Fall Flashback

In honor of waking up to a fully sunbathed for the first time in a quite a while, I 'm going to share some photos and such from the Fall that I just never got around to. It's also kind of fitting for me to write it on Valentine's Day, as you will find out.

I figured it was about time to make a trip to Burg Gleiberg, the castle ruins you can see from almost any place in Giessen. The closest I had to been to Gleiberg was when I took the bus in the wrong direct the first time I was in Giessen and ended up somewhere near by.

Firstly, it is a steeper hike than I had anticipated.  But the weather was good and it was nice to have company. Not to mention the view made it worth it.

I've grown quite fond of castle ruins. It really puts things into perspective. These huge castles were built without modern technology, survived wars and centuries of decay, and still some of it stands. The hunks of stone are nothing short of impressive and to think that poor serfs had to lug these up the hill with which we struggled, even before there was a road there. I can't imagine how anything got done. I feel like I should applaud the people who built these. You go, peasants.

Practicing her Golem impression

We also tried to figure out what each room had been, based on size, how many windows, did it have a chimney, etc. 

As we were coming to the end of our tour, we noticed a girl wearing a white button-up shirt, a vest and holding a bouquet of flowers. All signs that something interesting was about to happen. So we did what most people would - slowed down our pace, pretended to spend a lot of time intently examining the stones, and waited. 

Sure enough, a group of three people around the same age showed up (teenagers or early 20s if I'm guessing correctly), greeted her, and then hid behind a wall. We passed the time admiring - or at least commenting on - the large collection of pigeons (I'm not a huge pigeon fan...flying rats....that is all) that had started to roost on what may have been a part of the roof at some point. A fourth person arrived, finally. We then realized we were going to witness her proposing to her girlfriend - it was actually quite sweet, but I would consider it a rookie mistake to place someone you're about to ask an important question to on the wall of an old castle...But maybe that's just me. We took that as our cue to stealthily make our way back home.

Prime pigeon hangout

Svenja and I made a side trip to Wetzlar to walk around the Altstadt (old city) and to get some yarn so she could start on a Christmas present. It must have been a trend that week, because we stumbled upon some form of formal photo shoot. We couldn't tell if it was for a wedding, a dance, etc. No idea.  Any guesses?

Wedding? Dance? Modeling?

If you only pass through Wetzlar or take the train to go to Forum (the shopping center) you may have the opinion that Wetzlar is not a pretty city. The view one gets from the train station is not the true image of the city. At the train station all you can see are Forum, the arena, a home improvement store and signs of industry. But if you walk a few minutes into the city, you notice a change.  The buildings are older, there is still cobblestone, there is a distinct character in the buildings. The old city is exactly what I expect from the quintessential German pedestrian area. There a pictures, fear not! Wetzlar will get its own post.