Sunny Walks Week

Both during last week and on the weekend I managed good, substantial walks, fully taking advantage of the mostly sunny weather.

On Monday (20.04.2026) it was chilly and windy, but sunny. Work obligations meant I only went for a short-ish walk of about an hour after 7:00 pm, catching the beautiful evening light.

Sunrise on Monday

A mostly cloudy and chilly day followed on Tuesday (21.04.2026), with the grey clouds even shedding a few token drops of rain during my otherwise beautiful walk to Benningen after work.

Wednesday and Thursday (22./23.04.2026) saw me at the office in Weilimdorf. Both days were sunny and warmed up nicely after very cold mornings (not far from frost). I went to my Mum's on the Wednesday and walked home from Zuffenhausen on the Thursday.

The familiar spot is now much greener than last time I walked here.

A badly needed haircut was had on Friday (24.04.2026) morning, and around lunch time I went to see my neighbour whose cat and two rabbits I will be looking after in late May/early June when the family are away. 

Later that afternoon I met my book-swapping friend at a nearby café; we swapped books, had a piece of cake each and opted for cold drinks instead of coffee - it was so nice and warm to sit in the sun outside the café.

By the time O.K. arrived at around 8:30 pm, I had done all my cleaning, shopping and getting things ready for the weekend. 

Saturday (25.04.2026) was the warmest day of the week at around 22C/71F. After breakfast, O.K. and I walked into town for the "Open Day" at Grävenitz Palais, which was interesting and much less crowded than the same event in February 2024.

Inside Grävenitz Palais

From there, we crossed the busy main road to the palace grounds and had a relaxed stroll there.

The deer park was next, and we followed the long straight road from there to the small palace by the lake before returning home for a rest and coffee.

Preparations for an event were underway around the palace by the lake.

In the evening, we were meeting my Mum, sister and a friend at a nearby Italian restaurant, a favourite of ours for such gatherings. The five of us enjoyed the food and drink and of course the conversation and company, and eventually retreated to Mum's for dessert.

The weather was pretty much the same on Sunday (26.04.2026), meaning we were off for another walk. This time, we went to Marbach on foot and returned by train.

We had ice cream in the historic town of Marbach - my first time this year (not counting the occasional ice cream for dessert after a family meal, for instance Easter). Having walked about 16.5 km that day, we needed proper sustenance, and I made Quiche Lorraine for our evening meal before O.K. packed his bags and started on the long drive home.

Just out of the oven :-)

I packed my wedding clothes in a box and my hiking clothes in my rucksack so that he could transport them by car, making it easier for me when  I'll be traveling to him by train this week Thursday.

We really, really need rain; after February was wetter than average, April has been a lot drier than average, according to meteorologists.

Cold Spring Week

Winter made a reappearance here last week; we didn't have snow in my area, but hail, rain and strong winds with nights and mornings below freezing. There was also some sunshine. 

This cold spell started on Wednesday and is still with us for a few more days, it seems - nothing unusual about it, really; we often have frost and the occasional snow flurry as late as April. It just hits many people unexpectedly when quite unreasonably they have cast aside their winter clothes with the first warmer sun rays. Add to that the pollen in the air, and hardly surprising there is a lot of coughing and sneezing around right now.

Monday (23 March) was still mild at 12C/53F and mostly sunny. Working from home allowed me to go for my almost weekly back and shoulders massage around lunch time, and because I had a conference call scheduled from 5:00 to 6:00 pm, I made sure to take a short walk of less than an hour before that.

I went to work at the office in Weilimdorf on Tuesday (24 March) because I had signed up to help with the election of our employees' representation committee, something that would have been impossible to do working from home.

Sunrise on Tuesday

The small cherry tree in my neighbour's garden is in bloom already!

And so are the magnolia trees in my street.

Afterwards, I was home for a little while before setting off to the pub. With my sister and one other team member being away, there were only four of us, but we still came 2nd, one point short of the winning team. It was good fun and as always, we had lots to talk about and some good laughs.

As mentioned above, winter returned on Wednesday (25 March). After a chilly but sunny morning, heavy grey clouds came rolling in during the afternoon. Leaving work in Weilimdorf, I was on my way to my Mum's when for the last 200 m or so I was caught in a hail storm - pea-sized icy balls hit me (and everything else outdoors) from all sides. Was I glad to reach my Mum's!

By the time I left (after a vitamin boost from a delicious fresh salad), it was long over and I arrived at my flat without as much as a drop of rain.

Thursday (26 March) was my 3rd day in a row of working in Weilimdorf, because we had a quarterly meeting where I like to be present in person, not just on a screen.

It was cold and very windy, but sunny until the late afternoon. On my way home, I continued on the train until Freiberg, from where I walked my customary route to Benningen. That felt very good after having been cooped up at the office.

Plum tree on the outskirts of Benningen

Back in Ludwigsburg, on my way home from the station

It was working from home again on Friday (27 March). Mid-afternoon was spent doing my cleaning and washing, and at 5:30 pm, two friends came to pick me up for the long-ish drive to Böblingen, where another couple of friends live. It took us well over an hour to get there, but of course three women in a car are not short of things to talk about - especially not when they have not seen each other in a while.

In Böblingen, we had a short walk to the restaurant our friends there had chosen. It is run by Uigurs/Uyghurs and serves their typical food, something none of us were familiar with.

Market square in Böblingen

The food was nice enough, although nothing so "special" or "exotic" that it felt entirely new. I chose a dish where bits of tender chicken meat came in a dark red-brown sauce with diced red and green pepper and some peanuts added. It was very similar to what I've had sometimes at Chinese restaurants, and it was more salty and less spicy than expected.

Unfortunately, although service was friendly, it was highly inefficient and unreliable - more often than not, a young man came just peeping in by the door and leaving again with a slightly confused look on his face. Other times, he came in and brought food to other tables where the people had arrived long after us. Of the four of us at our table, one got her food about 45 minutes after the others. Another of our group had to ask three or four times before her second bottle of lemonade arrived, and then it wasn't lemonade but ice tea (she drank it anyway, not wanting to risk another long wait).

So, yes, it was great to see my friends again and catch up with each other, but I doubt I will ever visit this particular restaurant again, and certainly won't recommend it.

The drive back was much quicker, and I was home just after 11:00 pm.

On Saturday (28 March), O.K. arrived a little before lunch time. We were both hungry and decided to have something to eat in town, since we wanted to go for an errand or two anyway. We went to the Thai place in the mall, and I really enjoyed my creamy spicy Thai curry and the quick service :-D

The sunny day then turned into a rainy one, and so after the meal and our errands we went home for steaming mugs of tea and a rest.

It wasn't appealing to go for a walk, and we stayed in for the rest of the day and evening, relaxing, having something to eat and later watching a comedy on TV.

Sunday (29 March) was still cold but promised to remain dry. After our usual late breakfast, we walked across town and made use of our new season's tickets (thank you, Mum!!) for the first time this year to enter the palace grounds.

A lot of artificial decoration has been put up, most of it not at all to my taste, nor do I think it is necessary - the grounds are beautiful without them, and real flowers and blossoms are the best anyway. 

Here are some of the decorations.

See what I mean? I don't get the point of these.

This is much nicer, and every flower here is real!

This doorway was quite nice and fits the palace theme.

I understand these "flower ladies", too, although I wouldn't miss them if they weren't there.

Sleeping Beauty's bed picks up on the palace and fairytale theme, too.

One of several storks nesting on top of the volière

Forgetmenots in a sheltered spot

A unicorn... again, unnecessary, but I suppose popular with children.

Why this green lady with the pointy ears looks so serious bordering on the unhappy I don't know.

We continued across the footbridge and through the deer park.

The much smaller palace in the deer park looked particularly colourful against the cloudy backdrop.

Back home, we made ourselves comfortable with coffee and some reading before it was time to prepare our meal for the evening. We'd not had Shakshouka in a while, and the cold weather was good for sitting at the table in front of a hot pan straight from the stove, still bubbling a bit.

O.K. left at sunset, which of course now is much later because we had the switch to Summer Time during the night. I accompanied him to the car and then went for another walk of about 45 minutes to stretch my legs and use the last of the daylight - the only advantage I can see in changing the clocks.

Socialising Week

It is very rare that a whole week passes without me seeing my family or some friends or other, but not all weeks are so full of socialising than the last one, where I was out and about four evenings out of five.

Early on Monday (9 February) morning, O.K. took me to the station in Offenburg as usual. Normally, that is a drive of maybe 15 minutes, leaving me plenty of time to buy myself a freshly baked and buttered Brezel to enjoy during my journey; it is too early for me to eat anything before leaving the house, but by the time I board the train I am very hungry.

Things turned out a little different that morning, though. Just after leaving the village and getting on to the major road leading to the city, we were stopped short by a hold-up. Neither the cause nor how long it might take were obvious. Nothing was said on the traffic news on the radio. We inched forward for a few minutes, then O.K. made a u-turn, doubled back part of the short way we had come so far, and drove into the city from a different direction. It was the best decision he could have taken, because no way would we have made it in time to the station otherwise; we later learned that there had been an accident, and it took hours for the hold-up to clear and traffic to move normally again.

The bakery at the station was very busy with a long queue, and for fear of missing my train, I headed to the platform straight away without having bought my customary Butterbrezel, hoping to get something aboard the train.

I found my booked seat, left my luggage there and went in search for what nowadays is called the "Board Bistro" on German long-distance trains. A very friendly man who was singing along to the radio confirmed that he did indeed have a Butterbrezel for me, and did I want it warmed? I found that a good idea, and after a few minutes of waiting, I went back to my seat with a warm Brezel in a brown paper bag. It was pricey (more than twice what it costs at the bakery), but I needed something to eat, and I enjoyed the journey knowing that I wasn't going to feel queasy for lack of food.

After work, I went for a walk with my sister. Those 1 1/2 hours in the fresh air felt very good, as did our chat.

It was Pub Quiz Night again for our team on Tuesday (10 February). We were one point short of the winning team, but so was one other team, and they won the tie question, which meant we came third - no problem for us, and we'd had once again a fun-filled evening with friends.

Wednesday (11 February) was the warmest day of the week; wet but as mild as 12C/53F. Leaving the office in Weilimdorf at 5:00 pm, I made it in time back to Ludwigsburg with about 15 minutes to spare: I had booked a seat for a talk at the local history museum. The headline was "Little America", and the knowledgeable lady spoke about Pattonville, the US-American "village" on the outskirts of Ludwigsburg that was built in the 1950s to house the military families.

I have mentioned Pattonville on my blog before, and it has its own wikipedia article. 

The talk was illustrated with photos, and after about half an hour, the speaker ended and handed things over to the audience. Many (myself included) shared personal memories of the time when Ludwigsburg still had a very strong and visible American presence. It was interesting and fascinating to compare notes, and I even met a lady who I once worked with at the library and who used to live in Pattonville with her American boyfriend and father of her sons.

Working from home on Thursday (12 February) allowed me to pop into town during my lunch break to get flowers for later. I chose three bunches of tulips in white, pink and yellow. After work, my sister picked me up and drove us to Markgröningen, a small town roughly 10 km away. 

We were invited there to a birthday party of one of our oldest friends. I have mentioned the two sisters who lived next door to us in the terraced houses for most of our childhood and youth; it was the younger sister's birthday.

There was plenty of food and drink, and more guests arrived over the next couple of hours. I always enjoy meeting "new" people as well as seeing my friends, and good fun was had by all.

Friday (13 February) saw me staying at home; O.K. and I spent the weekend separately. It being Carnival time, he was busy with the village band, and I opted to stay in Ludwigsburg so that I could see my cousins who were stopping here for one night on their way home to Paris.

In the afternoon, my sister and I met the three of them (two cousins - sister and brother - and the brother's wife) at their hotel within easy walking distance from us. We briefly went into town because they needed to buy a few things, then we bought cake at the bakery down the road from where I live and had coffee and cake at my place.

A little after 6:00 pm, we went to my Mum's. She had prepared a large pot of goulash, another pot of a vegetarian variety and bowls of dumplings. There was also a nice fresh salad for starters. To begin with, we had sparkling wine and good reasons to raise our glasses: My engagement as well as all of us meeting, something that does not happen very often with us living so far apart.

It was a lively evening with great food and free-flowing conversation in German, English and French.

After the week described so far, I am sure you'll understand how much I appreciated having a quiet Saturday and Sunday (14 and 15 February) entirely to myself. Of course I spoke to O.K. on the phone every day, and I also went for walks - a brief one on Saturday, cut even shorter because of the rain, and a longer one on Sunday, when it remained dry until the evening.

It looked rather drab on the fields between Ludwigsburg and Freiberg, but at least it wasn't raining.

Small patches of blue were showing by the time I was approaching Benningen, but the sun never really made it through.

I spent several hours watching the 4th season of "All Creatures Great and Small" on DVD, a Christmas present from my sister - it was the perfect weather for cosy TV, wrapped in a blanket and with a mug of tea ready.

This part of the opening of each episode reminded me of our visit to Ribblehead Viaduct last summer.

Not long before 9:00 pm on Sunday night, it started to snow, and kept snowing for about three hours before the snow turned into rain. Before I went to bed, the world outside was all covered in white, but when I got up during the night, the rain had begun to wash it off, and by Monday morning nothing was left.

First Full Week of 2026

The first full week of this year was also my first week back at work since before Christmas - a longer break than usual, which did me good on all accounts.

On Monday (5 January), I worked from home. First thing is always to go through the seven email inboxes I am responsible for: One at my main employer's, three with my secondary employer and three more for my current clients. After being on a holiday for two weeks, I usually find an average of 260 messages to wade through - not all of them mean I have to "do" something; there is always a good percentage of merely informative messages, but they still need to be looked at. This time, I only had a total of 74 emails to deal with. Clearly my clients, colleagues and bosses had been on holiday as well.

It was sunny but cold at -6C/21F. A walk would have been nice, but mid-afternoon I was scheduled for the regular quarter-yearly check-up of my eyes. Since 2017 or so, I've been with the same doctor in Stuttgart. She advised me on and accompanied all three of my eye operations, and apart from liking her as a person, I trusted her completely. Now she's retired and I needed to find somewhere else. 

Good job that we have a large surgery in Ludwigsburg with a team of several doctors and assisting staff within easy walking distance. This was my first appointment there, and everything went smoothly. A slight adjustment in the drops I have to use twice a day was made, and in April we'll see whether it turns out the way the doctor expects. I save a lot of time not having to go to Stuttgart for those check-ups anymore.

Afterwards, I went to the pharmacy to get the new medication, and then I went home to do a bit more work, which of course meant it was too late for a proper walk.

Epiphany or "Three Kings", as we call it (Tuesday, 6 January) is another public holiday in my part of Germany, further easing my return to work. It is also the day when most people, including me, traditionally take down their Christmas decorations. I did that as well as some admin stuff (nothing to do with work), and in the evening went to my Mum for a delicious winterly meal of Sauerkraut with bacon and meat as well as mashed spuds.

View from my kitchen window at 8:00 that morning.

It snowed and was cold enough for me not wanting a walk; the 10-15 minutes it takes me to get to my Mum's (and back, of course) were enough.

The coldest day of the week at -9C/15F was Wednesday (7 January). It was also my first day back at the office in Weilimdorf. 

On the upper platform at Zuffenhausen station, waiting for my train to Weilimdorf. 8 minutes can feel long at -9C, no matter what you're wearing!

With hardly anyone there over the Christmas and New Year period, the large building mostly of concrete, steel and glass was very cold. I knew that my boss was there already on Monday and so I had asked him before Christmas to please turn up the heating in my room on the Monday, so that I would not find a freezing office on Wednesday.

As a consequence, it was warm enough in my room as long as I kept the door shut, but the staircase and the toilets were really cold. Still, I met some of my colleagues and we had a hot meal in the canteen.

It was dark by the time I left the office (and cold!), so once again, no walk.

Thursday (8 January) saw a rise in temperature, with a low of -2C/28F and a high of +2C/35 F in the course of the day. It was cloudy and rained later, which meant another walkless day, working from home and leaving the house only for a spot of groceries shopping at the ALDI five minutes from my house.

The next day (Friday, 9 January) was even milder at 7C/44F, very windy with a mix of sun and rain. 

Sunrise on Friday

After working until lunch time and then doing my weekly cleaning, I left the house at about ten past 3:00 pm for the first proper walk of the week, and the first one to Benningen of this year. It felt so good to be out there, stretching my legs and letting the wind blow me about a bit without feeling too cold!

Looking back across the fields between Freiberg and Benningen.

It started to rain only near the end of my walk, and I didn't have to wait long for the local train back to Ludwigsburg. From the station to my house was the only part of the walk where I really was glad for the hood on my winter coat.

O.K. arrived at about 9:30 that evening, and we ate the tomato soup I had made earlier with some fresh bread.

It was my sister's birthday on Saturday (10 January), and were at hers for a small party in the evening, with good conversation, food and drink. 

During the day, O.K. and I had been into town for a few errands and a coffee, and then had a bit of a rest in the afternoon. It snowed later, but wasn't icy underfoot.

Sunday (11 January) was colder again. After a sunny start, clouds drew in but it remained dry.

We did not feel like a muddy walk on the fields and went to the palace grounds instead. With much of the snow gone, the grounds still looked beautiful although not much of a Winter Wonderland.

From there, we went across the road and through the deer park, where we saw the usual herds of deer and mouflon sheep (no photos), as well as many people who'd had the same idea as us. 

Back home after a couple of hours, we had coffee, and not very long after that I started on our dinner. Because of weather warnings, O.K. planned to drive home earlier than usual, which was a wise decision. It also meant we ate a lot earlier than usual. I roasted diced spuds and butternut in a deep pan and crumbled feta cheese on top for the last two minutes or so, which combined to a filling, warming and tasty dish, especially with a pinch of ground ginger and some freshly grated nutmeg.

Thankfully, O.K.'s drive home went well; the motorways were less busy than what is often the case on a Sunday evening (maybe some people decided to stay put because of the weather warnings), and he did not encounter any icy parts.

Now I feel that the year has started properly, and next week will be a lot busier at work than these first few days have been.