Into the Eifel, aboard the Vulkan-Express

Steaming through the Eifel on a Sunday afternoon. What more could I want? The Eifel, one of my favorite regions. Steam trains, a reminder of my childhood. A lovely journey on a narrow-gauge railway, starting near the River Rhine, continuing along the Brohltal, deep into the Eifel.

Bonn’s Cherry Blossoms

For quite some time, I have been thinking that I should write a blog post about Bonn. In the first few years that I lived here, I went to see almost everything it had to offer, but I never wrote about it. Blogging came later in my life. And now, I often use Bonn as the perfect base for discovering Europe and places that I never dreamt I would so easily be able to visit. One day I will write about Bonn, there is so much I would like to tell you. But not today. Instead, I will just share some pictures that I took in the old town last night, which show one aspect of its beauty.

An overnight stay in Eastbourne

I am sat on a ferry reflecting on a lovely couple of weeks in England. One of the highlights was a short break in Eastbourne, where the four of us stayed in the Cavendish hotel.

The Watercress Line

You are never far from a steam railway when you are in Great Britain.

Driving through the Eifel

I wanted to squeeze one more drop of snow out of this winter, and headed for the local hills. I drove through a landscape that sometimes reminds me of the English Cotswolds, although in reality, it is very different to the English Cotswolds.

Reflections from Bavaria

I downloaded a dozen or so podcasts, jumped in my car and headed south in search of inspiration for my writing and photography.

Between Storms

Not long after Storms Gertrude and Henry, and hours before Storm Imogen, I was able to pop out for a little while to remind myself that this is still a beautiful part of the world, despite a seemingly endless succession of storms this winter.

The Molli

Don’t you think that’s a really sweet name for a railway? Its full name is Mecklenburgische Bäderbahn Molli, which is a little more tricky for those of us who are not native German speakers. This charming little railway runs along a small section of the Baltic coast in northern Germany, between the towns of Bad Doberan, Heiligendamm and Kühlungsborn.

Snow Train to Brocken

I last visited the Harzer Schmalspurbahnen (HSB) in the summer of 2014. It’s interesting to compare the photos I took back then with the ones in this post. In places like this, the landscape can change dramatically between the seasons and, as beautiful as it was in the summer, I always thought it would be magical at this time of year.

Pictures of a year in England and Germany

I started this blog so that I could write. But photography has become equally important to me, and quite possibly, it is my photographs more than my words that attract visitors to my site. So I decided to go through the hundreds of digital photographs, all destined for the archives, to find just a few more worth sharing. Because I try not to publish pictures of people, then this small collection is mainly from the animal world, but I hope you agree that our animal friends make some rather nice pictures too.