My second week back at work was busier than the first; things are gradually picking up pace again but I am still carefully avoiding long stretches at the computer without breaks, and managed several after-work walks in spite of the still very unsettled weather.
On Tuesday morning, exactly 3 weeks after the 2nd operation, my eye doctor did a thorough examination and was happy with the result. And so am I - even with provisorial glasses, it is a big difference to before.
Taking the usual train on Friday evening to O.K.'s did not work out, as the stop at Offenburg station was cancelled (no idea why). I had to change my plans very spontaneously and leave the house in quite a hurry; good job my little weekend suitcase is packed very quickly and it takes me less than 10 minutes to walk to the station. Similarly, on Monday morning the train back to Stuttgart was without coach # 8 - guess where I had booked a seat... Yep, coach # 8! Along with many others who had seats booked in the missing coach, we asked the staff what we were supposed to do, and they very kindly helped all of us to find seats. So, two reservations were gone without my fault; I practically donated 8 euros to the railway company.
But back to the weekend, which was really very nice.
The Saturday saw more rain than dry spells, but we did not mind. We had coffee and cake at O.K.'s parents in the afternoon - for me, it was the first plum cake of the season, home-baked by O.K.'s mother and as delicious as always. For the evening, we were at friends' for a balcony BBQ. They live on the top floor of a 5-floor town house in Offenburg, with great views of the town, the Vosges mountains in one direction and the Black Forest in the other. The weather kindly decided to improve, and we enjoyed a beautiful sunset after a delicious meal.
Sunday was forecast dry, windy and no warmer than 21 Celsius - perfect for a longer walk. We drove to the end of a valley where a circuit to a viewing tower started, an area we'd not walked before.
Walking up from the village of Freiamt:
After a lot of puffing and panting from my part (O.K. is much better at the uphill bits than I - I need to stop to catch my breath every now and then on the longer stretches), we reached the top of Hünersedel with its tower:
I did not climb the steps immediately, needing a few minutes to get my breathing back to normal. But then I made my way up and joined O.K. on the top platform, to be rewarded with great views in all directions. If you know where to look, you can even see where we walked last weekend, and where O.K.'s village is located.
We sat down for our very late lunch, our customary array of sandwiches etc. from our rucksacks, before we said good-bye to the tower and continued on the path.
It was now taking us on more gentle ups and downs along meadows and through the woods until we reached Freiamt and the car again.
After a beautiful drive back home, O.K. started the grill and we prepared zucchini, steaks and crusty bread. We enjoyed our meal in the courtyard and only went inside when the mozzies started to appear.
Another very enjoyable weekend; about half of the pictures in this post are O.K.'s (with his permission of course).
And yesterday (Monday), I had my 2nd jab! I did feel a little off colour last night but am fine today.
I'm happy to hear your eye examination went well. How long will you have to wait before you can get a new prescription for your regular glasses? Isn't it amazing what they can do with eye surgeries these days!
ReplyDeleteYour photos from your Sunday walk are just beautiful! Those views are amazing especially from the top of the tower. I'm glad to hear you had your second jab. Is your area seeing much of the Delta strain of Covid? It has gotten so bad here that we are almost up to where we were in the worst days of the pandemic last year. They have brought back the mask mandates and the hospitals are all filled to capacity. I was so hoping we were getting to the end of this.
Thanks for sharing your beautiful pictures and have a good work week Meike!
Yes, Bonnie, eye surgery (and pretty much everything about modern medicine) is close to a miracle in my opinion!
DeleteWe are seeing steadily rising numbers of Covid cases here, but I don't know how much of it is due to the Delta strain. People are sick and tired of it all, and much as I understand it, that is no excuse for behaving careless and irresponsible. Masks are still mandatory here in shops and on public transport, and there is finally enough vaccine available - only that now people all of a sudden are not interested anymore!
I'd do that walk regularly if it was near here.
ReplyDeleteIf that particular area were close enough to O.K.'s village to not need a car, we'd definitely walk there often.
DeleteWonderful views - but there's no way I'd have climbed up that tower! (Well, I probably wouldn't have made it all the way to the top of the hill anyway...)
ReplyDeleteThe tower is perfectly safe and very sturdy (and actually not all that high - just under 30 m), but I do understand some people do not like see-through stairs etc. when it comes to a certain height.
DeleteAs for getting up to the top of the hill, I make it sound harder than it is, because I am just no good at going uphill. When I am on relatively level ground, I can walk for hours and hours without tiring.
So good to hear the examination went well and that you can tell the difference in your vision. Good news, indeed.
ReplyDeleteThe photos from your Sunday walk show a good prescription for healing! What wonderful views and what great weather. Better than Saturday. My son (in Germany) said that he got caught in a hailstorm on the autobahn on Saturday. It was evidently so thick that he and all the other drivers actually pulled off the highway as they could no longer see to safely drive. Didn't last too long, but evidently it was pretty violent for a time. He said Sunday's weather was beautiful, so he took a bunch of his work mates up to Heidelberg for the day.
Yes, good news! From today onwards, I am off the eye drops I had to take now since my first OP on June 15.
DeleteThe weather was not all sunshine on Sunday - twice, short showers caught up with us, and we were glad we had packed our rain jackets and that our rucksacks have rain protection "caps" to pull out from the bottom to the top. But most of the walk was dry underfoot and from above!
Thanks for sharing all these beautiful places where you are able to walk and enjoy nature Meike - I admit I am envious!
DeleteIt truly is a beautiful part of the world, and I am glad and grateful for being able to go there frequently.
DeleteWeirdly I am certain that I had read that post. Who knows? Anyway I enjoyed it anyway.
ReplyDeleteWe have been to very similar areas and viewing towers before, which might explain your feeling of déjà vu.
Delete