Tag: Germany
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TWELVE STATIONS OF THE CROSS. ONE SUNDAY MORNING.
Last Autumn, Padma and I hiked atop one of the Seven Hills at Petersberg on the right bank of the Rhine. We saw a couple stations of the cross and I wondered if there might be others. I later discovered on Wikipedia that the Petersberger Bittweg trail begins at the bottom of the hill and has 12 stations of the cross which were constructed in the 17th and 18th century. But Wikipedia only had photos of nine stations. So I made it my mission to one day photograph them all. Today…
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A STUMBLE WITH A VIEW
Padma and I went out for a late afternoon walk yesterday in the forest near our home. I was focusing on some distant views of Oberwinter with its Rhine backdrop and managed to get my feet tangled in the thick leaf litter. Clumsy as I am I took a roll and ended up on my back. Rather than jumping to my feet I lay there for a moment. Padma showed concern and thought I had hurt myself. But instead I was mesmerised by a tangle of trees looming over me –…
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BACHARACH
Every night before retiring, I see a book sitting next to my bed. A book I use frequently to dream about my next adventure: the Lonely Planet Guide to Germany. The cover shows a little village with a dominant church on a river. After some map gazing I discovered the cover pic was taken just an hour or so south of us on the Rhine. The sun made a rare appearance this weekend and despite the frosty conditions, Padma and I drove to Bacharach to check it out. It was too…
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THE MOSELLE IN ITS AUTUMN SPLENDOUR
The leaves are still just barely clinging to the trees so Padma and I took a Sunday drive to get a last chance to see some autumn splendour. We drove an hour to the south of our home in Oberwinter to the village of Alken on the Moselle River. We parked along the river and hiked up through some remarkably steep Riesling vineyards to Thurant Castle where we got panoramic views both upstream and downstream. Clouds dulled the autumn palette but for one brief moment the sun did try to make…
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INTO THE LAND OF MY GERMAN ANCESTORS
I had visited Germany on numerous occasions prior to living here. And every time I visited I felt an odd sense of belonging. As long as I didn’t open my mouth to speak, I even felt German. I felt comfortable and at home. And in a way, I was indeed home. Half of me is German. My father is half German and my mother is half German. For 15 years, I have been trying to piece together the jigsaw puzzle that constitutes how I came to be. While researching my father’s…
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THE WALK HOME
My heart really races each time I come home from work. THUMP. THUMP. THUMP. It’s not entirely because I know my sweetheart is awaiting me. I get a pretty good workout on my way home. I get off the train at Oberwinter and immediately get on a pathway to climb home to ‘Oberwinter Heights’. In a bit less than 300 metres I climb 66 metres. It is a super steep climb. I just put my head down and take a step at a time. I like to pretend I’m slowly and…
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AN AUSSIE MEAT PIE TO SAY THANKS
I’ve been waiting 21 years to say ‘thank you’ to former Australian Deputy Prime Minister Tim Fischer. Today I got that chance and bought him an Aussie meat pie to show my gratitude. In 1996, Australian Prime Minister John Howard and his deputy Tim Fischer acted swiftly and decisively to launch a gun buyback program. Twelve days before they launched the National Firearms Agreement and Buyback Program, Martin Bryant unpacked an arsenal of automatic weapons at the historic site of Port Arthur and massacred 35 people. It wasn’t a popular move…
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THE WINE WALK
In December of 2013, Padma and I were eating snapper at the Sydney Fish Market while our mate, John Peacock, was going on and on and on and on about the fabulous wine walks which our mutual friends Marlene and Juergen Diekmann organised in the Rhinelands near Bonn. They sounded like fun but I never thought we’d ever be able to attend one. Fast forward to September 2017 and Padma and I joined the Diekmanns and a dozen other colleagues for a walk on the Rotweinwanderweg, the fabled Red Wine Trail…
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THE BIKE RIDE TO WORK
I can’t wait to get up and go to work each day. I’ve clocked in three weeks on the new job and each morning and afternoon a most pleasant journey awaits me. My (temporary) furnished apartment came equipped with a bike. I restored some life to it as I needed a primary form of transport. It turns out the quickest way to get to work is by pedalling. In the morning I push the bike to the east and pedal for about three minutes through some quiet back streets and alleys…
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