When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie... (Dean Martin)
Mr. Month, waxing to a full moon over the nights and astonishing some sheep on the meadow, where lunatic me took some of these pictures.
The most frequented arterial road in Southern Germany is the Autobahn 8 between Stuttgart and Munich. Built in the 30s of last century, for decades the highway faced a segment what Germans would call "Nadelöhr", eye of a needle: a two-lane strong grade of the street, starting near the village of Gruibingen. For the last years, this area was a permanent construction site for a four-lane noise protection dam; years of noise, dirt and traffic jams for everybody. Now, that the tunnel is almost finished, the people of Gruibingen wanted to check it out. We, too.
Just for a change, we went to the capitol of Bavaria for a weekend escape. Munich's downtown offers some fine places like Hofgarten or Marienplatz. We ate traditional white sausages with sweet mustard at Viktualienmarkt, visited the famous Deutsches Museum, the father had his Bavarian draft at a public beer garden and the children a ball with this actor, who earns his living as a human statue on the promenades.
It's almost like in October last year - but this time, the sunlight is more cutting, the air seems to be sharper and the mist is more intense. The fog is like a soft, white pillow, gently drifting through the Blau valley, between Blaubeuren-Altental and Blaustein-Arnegg (March 27th, 2012).
There are some things in life one ought to do, regardless of whether they are silly, useless or unhealthy. Well, at least the latter this experience wasn't. As a scuba diver, I always felt the strange curiosity of how it would feel like being munched by a shark (or something alike). So we stepped into this spa, payed the fee and turned our legs into fish food. Guess what: I really liked it. Ticklish in the beginning, it later was very relaxing; my feet felt smooth and fresh for hours. Actually, I'd do it again. Besides, none of the fish burped.
(All this happenend during our vacation last August in Chania, Crete, but it was just recently that I found the pictures again.)
After returning from our last private (= without kids) trip to Barcelona, our daughters, 10 and 3 years old, complained badly about having being left alone (despite the in-laws, who bravely took care of them while we were abroad). We felt like bad parents. So the next trip was planed with kids: Rome. The elder one wanted to visit the Vatican and St. Peter's Basilica; the little one insited to see the sea. We agreed with both, went to Rome for three nights. One day we stayed in the capitol of Italy and the other day at it's beach, Lido Di Ostia. Plus, through the kindness of bright sun and warm temperatures, we had a taste of the forthcoming spring. What a perfect trip - for all four of us.
It's so fricking cold these days, you spit on the ground and your saliva freezes within 34 seconds (trust me, I tried this). Instead of snow like in our former winters here in Blaubeuren, this year we just have sub-zero temperatures. The morning, the thermometer on our patio showed minus 22° Celcius (= minus 8° Fahrenheit) in the rising sun, I went to the befogged Blautopf to take pictures of the frozen mist around. Amazing!
(And, by the way, this is how the scenery looks like in Indian summer.)
During summer, this valley is well known for its cherries: About 20.000 cherry-trees are said to grow at the hillsides of the valley of Neidlingen (near the castle ruins of Reussenstein). The locality itself has something more to offer: a pebble mill, according to its website actually the last producing one in Germany. A handful of grindstones in the creekwater, that's mainly what you can see. But in wintertime, the owner of the mill opens his workshop for the public. Step into the warmth, ask the miller and listen to his explanations about the origin of the stones, the history of those marble mills and the way, the marbles are perfectly rounded by the running water.
Horses. Our daughters are crazy about them. So, when I learned that the famous stud farm Marbach (Haupt- und Landgestüt Marbach) is not located in Marbach am Neckar (where for years I assumed it to be) but instead is only half an hour by car away from our home - well, we just picked the next sunny sunday to drive there. The farmyard itself is a marvelous historic compound, built in the 19th century, neatly restored, really worth a visit and, of course, rife with - horses.
