Apart from Monday, last week was sunny throughout, and some days were quite warm at around 20C/68F. I am still going through an extremely busy period at work but still managed a few good walks.
On Monday (31 March), my trip back from Offenburg was half an hour longer than usual because the fast long-distance trains weren't running at all, no reason given. Local trains are much slower and stop at every hedgerow, it seems, but I still made it to my first online meeting of the day in good time.
At 6:00 pm, I was at my Mum's for our own personal "theme night", the theme being champagne. For Christmas, I had given my Mum a book about the Widow Clicquot, the woman who revolutionised the champagne industry almost single-handedly. You can ready about her on Wikipedia. The second part of the present was to watch the film made about her, partly based on the book. When it was in cinemas last summer/autumn, we couldn't make it, so my Mum purchased the film from Amazon prime which enabled us to watch it whenever we wanted to.
Before the film, we had a delicious home-made quiche (in keeping with the French theme), and opened a bottle of champagne (although not a Veuve Clicquot one).
We enjoyed the film although it took some artistic liberties.
I went to work at the office on Tuesday (1st of April) and was pleased to see that my request to have two posters hung on the wall opposite my desk had been dealt with by our house technicians. Those posters and the wooden hanging (it works with magnets) were a birthday gift from O.K., and they really change my office for the better.
It was still winter-coat weather at 3C/37F, but the sun came out during the day.
The evening was spent at the pub quiz. My team was at its largest ever - there were 9 of us in total! - and had the same maximum number of points as two other teams. The tie question relegated us to 3rd place, but we still had great fun. In the future, I don't think we'll play again with such a large team, as it is so noisy in the pub on quiz nights that you couldn't hear what was said at the far end of the table, and that made it quite exhausting.
Wednesday (2 April) untypically saw me working from home. I interrupted work for an hour to run an errand for my Mum. My last call finished shortly after 6:00 pm, but I went out immediately afterwards for a beautiful walk of 11 km in the evening sun - the best way to clear my head after work.
For the first time this year, I went to work in Marbach at the Literature Archive on Thursday (3 April). It was wonderfully sunny and mild enough in the afternoon (19C/66F) to be out without a coat, and I walked home all the way from there. It took me about 2 hours and 20 minutes to cover the 13 km or so. All in all I had 15 km under my belt that day, and enjoyed every step.
Sorry - the pictures are in reverse order; I tried twice but each time I added them (with two different methods), they came like that:
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| Even the most nondescript street can look beautiful this time of year! |
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| crossing the river |
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| The river Neckar. Can you spot the ruins of the castle on the hill? |
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| Vineyards on the steep slope on the other side of the river |
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| The "rocket", often seen from afar, now up close |
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| Main entrance to the office building of a power plant by the river, built in the 1930s |
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| Another look at the typical 1930s buildings of the power plant (still in use) |
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| National Museum in Marbach, dedicated to poet and playwright Friedrich Schiller, who was born in the small town |
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| View from the museum's terrace across the river to Benningen |
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| Looking in the direction of Ludwigsburg, with the "rocket" clearly visible |
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| Sunrise from my kitchen window that morning |
Friday (4 April) was even a tad warmer at 20C/68F, but I didn't go out other than stocking up on groceries for the weekend. As usual, after work I cleaned, changed the bed sheets etc., and then had a bit of a rest until O.K. arrived at 8:30 pm.
We met with my sister for breakfast at our favourite café in town on Saturday (5 April). From there, we strolled across the busy market square, and while it wasn't planned, I couldn't resist having a look at the monthly 2nd hand book stall behind the church (the same one where I got a stack of 8 paperbacks last spring). This time, I was "lucky" in that I only found one paperback that I really wanted, and got it at the price of 1 € - not making my handbag too heavy to carry on.
Next, we walked to the palace grounds and enjoyed the beautiful spring flowers there:
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| Pear blossoms |
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| Forget-me-nots - a favourite of mine |
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| Japanese cherry tree |
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| "fake hazel" (that's it's official German name, Scheinhasel) |
It was around 4:00 by the time we were back home for a rest before leaving again to be at my Mum's for 6:00 pm, where the four of us (including my sister) met for a sundowner and a delicious meal on Mum's balcony, which faces west.
The sunset wasn't quite as spectacular as I had imagined, and a chilly wind made us retreat inside after a while, but it was still a very nice evening. Those pasties my Mum had made looked like Cornish pasties but were entirely vegetarian, nicely spiced and very delicious.
Sleeping in on Sunday (6 April) wasn't possible the way I had wished for. The children in the attic flat (3 and 7 years old) wake up early, and are very active, running up and down the short length of their flat several times. It sounds like a small herd of ponies above my head. And of course, almost as soon as we accept that it's no use trying to get back to sleep, all is quiet upstairs... but such is life when you don't live in a house all to yourself.
It was another sunny day, but had cooled off considerably over night as had been forecast. 3C/37F was the morning temperature, and it never got warmer that day than maybe 10C/50F, a blustery wind making it often feel chillier than that.
That didn't stop us from going for a good long walk in the afternoon, of course: To the lake first, then to the castle on the hill, and finally stopping for a shandy at a beer garden before going home.
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| Looking back towards the castle on the hill on our way to the beer garden |
Our Sunday evening meal consisted of green asparagus fried in a pan, creamy polenta and two kinds of ham. O.K. left just before 8:00 pm and was home safe & sound 1 1/2 hours later.
