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april: the meadowland.

the city of sömmerda is a little town a few kilometers away from the village i grew up in. when i was still living in thuringia, i actually didn't like it. i felt it was provincial and boring and i also thought that the citizens were quite rear-faced, conservative and simple. growing up i hated to go there, even to go shopping was an absolute unsurmountable ordeal for me. of course my parents dragged me along anyway, more or less - our dentist was there, as well as several other doctors. my brother went to high school in this city, failed miserably and came back so changed that it was a deterrence for me to ever consider to choose this high school to continue my academic career. i also thought i wasn't intelligent enough and feared i would fail as well, not managing to keep up with the workload and the the other students. 
all in all, i wasn't very into this city. then i moved to wiesbaden, and a few years later came back on a visit and had to notice that the town looked and felt different. the inner city was suddenly quite charming, the landscapes around the city lush and green, the unstrut river flowing through wonderful meadows. i had never looked at sömmerda this way before.
it is a sleepy little town, and i still think people are not very open-minded here, but at least i appreciate the layout of this city now. whenever i visit my parents we try to take a walk by the riverbanks of the unstrut or eat icecream in the city, or walk in the park or through the narrow streets, and it's always delightful.

my mom and i went on a little trip around sömmerda when i was on vacations in april and here's proof of it.

peacock butterfly on a lawn near one of the few lakes in the city.

there are always swans on the ponds in the park and i secretly call them swan lakes.


floating swan.

we walked on the dike near the river unstrut.

spring is my second favourite time of the year, very obviously, because i love how nature explodes in all colours.

we found a dead blackbird. i thought it looked beautiful and sad at the same time, and had to take a photo.

unstrut river banks and clouds, clouds, clouds.

geometric lines and reflections in the water.

the fresh green of new leaves fills my heart with joy every year.

when i look at this picture hearts pop up in my eyes. you know, like in that smiley.

dead-nettle blooms.

mother checking out the river.

we encountered a family of does. it was my personal highlight of the day. check out the heron in the background and also, there's another doe on the left, waaaaaay back by the trees.

red blossoms of an unknown plant.

this building in the inner city is a relict of typical gdr architecture and it is one of my favourites in the whole city. the facade murals show several branches of industry sömmerda is known for, but also till eulenspiegel, a joker who allegedly roamed around germany in medieval times.

i really love those murals.


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