Went for a winter walk in the warming sun and headed for a place, we haven't been since 2010, when Sophia still was a toddler: The game preserve at Laichingen, not too far from our home here at the Swabian Alb.
Christmas cookies, shopping, Interlochen x.mas decorations, Dallas Cowboys at AT&T stadium, ICE! at Gaylord Texan's
What a gift to be able to travel!
For two days we escaped the cold and grey November in Germany and flew (better: fled) to Lido di Ostia, the beach of Rome just 30 kilometers west of Italy's capitol. We were welcomed by sun, 63°F (17° Celcius) in the shade, excellent espresso and great Italian sea food. It could not be better!
What an impressive scene! A lake as a natural mirror for its surrounding structures: The island monastery of Seeon near Lake Chiemsee in Upper Bavaria, at the northern rim of the Alps. Founded in the year 994, today the monastery is a centre for culture and education. The latter the reason, why I was invited there.
The end of our autum trip through Austria led us to Graz, capitol of Styria and Austria's second largest city. We paid a visit to the old town, climbed ap the sun-kissed Schloßberg and had a fantastic Styrian schnitzel, breaded in pumpkin seeds, in a local brewery restaurant.
For the fourth time this year we set up our tent in Leutschach, at the winery of our endearing friends and hosts, Sandra and Karl. Purpose this time: to check out the wheather conditions in southern Styria in November. Our hopes got satiesfied - as one might see by the following pictures of the Styrian wine route. Maybe one day we want to settle down here for retirement...
Spend some marvelous hours at Lake Atter ("Attersee") in Austria. One week after the end of the season we enjoyed a quit and peaceful surrounding on our little lake tour from the villages of Attersee, via Litzlberg to Seewalchen. Ending up with a cup of cappuccino in a nearby coffee shop, wearing t-shirt and sunglasses in the surprising warm November sun. And, no: we did not go for a swim!
So this morning we used the given hour after the time change for a stroll around the local karstic spring Blautopf ("blue pot") in Blaubeuren. The sun light, the autumn colours and the atmosphere merged into an overwhelming natural wonder. My eyes rested on this magic!
So.... Siegen. What about Siegen? Well, your job sometimes brings you to places you'd never visited voluntarily... Naw, Siegen in North Rhine Westphalia, like many other towns, has its charms: There's a picturesque old town with a castle, lots of fine restaurants, there are hills, a river (the "Sieg"), Europe's second highest bridge (the "Siegtalbrücke" with a height of 106 and a length of 1050 meters) and a well-known city's stage ("Siegerlandhalle"): Furthermore, it's a university town. But, I'm sorry - still just a town that usually doesn't show up on your bucket list. :)
Just a few impressions from my trip to Austria's capital Vienna.
