Rhein - Tumblr Posts
the ghost of a party - II
shortly before crossing the Rhein at Rhinau
I jumped on a high speed train - I
formidable randomness XLVII
when the night falls
a friend well met
summer randomness I
unconvetional parking
So let’s work backwards from here.Connecting to what I was saying earlier, I was in Cologne (obviously) on a trip tying in to those musical endeavours I occasionally yap about. I was hoping to see the cathedral hiding into more of a mist. In order to avoid the unnerving buzz of the christmas markets I turned towards the Rhine and was directly happy to not have been met by the aforementioned mist. Some yin and yang bullshit right there in that story. I’m still not happy about certain artefacts of digital photography that are visible in this shot but I tried to hide them as much as my editing skills will allow, thus making for a look more analogous to my analogue shots... I hope
We had the most opulent fogs last Sunday.
scenes from a quarantine
---
“But whether we want to take the challenge or not, whether we seek the truth or take refuge in illusion, our self-(mis)understandings shape what we feel. This is the sense in which man is a self-interpreting animal.”
Charles Taylor - Self-Interpreting Animals
pandemic restrictions got lifted some weeks back ... celebrating being allowed outside at night again
On the road again. And with a practically new phone! Due to the delay we've skipped the walk from Bremen to Köln, and will (re)start in Köln on the Rheinsteig. I've been told it should be very beautiful. So get ready for pictures of flowers, grass, trees and the Rhein river the next couple of days! We've hitchhiked from Denmark to Hamburg and then taken the train to Köln from there (because I got tired of waiting). Now we're staying at the apartment of some really cool couchsurfing hosts, who have an amazingly cute little dog who Chanel is constantly wanting to play with. He wants to play some of the time as well, luckily. The picture is from the train ride.
The first stage of the rheinsteig. It was dirt paths through beautiful scenery the entire day. And despite it being Easter, there weren't too many people on the roads. The only thing I hadn't anticipated was the constant change in elevation. Up one mountain, down into a valley, up another one, etc. All day. Forgive my ignorance but I thought we would be following the Rhein river, and rivers usually run pretty flat... Maybe it's a cultural thing. But at least I got a great workout out of it, and for the first time I have drained my two litre water bottle in one day. Chanel seemed to love the climbing as well, the little show-off. She would run up, look disapprovingly down at me (I walk really slowly uphill), wait a while, walk down a bit, and once I reached her, repeat the whole thing. It made me walk a little faster, and every time I reached the top I felt like I was going to die. Which is also how I decided on our resting place for tonight. It's in a little hut at the top of one of the mountains. I keep saying mountains. They're really only hills, but I'm from Denmark. In Denmark, our tallest "mountain" is lower than these hills. The pictures are of the area, and a selfie I took when we came across some church ruins. Yep, I use the word selfie now. Enjoy the sunset.
Second day on the Rheinsteig.
Again lots of mountains/hills. But I actually felt better than the day before, despite starting out with sore legs.
Also, so far, my new anti-blister system seems to be working. I slather the toes, arches, and heels of my feet in Vaseline, and then on with the hiking socks. Nothing more. I have a cousin who’s in the military, and he gave me this tip. I’m cautiously optimistic about this approach, praying it will last.
The pictures are: the moon of the first morning (enhanced), a super creepy old house we walked by, the trail, the view, Chanel, and myself.
In the second-lowest to the right Chanel is eating grass. She always does this. At first I thought it was because she had an upset stomach, but according to the internet, most dogs who eat grass just like the taste of it. She doesn’t throw up after eating it, and she also seems to look a while for the right grass to eat, smelling all the shrubs we walk past before deciding. She’s a little strange, but to be honest, this just makes her more lovable.
So lovable that I made her a little floral wreath. That’s the last picture. She didn’t seem to mind when I put it on her head, she just went back to sleep in the sun.