September Holiday: 21.09.2021

Only now, when writing this post, did I realise that I had the date wrong for the previous post - the day of our arrival was not the 21st, but the 20th of September. It has now been amended.

By the way, as I said in my reply to Bonnie's comment to yesterday's post, O.K. had been at the same place (same hotel, too) six years or so ago, the year before we met. When we were planning our September holiday, our original idea was to go to Austria, but there was no way of knowing what the Covid regulations would be by the time we returned home; it could have happened so that we'd be quarantined in spite of being fully vaccinated. We did not want to risk such hassle and therefore went to Bavaria. Not actually very far from last year's September holiday, but still a different place with different hiking routes for us to explore.

And as you will see in a later post, we still made it to Austria for a hike - the border is just a few miles outside Oberjoch.

Right, let's get started on our first full day, Tuesday, the 21st of September. The first three pictures show the views from our hotel room greeting us that morning:

Our first hike of this holiday took us across the valley and up on the other side. You know I am not good at steep, long uphill bits, and so I panted and puffed my way up. But I made it, and we were rewarded with beautiful views.

You can just about spot O.K. in this picture. Can't see the path? Well, neither could we really at that particularly steep and rough part of the hike. But it was there, and we reached the peak eventually, being glad we were going up here, and not down, which would have been much harder with the constant danger of slipping.

We could see all the way across the valley and the village of Oberjoch. Our hotel is a bit out of and above the village; see the yellow arrow.

See the tin box near the base of the cross? It contains the Gipfelbuch ("peak book") and a stamp. Ambitious hikers can collect stamps for their own "peak pass" to prove they have been there, and leave an entry in the notebook that is always kept at the cross. You can find similar boxes at almost every peak in this region; I don't know how typical they are for other countries or regions. We do not have peak passes and did not leave an entry in the book; our own memory and photos (and this blog) are enough proof that we've been there.

The entire hike had been only about 11 km long, but that was enough with the rough and steep paths. By the time we were back at the hotel, it was only mid-afternoon; plenty of time to visit the spa and then have a shandy on the sunlit hotel balcony.

September Holiday: 20.09.2021

I have finally caught up with what I wanted to post before starting on our September holiday. From now on for the next two weeks or so, you will see plenty of mountains and trees, big skies and small churches. Much of it will look familiar to you, because I have been showing you similar pictures from our walks and hikes in the mountains many times. You are forgiven, therefore, if you rather skip this and the following posts ;-)

On Monday, September 20, after a 2 1/4 hours drive O.K. and I arrived at Oberjoch (literally "upper yoke") in the mountainous region of Bavaria called Allgäu. At 1,200 m above sea level, Oberjoch claims to be Germany's highest village and ski resort. They also claim to have the purest air with almost no allergens. There are no smokey factories around, just a very busy tourist industry, several farms and wood processing places. I imagine the place is heaving with people in winter, as there are some good ski slopes dotted around the village. 

We checked into our hotel and had a look at the room and the views from it:

As it was still only mid-afternoon, we then went on a first walk around the village to explore what was going to be our home base for the next 9 days.

Not far from our hotel, at the bottom of the valley, is a moorland nature reserve. There is only one path through it, and visitors are forbidden to stray from that path so as to protect plants and animals.

View from the other end of the nature reserve:

Back towards the village:

In the village, we found a small, older chapel open. Only now, when putting together this post, have I realised that I did not take a picture of the chapel from the outside. Inside, it looked like this:

Leaving the chapel, just up the road is the actual village church, a relatively new building:

More often than not, I am not overly fond of modern churches; they tend to have the charm of a parking garage with plenty of concrete and not much warmth. This one was an exception, though, and I found its combination of cobbled stone floors, wooden beams and clear lines rather appealing:

We had done our exploring for the day and returned to the hotel in time for a delicious dinner.

Read in 2021 - 12, 14: Chimera; Cause to Kill

Before and after "St Kilda Fever", which I read as a paperback, I read two ebooks which (as usual) I had found some time ago for free at Amazon's kindle shop.

# 12: Chimera (A Kate Redman Mystery)

by Celina Grace

A decomposed body is found in an abandoned cottage. A celebrity dies of a heroin overdose. An unusual series of robberies is keeping the police of Abbeyford on their toes. Are the cases connected?

DS Kate Redman is investigating, but she has her plate full with other matters as well. She is newly single, worries about her upcoming inspector exams and nearly falls out for good with one of her closest friends.

I found the interweaving cases and personal issues complex enough to keep me interested without being overwhelming.

This being the 5th book in the series wasn't a problem; I read #1 back in 2017 (you can find my review here, if you are interested) but didn't really remember it until I searched my own blog in the course of writing up this review. 

# 14: Cause to Kill (An Avery Black Mystery)

by Blake Pierce

A rather dark read, the chapters switch perspective between the killer and Avery Black, a complicated character not all that likeable (at least not for me).

Before she joined the police force, Avery worked for the opposite site: as a criminal defense attorney, it was her job to make sure her clients got away with murder - literally.

One case left her so shattered that it changed her life completely and permanently, and now she is chasing a serial killer who embalms his victims and places them very visibly in public spots as if he were staging them like mannequins.

Her past and present lives keep overlapping, and she has a hard time with her colleagues and superiors, her family and the public.

The solution to it all is not straightforward, but in the end things turn out almost too much peace, love and harmony to be credible. Still, it made for an engaging read, although I won't go actively looking for more of the series (this was the first book).

A Riverside Walk

There is still this post and another two book reviews for me to write before I will begin to post about our mountain hiking holiday, but you are used to my lagging behind by now, aren't you :-)

On the 14th of September, a Tuesday, I was working from home. My afternoon schedule was surprisingly free of meetings, which allowed me to finish a little earlier than usual and go for a nice long walk.

I'd not been down to the river in months, and so decided to make that my route.

To reach the riverside takes me at least half an hour if I walk along busy roads, and a bit more on the nicer route past the deer park and across fields. I was not in a hurry and so chose the latter.

This used to be the entrance to the deer park when I was little; the gates are now around the corner from this spot:

Reaching the riverside. The path was relatively busy with cyclists and a few cars; it is not a road accessible for all, but those who have allotments there are allowed to drive through. A few times I had to stop by the road to let them go past, and used the opportunity to take pictures.

The side of the river where I walked is bordered by a very steep slope, made into terraced vineyards a long time ago (we're probably talking two or three centuries here). Many of these are still working vineyards, but some have been abandoned or converted into orchards and allotments.

As you can see, the sky was a mix of big grey clouds and patches of blue, with the sun occasionally breaking through. It was good for walking but makes the pictures look darker than it actually was.

The "rocket" - see my next-to-last post about where it is located in relation to my hometown:

Almost everywhere was still very green in mid-September. The tree in this picture was one of the first ones I spotted that had begun to change colour:

Marbach:

Marbach locks:

The literature archive, where I sometimes work, on top of the hill:

I decided not to cross the river and walk up into Marbach to the station there, but stay on this side and turn right, up the slope into Benningen. From there, I took the local train back - a journey of ten minutes with two stops before Ludwigsburg, whereas it takes me about two hours on foot.

Now with sunset before 7:00 pm and happening earlier every day, I won't be able to go for such long after work walks anymore. Therefore, I am glad I went when I had the chance.

Read in 2021 - 13: St Kilda Fever

St. Kilda Fever

by FMT Macdonald

Many of you know Graham from Eagleton Notes; if you are not yet among his regular readers, I can recommend his blog as it always makes for a good read and often provides food for thought. 

Some time last year, he mentioned a book written by a friend of his, a novel set on the Outer Hebrides in the 1970s, the place where Graham lives and the time when he first arrived there. He said that island life at that time was very well depicted in the book, and I found it all very interesting.

Imagine my delight and surprise when, some time later, I received that very book in the mail!

It took me so long to get round to reading it (you are all familiar by now with the neverending story about my eyes), but I managed to finish it just before O.K. and I set off for our holiday in the mountains last month.

St. Kilda Fever is about a woman who takes up work as a GP on the Isle of Lewis. She is the first woman there to ever hold that job, and it takes her and the islanders a bit of getting used to each other and their different ways.

One night, Helen finds an injured man in her barn. Her duty as a doctor is to take care of him, but when she finds out that he is a Russian spy (remember: the Cold War was in full swing back then), she faces a dilemma. Should she hand him over to the police, or make sure he gets well and help him going back to Russia?

I thoroughly enjoyed the book, even though I did not always sympathise with the heroine's actions. The staff of characters are nicely fleshed out; the reader can imagine them very well, same as Helen's house, the surgery where she works and all the other places mentioned.

The story line is straightforward and does not really hold surprises; it made for good bedtime reading for me, and I soon cared enough about Helen for wanting to know what was going to happen next.

FMT Macdonald has written a second book about Helen, and I definitely want to read that as well.

A small note about editing: There were frequent minor mistakes, such as a preposition or an article left out in a sentence; never to the point of taking away from the pleasure of reading the story, but the book would have profited from a bit more thorough editing. As usual, that's just me being picky, so don't let it stop you from reading St Kilda Fever.

You can find out more about the author here on Amazon (where, of course, you can also buy her books).

Once again: Thank you, Graham, for your kind surprise gift!

On Top of the World 2.0

More than 9 years ago, I wrote a post by the title "On Top Of The World". It was about climbing one of the church spires of my home town and the views I had from there. Ever since, I have been wanting to repeat the experience, but the spire is not always open to the public, and somehow it never worked out on the few occasions when a visit would have been possible.

Sunday, the 12th of September, was "Monument Day" in Germany - at least I believe it was for all of Germany, or maybe just for the federal state of Baden-Württemberg, where I live. Anyway, I checked online what historical buildings and other places of interest, generally not open to the public, would be accessible that day. O.K. was spending the weekend here with me, and so I worked out an itinerary for us.

Our first stop was the former garrison church of Ludwigsburg, originally built for the military men stationed in the many barracks in town (we are talking pre-World War times here). After WWII, the church was renamed Friedenskirche, Peace Church. Isn't that a wonderful name? Much better than a church where arms and soldiers, intent on killing others, are blessed! It is not a very old church, but has seen some renovation work. I have never been inside for a service, only on other occasions, and I had never climbed the spire before.

On that day, we had the opportunity to join a guided tour of the beautiful church organ, then another one of the building itself, and last but not least were allowed to the top of the tower.

The views from there across my town in all directions were beautiful, and it was the perfect day for it, too:

The red arrow shows where I used to work until August 2019. The view from my office there on the 9th floor has featured on my blog several times, too:

The red arrow here marks more or less the area where I live. It was impossible to really spot my house from up there, but you get the general idea.

The larger buildings in the middle of this picture are all schools:

If you look carefully, at the end of the red arrow here you can just about make out two church spires. They belong to the church where we went next, the same one that featured in the 2012-post linked to at the start of this post:

In the picture below, the red arrow points towards the "rocket" I introduced to you first in this post from 2015:

Once we were back on ground level, we walked to the market square - another part of Ludwigsburg you have seen many times on my blog. The church with the two spires was our next stop:

This time, there was no guided tour of the organ or the building; we climbed up almost straight away. 

In the picture below, the red arrow points to the bell tower of the contemporary church a bit further up the road from where I live; the sound of its bells punctuate my days when I am home:

View of the small all-around balcony of the other spire, identical to the one we were standing on:

Across the market square; the bright buildings behind are the palace, which should be rather familiar to many of you through my blog:

Here is the "rocket" near Marbach again:

Market Square with the Catholic Church on the opposite side; its spire was not accessible that day:

"My" Irish pub is where the red arrow points to:

And last but not least, you can see the spire of Peace Church in this picture:

Climbing towers and taking photos was by no means all we did that day. To finish, we had booked a guided tour at the City Museum late afternoon. The guide was one of the architects involved in converting a former historical civil service building into the museum it is today; he showed us what was left of the original walls and what modifications were made (and why) - all under the restrictions of a listed building. Definitely not an easy task, but I think the result was well worth the effort (and the cost).

I went home that evening with a renewed feeling of affection for my home town, which has seen so many changes in the brief 350+ years of its existence.