EuroLife: Day26

We had a wonderful day today. After a morning work session, we set out for a new mountain: Hausberg. (Well, it's new for us. Presumably, it's been there for a while.) As usual, we got to see new parts of the city en route to the trailhead. We crossed the river at a very pretty spot; that's where the first picture was taken.

At first, the hike seemed to be a lot less scenic than our other recent hikes. We walked through neighborhood after neighborhood, climbing, without any sign of a real trail. (The "trails" wander through the city. It's not at all uncommon to be in the middle of a busy intersection and see a trail marker for one of the trails that go through the nearby mountains.).

When we finally did find a trailhead, it was immediately clear that we were wrong. Today's hike was, in my opinion, the prettiest yet. Again, we went from an amazingly colorful area, with tall trees forming a dense cover, to sparse evergreens in a matter of minutes. Again, we had beautiful views of the valleys that surround Jena, and of the city itself. (All of this should explain why I simply HAVE to include so many pictures today :)

It was much colder today than it has been; apparently snow is expected in the mountains that are a bit further from Jena. It was warm enough as long as we were moving, just chillier than on past days.

Now, I have grown accustomed to being rewarded for these long hikes with warm apple strudel. So, we set our sites on a beer garden at the top of Hausberg. We passed one along the way, which added to my motivation. When we finally arrived, we climbed some steps up to an old castle-like building, adjacent to a large tower. There it was...overrun with a wedding party. And a sign saying that they would be closed for a private party beginning in 10 minutes. And we weeped.

Well we didn't really weep, but we did check the trailmap for another little mug-symbol. We found one down in the nearby valley and headed there. Along the way, we wandered through the loveliest little neighborhoods. The architecture seemed much older than most of what I've seen of Jena, and for some reason it reminded me of a small town in Ireland. So here's a picture from there, though it's hard to capture exactly how it felt. You must also imagine the smell of fireplaces going, and the depths of the hills surrounding the area.

Once inside, we ordered hot chocolate for me, a Pilsner for Michael, and a piece of Apfelkuchen, or apple cake, to share. Lucky for us, we had arrived at coffee and cake hour! Yes, every day in Germany, it is a custom to have cake and coffee between lunch and dinner. I had heard about this from a German friend back home, but hadn't really appreciated how wonderful this tradition is. I'm a big fan of having a daily coffee and cake hour :) In fact, I think that it's important that Michael and I incorporate some local customs into our life here. Perhaps we should start there.