A series of pictures

I have already mentioned that I am lucky enough to count a walk in the forest as part of my schedule several times a week. What I may not have mentioned is that my walk usually takes me past a little pond, which at this point in time is full of water lilies (and frogs, apparently!). I have been taking pleasure in photographing it, particularly in the different weather we have had- it's quite different with the sun behind it, or mist swirling through the trees. So, here are a few samples!

We had a few really gorgeously sunny days, which have some wonderful effects in the forest! I was quite distracted while out for a cycle ride by staring at the evening sunlight filtering through the trees, quite a striking image I am still holding in my mind, but unfortunately not one I had a camera handy for.

It hasn't all been sunshine though, and one rather atmospheric day I was out it was rather misty- also a rather memorable sight! The mist swirling through the tree tops and settling down between the long trunks, over the mossy logs was quite lovely. As were the minuscule frogs hopping about all over the path- you've already seen pictures of those!

It hasn't all been sunshine though, and one rather atmospheric day I was out it was rather misty- also a rather memorable sight! The mist swirling through the tree tops and settling down between the long trunks, over the mossy logs was quite lovely. As were the minuscule frogs hopping about all over the path- you've already seen pictures of those! I took the picture on the left on my way out for a walk, and the one on the right on my way back, when the sun was just trying to break through the mist, although that isn't so clear in these pictures unfortunately.

 

The other two pictures here are from some more of the lovely weather we have had- just sunshine and loveliness! I really like the way everything reflects so much on the pond, broken up by the water lilies and debris floating in the water.

Okay folks, one of the things Blogger doesn't do so well is formatting with pictures, and I just can't be bothered trying to make it co-operate any more! Hope it's not too much of a mess :-/

In the forest...

We are on the edge of a forest and, fortunately for me, my job requires adventures (or at least a stroll) in the woods each day, which is quite interesting. It's a big forest I gather, but criss-crossed with trails and even roads in places. Going for a stroll in the morning is just fine, but I must confess that I would find it outright creepy in the twilight. I'm constantly looking around for the Big Bad Wolf, or maybe a bear. I am assured the most dangerous thing in there is the mosquitoes, but it's still creepy, all those tall trees and quietness. However, aside from the non-existent baddies I keep looking for, there are some neat non-evil things too.

Spot the frogs!!! I promise there is one in each picture, and they're hiding in plain sight! They're tiny little things, the size of a fingernail. I thought they were beetles for a while, till I decided the movements were a bit too odd, and actually bent down to examine them, and was quite captivated by them.

Hint: this one has really good cammo!

Hint: he's making a get-away from the camera!

You really can't miss this one!

And yesterday, to spice things up a bit, I encountered something I haven't seen before- a wild deer. I know this isn't the best picture, I had to zoom a lot so I didn't scare it off, but it's right there under the tree!

As you can see, I've been enjoying the great outdoors here... to be honest there isn't much else to do. Luckily I do actually like nature, and appreciate little froggies hopping across the path, and a glimpse of a wild deer, or I might actually go crazy! This is the closest I've been to living in the country since I was a child. Still, Frankfurt is a decently sized city and very well connected with the third busiest airport in Europe and of course the trains. Perhaps I can even find an English cinema there...

The Cycling Autobahn

Well, last I posted was from Isola d'Elba, that gorgeous island in the Mediterranean that I so love. I have since, and somewhat unexpectedly, spent a few weeks in Britain, where I caught up with boring paper work, did a few assignments for a short course I did, and bought a bike. However I have since had to leave the bike in Britain, but for all the right reasons. There was a bike here waiting for me when I arrived! Well, almost anyway. It's a little on the big side, which makes things interesting when I have to stop and wait for traffic (getting on/off is difficult when you can't reach the ground!) but that's okay. It's a bike, and it's here. And this place is amazing for cycling!

Where I am living for now is sorta out in the sticks, but not completely. And certainly not if you're on a bike.

The front of the sign, facing to Gelnhausen

This is where our local trail meets up with the Cycling Autobahn (I happen to think that simile is awesome, I've totally adopted it!), called the R3, which goes from Fulda to somewhere the other side of Frankfurt, totally 228km which you have to grant is a pretty damn long cycle ride!

So on Sunday I took myself to Wachtersbach (see back of sign), a total of 5.9km according to these signs. Wachtersbach itself was, as promised, not particularly exciting, so I just had some sorbet (it was really hot, it has been really hot a lot actually) and set off again, this time for Gelnhausen, 9.5km away.

At this point, I have to confess, it was not smooth sailing, nor was it particularly enjoyable, and I was quite concerned about getting back because I could tell that the path was more or less flat. There was strong headwind which made me feel every single kilo of what is a rather hefty bike (and the rider is none too light either!), not to mention the somewhat too soft tyre pressure (to be fixed as soon as my pump arrives!). Luckily, there was an ever-present back-up plan, in the form of good-old fashioned train. Germany has particularly nice ones, and on time to boot.

The back of the sign, facing to Wachtersbach

There is just one slight, small flaw with the train back-up plan, which is that Wachtersbach is actually our nearest station, so it's still 6km home from the train station! There are buses between Wachtersbach and Bad Orb, timed to meet the trains (Oh, German efficiency!!!) but I doubt you can get a bike on them. Thus, at points during my trip to Gelnhausen, I was really dreading the trip home. Even with the train I would still need to cycle another 6km, with the last bit uphill too.

Turns out that headwind had a lot to answer for. Coming home was a breeze. Sure it took an hour, but actually it only took an hour, and it wasn't a hard hour either.

I am really, really liking the cycle networks here. I was going to go out and ride this evening, but I was put off by the world's most epic thunderstorm, it was better even than the incredible ones Phuket had to offer when I was there. I love a good thunderstorm, and this was the finest, and possibly closest, I've ever had the fortune to watch, but it was accompanied by a lot of rain. I'm not keen on that horrible warm, sweaty, sticky dampness that comes from exercising in the rain. In fact I detest it. Thus I skipped a ride this evening, although I might do something else instead.

Anyhow, back to the Cycling Autobahn. If you have a separate road for bikes, you have separate bridges. Obviously. It has a ramp so that you can cycle right on up, over, and back down again without getting off. Nifty! Other good features of the Cycling Autobahn aside from the obvious lack of people in cars trying to run you over, are the lack of traffic lights, which, trust me, is a big deal when you can't reach the ground from your seat. Another good feature is the signposts. The ones in these pictures here are them. They're on the Cycling Autobahn. For cyclists. They don't tell us boring stuff like how far to the next motorway entry, or that you can't park a car here. They just tell you how far it is to whatever is in that direction. Brilliantly simple! (I may have learned to hate road signs in Britain while learning to drive. Far too many of them, far too many).

Nifty cycle bridge on the Cycling Autobahn (R3), and also my bike. 

That is my experience of the Cycling Autobahn so far, all 30km that I've explored. Well, technically only about 26km of it was even part of the R3, the route down to it from Bad Orb followed a dinky little train line (I believe an actual, real train line used to run there some time ago) which I think has tourist trains every now and again, or something. It was pretty cool anyway, and I definitely have a few more adventures planned for my lovely red bike on the Cycling Autobahn.

'Occasional'

 was my adjective of choice regarding the jellyfish in my lovely little cove. It appears the one I saw was simply the first to shore of a swarm, blown in by the wind. I really couldn't have picked a more inaccurate adjective had I tried! Alas the beaches this side of the island are now fundamentally unsuitable for swimming. They're not dangerous jellyfish, in that they aren't so poisonous that you're likely to die from a sting, but they do sting. Well, that is a bit presumptuous of me, but given even the children wouldn't go in the water, instead preferring to snag jellys with sticks from the rocks, I infer they aren't great company up close.

I am not without things to do here though. Aside from a few errands that I have to run, I would also like to go to some other places on the island, and see what there is to see. I've already been to most of them last year, but I had only an hour or two in Porto Azzuro and Capoliveri, both of which I recall being quite striking and beautiful. I could also go to Portoferrario, which is significantly bigger than any of the other towns on the island, where I might be able to get a couple of things I've been wanting to get my hands on, but are not available in Rio Marina (really out-there stuff like coconut oil and cranberry juice). Doing so would mean making use of the uh, extensive and regular bus services Elba has to offer, which could be interesting. I have obtained a bus timetable from the tourist info office in Rio Marina, so it is within the realms of possibility.

Should the jellyfish still be bothersome after that, then I also have my camera, and an island full of beautiful just waiting for me. Potentially that could keep me entertained for quite an extensive period, although it would be in competition with lazing about reading, and half-hearted attempts at extending my non-existent Italian.

And there's still the matter of the bells to figure out, which I revise my opinion on about a dozen times a day.

A slightly more reality-based note, for any of you who still read this to see what I'm doing with my life (other than lazing about on some island or another).

I've left my old job based in London, and have since accepted a temp contract in Germany, starting the middle of July. I've been doing all sorts of odd bits and pieces work-wise, updating my first aid cert, doing a short course, interviews here and there, and my driving licence. I've decided to move towards a free-lance sort of version of my current job, taking temp contract here and there, working with newborns. It's more flexible and, to me, a bit more interesting. It is self-employed, which ought to be an interesting aspect (at least for a while), with all of the obvious upsides as well as the various downsides.

So, when am I coming home? Well, how long is a piece of string really. It is a matter of timing with work and finances now. Permanent plans are still something I don't really deal in, (case in point: just ditched a stable(ish) job for self-employed freelance work, the very definition of unstable employment), but one of the up-sides of this new work is that I have control of my own timetable, so I can book in holidays when they suit. Watch this space.

Italian adventures

I could happily live in Italy. It's just that little bit random and haphazard, nothing quite makes sense, but it's okay, because nobody expects it to, it just is. Everything just is. It's quite wonderful.

I'm back on Elba, the beautiful island I discovered last year, although this time I am on a different part, Rio Marina, on the Eastern side of the island, facing towards the mainland. It's a nice little town, not much more than a village really, although it does have a port where the ferry from Piombino calls several times per day. The houses are set on the hillsides, sloping steeply down towards the port where the shops and restaurants are concentrated. There is just one small supermarket, a handful of panetterias and a few restaurants. I suspect the restaurants, gelaterias and coffee bars are somewhat less numerous in the off season, now it feels like a town just waking up for the summer, like a household of people getting ready for work and school.

I love the sleepy feel of The Rock, it may be a gorgeous island in the Mediterranean, relying largely on tourism, but it doesn't have the glamour of Sardinia, it doesn't take itself too seriously. It's laid back and relaxed, more than a little bit sleepy, and it feels precisely like what it is; a large rock, isolated from the mainland by a few kilometres of beautiful clear blue water. My perception of time here is utterly lost, I haven't the faintest idea what day it is, and only due to the particularly enthusiastic symphony of bells just passed am I aware that it is around midday. The bells are a particular peculiarity which will leave me forever checking my watch for the time! From where we are on the hill, we can hear two bells. There is the simple chiming of the clocktower above the beach, which marks out the quarter, half and three-quarter hours by 1,2 or 3 chimes, and on the hour it strikes out how many hours. The other clock, which I am yet to discover the location of, but I believe to be inland somewhere, is a little more comprehensive. It strikes out the hour in a nice, deep tone, followed by the 1, 2 or 3 strikes for the quarters past the hour in a slightly higher pitch, and provides a definitive notification of midday. There are two complicating factors to this system of telling the time. The first is that I rarely observe when the bells start, and so cannot count the chimes accurately, meaning I often get the hour wrong (although I usually manage to catch up in time to find out how much past the hour it is). The second complication lies not with my ability, but with the bells. The deeper, inland bell is quite accurate, it marks the hour right on the hour, within a few seconds of my watch and phone. The belltower by the beach, however, seems to struggle. I believe that it simply loses time, because today it seems to be almost accurate, while the last few days I had observed a discrepancy between the two clocks of almost five minutes. A final confusing factor, which I have just observed, is that they do not both always mark the quarter hours. The 12.15pm bell was simply two chimes, and just now (12.26pm) there was one solitary chime, but I could not have said for certain which tower it was. I should find out soon, because hopefully the second will chime properly.

Luckily there is no fear of me being late to anything here, for there is nothing to be on time for! However it is quite fascinating observing the bells.

Hmm. Perhaps the inland bell only chimes the hour and half hour, but not the quarter hour. It was perfectly punctual for that time.

Other than observing the bell-ringing & timekeeping, I have also been enjoying the beaches. Rio Marina itself has two small beaches either side of the port, neither of which I could really recommend, although one of them does have a set of fresh-water showers, which I thoroughly approve of. To compensate for the small, tourist-filled shores by the sea in Rio Marina, there is a simply stunning little beach nearby, only ten minutes walk from the beach with showers. It is a lovely little cove, quite enclosed, with steep rocky sides coming down to it. The beach is pebbles, spreading outwards to the sea and becoming larger smooth, round stones. The water is absolutely crystal-clear, with little fishes swimming around, a few sea-urchins to make sure you don't put your feet down, and the very occasional colourful jellyfish to keep you in touch with reality. It is, without a doubt, the nicest beach I have found outside of New Zealand. It doesn't have have waves, that is true, but for a rocky beach that is a good thing. It is just beautiful. Hopefully I can rouse myself to taking pictures one of these days...

Moving on...

Chamonix was my last post... oops! Since then I've been to St Bathelemy, New York and California, and back to London. And I am deep in planning for my next adventure, to Italy again, via Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany (or so the plan goes anyway). In brief here are my thoughts on...

St Barthelemy- The colonial era isn't over after all. The French still own islands in the Caribbean, using the Euro and everything. It was, in essence, a playground for the rich and famous. Private jets, convertibles and yachts abound. Not really my cup of tea, but the wildlife was cool- giant hermit crab (really, the shell it was in was the size of a big coffee mug. That just ain't right for a hermit crab.) and turtles randomly coming to chill out in the garden, listening to the kids read. And no horrible biting, stinging, nasty things, although I wouldn't want to mess with the sea urchins!

New York- New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made of... yep, it was pretty much everything it promised to be. Glitz, glamour and sky-scrapers. I quite liked it actually. It was pretty much exactly what I expected, we stayed on the 40th floor of a hotel overlooking Central Park and I got to walk down 5th Avenue, marvelling at how cities have these streets which are household names the world over, and yet are practically identical. 5th Avenue = Oxford St = Champs de Elysee = via Montenapoleone and so on. Still, it was fun to see. Would have liked a night to explore the night life and have some fun.

California- it must have the best climate in the whole world. Cool nights, sunny days, every day. Just lovely. Pity it's so... American. Drive to the shopping mall to buy milk... walk? On what, the road? Sigh. Lovely place, if it were just less American.

And now, to work. But not for much longer. The next few weeks will be my last in London, and they're gonna be busy, so I will be back on here maybe from Italy for all I know!

Chamonix Mont Blanc

Well it must be said, mountains really just don't do it for me. Rumour has it this is one of the most glamorous skiing spots in Europe, but I just want to get back to London. I'm sunburned, my lips are dry, my ears hurt from the altitude and the French/Alpine food makes me ill. It would probably be better if I wasn't vegetarian, wasn't so sensitive to the sun and the air pressure, and was a skier. But I am none of these things and so far I prefer the beauty of the snowy mountains through the glass door while I sit in front of the toasty fire with a hot chocolate (full of milk and cream and other Sam-poisons).

I can be interested in many different things while travelling- if it's got swimming I'm keen, I like food, culture and history are interesting, wildlife, listening to the language, there are lots of things. But, like Spain, this place seems to be full of British holiday makers, so all I hear is English, and everything is oriented for people hurtling down mountains in some way, shape or form, to the exclusion of anything else. And the French SUCK at accommodation. Vegan? Forget it. Vegetarian? No. Please? No. Are you serious? Let me ask the chef.... He refuse. FOR FUCKS SAKE!!! I'm not asking for anything more than a salad for goodness sake. Yes, a salad WITHOUT meat in it. Who on earth would want that? *grumble grumble* stupid French food. *vomit*

I might oblige you with pictures of the stunning natural beauty if I manage to get batteries for my camera tomorrow, but currently I am unable to perform such miracles, and I have little faith in the ability of anybody in this place to manage something as complicated as telling me where I can get more AA batteries. It's quite an ask.

EDIT:
The weather closed in today, so picture opportunities were not so good, and I didn't manage to get any batteries for my camera, so these are just what I managed on my phone before we left.

At least I think that is Mont Blanc, but I'm not really so good on the directions. It's the biggest, nearest looking one, so I assume it is. 

It was peaking through the snow clouds... geddit? *ducks to avoid projectiles*

Time to pack, London tomorrow!