Querweg photo dump 6: Engen to Hegauhaus

Sunday May 22

The Querweg was to take us past four Burgruine: Hohenhewen, Hohenstoffeln, Mägdeberg, and Hohenkrähen.

Atop Hohenhewen, voracious mosquitoes found us.

This was as close as we got to the top, because the
clouds of mosquitoes were so overwhelming 

The mosquitoes sucked and sucked and sucked our blood. We didn't think to take a photo of the five that Elias managed to squash on my shoulder in one fell swoop, but we did capture a two-fer before continuing to flee down the hill.

We fled all the way down into Welschingen, where we took refuge in a Konditorei. Over nourishing Johannisbeerkuchen, we decided that despite all of our planning, sticking to the Querweg wasn't worth the blood loss. We slashed almost four wooded miles from our route to avoid the next mosquito-infested hill. We'd stick to open fields, and consider the the relatively short 9.25-mile day a well-earned Ruhe Tag.

Kuchen makes decision-making easier

We weren't sure why this was the only day of the entire trip when we encountered a bazillion hungry mosquitoes. Perhaps it was the humid weather and the total lack of a breeze. Perhaps mosquitoes consider the hikers in the Hegau tastier than those in the Schwarzwald. Buying bug spray was out of the question, because no bug-spray selling stores are open anywhere in all of Germany on Sundays. 

Thus we skipped Hohenstoffeln...

...and cut across a mostly tree-less hill instead...

 

Still up, up, up, just without the skeeters

...where the bugs hitching rides with us weren't the blood-sucking type.

Hohenstoffeln includes a complex of three castle ruins atop one hill; fans though we are of ruins, we had zero regrets about missing all three.

We eventually rejoined the Querweg as it approached the third set of ruins, Mägdeberg. By this time, the sun had come out, and the wind had picked up...

...and we decided we were so very close to the ruins that we should give it a go.

But as it turned out, the main entrance was closed due to poor trail conditions, and the only way up was a longer trail through (we assumed) mosquito infested woods, so we bailed on Mägdeberg too.

But the Hegau is rife with ruins, and our route took us past another complex, Hohenkrähen, that we learned about thanks to trail signs--it had completely escaped my route-planning radar. As it rose in the distance, Elias and I debated how easy or difficult it would be to raid a fortress built atop a volcanic tower.  

When we finally arrived near the base of the hill, we made the detour to climb up, and confirmed that raids must have been very very difficult.

Do goht's uffi / Da geht's hinauf / this way up

Look! The Bodensee! Still a ways away...

Trail signs at Hohenkrähen pointed us to our destination for the evening--Hegauhaus, a restaurant/hotel on the pleateau above Singen, a few miles before the next fortification, Hohentwiel. (When planning our trip, I figured Hohentwiel was grand enough that we should be well rested before ascending.) The trail signs also offered the first mention of Konstanz--the official end of the Querweg.

Hegauhaus offered some great views of the Bodensee.

The storm clouds parted briefly enough that we had a decent view of the Alps in the distance. This turned out to be the only decent view of the Alps on our entire 8-day hike.

Ruhe Tag, but ta-da anyway!

Changes

In some ways, not much has changed since last summer...

...although we saw many things change during this year's trip.

June 19 (note the green field, top right...

...which was incredibly radiantly green)

By July 4, the green rye had caught up with the neighboring golden field.

Probably the most significant change--the change that contributed to this being one of the most pleasant visits to Germany ever--was that there were almost no mosquitoes on Helen's hill. I know it sounds trivial, but for those of us with tasty blood and robust histamine responses, this was a big deal. I attribute the palpable change largely to an event a few years ago, when to everyone's great relief except Helen's alas, the most productive mosquito hatchery in all of Steinebach the large rustic wooden tub in which Helen hoarded standing water collected rainwater sprang a leak --Flying Spaghetti Monster be praised!-- and had to be removed. That magnificent stoke of luck loss continues to bear fruit at least had a silver lining. (For a reminder of what it used to be like, see the first ever post on this blog and subsequent mentions. And no, I did not drill any holes; the leak was entirely natural.)

Berlin photo dump, Days 2-4

DAY 2

On our second day in Berlin, Stefan headed off to the Technical University to give a talk, and Elias and I walked through the Tiergarten to the Siegessäule.

The bottom part of the column is covered with detailed mosaics.

It's 285 steps to the top (295 if you count the steps on the outside). Can you see Alexanderplatz in the distance?

We continued through the Tiergarten, pausing at a robust German playground (built for lots of climbing, jumping, and what Americans might call "death trap" opportunities). Then on to the Spree, past government buildings, all the way to the Hauptbahnhof. The Hauptbahnhof is an arabesque of glass and steel. Note the Ritter Sport chocolate add running up the staircase.

We took a train to the Dahlem-Dorf stop, with Hanna and two dogs expertly joining us en route on the train. We left Elias with friends and went for a walk in the Grunewald, a huge wooded park on the southwest side of Berlin. There, polite dogs walk off-leash alongside their look-alike humans. The dogs nod their heads to one another as they pass, with very little barking or disorderly conduct. Along the lake, they neatly line up to chase sticks. As this often involves running into the lake, most of the polite off-leash dogs are wet.

Candace belongs to Hanna's roommate.

Ninja belongs to Hanna.

These two dogs dressed very much like their human, except their human was not wet.

Hanna and I met up with Stefan for dinner at a vegetarian restaurant (Seerose) near the Südstern U-Bahn station. Afterward, we took a walk through the neighborhood, which provided fodder for blog posts on puns and Berlinerisch.

DAY 3

Stefan headed back to Steinebach in the morning. I took the subway to Friederichsstrasse. Heading to the Museumsinsel, I passed a store that had lined all of its windows with antique sewing machines. Unfortunately, the store was still closed, so I could only take a photo from the outside. Liebe Schwester, this photo is for you.

A view of the Pergamon Museum...

And the Dom...

I met up with Elias and friends at the Pergamon. Among other items, the Pergamon houses the ca. 575 BCE Ischtar Tor, the 8th gate to the inner city of Bablyon. It remains one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. I couldn't get very good photos of it, but the Wikipedia link has some good images.

Some of the pieces in the Pergamon are ~2600-2700 years old.

2600-year-old glaze. Looks like some test tiles I've seen...

If you ever feel sad, like you've got a hole in your heart, know that people and deities have been feeling the same way for millennia.

Pile o' tired boys.

Our group of seven (two moms, 5 kids) had lunch together near the New Synagogue.

After lunch, we all took a hot hot train to Potsdam. Have I mentioned yet that Europe was dealing with a crop-destroying heat wave while we were there? No AC, no ceiling fans, no window screens, and millions of gleeful mosquitoes. (The mosquitoes weren't bad in Berlin, but they were awful in Steinebach and environs). There's a killing to be made in Germany with ceiling fans and screens. 

The real attraction in Potsdam is Sanssouci, Frederick the Great's summer palace, but we didn't make it that far, opting instead for a boat tour that left from near the old market square. The square is in the process of being renovated. It was remarkably dead the day we were there. Note the mix of stately classical architecture and depressing Soviet-era utilitarian buildings.

DAY 4

Elias and I had most of Saturday to spend in Berlin before catching our train back to Steinebach. We started off by checking out a flea market near our Tiergarten hotel, then walking a few km to Schloss Charlottenburg (17th & 18th c.) to see the gardens. Charlottenburg and the abundant country residences we had seen from the boat the day before in Potsdam made us wonder whether governing was mainly a recreational activity to keep monarchs occupied between building projects.

By the 18th century, the monarchs had figured out that expansive grounds required an expansive tea house, so they added Belvedere beyond the carp pond.

After leaving the gardens, we walked to the Jungfernheide U-Bahn station. Each station has its own distinctive art.

Elias had nobly put up with a lot of boring grown-up touristy stuff, so he got to choose our last stop in Berlin. Thus we went to the Legoland Discovery Center in the Sony Zentrum at Potsdamer Platz. There, he discovered that he has outgrown Lego Discovery Centers.

Here is the fall of the Berlin wall, dramatically depicted in Legos. Watch all the way to the end for the full effect.

The Sony Center has a dramatic glass ceiling. It is the place to go if you want to be surrounded by American tourists.

With a little time left post-Legos, we took the U-Bahn to Friederischsstrasse and walked back toward the Hauptbahnhof.

Snazzy windows at the Pharmakologisches Institut.

Saving the whales.

The Reichstag. Government happens here.