We had a short stay at the beginning of the Weser river, where the Weser-Radweg starts; just a first stay in a strange environment for our new (6-month old) dog. We stayed in a holiday home, and each day, we took our bikes and the DoggyRide to a starting point, cycled one bank of the river, crossed it by bridge or ferry, and back along the opposite bank – to the ferry or bridge where we started. Or we drove to a point for a walk.
The images and tracks can be accessed here
Category: Trips
Trips = Visits to a locations, where the location, or what’s to be seen there, is the the target.
Rhein-Nahe Weinwanderweg (2012)
In fall 2012, we had a week of walking in Germany: we found the Rhein-Nahe Weinwanderweg, from Kirn to Bingen, along the Nahe river that runs South of the Hunsrück. Given the name, the route runs through vineyards on the slopes of the hills.
When we arrived, is was pouring with rain, and using a wooden cabin was just a little bit more expensive as setting up the tent – so we decided to go for the cabin. Just this first day was rainy, the remainder of the week the wather was fin – though the mronings would be chilly and therefore misty; But during the day, the fog would disappear and we would walk in bright sunlight.
The images and tracks can be found on this spot.
Fall in Switzerland
Fall of 2011 we made a trip into the Swiss Alps. We stayed on a camping site in the village of Bönningen, a few kilometers East of Interlaken, on the Southern side of the Brienzer See, and made a several walks on the slopes of the Jungfrau range, and on the other side of the two lakes, West and East of Interlaken. This resulted in a huge amount of photographs, since a mountainous regions offers so many views….
Switzerland is known for its pricing, so we bought a ticket that gave us free travel for 5 days, and discount on the remaining days, for most of the trains, narrow-gauge trains and busses in the area. Not all of them, though. But it’s worth the pricetag, because it brings down the cost of traveling substantially. And since quite a lot of places cannot be reached by car, that makes a difference.
Nor didn’t we need to buy maps – these are available online and all regular walks are well signposted. And since I marked the walks – roughly – on the maps of the area, and afterwards, the walks are drawn on the these downloaded maps. I didn’t bring my GPS this time, so that all you will get 🙂
Harz 2010
After our RheinSteig walks, we headed East to the Harz – a mid-range mountain area, wooded – and once a major element in the Iron Curtain that devide Eastern Germany – the communist German Democratic Republic – DDR – and Western Germany – the capitalistic German Federal Republic – BDR.
We stayed at the camping site of Hohegeisz – a village on the edge of Western Germany: some backyards literally a few feet away from the former boundary.
Our first walk was into the woordland to the West of the village – to a location named “Nullpunkt”: Point Zero. From what: probably the starting point of trigoniometric measurements? but that is defeated by it’s loxcation: in the midst of mountains. Or a location from where logging was started?
The second day, we drove a little North to start a walk up the Brocken mountgain, the highest peak in the area, and now a popular destination for walks – or a train ride using the narrow gauge railway that leads to the summit – here the former espionage buildings now house a meuseum.
Our third day we joined a tour in the former boundary area; a no-go area for DDR citizens; our guides were a former GDB customs guy, and the major of a former DDR village. Part of that journey was a ride with the Harzer Schmallspur Bahn – the narrow gauge railway kept alive because of it’s value for the local people.
No maps or tracks for these walks – I lost the tracking data and I don’t have maps to reconstruct them – but the images are available.
Istanbul
We made a weekend-trip to Istanbul, to get an idea of this town on on the border of Europe and Asia: two days of travel, a day on a guided tour along the highlights:Aya Sofia, Blue Mosque, Grand Bazar and Topkapi Palace, and a day for a boattrip on the Bospurus (including a short stop on the Asian side) and a walk in the Galata quarter, between the Galata Bridge and Taksim square, passing the tower (we didn’t climb it – it was quite busy).
On our flight to Isrtanbul, I bought myself a new camera – had to get used to it so not all images are fit for publishing. But Rita did also make pictures – so there is enough to be seen.
No maps or tourist information: Google “Istanbul” or any of the highlights and you’ll have enough to read on your journey 🙂
Boston
I tend to attend a symposium in the US, abd this fifth time I planned one extra day to (finally) visit Boston. It was just half a day – I walked the full 6 miles to the busstation, and so I arrived only in the afternoon. I joined the Freedom Tour – a guided tour along places and about people that played a role in the prelude of the American Revolution.
Boston has changed quite a bit since those days – most of modern Boston was sea at the time. But the lands were flattened: Hills moved to lower grounds and so the landmass increased, and most of today’s Boston is on what is called “land fill”.
Of course, the skyline has changed as well over the years, and I’ve circumvented the sky-high Financial District, Nit juts followed the Freeedom Tour but on my way back, following the old wharfs and docks, now being converted from harbour area into living quarters – expensive, no doubt. A relaxing route after a heavy week.
These are the images I took back as a non-imaginary memory.
Beijing
The company offered their employees a 3-day visit to Beijing with their partners. A huge city, with a long history. being China’s capital for many, many years, it has a number of monuments that date back 600 years: The former imperial palace, called the “Forbidden City”, and numerous temples.
Housing 16 million people, it’s no surprise that the vast majority of buildings reach high, both office- and residential towers go up 30 stories, and more. Not that the environment in monotone: there is a lot of modern architecture to enjoy. And with the 2008 Olympics in sight, things have changed in the last two years: The city has gained colour, wherever there was room for flowering plants, it’s now all yellow, orange, red and green where previously gray and brown prevailed. At least, according one of the tour hostesses who visited the city two years ago.
Of course it has it’s drawbacks: many of the typical quarters, with narrow streets and small courtyards, have been demolished to make space for towering concrete and steel structures. However, some historical awareness has entered the mind of the planners and now some of these old “hutongs” are being preserved.
One of the other impressive buildings in China is the Great Wall, and of course it was part of the trip. Just a few kilometers, near Beijing, is open to the public, and this part has been restored in some extent. You can follow – by sight – the track of the wall outside this area, as long as the mountain ranges allow.
Of course it means a lot of images. 188, to be precise.
Rheinsteig: Braunach – Kamp – SanktGoarshausen
On November 6th, we travelled to Germany, to spend a few days in a hotel in Kamp, a place opposite Boppard, to walk two stretches of the long distance path between Bonn and Wiesbaden: the Rheinsteig follows the Eastern banks of the Rhine, sometimes diving down to villages on the river bank, and climbing out of the valley steeply.
The two stretches we walked were said to be about 18km in length, but 21 would be a better estimate. Sometimes steep, but always goinmg up or down near starting ane ending point, on the top of the mountains following the countour – more or less – of the higher ground. Both would start with a short bustrip, from the town where we were dropped, walk back – uphill, over the flats lands on top, back to the hotel.
The first walk, after we arrived, was the part that traverses the hill over Kamp, a path we would bypass, done the same afternoon when we arrived.
Next morning, we were brought to Braunach, and walked up to the castle names Markburg, down to the river again, and uphill until we reached leven grounds. The path followed the gullies we passed, to stay on more or less the same height, slowly sloping down to the town of …, then passing over the hills to Kamp again. Most of this walk was througfh woodland of oak, beech and maple.
The second walk started in Sankt Goarshausen, steep up the mountain, down to Burg Maus, and the village below, croissing the river on the bottom of the valley and up again to the heigh grounds above, through woords of oak and beach, passing pastures and acres – going up and down, back to the village.
Originally, we would try to do a third part on the last day, from Kaub to Sankt Goarshausen, passing over the Loreley, but we decided not to do so, because even though we had proper clothing, it was quite cold and threathend to be wet and windy. So we spent our morning walking around in Boppard – a nice little town, in summer swearming with touorsist but far less busy now.
The images can be found here – day by day. The full tracks in Garmin format are available. The GPX formatted tracks are on a daily basis : 6, 7 and 8 november, as well as the CSV ones (day by day again: formatted tracks are on a daily basis : 6, 7 and 8 november
Meie Gardens
These gardens, located in the open space between the large cities, are an oasis in the rural area. The gardens are open to the public and often visited to get idea and inspiration to design your own garden.
September – even on a fine day – is probably not the most preferable time to visit these gardens, but the time was well spent. Though the artwork exposed – all kinds of birds in metal, most just the contours but very distinctive – was more impressive than the gardens themselves.
I liked the owl – the big one, and the small owlets, most of all. But it was too expensive to buy….
These are the pictures of both the gardens and statues.
I still have to locate these gardens on a map to give you directons. Google didn’t reveal information…