A Cup of Coffee and Three Mountains

I had planned to go and spend the weekend in Heiligendamm in the north of Germany to see the Baltic coast and a narrow gauge steam railway called the Molli Bahn. But then my neighbours invited me for coffee and cake and, as I have been on my own a lot lately, I decided to take the more sociable option and joined them on Saturday afternoon.

We sat down and chatted for a couple of hours which gave me an opportunity to improve my German a little. My neighbour then gave me some of her home-made cakes to take home, which I have just pictured on my balcony before tucking into them!

So then I had to decide what to do with today. My wife has been away for a few weeks now, and my house is beginning to look like my daughter’s student digs. I thought about doing some housework or maybe ironing the work shirts that are beginning to pile up downstairs. In the end, I decided this will have to wait and the shirts will be ironed just before I go to work each morning! This freed me up to go walking and, inspired by my uncle who was running the Birmingham Half Marathon today, I decided to walk three of the hills that make up the Siebengebirge, a range of hills or mountains – I am not sure which to call them – that overlook the river Rhine and the city of Bonn.

I started with Drachenfels and walked up past the outdoor swimming pool where we used to go almost six years ago when we first arrived here and when it felt like we were on one big holiday. The holiday feeling has long since gone, and the pool is closed for winter even though the twenty-five degrees of autumn sun would have attracted swimmers here in their droves. After the swimming pool, I passed several points of interest which you can see below, starting with the reptile house which I have never visited!

The photo of me is a reflection in the restaurant window near the top. I resisted the temptation of the sweet smelling currywurst and, after taking a few pictures, walked back down ready to take on the next one, Petersberg. Here I cheated a little and drove to the top in my car! My girls used to joke with me that this would be the perfect setting for a wedding, knowing full well I could never afford this! 🙂

And finally, I walked to the top of the highest peak in the Siebengebirge called the Große Oelberg. There was no cheating this time, honestly! 🙂

Three hours later, I was back home, feeling better than I would have done had I decided to do the vacuuming, dusting, washing and ironing – but if there’s no blog post from me next weekend, then you’ll know why! 🙂

All pictures and text. © Chris Robinson 2014. All rights reserved.