Sunday, lovely Sundaaayy

Did I mention I feel more or less adopted?

Yesterday, after having been sick for a couple days, I was getting a bit stir-crazy and decided I wanted to go find a walking path or something. So, just as I'd made up my mind to do so, the bell rings: dingadingding! It's Brigitte, in her hiking gear! "We're leaving in 45 minutes," she says. "Are you coming?" Heck yes! I threw on my new hiking boots (ten bucks at a used clothing store in Tucson, yeah!), tossed some apples and a bottle of water in a backpack, ran upstairs, and ended up spending a beautiful bright autumn Sunday wandering through forested hills with the most fun family: Brigitte, of course; her husband, Gert, an Informatiker (systems analyst/software engineer); their son, Andreas, who's 26 and studying Physics at the University of Karlsruhe; and his girlfriend, Nina, who's also 26 and at the Uni Karlsruhe.

We got some great views of the Hambach castle from above and the wide lands beyond, dotted with red-roofed patches where Neustadt and little towns like Speyer and Ludwigshafen lay.

At the top of the hill, our path ended at the Hohe Loog, a little cabinlike restaurant where everyone sits at heavy dark-wood benches and can enjoy a half-liter of Neuer Wein in the sunshine, along with their Bratwurst or Leberknoedel with Sauerkraut.

The entrance is decorated with the "highest grapevine in Germany", elevation-wise:

Outside the Hohe Loog is a great view, with a cool plaque showing the directions and distances to a myriad of different cities in relation to the hilltop:

After we polished off our plates, Gert pulled out a Swiss Army flask and poured raspberry Schnapps all around! Mmm! This of course made for an even merrier hike back down the mountain, after which we all bundled over to Nina's mom's house for coffee, cake, and tea.

The whole day was just as cozy as could be, a perfect Sunday: great company, great conversation, great scenery & atmosphere. And all quite unexpected on my part, too, which made it even more fun! Thank you, Hamanns!!