Finally Caught Up!

Caught up with posting, I mean. Took me long enough! But my back log of book reviews is done, and my weekly reports have reached last week. Phew!

Monday, 23 October, started cold at 4C/39F but warmed up to 14C/57F in the afternoon. There was rain in the morning, but the afternoon was dry, and so I could go on my almost weekly walk to Benningen.

Former entrance to the deer park in Ludwigsburg

sunflower fields between Freiberg and Benningen

It rained most of the day on Tuesday (Oct. 24 - two months until Christmas Eve!). I was supposed to be in Marbach for a meeting at 2:00 pm. Before leaving home, I checked my connection, and all looked well. Less than ten minutes later, I found utter chaos at the train station: Trains were delayed or cancelled in all directions, and there were so many people on the platforms it felt dangerous.

I rang Marbach and told them I was either going to be very late or not come at all. Since most of those scheduled for our meeting had other meetings afterwards, we agreed on cancelling for today and make another attempt the following week.

It was slightly frustrating, especially as I had of course already bought a ticket, but a very minor hiccup in the big picture of things.

After work, I walked to the pub where my team and I were booked for the quiz. When I say "my team", it was a very different set-up from the usual people: For the second time only in the history of my team, we were a "ladies only" group, consisting of my Mum, my sister, a friend of ours and myself.

We had a lot of fun and missed the perfect score of 26 by only 3 points (no team had a perfect score). The fish & chips were as good as always.

It was my usual on-site working day on Wednesday, 25 October. A wet and windy day with occasional glimpses of sun, but not walk-friendly.

Just leaving the office

Working from home again on Thursday (Oct. 26), another rainy day meant again no walk. The only time I left the house was to have my hair cut - the salon is just around the corner from my house. It is always good to chat to my hairdresser; she is a neighbour, too, and almost a friend.

View from my kitchen window just before 8:00 am

I was luckier with the weather on Friday, 27 October: The rain had not stopped all night but let up at around 8:30, just in time for an early walk with my friend who had just been to Thailand. We had not seen each other since before my September holiday even though we only live a few streets apart.

Can you see what we saw?

You can now, can't you!

At 1:00 pm, I walked less than 10 minutes into town for an on-site meeting with a lady from my volunteer group. The meeting encompassed business owners and other interested parties along a street leading to the train station, to discuss problems and issues and what could be done to improve the situation. After an hour, I had to go back to work; I don't know how long the 30 or so participants kept discussing after that.

I finished my tasks, did my usual cleaning and packed my little red suitcase for the weekend. At 6:15 I left the house and arrived on time in Offenburg at 8:30 for our customary Friday night meal of salad followed by bread, cheese and wine.

Saturday (Oct. 28) was a mixed bag weather-wise, but rather mild at 15C/59F. It was good to sleep in! The unstable weather meant we chose a short-ish hike from our booklet, described as taking about 2 hours 15 minutes walking time. 

O.K. drove us the short distance to the village of Reichenbach, where we started on the circular walk to Martinstein. The sky was grey, but the colours of the foliage made for a beautiful walk nonetheless. Walking on carpets of brown, red, orange and yellow leaves was wonderful, and some trees were very bright and luminous - my pictures don't really do the scenery justice.

Reichenbach (one of many places by that name in Germany)

Architectural gem in quiet neighbourhood waiting for new owners who love a challenge. Airy rooms with all natural climate. Price negotiable.

About half way through, a light drizzle set in. As it grew harder, we were approaching a typical Black Forest Gasthaus (restaurant), Martinstein-Hiesli. We'd been there before with the family, but I had never seen it in daylight, only when we went for evening meals and it was always dark when we arrived.

Now I saw how picturesque it actually is.

The room where we ate

There were several such small windows and decorations typical of the area.

Kay, this one is for you! :-)

With the rain coming down harder than before and both of us being hungry, we stopped for a very nice meal.

By the time we left, the rain had almost ceased, and for the last two and half km or so we were able to walk without our hoods up.

The sandwiches O.K. had prepared for us to eat at some stage during the walk were still in the rucksack :-) We ate them later that evening while watching "Murder on the Orient Express" on TV.

It was raining on and off again on Sunday, 29 October, but even warmer at 19C/66F. We met a group of friends for breakfast at a café in town. The food was nice, and of course it is always nice to meet friends, but service at the café was not as good as we remembered from previous breakfasts.

Never mind, we had a good time. O.K. and I set off on a walk from there, taking in a part of town I quite like for its mix of houses from the 1930s to the 1970s, some of which have obviously seen better days but are still nice to look at, and a few where I would move in right away if given the chance. The area also offers good news of Offenburg and the surrounding area.

We had a little rest at the cottage before briefly visiting O.K.'s parents.

For our evening meal, O.K. prepared a batch of fennel (I really like fennel). We watched "Death on the Nile", followed by "Gran Torino", a film I really like but had only watched once, years ago. (You can find my 2011 review here.)

Meanwhile, my sister was on her way back from Paris, where she had been visiting our cousins for a long weekend. Her train experienced several difficulties along the way, and she ended up with a delay of about 2 hours - it's not just the German railway, then...!