ghost of nature.

there's a world-known abbey nestled inside the precursor mountains of the taunus range, one of the most rich and powerful in its medieval heydays and to this day still unfluential on all kinds of people because of it's changeful history - eberbach abbey . it's widely original layout and mostly undestroyed buildings are what makes it so special, it's a picture perfect example of a medieval abbey. it even served as a film location for umberto eco's ' the name of the rose '- a lot of the interior takes were recorded there. i revisited this magnificient abbey in early march, but not to visit the museum, but to do a little hike around it. an element of the lay brother building. i loved the shadows of the tree on the building. the main lay brother building and on the right the former mill and barn buildings that serve as a hotel now. this property is outside of the monastery, but i bet it was once part of the monastery as well, probably anothe...

on most of my sundays i decide to take walks or hikes all around the area, because when do i get to do this other than on lazy sundays? in my work week i rarely have the time nor desire to do so, and since i rarely have things planned on sundays, it's the perfect moment to break out of my routines. i love rewiring my brain this way, as nature and fresh air are important components of my well-being. if i am stuck too long in the city, i kind of get crazy. there's a curious friendship going on in the parks of wiesbaden - that of two egyptian geese & a mandarin duck. the geese protect the duck and the duck is always happily waddling alongside them. whenever a passerby walks towards them the geese start to chatter really loudly, until the intruder is shooed away from them and their little friend. whenever i see them i'm totally in awe of such a strange companionship. so... on a sunday in late february i decided to drive to rauenthal, a district of eltville ci...

my parents had a week off in february and they visited me of course, as they often do. on one of those days when i didn't have to work we headed to cochem , a small town by the river moselle . it was a rather gray day and upon our arrival we noticed that the moselle river was quite brimmed with water ( apparently it had been raining for days prior to our visit ). we climbed up to the reichsburg cochem  but unfortunately it wasn't open in this season yet and so all we got was the view from up above the city down into the valley of the moselle river, which was great nonetheless. the city itself is quite nice with its winding little streets. due to the cold season, though, restaurants and shops weren't open. cochem is one of those cities that burst with life in spring and summer and sleeps in the colder months of the year. we decided to walk around cochem and found a hiking trail that we chose to take. we ended up on the worst hiking trail i ever encountered. the trail wa...