A Travel and Language Comic: Second Mother Tongue

Here is a very cute comic that shows the problems of English speaking folks trying to learn German while in Germany...

Itchy Feet: A Travel and Language Comic: Second Mother Tongue

A River and a Mountain

November seems to be bringing wet weather to the Black Forest. It was pouring with rain, with strong gales around 100km/h (62 mph), hence it wasn't ideal riding weather. My Harley might have been able to fight the wind gusts but the Vespas would have been pummeled and beaten off the road.

Stormy weather is at its best when close to water, so we drove to river Rhine to take a walk on the wild side - the Nature Habitat.

The French utility company EDF operates a number of hydro stations along the river and also (have to) do their share to preserve nature.

Weirs are controlling water levels, and help channeling the water into the Grand Canal d'Alsace where the ship's traffic is headed while another arm of the Rhine can meander freely through the meadows.

The waters were quite choppy and spilled over the barrier. At the edge of the canal huge warning signs are put up. This is not a swimming pool. The water is flowing fast and is full of dangerous eddies.

A network of bicycle roads and hiking trails lead through the habitat on the right side, and the area is usually quite popular with nature lovers, however today we had it all to ourselves.

The canal.

At the border. No walls, no barbed wire, no watch towers. Roland on the German side, and Sonja on the French side.

The Rhine forest provides habitat for critters as well as all kinds of plants that only grow where the Rhine flows naturally like he had done at the time before the river was straightened out in a 19th century ship traffic improvement project.

Relaxed and reasonably hungry we turned around at one point, knowing that a lot more hiking trails wait to be discovered at another day.

After a refreshing meal we continued our journey towards Kaiserstuhl. We were too tired for another expedition on foot so we decided just to drive around a little.

Eventually (well, it was a mere 35km further) we were back in the Black Forest, and although late in the day we decided to take one more detour.

A very nice twisty road leads up to the Kandel, with 1241m (4,072ft) the highest peak in the Middle Black Forest.

It was cold and windy and we were almost at level with the clouds. At least it wasn't snowing just yet, but it can't be long now until the Black Forest will be under a blanket of white stuff. Actually we are quite curious how the winters will be in this part of Germany. 

The light was almost gone so we headed for home, but we were glad to have spent the day outside despite the adverse weather conditions.

All Hallows

There might have been some Halloween themed parties at clubs or private events, however Halloween is not an event settled in the German culture, and would clash with other traditional rituals held in November.
But some customs can be found nevertheless: In Southern Germany, Austria and Switzerland kids bring hollowed and carved pumpkins to neighbors as gifts, and might get rewarded with cookies.
Also, on 10th or 11th of November we celebrate St Martin's Day, where children walk through the city with home made lanterns. They sing traditional songs at your door step, and here comes another part of the Halloween ritual: They receive sweets, candy bars and cookies for their efforts.

Those celebratory events are held without costumes, and also sans the vandalism aspect that comes with trick-or-treatin'. Then again, the 11th of November is the beginning of the Carnival Season. That's when the costume part begins. We will report as soon as we spot the natives getting into that groove.

Today is All Hallows, a so called silent holiday, and an important day for the Christian religions. To show respect no loud events, parties, concerts are held, it's a day off at work and everything is closed (except for our bakery and the gas station it seems).
Out of respect for silence I left my Sportster at home, and we rode to the purring sounds of our Vespas… Going where? To All Saint's Abbey of course.

Today we checked out a new route. It was a rather challenging bit of road with plenty of tight turns, so it seemed natural to encounter a handful of other motorcyclists.

Then we followed the Black Forest Panorama Road which is famous for its vistas as well as for wannabe Rossis with a death wish. During season it is virtually a free-for-all racetrack for the fast and furious. But since most of those racers mothball their vehicles from October to April this beautiful stretch of road now belongs to the real riders who don't care about weather, temperatures, and showing off  ;-)

At Schliffkopf peak: On 1055m, overlooking the Lierbach valley. It was a bit nippy up there although the wind was calm. It had 8C (46.4F) and we didn't feel underdressed in our four layers of gear.

On our way back we had to make a pit stop at "Alice's Restaurant" for Roland to have a Bratwurst. Me, I only got the pickle and the tomato, because the rustic cuisine didn't offer anything remotely edible for my veganized stomach. Well, I always carry a power bar, so all was right with the world.

This is me under those layers, all geared up again for the final stretch home. It was a mere eighty kilometers on twisty roads, and two hours in fresh November air.

***

Allerheiligen

Feiertag! In den vergangenen Jahren haben wir zwar in Kanada den Abend vor Allerheiligen, gefeiert als Halloween, zur Kenntnis genommen, aber meist geflissentlich ignoriert. Wir sind ja auch keine Karnevalisten, also warum sollten wir DAS jetzt plötzlich mit gemacht haben… Wir empfinden Halloween als eine misslungene Mischung aus Europäischen heidnischen sowie christlichen Bräuchen. Umso mehr schätzen wir den nachfolgenden Feiertag (… nicht aus religiösen Gründen). Allerheiligen ist ein Tag der Ruhe, daher blieb die Harley im Stall. Statt dessen säuselten wir auf unseren Vespas herum, und zwar zu den Klosterruinen Allerheiligen. Macht doch Sinn, oder? Nebenbei ist es eine fantastische Route. Wir fuhren heute auf einer uns unbekannten Strecke weiter nach Norden und kamen an der Schwarzwaldhochstraße heraus. In der Hauptsaison eine Rennstrecke für Gaskranke, welche wir möglichst großräumig umfahren, ist diese Panoramastraße in der Nebensaison ein visueller und fahrerischer Genuss. Da mit dem Monatswechsel der Versicherungsschutz für die meisten Bikes aus lief, mussten die Pistensäue und Möchtegern-Rossis zu Hause bleiben. Endlich gehört die Straße wieder den richtigen Motorradfahrern, die auf Jahreszeiten pfeifen, weil sie fahren wollen, nicht rasen.

Auf dem Schliffkopf spürten wir, wie uns die Kälte von acht Grad in die Knochen fuhr, trotz vier Lagen Klamotten am Leib. Roland's Magen schrie nach Stärkung, und so tuckerten wir zum Imbiss am Löcherberg. Dort zog sich der Gatte eine Bratwurst 'rein, für mich blieb nur Gurke und Tomate, da diese Lokalität nur mit rustikaler Küche aufwartete. Egal, für so etwas hatte Frau dann ja einen veganen Kraftriegel zur Hand. Nach etwa achtzig Kilometern und zwei Stunden Fahrt kamen wir, zufrieden mit unserem kleinen Trip, wieder sicher (wenn auch etwas verfroren) zu Hause an.