It has been a rather pleasant week here: weather neither grey and rainy nor scorchingly hot, a productive week at work and some time between travels to catch my breath. However, this is less fortunate news for you at home since it means there's less to write about.
I'll begin with some pictures. These were taken last weekend; we decided to use up the last day on our rail pass by taking a journey down the Rhein river, since the pass is also good for travel on one of the riverboat lines. We started in Mainz; here you can see the church near the river.
I believe these Rhein cruses are tourist favorites for two reasons: First, the river here runs through a beautiful valley with towns nestled allong the coast at intervals.
And secondly, because the banks are positively crowded with castles. (A natural place for them as the hills provide a good view and control over the water is important in trade.)
As you can see, it was a grey, somewhat rainy day, so I stayed below for much of the time just reading, but it was a good chance to relax (forced away from the computer and my work) and it did make for some impressive river vistas:
That was my Sunday and it was very well spent I must say, I only which I'd taken more time like that since the week turned out to be quite full. I'm entering the final press (less than three weeks left now!) and there is of course much to be done at work and places to see and projects to finish and souvenirs to buy. Fortunately, the time I've put into studying organization methods and repeatedly trying to instill good working/resting habits in myself has had some payoff. I've managed to have a not too stressful week while getting a lot of work accomplished as well as trying to perfect my granola recipes. It helps that just about all my work is something I've done for fun once in a while.
This weekend has proven quite restful as well. On Saturday, I rode my bike to the Schloss on Frankenstein Berg. This castle is traditionally the setting for Mary Shelley's book by the same name. The castle is perhaps the most reminiscent of the mythical castle I held in my mind before coming here, though it is mostly a ruin now. The castle is on top of a small mountain (think Appalachian size) and has an excellent view of the whole area it's roughly 15km south of Darmstadt and the view extends easily to Frankfurt. There's also a restaurant along side the castle and it appears you can get married in the chapel next to the keep. When I was there I remember thinking that it seemed to be one of the most romantic spots I've been in Germany, though I may just have been tired. (15km is a lo-ong ride uphill; at least for me!) Unfortunately, all this and I forgot to bing my camera, so I have no pictures to share of the place.
Well that brings us up to date; as the title says, it's been a quiet week. Next weekend however, I'll be headed to London, so you can expect more travle stories in the next post. And then home!
0 comments:
Post a Comment