After an especially nice breakfast with Quark and Schoko-Muesli, we're on our way to Zeyern. Thomas tells us at breakfast that, after a rainy night, we should expect more rain throughout the day. He has called a small Gasthaus along the way, asking them to open for lunch so we can dry out and have a warm meal.
The forest is lush and green.
I'm thrilled to see cowslips, which were my youngest sister's favorite flower. They're blooming very late, it's been a cold and wet spring.
Never saw columbine in the forests where I grew up, but in this, somewhat wilder area, it can still be found. Almost all forests in Germany are managed, but some are more managed than others.
After a while, it stops raining for a bit, which makes for better views (I can't figure out how to keep my hood from limiting my field of vision). Then it starts again, and we're thrilled to arrive at our lunch destination. A not-so-young woman and her husband welcome us as if we're their long lost children. They take our wet jackets into a heating room, and she even offers to throw anything that needs it into the dryer. Then she takes our drink orders, and tells us that she's made a big pot of lentil stew with sausages just for us. She ladles out the first helping and leaves the pot. Everybody is very happy - and really, is it better to hike in the sunshine, or to enjoy such pleasures?
I actually save myself for what I see on the menu: Kaiserschmarrn with gooseberries. This is a dish I always loved as a child, pancakes cut into strips, refried, and covered with powdered sugar (see Wikipedia for the entertaining history of the dish). It does not disappoint, and I promise myself to finally learn how to make this myself.
Before I leave, I take a photo of James at the Renterbaenkla - the bench for the retired. Not yet, James!
The weather, regretably, does not improve, but we're now ready to face it again. Good thing we didn't have lunch at this picnic bench.
And the view isn't quite what the picture tells us either.
But we soldier on, it's kind of a meditative experience to walk, listen to the birds -- I don't miss TV, cars, and other trappings of civilization too much. Though I'm happy when we arrive at the Gasthof in Zeyern where we will stay overnight. They opened the place just for us, and we order our food soon after we arrive so the owner's uncle can start cooking. They've heated up a big tile oven and put out drying racks for the clothes. Soon we're all showered, in dry clothes, and with our drink of choice in front of us. And there's a chance of sun forecast for tomorrow.
