My Jet-Set Life

In the space of a week, I have been to Berlin, Ulm and Marbach - three very different places. Of course, the Marbach trip was the shortest and did not involve an overnight stay, and it is a place I frequently go to for work and sometimes for leisure.

But Berlin and Ulm have not featured on my personal map in quite a while, simply because the work-related trips have not happened because of Covid restrictions.

Ulm was the first of the three trips. Last week Wednesday, I finished work a little earlier than usual and took two trains to arrive there at about 7:00 pm. From the main station in town, I could have taken a taxi, but I decided on the bus. I reached my hotel just before 8:00 and retreated for a quiet evening in my room, watching TV and eating what I had bought along the way.

The next day, Thursday, was an all-day course for my work. I very much enjoyed it - the lecturer knew what she was doing, and it was simply great to be able to focus on one topic for an entire day without interruptions or distractions. As I was at that same academy for my training as a Data Protection Officer (DPO) back in 2014, I love returning there for those good times' sake, and went for a familiar walk during lunch break.

After the course, I had more than two hours before my train back, and decided to walk all the way into town - not having more luggage than my overnight bag, and the path leading downhill plus it being dry weather made for a good long walk that lasted until well after sunset.

I have written about Ulm and my time there before on my blog; here, for instance.

Friday was a quiet day at home, working and getting ready for the weekend with O.K. (at my place). I will tell you more about that in another post.

Monday morning, I started a six-hour train trip (on three different trains) from Ludwigsburg to Berlin. The Federal Association of DPOs, of which I am a member, held a two-day meeting there. I arrived at the meeting room at 3:01 pm, so one minute late. 

Good job it was all in the same hotel; the meeting, our booked rooms and all the meals. It was really good to see my fellow DPOs again after we'd only had online meetings since last year's spring! I rekindled old friendships and began one or two new ones, plus of course there was a lot of work-related exchange of knowledge and ideas.

The train staff were distributing chocolates - it says "Lieblingsgast", favourite guest (or passenger)!

The bed may not be beautiful, but it was VERY comfortable, and I had it all to myself!

View from my hotel room towards other hotel rooms. Well, I was not in Berlin for fun.

The train trip home was easier as it involved only one change in Stuttgart, and I was back at my flat at 9:30 pm on Tuesday. After a phone call with O.K., I sat down at my computer and worked for about an hour before finally going to bed.

It was a short night, as I got up early yesterday for a "Big Day" in Marbach. Easy to reach - the local train takes me there in about 15 minutes - but I had a lot of work ahead:

I gave two trainings (one in the morning and one in the afternoon) plus had a session with the Data Protection Committee in between. It was all very good, and I enjoyed the day, as I always enjoy my time in Marbach (I have written about it before, too, as you may remember; for instance, here). 

The room was full for both sessions, with about 40 in attendance each time. They were all wearing masks, and my training was recorded on camera so that those who could (or would) not attend can watch it later from their desks.

Lunch break was long enough for me to allow for a little walk, and after a foggy and frosty start, it turned out a beautiful day.

I spotted this heron as he/she was flying towards that house. Then I heard it calling out, and discovered that there was a pond in the garden with a rather life-like looking plastic heron, and I wonder whether the real one was trying to make the fake on go away so that he could have a look at the pond and its contents!

By the time I was home again, it was too close to sunset for a proper after-work walk. Instead, I wrapped up work, had a phone call with my boss to report about Ulm and Berlin, and prepared myself something to eat before settling down for the evening in front of the TV, watching a rerun of a BBC "Marple" episode.

Isn't it a glamorous jet-set life I am leading? :-D

October Woods

This is the continuation of my previous post, the second part of our last hike in October, on the last day of October. 

We left the ruins of castle Hohengeroldseck and came by the maize field again, very blond against the dark green and other colours around.

From there, the circuit went to the right, taking us through a part of the woods where we had not walked before. At first, the sky was overcast and it looked as if we would not catch the sun again today. Looking back towards the castle ruins, you could have thought it was close to sunset when in fact it was not yet 3:00 pm.

But then!! The sun came through, magically lighting up the woods. I could not get enough of it and took way too many pictures - it was just so, so very beautiful.

Eventually, we reached a viewing point above Biberach, the town where O.K. works:

The viewing point is at a chapel (Konradskapelle, "Konrad's chapel"), originally built in the 1930s and renovated in the 1980s and then again in 2011 or so.

From there, it was only a quick descent and a short walk along the road back to where we had parked the car.

A beautiful month ended with a beautiful hike - and that's all my October posts done, finally!

October Walls

You may have noticed that all my recent posts have a title that begins with October. I am slowly running out of ideas and thought of naming this one "October Castle", but somehow that sounded odd, and so I chose "Walls" - you will see why in a minute.

Last weekend was a long weekend in my part of Germany, with Monday, the 1st of November, being a Bank Holiday (All Saints). After my Girls' Night on the Friday, I arrived at O.K.'s on Saturday early afternoon, right in time for coffee and cake. As it was too close to sunset for a proper long walk, we only took a short walk through the village before settling down for the night. But we more than made up for that the next day!

Sunday was the last day of October, and the last October hike we undertook. It was very warm with temperatures reaching at least 20 Celsius in the sun, which induced most people to walk about short-sleeved and -legged, but as soon as you were in the shade or when the wind blew, you could tell it was autumn and not summer anymore.

We drove a short distance to a place not far from where O.K. works, and started a circuit I had found in one of our many leaflets. It was to take us to the ruins of castle Hohengeroldseck, a place we have visited together first in 2016 and then again in May 2020. You can read some facts about the castle here in my 2016 post.

Since the day was so beautiful and the countryside so gorgeous, I took too many pictures to fit them all in one post; therefore, this one ends with the castle, and then there will be just one other one to finally end my series of October posts.

Starting from the parking lot, we found it amazing how so close to a main road, just 10 minutes or 1 km away, it felt like being far away from the hustle and bustle of traffic and town life. There were a few typical Black Forest farm houses dotted along the path, which then took us steadily upwards and into the woods.

I found the long uphill part rather exhausting and had to stop to catch my breath a few times, but eventually, we reached the top and from there, it was not very far to the castle ruins.

After walking through the gate, visitors are greeted by this impressive sight:

The ruins can be explored left, right and centre, with a stone spiral staircase leading up all the way to the top, and even though I have seen them twice before, I was impressed once again by their size. One can well imagine the former grandeur.

The best, sunniest spots were all taken by other visitors, but we found a bench where we could rest and have our rucksack lunch, with this view of the ruins:

Along one of the walls, a small garden has been planted, showing herbs and spices that would have been known to the residents in medieval times. The pictures also show quite well how the natural rock was incorporated into the foundation walls of the castle.

We left Hohengeroldseck to complete our circuit, but I am certain that this was not our last visit here.