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.