Monday, June 7, 2010

The art of the WANDERUNG! / Hiking in Germany


Germans are people that love to walk. Old Germans, young Germans.....you name the age....they love to go on hikes.  Mac and I decided to go off on a picnic wanderung last Saturday.

Germans plan walking trails into their landscape. 
We started in the farming meadows near our house.

Trails are usually very well marked.

We met friendly horseback riders who cheerfully asked us what village they were in.


We headed past the farms and into the forest,


past the hunters huts.

Mac you remind me of a song. The Happy Wanderer.
You know the song.  We've all sung it.  Did you know that it was an orginal composition by Friedrich-Wilhelm Möller written after World War II?  It was orginally titled in German
 Mein Vater war ein Wandersmann.  (My Father was a Wanderer) This is the version we sing with our German friends when we hike.
Val-deri, Val-dera!

We hiked through more fragrant, shady woods,

and back into the meadows to find this perfect picnic spot. 

 It was in an orchard which, had a lovely carpet of wildflowers.


Jaxson took a look around and agreed it was the perfect place to picnic.


We set out our picnic.  Yes, that is a candle......Mac and I have grown accustomed to being decadent on our picnics. Our Jaxson is polite, he never takes food unless it's offered.

We settled back and watched the airplanes.  Check on this picture to enlarge it if you can't see the planes.

We packed up to go home through the forest by the wild columbine.
I think this is Aquilegia vulgaris, but someone correct me if I am wrong, please.

As we headed back home we past the Grundstücks.  This is just a bit different than what the British call allotments.  In Britain, you can rent an allotment from your town to grow vegetables and flowers.
They are usually found on the outskirts of the village.

This differs in Germany as you can often buy a piece of land and do what you will with it.
These people have turned theirs into a lovely area to sit, relax and enjoy nature.

This family has a playground for the kids as well as a vegetable patch.


This family has a firepit where they can sit under the stars and have fun with their friends.


Whatever they choose to do with these plots, they are well maintained and dearly loved by their owners.


We enjoyed our German wunderung and highly recommend trying one yourself!


Mac always gives exercise a thumbs up.
It pays to be healthy!
If you want to learn more about it
go to
www.wandern.de - www.bergwandern.com - http://www.individualwanderungen.de/
I won't be blogging on a regular basis in the next two weeks as I am off to my home state of Maine.
Be safe and happy and I'll blog to you when I get back.

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