A place to feel wonderfully insignificant

(May 29th to May 31st 2026)

A call from a Swiss blogger friend, the promise of a phenomenal location, an excellent weather forecast, and a calendar void of obligations make for the perfect ingredients for a wonderful weekend in the Dahner Land of Rocks (Dahner Felsenland). 

If you were to take a few million years of geological patience, a massive pile of red sandstone, and let the elements carve them into shapes that look remarkably like poorly balanced furniture, you would get the Dahner Felsenland. 

Tucked away in a corner of southwest Germany that the rest of the world seems to have forgotten to overcrowd, this region is a bafflingly scenic playground of colossal stone monoliths bursting right through the treetops. 

Several of these geological freaks of nature defy gravity so brazenly you can't help but stand beneath it and wonder if you've paid up your life insurance. 

Naturally, because this is Germany, the medieval locals looked at these absurdly steep, completely inaccessible stone towers and thought, “this is the perfect place for a fortress“. The result is a landscape littered with crumbling, wildly romantic castle ruins, where you can climb up and down notoriously steep, narrow stairs of irregular scale, and stumble through narrow, chilly, and dark rock hewn tunnels, while contemplating how remarkably exhausting life must have been in the twelfth century.

Friends for life

We used to work for the same company almost forty years ago, and ended up working in the same department for several years. We went through the good, the bad and the ugly of life together, and kept in contact even when separated by oceans. We don't see each other very often but we always know that we can rely on each other when needed. Since returning from Canada the first weekend in October has become a tradition to meet and spend a relaxing time together, kill some bottles of wine, indulge in good food, catch up on things, laugh and have a good time. This time we rented an apartment on the dutch coast.

our residence of choice

Kamperland is a charming coastal village in the province of Zeeland, Netherlands, located on the island of Noord-Beveland. It’s known for its beautiful beaches along the Veerse Meer lagoon and the North Sea. The village has a relaxed atmosphere with marinas, and restaurants, making it a desired destination for both Dutch and international tourists seeking nature, water sports, and tranquility.

Despite a mixed bag of weather we got some nice sunrises and sunsets in between.

A room with a view

Moon over lagoon

A Canadian-Swiss-German Reunion

We had the opportunity to meet again with blogger-friends. Our Swiss-Canadian friend had travelled all the way from Ontario in order to meet friends and family after the long Covid-induced separation. Another mutual Swiss dog-walking blogger-friend joined the reunion and we had a great time in the historic lake-town of Arbon, hiking along the lake shore and enjoying Swiss-Italian fusion cuisine.

Christmas Market in Mainz

Recently we had the opportunity to join our friends Guido and Andrea in Mainz, who were on family visit in Germany. The Christmas market can be found in front of the Cathedral St. Martin, and the little huts around the church, selling handcrafted art, snacks and Feuerzangenbowle (a delicious variation on mulled wine), gave it an almost medieval touch. 

However, despite the lovely seasonal atmosphere we quickly made a beeline for a nearby café. The market turned out to be a bit too loud and too crowded plus it started to drizzle, and who would have thunk... conversation became so much easier once indoors. 😉

It only had been our second visit to Mainz, because cathedral aside, the city is just another cesspool with lots of traffic and people.

Fun fact: These days Mainz is rather known as headquarter location of BioNTech, one of the biotech companies which developed an mRNA vaccine against Covid.

Another interesting detail we missed during our previous visit was the archeological findings an another church. Mainz has in fact a second and much older cathedral, which was only discovered during restoration and renovation works. Although a mere construction site today due to ongoing scientific excavation the building was open and nicely illuminated. The artefacts and remnants go back 1500 years in history.

A big city - Großstadt(er)leben

The drive north was a pain in the butt, the German autobahn is a permanent construction site. Forget about going at fast speed on these highways, you will find them congested, and spiked with idiot drivers and accidents, road blocks and detours. It took us more than five hours for a distance of 400 kilometers (250 miles). 

Die Fahrt nach Norden war mal wieder kein Spaß, die Autobahn ist eine permanente Baustelle, schnelles Fahren kann man hier getrost vergessen, dafür ist einfach zu viel Verkehr, dazu kommen noch Idioten und Unfälle, Sperrungen und Umleitungen. Wir brauchten diesmal über fünf Stunden für die Strecke von 400 Kilometern.

Düsseldorf, located at river Rhine is the capital of the state Northrhine-Westfalia, and the seventh biggest city in Germany. With 620,000 inhabitants it's almost as big a Vancouver, Canada (Vancouver is still nicer though.).

Düsseldorf am Rhein ist Hauptstadt von NRW, siebtgrößte Stadt in Deutschland und mit 620.000 Einwohnern fast so groß wie Vancouver in Kanada (wobei Vancouver natürlich viel schöner ist.). 

We always enjoy visiting "the big city", which means any town bearing a larger population than 8,000 these days.  

Uns macht es Spaß mal wieder in die "große Stadt" zu kommen. Wenn man in einem 8.000 Seelen Ort wohnt, ist das eine willkommene Abwechslung.

I used to live in Düsseldorf in the late nineties but back then I didn't have much appreciation for the city itself due to having been drowned in work while building my career. I even used to say: The best thing about this town is its proximity to an international airport... in order to get away from it all.

In den Neunzigern habe ich für eine Weile in Düsseldorf gelebt, wusste aber die Stadt damals nicht zu schätzen, da ich zu sehr damit beschäftigt war, mich in Arbeit zu vergraben und an meiner Karriere zu arbeiten. Mein Spruch war seinerzeit: Das Schönste an der Stadt ist der internationale Flughafen, damit kommt man wenigstens schnell hier weg.

Tightly parked! - Hier wird's eng.

However, we found it nice to be back for a visit. Our hotel was conveniently located in Pempelfort a.k.a. District 1, with close access to amenities such as bars, cafes, shops and public transport.  

Jedenfalls war es schön, mal wieder zurück im Rheinland zu sein. Unser Hotel war günstig im Stadtteil Pempelfort oder Stadtbezirk 1, wie es mittlerweile heißt, gelegen. Um die Ecke gab es Kneipen, Cafes, Läden und den öffentlichen Nahverkehr.
 

At our favourite place Café Florian

 

A ten minute ride on the subway took us into the heart of the city.

Innerhalb von zehn Minuten waren wir dank U-Bahn im Herzen der Stadt.

Subway advertising the local football club Fortuna

The Königsallee famous for shopping.

Die Kö(nigsallee), Einkaufsmeile der Stadt.

Altstadt (old town) famous for (old) beer.
 Die Altstadt, berühmt für ihr Alt(es)bier.

'Tis is the season: Mulled whine and spiked hot chocolate at the Christmas Market (and it's not even noon yet!).

Es ist wieder Zeit für... Glühwein und Kakao mit Schuss (dabei ist es nicht mal Mittag!) auf dem Weihnachtsmarkt. 

The gentrified harbour area. Die mondäne Hafenanlage.

And the River Rhine famous for... quoting the French poet Victor Hugo here:

"The Rhine is the river of which everybody speaks about and no one studies, which everybody visits and no one knows... and the eye of the poet... under the transparency of its floods, divines the past and future of Europe."

Und Vater Rhein, berühmt für...  hier zitiere ich den französischen Dichter Victor Hugo:

"Der Rhein ist der Fluss, von dem alle Welt redet und den niemand studiert, den alle Welt besucht und niemand kennt... er lässt das Auge des Poeten ... unter der Durchsichtigkeit seiner Fluten Vergangenheit und Zukunft Europas ahnen." 

We visited family, reconnected with friends in the area and I got my dose of Sushi (!). 

Natürlich besuchten wir dort auch Familie und trafen Freunde und ich bekam meine Portion Sushi (!). 

After two days of breathing metropolitan air we were glad to return back to the tranquillitiy of the Black Forest.

Nach zwei Tagen in der Großstadtluft waren wir aber froh, dass wir wieder in den beschaulichen Schwarzwald zurückkehren durften.

Odds and sods - Kuriositäten

Funny!

Annoying!

X-massy!