We had another beautiful day yesterday — even though we started out with a little drizzle and admittedly were TERRIBLE about taking photos. We set out after breakfast with the usual lunch picnic in our backpacks and took buses and the subway out to the vicinity of a trailhead called Rodenbeker Quellental, where it is easy to get onto the Alsterwanderweg, the 20+ mile (33 km) hiking trail along the river Alster, which flows into the center of downtown Hamburg, and which is a gorgeous way to do some city hiking along beautifully maintained trails and little parks, with minimal crossing of or walking along roads (as in, we hiked a total of about 8 miles in the middle of a city of 1.8 million and had maybe a half a mile where we walked along a road; the rest was all riverbank parkland). It was beautiful–shady under the beautiful trees (mostly beeches), with birds singing, lots of walkers and bikers and many, many happy dogs–and we had a wonderful time.
Midway through, at about 3 1/2 miles, we stopped to have our lunch and to visit my aunt Frauke, who lives right along this trail in a beautiful apartment in the Poppenbüttel neighborhood, near one of the many locks and sluices that provide flood control along the river. I had just checked in with her on a whim that morning and she was home, so we stopped by for a cup of coffee. We had a lovely time looking at photos from my and my cousin Martin’s childhood and talking about traveling and the challenges of finding a place to live in Hamburg. She hit the jackpot with this rental a few years ago and is in the perfect place, close to all her shopping needs, the park along the trail and a big hub for the elevated train. (We did not take a single picture!) Then, Andrea and Peter went home, and Mark and I continued for another four miles along the river. The sun had come out and the light was even more beautiful, and the ubiquitous dogs seemed even happier as they plunging into the river fetching sticks. It will never cease to amaze me how well-behaved German dogs are off-leash!
Eventually, we turned off the trail near a subway station, and made our way home. We met Peter and Andrea at the big supermarket near their home and bought a couple of big round Turkish breads (“Fladenbrot”) and some appetizers and dips for dinner with an old friend (and my high-school boyfriend and then first husband) Karsten. While Andrea and Peter tidied up and Mark downloaded photos, I fixed us a salad and some tomatoes with mozzarella, and everything was ready to roll when he showed up at 6:30. We had a wonderful time and laughed a lot, although the conversation also occasionally turned serious, since Karsten and Andrea are both dealing with aging parents in poor health. Since we are all three from the same town (and close friends since high school), the care facilities and hospitals they are dealing with as they try to help their parents are the same, and they had much to compare. And of course we didn’t take pictures to document this momentous reunion, either. Karsten left at 9, we chatted for another hour, and then went to bed just as a thunderstorm came through and brought some lovely nighttime rain.