was 1974... I spent one day apart from my own family on that trip though - revisiting the family I'd been staying with for a month two years earlier, near Doncaster. (In the meantime, my parents and brother went to York - where I'd already been in -72.)
DeleteLovely leaves and gorgeous sunsets! Your beautiful photos are a delight!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Ellen! This is your first comment on my blog, right? Thank you for visiting and commenting!
DeleteA three day weekend is always nice! And I love that steam locomotive. My son was very interested in steam, though his interest moved toward steam boats and the steam launch he built.
ReplyDeleteIt was a nice and relaxing weekend, and the lastone for this year - no more days off unti Christmas. Your son and his friends have done well with their steam launch!
DeleteWhat a wonderful train. How glorious to have such a thing in your life!
ReplyDeleteThis was the first in a long time that I didn't just hear it, but actually saw it - and totally unexpected, too. A treat!
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