Kaunertal, July 2017

Hello! I've been lazy and distracted for a long time, and it probably won't change anytime soon, but I have still taken lots of photos of the places I've been, when I thought they were worth showing. The next ones in the queue are these, from my trip to the Kaunertal not this summer, but last summer, in July of 2017. I was there for a full ten days of teaching students of biology (in fact, of biology teaching) the basics of geology, along with two colleagues, one botanist, and one zoologist. I do this field trip every year and this "interdisciplinary excursion" as it is called is always a highlight of the summer, allowning me to dodge the heat in Vienna and experience nature with some expert company!

Last year I stayed in the valley after my duties were done and I was joined by my girlfriend. My goal was to introduce her to the joys and beauty of the mountains, which I mostly managed, although our first proper foray into the high mountains was met by an unforecast intense rainstorm, which, to be fair, is an important aspect of the alps, if not joyous or beautiful. Thankfully the sun came out in the afternoon and we were able to dry out before strolling down to our destination. Several days were somewhat cooler and cloudier than one might like for hiking, but this at least offered fantastic opportunities to photograph the threatening skies and clouds and take advantage of the many cable cars in the region to get some spectacular views in the gaps between the clouds.

There's a whole bunch of photographs over at the link to enjoy!

bis bald,

der Tom

Tourism & history in Düsseldorf and surroundings

Towards the end of May my parents made their first ever trip to Germany to visit me here in Düsseldorf. It was rather hot for these parts, but perhaps that is still better than constant rain! I'm not so sure, but then again, I live here all the time so I don't have to try and see everything at once in the rain...

It was a great opportunity to go and see attractions I might otherwise be too lazy to see, and some things I wouldn't even have thought to find out existed. One of the first places we visited was the village of Kaiserswerth, just North of Düsseldorf along the Rhine. This was the site of a large imperial palace/castle begun around 900 years ago on the orders of the Emperor Barbarossa, who also decreed that Kaiserswerth be a place where tolls were paid to pass along the river. For over 600 years this quiet seeming village was the point where taxes were taken from river traffic, and it was the site of a number of battles and seiges, culminating in the destruction of the castle and much of the town in the 18th century in wars with the french. It was a fascinating place, with so many old buildings with architecture very different from other places I have seen in Germany and much more like Holland. And the best thing of all, the ruined castle was entrely built out of thick polygonal basalt columns (think the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland), heaven for the geology-loving castle fan.

Another palace was also on the menu, Schloss Benrath, in the South of the city. The heat was really burning down, preventing a long and leisurely stroll in the gardens, but we were still able to appreciate them and the sweeping vistas surrounding the palace while paying a visit to the museum of gardening there and desperately seeking cool refreshments.

We also took several strolls around the city centre, taking in the excellent art galleries and magnificent architecture and comparing and contrasting it to that of the Austro-Hungarian empire experienced on previous trips. Away from the elegant and bustling Königsallee, the city on a bank holiday afternoon was a hive of occasionally rowdy, though not intimidating, activity, with plenty of stag and hen parties weaving their way through the streets. The feel was much more similar to the UK, lacking the simultaneous tourist crowds and refined-looking coffee houses of the first district of Vienna and seeming altogether more lived-in (though in reality, the first district has its inhabitants too). Of course we enjoyed the parks and I was able to locate my favourite inhabitants of the city centre, the ring necked parakeets, who were in full voice and poking their heads curiously out of their nests in tree holes. A worthy supporting role in the entertainments was played by the many ducks and geese competing for bread at the lakeshore beneath the parakeet-filled treetops.

On the Monday, traditionally the day of rest for galleries, we went for a walk along the leafy Neanderthal, blissfully shaded for the most part, though extremely hot in places, especially when we left the comfort of the trees to explore the beautiful old tile and half-timber buildings of historic Gruiten at the end of our walk.

Hopefully you enjoy these assorted snapshots from the weekend! Chosen not for their accurate representation of all that we did, merely for their presumed aesthetic value.

bis bald,

der Tom

Velbert-Nierenhof to Nordrath - early summer in NRW

Let's flash back to May, the end of the spring, or the start of the summer. Which one you choose probably depends on the weather as you step outside... Despite the relative flatness of the Düsseldorf area, I knew that my summer would feature a two week trip to the Alps for both teaching and recreatonal hiking. Given this, I thought it would be a good idea to do a small amount of training, however token.

I ended up finding a stretch of the Neanderlandsteig between Velbert-Nierenhof station and Nordrath that consisted of a gentle and continuous upwards climb from start to finish, gaining about 300m and ending with good views from the high ground north of Wuppertal. I started the hike on a glorious spring/summer day, with the temperature hovering around that just-right level it never manages at any other time of year. The sun was shining brightly but it was still just low enough in the sky to add some dramatic backlighting to the newly green leaves of the trees. I headed on slowly up and up on a constant gradient, surrounded by sparse beech forest, sandwiched between the brown leaves and the green canopy overhead.

The birds were singing loud and clear, and I spotted several interesting ones on my journey. After tracking down a blackcap singing in a dense bit of undergrowth over a stream, I entered the most beautiful part of the walk, an area of denser forest along the small stream, nestled in the fold between two hills. The mud around the stream was rich and dark, offering the perfect contrast to the glowing green of the backlit ferns standing in the babbling water.

Moving on after my lunch, things briefly became more exposed, offering wide views over glaring yellow swathes of oildseed rape set in acres of freshly ploughed fields, and then occasional fields of long, swaying grass, looking almost abstract if you zoomed in close. As the afternoon drew on, the sun continued to shine. By the time I reached my goal, the Kahlenberg (identical in name to the hill above Vienna), I had climbed enough to get a good view over the surrounding rolling landscape, passing as I did so many fields of livestock, orchards and people on large machines engaged in making hay. I very much enjoyed this hike in what felt like a somewhat quieter, more rural context! I hope you enjoy the photos, accessible by clicking this, same as always.

bis bald,

der Tom

A stroll in Surrey

I took advantage of the easter holiday period to indulge in a brief(ish) train journey under the sea to the United Kingdom. The good thing about Easter holidays is that they are also holidays in the UK, unlike all the religious holidays in Germany that aren't bank holidays on rainy Brexit island. That meant that I could hang out with my friends in the daytime, and not just lurk in a cafe waiting for them to get off work!

My friend Tim was good enough to find a hike route for us both, and by chance it was in the vicinity of Guildford, where yet more friends of mine reside. At a slightly too early hour we boarded the train in central London, on our way to rural Surrey, our excited canine companion Widget in tow.

Meeting up with our Guildford contingent we set out, Tim expertly deciphering the navigation notes and steering us through the countryside. I personally find it rather tricky to navigate using the supposedly simple verbal instructions that usually come in walking guides, so I was very grateful for his helmsmanship, which also left me free to catch up on the last 2 years (oof) with my other friend.

Though I've not hiked extensively around Düsseldorf, I've still seen enough of the countryside round the city to have a general feel for it, and it slightly surprised me to realise that rural Surrey is actually much more remote-seeming and 'countryside-ish' than Düsseldorf's environs. I never did any 'local' hiking while still living in London, so it totally passed me by that there are some very open spaces if you head out in the right direction. I guess even in Bucks where I come from it can feel very rural, but its hard to notice that sort of thing in the place you grew up.

We passed over a great variety of landscapes: bluebell-festooned woods, shady streams, rolling fields dotted with huge ancient oaks, sandy heaths, and, finally, the sweeping curves of the tamed river Wey heading into the centre of Guildford. Just the right length of hike to work up a good hunger for a riverside pub visit!

Please enjoy the small selection of photos from this most english of walks!

Bis bald,

der Tom

Trip to Aachen

The day after my Hilden-Gruiten hike, tired but still just about standing, I hopped on the Regionalexpress to the nearby (70km or 1h20ish by slow train) town of Aachen, to visit an old university friend who was serendipitously in town. Aachen is a town with a long and important history, the site of famous hot springs and baths since Roman times, and perhaps more significantly, the site of the court and last resting place of Emperor Charlemagne (Charles the Great).

It was a gorgeous spring day as we first took a stroll around the city centre. After looking at (and smelling the sulphur of) the baths, and getting some sausages (important german tourism), we visited the cathedral. The interior is very beautiful, and having partly been built before the medieval period, rather different from the gothic architecture of a lot of european cathedrals. The chapel is a round, tower-like building with columns of romanesque, round-topped windows and arches and faced in luxurious marble. Far back behind a cordon you could see the coffin of the emperor himself!

We then made a bus trip out of town to the nearby point where Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium meet. This triple point is situated on top of a 300m-ish high hill, making it the highest point in all of the Netherlands. There are a series of lookout towers and other entertainment facilities (like chips and icecream!), and some nice green grass to lie on and enjoy the weather. I was still flagging from my hike, so took the opportunity to lie around on the cool grass, checking out the 3 countries monument and the tower only after a good rest.

We returned to town as the day cooled off and the sun began to go down, the perfect weather to explore the other squares and vistas of the old town. I was somewhat taken aback at how *old* some of the buildings were. I was impressed by a shopfront of wonky stone from the 14th century, only to turn around and see the town hall, featuring a tower that was already built in the 8th century... After a little more time chilling in the quiet square in front of the town hall, it was time to go home for a good rest! Hope you enjoy my small selection of pictures from the former imperial capital!

Bis bald,

Der Tom

Hilden -> Ittertal -> Gruiten hike

After a long hiking hiatus in the latter part of the winter, by the beginning of April I was itching to get outside again and look at some actual nature. I spent a while poring over my map for a route that was near Duesseldorf but led me away from the many many satellite towns and villages. The countryside here is relatively built up (though not as densely tarmacked-over as, say, suburban London), but it is criss-crossed with shallow valleys that remain as thin seams of quiet between the towns. This is probably thanks to a combination of their dampness, awkward access, and obvious natural value.

I spotted a likely candidate, the Ittertal, and connected up a few other paths through greener bits of the map until I had a route of 16km or so. The start of my route was in Hilden, and there were a couple of rather suburban kilometres before it found its way into a quieter marsh and valley section. I say quieter, but the spring woodland birdsong really was very loud indeed! I passed via the marshy lowlands over a sandy heath of windblown glacial dust (much like those found in Austria!) and then back into another valley. All the while civilisation was just visible either side of the thin strip of nature I was travelling along, but there was plenty of wildlife, and I saw some beautiful nuthatches, a stunningly pink male bulfinch and an extremely boastful show-off of a wren, who was around the entire time I was having lunch...

It was at lunchtime I reached the Ittertal proper, one of those wooded valleys with low, damp meadows and frequent mills that seem very common to this area. As with the similar Neandertal, its natural state belies the fact that it was very industrially active in the 19th century. The mills in the Ittertal were used to produce sharp razor blades from the copious steel made in nearby factories, until the trade volume became too much for the inefficient little roads leading into and out of the valleys. Nowadays each mill is a smart black and white half timbered building with the obligatory green shutters and with flowers everywhere, looking like the valley had always been a peaceful nature reserve.

The route took me by some more modern additions to the valley like a water park and water treatment centre, definite indicators of the large population of this area, and then up a quiet tributary where the birdsong resumed in earnest. This didn't last long however as emerging from the idyllic valley (that could easily have been in the Wienerwald) it was back to crossing big roads and suburbia. The final part of the route took me across some sweeping industrial-size farm fields under the shadows of power lines, before I ended up at the station in Gruiten for my train home. All in all a great walk for the variety and abundance of wildlife I spotted, but interspersed with a lot of reminders of the busy nature of this urban area!

Hope you enjoy my gallery of a few of the natural delights to be found hiding between the villages and towns around Duesseldorf!

bis bald,

der Tom

Duesseldorf City Centre (and Wuppertal pictures)

 

As I think I mentioned before, I currently live in Duesseldorf. However, I really don't get into the centre of town much. However, the centre of Duesseldorf is very nice indeed! There's a lot of lovely old architecture in the very centre, but the best thing is the way it mixes with all the newer stuff into a varied landscape. There's a lot to discover wandering around, if you know where to look, and those discoveries make it a great place for an aimless walk. Obviously Vienna is more classically beautiful, but something that even the Viennese have to admit is that the 1st district is very architecturally monotonous in aggregate. Even if every house has a *different* crazy menagerie of over the top plaster gods and beasts, it's still all over the top mengeries, y'know?

Probably my favourite building is the Stahlhof, built in 1909. This monumental red sandstone building was basically built by the steel barons of Duesseldorf as a statement of their immense prestige and wealth. It's an incredible building and a big contrast with architecture from the 19th century. There's huge chiselled robot-like faces, steel workers holding each other up, massive sandstone cogs and chain motifs, odd diversions into egyptian and greek imagery, and many many sandstone reliefs of elements of the steelworkers trade.

My other favourite part of the centre of Duesseldorf has to be the parks, which, though small, are wonderfully woven in between all the other buildings. They are also full of parrots (OK, parakeets), which are my OTHER other favourite thing about Duesseldorf and really liven the place up! Nothing like standing next to the famous Art Academy of Duesseldorf, steeped in 19th century grandeur and with a very illustrious list of alumni, as a flight of screaming green parakeets goes overhead. 
Of course there is also the Rhine, with the narrow streets giving way to the huge open bend of the river, barges constantly passing in both directions and the TV tower lighting up on the horizon!

I have explored a lot of the centre by now, thanks to my numerous visitors here, but most of the time I have been exploring and not photographing... However, one cold and slightly snowy day in February, with the sun just occasionally peeking through the sky, I remembered to bring my camera as I took my friend Steve on the rounds of the city. Having eaten our fill at one of the amazing Japanese restaurants here (Duesseldorf has about 1% Japanese inhabitants!) we then hopped on the train to explore Wuppertal, the nearby city with a fantastic suspended railway system which is a must see if you are excited by hanging, swinging trains over rivers...

So anyway, hope you enjoy this small set of photos from our snowy day out! Click ze link for more...

as always, bis bald,

der Tom