In which there is weather on the window.

Hamburg is still waiting for summer.

In which a very long train ride ends at a sparkly castle (Austria part I).

In the last days of May, work got harder as my brain got more and more preoccupied with an upcoming two weeks in Austria. I swear someone kept setting the clock back on my computer on the Friday before departure, but the time finally came to activate my out-of-office auto-reply, which was very formal and polite despite my departing grin and feeling of SEE YA, SUCKERS!

Saturday was soon to follow and in rolled the train to take Freund and I south for eight+ hours. There were delays -- several -- but we made it to Munich and then on to Salzburg in good health and good enough spirits. The weather was lovely for training and emphasized the picturesqueness of the German countryside as we toodled along.

I made a short trip to Salzburg by myself a few years ago and remember it very fondly as a magical place under freshly fallen snow, especially when walking above it through a forest of silver beeches, quiet and alone but for the joyful noise of all the Sunday bells ringing up from the steeples below. This visit would be shorter still, just one evening, and without all the fluffy stuff.

After pulling into the Hauptbahnhof, we made our way to the hotel to drop things off before heading out again. Freund had never been there and was curious to see what all the fuss was about after putting up with all my memory gush.

Entering the Mirabell Gardens had me missing a certain Julie Andrews-loving friend of mine pretty immediately. (Maybe her father can forward this post in her direction...) And of course, the castle looked grand from all angles.

In fact, it looked so grand that we decided to have a look at it up close, partly for the view and partly for the exercise after sitting on a train all day. (Also: Hey legs, see those mountains over there? They're about to get a lot bigger!)

To my delight, all were free to wander around inside the old fortress at will, provided you made it up the steep and winding slopes (or paid for the cable railway shortcut). Pretty empty at the end of the day and with storm clouds on the horizon.

On the way back down and through the Old Town, I went searching for someone I met on my last visit to the salty castle -- an elegant girl with a snowy hat and muff. And I found her! Though as her tombstone was illegible, I will continue to think of her sweetly, and a little sadly, as "the girl with the muff".

Rain accompanied us back to the hotel after a very cheesy dinner and appley strudel. It helped make for a good sleep before the real adventure began.

In which there is a happy thing on the way to the library.

In which we send postcards from the outskirts.

We'll head out of town for spring photodump part II. Particularly beautiful weekends and holidays over the past month were devoted to getting nature fixes on the outskirts of Hamburg and beyond. I was delighted to discover new wandering destinations that were easily accessible by train, such as the Sachenwald (a walk that included horses and very, very little ponies) and the Harburger Berge, a mountain-inspired landscape with peaks reaching 150 meters (I type with a chuckle while on vacation in Austria, surrounded by snowy peaks -- more on that later)! Everywhere the sun shining through the brand new, electric leafings was really too delicious.

Another day ended up in the Altes Land, a fruit-growing region south of the Elbe accessible by ferry and bus for those of us without cars. Passing massive cruise ships on a little ferry made for quite an experience in insignificance, at least as far as size is concerned.

The bloomings were booming in the old country, with many farmers at work and plenty of tourists making their way to the little villages for spring festivals (including marching bands and flower-intertwined tractors galore).

 

 

A quaint Bauernhof café was open for the festivities and quite happy and able in their supplying of cake and apple-beverage.

 

We arrived in one little town just in time to hear the marching band play "Louie, Louie", which, ohhh ohh, threw me with quite a jerk of nostalgia back to my own pep band days. 

A last trip was to a village on the Baltic Sea for a rehearsal weekend/retreat with my choir. The singing was grand, and the sea both lovely and wild. One day the wind was so strong my kite-flying chorister companions ended up on their behinds in the sand, trying not to get blown away. A little farther down the beach, however, the kite surfers flocked like birds. As for the reason behind a particular flag flying high on a neighborhood pole, I remain clueless, eyebrows raised.

 

In which we opt for a Hamburg springtime photodump.

Spring arrived in Hamburg with great bouts of sunshine and bluster. Humid afternoons heavy with the scent of tree bloomings turn to tumultuous churnings in the heavens, the weather solidly predictable in its unpredictability. Even at the end of May, people still comment on what a long April it’s been, chuckle chuckle. Dragging out eight hours in front of two computer screens five days a week has left me feeling less and less inclined to look at my laptop in my free time, thus resulting in the most recent blog hiatus. Instead, my weekends have mostly been devoted baking and to hamburging, i.e. getting to know this city better than ever, picnic packed and eyes at the ready. This includes general city wanderings as well as regional exploring, and in this post I’ll stick closer to home.   

As weather is always a reliable conversation starter (see above), we’ll start the photo dump there. Once upon a time, there was a pretty nifty bit of starry playtime involving the moon blocking 80% of the sun up in these northern parts. Eclipse-viewing circumstances were not ideal at first, being far too sunny. The effect was bizarre, as there were still sun and shadows as per usual, but the world was darker in exactly the same way as when you’re looking at it through sunglasses. A bit terrified of going blind if I even squinted thataway, I pointed my camera in its general direction and said GO! That shot looked like pretty ordinary sun picture, except for a line across the celestial body indicating that something was amiss. Nine minutes later however, clouds had come to check on the situation and then hey! It’s the moon! I mean, the sun! A sky sickle! 

And following: the aforementioned humid afternoons and tumultuous churnings, mega storms a-brewing.

Still at the kitchen window: once upon at time the line at the post office below got so long that 22 people were waiting outside!

While inside, there was caramelized upside-down orange ricotta cake and weeks worth of granola bakings, such as tasty chocolate almond cranberry and scrumptious cardamom pistachio apricot pumpkin seed adjective adjective adjective. Yummings and crunching in the Baumhaus!

 Once outside the house, we could go for a little stroll in our favorite park…

…or simply stroll to the S-Bahn with Jules as she discovers flowers and we oohh and aaw and teehee over all the bunnies and fluffy little offspring we see along the way.

From the S-Bahn we could cross the Elbe and go for a springy jaunt around Wilhelmsburg and Veddel, checking out the algae-walled passive house and the algae-covered boat houses. 

Scooting back across the Elbe, we arrive at the harbor just in time for the sun to say goodnight.

When it comes back again, we could go explore previously unknown parts of the city and take a couple snapshots while we're at it.

Every Saturday we (or we could switch back to first person now) I go to this market with a friend for all our (my) tasty local produce!

And this? This is just all the time. Typisch Hamburg.