Eee missus! It feels like I've been away for ages!
We got back from Germany late on Sunday night and spent yesterday in a haze of shopping, unpacking and making up for lost time in the ear scratching department with the Grey Cat. We didn't have a super fantastic time as Mr G spent the first week with a cold, and the weather was very variable to say the least, but we did catch up with some friends and of course, it was nice to have a change of scenery.
So on the subject of scenery, here are just a few pictures of why I like Germany...
Perhaps this doesn't happen everywhere, but where we are urban grass verges often get planted up with perennials, even in the inner city, and to my mind look much nicer than endless grass (and are more cost effective, but that's just the landscape architect in me coming out!)...
And people respect these and do not trample through them as I cynically expect would happen if you tried this in the UK or Ireland.
Within a 10 minute walk of where we stay is the edge of a forest which stretches about 20km to the south east through the city suburbs. It is fabulous for biking and running (and of course, walking!), and can be quite knackering depending on which route you take, as some tracks are seriously steep!
There are the main routes through...
... and then lots of little side paths, some of which are marked as trim trail routes (yellow for easy, orange for medium, and red for oh-god-I-think-I'm-going-to-die)...
And every so often you get little information signs telling you about the plants and animals you might encounter...
(Sorry, this one is about Sycamores - I should have found something a bit more interesting, shouldn't I?).
We also went to the zoo but some how I had no interest in taking any photos, I think perhaps because photos of captive animals don't really do any justice to the animal itself.
So anyway, now we have to mentally stumble back to the real world, put away the suitcases and wake up at a sensible time for Mr G to go to work (poor him!).
Tomorrow I'll show you the results of my little German stash-building shopping spree.
Happy Tuesday!
