One year? There hasn’t been another in my life that passed half as quick. I arrived in Germany last October and find myself again surrounded by changing leaves, autumnal air, low-lying sunshine, the full effects of fall in northern latitudes. A nice place to be in moments of mindful presence. Elusive as they may occur.
Been some of the same and some of not the same. Bike riding, walking, climbing on rocks, tending to flowers, taking a few photos. Lots of local travel and a few extended ramblings. Been a couple of planned weeks off and a sudden stint of unrequested free time. Been unhealthy levels of news consumption—and too many unprecedented home-country happenings to ignore. Serenity prayer on repeat.
Highlights of the past few months: Another several day section of the Mosel Radweg biking upstream this time. Pedaled out of the garage, down to the Lieser, swung right at the Mosel, spent one night in Germany, one in Luxembourg, and one in France before doing the train/bike combo back home. A two-week family visit full of activity. Tours of German towns, rivers, and trails. Lots of castles, lots of spots, lots of memories. A week in the Netherlands checking out North Sea beaches, Texel Island, and the Afsluitdijk dike. A couple days in Liege, Belgium. A day of walking in the High Fens National Park. A weekend trip to Saarland. And so forth… One year in and more anxious questions than predictions as to what the next one might deliver. Deep breaths and a day at a time.
Château de Sierck, France where we finished the ride.Boppard Via Ferrata on the RhineCochem on the Mosel Deutsches Eck, KoblentzNorth HollandLiege Stairs and High Fens NP, BelgiumAround Bad BertrichAlong the EifelsteigVölklinger Hütte UNESCO Ironworks Site. Amazing place.SaarbrückenErbeskopf, Saar-Hunsrück Nature Park
If a photo can be a metaphor this one fits the time. Thanks for checking in und Bis spater!
Unprecedented times and uncertainty all around for anyone paying attention. Hate speech, hypocrisy, and hyperbole on a ‘scale that the world has never seen before,’ to borrow one politician’s favored phrase from our country’s past decade. Though much of it seems historically familiar. Dehumanizing demonization of absolute enemies. Abolishment of empathy. Indoctrination of the not so innocent.
The poorest among us rally violently against their own self-interests at the behest of the Great Dividers. Manifest entitlement.
Nothing more benign, I suppose, than prattling on about it here. Suffice it to say the caged monkey between my ears has been shaking the bars like never before. Inevitable revert to monotonous daily mindset, asking myself the same questions I imagine posing to all those angry invisibles on the internet: ‘Is your life really that bad? Can you ever envision a time when you could be happy?’ We are all missing out on so much.
I spend more time than ever sitting at a computer in a windowless office responding to compiling emails without end—though apparently, according to these photos, I do manage to get out and do things still. From time to time. Or at least a body does even as deprived brain plays sulking teenager in the backseat. Without trying, really, the last couple months have found those separated someones wandering around German cities, riding bikes along little known rivers, and flying down snowy slopes in neighboring countries. A sampling of digitized snapshots they must have taken on their way.
Köln, Düsseldorf, Bonn, Koblenz
Cologne CathedralDüsseldorf. Abundance of interesting architecture.Decapitated saints in Bonn. More dead people stories.
Close In Bike and Hikes
Back to the Riding Board
Grindelwald, SwitzerlandSkiing in the Alps. More about the socializing than the shredding.Chamonix, France Montafon, Austria
For all the decent people out there who are still trying to take that high road. For everyone who cares about others less fortunate and the well-being of our shared speck in the universe. For anyone contributing to the positive—Danke für die Liebe.
Been three months now and I’m finally all moved in to a typical German house in a quaint little German town. A village so quintessentially German, in fact, it even has an ẞ in the name. And its own bakery. Two blocks from the front door. Alles gut hier in Deutschland.
In the previous post I alluded to the idea that I never before imagined visiting Germany, living in Germany, learning German etc. The idea of Western Europe as a whole was never all that interesting. No wild places, wild animals, endless horizons. Just a bunch of people sprawled out over centuries of civilization and occupation. Remnants of dead societies, endless conflicts, and past histories of human struggle, suffering, and survival… Whole lotta old buildings and a bunch of crumbling ruins. Constant reminders of senseless mortality and the undeniable fact that while our technologies continue to advance at a terrifying rate—humans as a species have not achieved equal evolution of conscientiousness.
We’re still up to the same divide and destroy games as always, now scaled to unfathomable ends. Base primitive. Obsessing over ever-factioning differences rather than aspiring to cohesive progression. Riches, religions, regions, and races. Killing in the name of…
Bastogne, Belgium and the 80th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge. A giant war museum, an impressive collection of still-running WWII military vehicles on parade, and hundreds of French speaking ‘soldiers’ immersed in the role playing. What was once a historic event temporarily changing the course of civilization is now an annual party, the ironies lost in the revelry. Difficult to discern cautionary tale from glorification of never ending atrocities.
Painted portions of the Berlin Wall on display. Build it up. Burn it down. Repeat.
I was partially correct. There is all of that here in Europe. The constant visual reminders of past turned future. Of one’s insufficient influence in a greater collective destiny. People and more people and remnants of a lot of people before us. Now dead. Lots of them murdered by some other ones.
But, inevitably, there is a lot more to experience as well. There is beauty in the grandeur of synergy focused on positive pursuits. There is magic in those German Christmas markets held as they have been for generations amidst the bases of those old buildings. Humans at their finest. And there is beauty in the small things. The remnants of individual efforts to contribute to the cause. Art for art’s sake. Small expressions of the divine in the most unlikely of places. Door knockers, hand-carved carousels, the lay of stones in a sidewalk…
Christmas in Trier, Germany’s oldest cityPorta NigraSt. Peter’s Cathedral, Trier
And, thankfully, there are pockets of wild places as well, or at least immediate ways to experience nature on a daily basis. Woods and hills and well-worn paths weaving from one small society to the next. Paths that may well have been walked for centuries. Concavities in old stone stairways. And that’s kind of cool for sure.
There’s been a lot of exploring from the doorstep. Bike rides to an old abbey, hikes to a couple castles, loops upon loops and each trip only turning up more options for future excursions. Spazieren gehen. Mein neues lieblingsding.
Himmerod AbbeyManderscheid Castles and the walk there from the front door.Geierlay Suspension BridgeAround Burg Ramstein on old Roman footpaths.
Life moves on. Fortune, circumstance, and opportunity find your humble narrator residing in Deutschland for the foreseeable future. A scenario not previously imagined or directly desired, but accepted openly when presented. I was out of Arizona in late October and have been in Germany for a month-and-a-half. Details aside, I’m settling in and still trying to find semblance of schedule and intent.
Memories of SE AZ. Disappearing water, 100° fall hikes, ‘Patriotic’ Dystopia.
The last weeks in Arizona were chaotic and marked by constant movement. Also, still infernally hot. It was a final scrape down the Gila River, a visit with family, time with my sweetheart, packing and shipping, shedding of excess, goodbyes at work, and busy, busy. The days went by way too fast, but it was better to have lived them than missed them. The first weeks here have passed in equally rapid succession. Hard to keep it all straight. Hoping that once the work is figured out and major tasks completed there might be some time to breathe deep and take a look around.
There hasn’t been much time to explore or enjoy, though snapshot experiences provide inspiration for potential. I spent one weekend riding big loops on endless farm roads through rolling hills from one village to the next, and another in Dresden for my first Christmas market, reportedly the originator of all. Scattered memories and a few photos:
Too many towns around here to keep track of. Bitburg and Wittlich the bigger ones.New to me Euro hoopty. Czech built VW—Skoda Fabia.Meissen Porcelain Factory. Surprisingly interesting hours spent.
Dresden
Christmas Markets = Street food, Glüwein galore, happy crowds, and communal holiday cheer in abundance. Watchful apes and creepy cupids.Kiss me you big baby!FrauenkircheNighttime on the Elbe.
Like Water 