on my birthday i wanted to do a little bit of hiking ( in my case that's more a strolling around than real hiking, though ) and on our way to many of our destinations we had seen signs of something that had to do with a land of 1000 ponds. i was really intrigued to find out what that was about and soon learned it's basically a geographic area spanning from luxeuil-les-bains to the servance mountain with lots and lots of tiny little ponds and lakes.
by now you probably know that i'm a huge loner and need a lot of freedom and that's especially the case when my birthday comes around. so for my birthday all i wanted from my parents was an exploration through this magical land, the land of the thousands ponds, which is actually a pretty remote place - a little bit out-distanced and forgotten. and it was truly that, mystic and a little bit eerie and haunting. i think this was literally the place i always talk about when i'm in a misanthropic mood, the place i want to move to, up in the mountains, living in a little stone hut, retiring from humans and society. i'd be some kind of witch - a witch with no magic talents, though - surrounding myself with cats and a guard dog, living sustainably off my own vegetables and fruit ( and the occasional pig or cow ) and watching mankind go down. or something like that. girl can dream, right?
for our our walk we decided to drive to faucogney-et-la-mer, which is literally only a commune of about 500 inhabitants, so really, really tiny. it's actually two villages joined together, with faucogney being the bigger one ( and being a really cute place with age-old houses surrounding a church - unfortunately didn't have a closer look, though ). la mer on the other hand is only a cluster of houses, but guys, it was SO idyllic. we decided to do our walk around there and it turned out we made a good choice.
first, we stumbled over at least 20 ponds on our little hike. they were these lush and green places ( pretty strange for october, though! ).
and then we reached this taller lake where we were surprised with an abundance of edible mushrooms ( which we picked all, duh ). while we were still totally thrilled with our discovery we didn't yet know that only a while later we would run across one of the most haunting places i ever got the chance to see.
truly love lichen covered trees.
and then, suddenly, we stood in front of this. while i truly am infatuated with all things overgrown, i wasn't quite prepared for this. this farmstead seemed totally abandoned, but at the same time i had this strange feeling that it wasn't. the surroundings looked well-maintained, but as we had a closer look at the buildings it was clear that no one lived here.
this house and its overgrowth... i lost my heart to it, it became a pounding gooey thing upon seeing this.
the lake next to the farmstead ( where just a few moments ago we had found the shrooms! ). while i didn't give a lot attention to it earlier ( except of taking a few random pictures ) i suddenly looked at this lake differently. along with the abandoned buildings it had a very eerie touch and made everything a whole lot more mysterious than it had been before.
presumably the front door to the only part of the homestead that still looked kind of habitable.
a barn next to the main building.
water troughs near the lake.
the back of the main building was in a very decrepit state, the roof had collapsed at some time. i still ventured inside the space, 'cause it would've been a crime not to take some photos.
the light in there was marvellous.
from behind the skeleton desk out to the yard.
wine leaves turning autumny.
another quite dilapidated room.
the main building. the ambience of the whole place was wonderful. while it was slightly haunting i didn't ever feel threatened or uncomfortable. i would describe the feeling as a tingly sensation, intriguing and alluring.
the little barn up close.
more rank growth.
there were about four buildings on the farmstead and in the last one we checked out we found a few props that actually WERE creepy to me. that was the only time i thought to myself it was strange that no one was around. everything looked like someone had made the effort to leave a specific image, like straight out of a creepy movie. at the same time it all seemed so untouched, as if it had been left like this a long time ago ( at least more than just a few months haha ).
that bear actually WAS creepy, haha.
it soon was about time we finished our walk and leave this place. i was a tiny bit sad, because i really would've loved it to hang around here some more. but then again, that teddy bear's eyes were watching and i kiiiind of wanted to get a little further away from it, haha. so goodbye it was, beautiful and haunted farmstead! you were the highlight of my birthday.
we slowly made our way back to our car, passing by the most charming stone houses. can i just move in?
it seemed like every house had its own little lake. imagine living in such a place. i think it'd probably might be my absolute dream situation.
instead of telling you the same thing over and over: insert heart eye emoji here.
the perfect example of a cow of the vosges mountains. i secretly call these species paintbrush moos.
a very old stone shrine we found on the way.
love the weathering on old stones.
vintage town signs.
the last picture of the day was of this handsome bull. we soon reached the car and drove back to our rental to end a day with a mushroom feast and a nice hot sauna.
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