We were collected from the station by our German friends from Altheim. Our first foray was, you guessed it, the town church, and yet another type of architecture, this time Gothic dating back to the 600s. The most interesting part for me was the balcony at the rear and along one side, a later addition made of painted green wood with motive panelling. 

They are bike riders and we are walkers so no choice, walking it was, around their lovely village. It has a Roman history so as we walked through their forest, now with a very thick carpet of leaves, just to the right next to our path was a Roman road. It was a dirt road about a metre high and covered with grass and leaves. This gorgeous path through a dark forest came out on the other side of town. A short 5km walk was just the exercise we needed before a lovely Bavarian dinner cooked to perfection by our delightful host.

I’ve been talking about wood for a while now, the cutting of the trees, the splitting and then the sawing and storing of the final product. Now it’s time to see what happens inside the home. It’s getting a bit cold now so it was great to have a small house warming fire. Our host opened a part of the lounge room wall to show me the pipes that carry the heat throughout the house. This made the lounge room even more conducive so we sat around talking ‘til late, retiring to our room about 11.00. It was now time for our window shutters to do their thing as they made a sound like a train rushing past when they automatically shut for the night. 

We left for Seligenstadt and spent the morning taking in a very different type of building to the stone churches, and they are the village ‘half wooded houses’, the other half being stone. I’ve mentioned these before when I talked about English Tudor houses and I’m not sure which came first. There was such a great variety in this old town and out of scores of houses no two were the same. But yes, there was another church, however, while it looked quite ordinary, it was its rose garden that caught our eye.

Lots of Rose bushes but it wasn’t their season, it was the time for herbs, not just the herbs we know but varieties of them and more; and hundreds of healthy lettuces and other vegetables in the best condition. As we walked out there were hundreds of crysanthemums with bees doing what they do as they even fought for prime position (that’s how it looked). You  be the judge. All this and more due to the work of people who are called disabled. After lunch by the river Maine watching the punt take people across its 5 minute water run to Bavaria, we drove to Darmstadt

This town had a different feel and what we were going to see could be seen on a hill framed by the sky that made it look as though nothing was beyond it, a little like a miniature Taj Mahal. I would apologise if it was just another ‘same old church’ but it wasn’t. It was a small but quite stunning Russian Orthodox Church with its golden steeple with people hungry for a glimpse, hundreds arriving on guided tours, as we arrived, Another difference – you can’t go in, I guess because it is so small so there is no capacity and with people flooding it all day it would take away its mystique.

Our tour was now coming to an end as we walked back through a park with many pines, fir trees, liquidambars and what seemed to be the highlight of them all – the giant Californian Redwoods. They are great for the ecosystem as their dense canopies form a great habitat for birds and in our wanderings, birds appear to be what Germany needs. A much lesser use, but in California where they are so old and therefore huge, We were told that  they had been hollowed out at its base big enough for a car to drive through. A good advertising gimmick I would imagine, or was there no other place to build this road.

Finally, what a delightful and entertaining German couple we were so fortunate to meet. It was like a good story that didn’t yet have a good ending and then out of nowhere we met these gorgeous two who made it happen.

Abilities

Disabled is a hard word to define

It conjures up a feeling of despair,

There’s been a public drawing of a line

In sand that’s quick and sinking – that’s not fair. 

The old interpretation boxed us in

A burden, it was life no longer living,

Like shredded paper filling up a bin

That takes up space, it’s taking but not giving. 

Today there’s change with opportunities

To find your passion – move beyond your fears, 

And rise above these disabilities

To live life well for many, many years.

So grab this day and hold it to your heart

And feel its hungry beat, you’ve made a start.

Thanks for coming on our adventure with us

hope life is great

Will and Corrie