A bit different from what I usually shoot, but pointing the camera towards the sky these days isn’t all that inspiring due to the weather (‘German gray’ – my new term for the low gray and hazy clouds the cloak the landscape seemingly every day, and most especially at the weekends), so I’ve started to look towards my feet a little more than normal.
A couple panoramics from my wanderings to Walberla on Friday. I had hoped there would have been a bit more snow, but I seemed to forget that its the last hill before the ‘low’ areas around Forcheim, Erlangen and Nuremberg so it stays a bit warmer than here in the hills of the Oberpfalz. I also realized on Saturday, while heading to Sachsen for the weekend, that I could get to the mountains (big hills) of the Fichtelgebirge area as quickly as I can get to Walberla, so I’ll try and head there on my next little excursion.
First photo is that same tree from from back in October. Unfortunately, someone walked in the snow at the base of the tree (really, why would anyone walk there? Must of had a dog that wanted to take a piss or something) so I’ll have to go back again to get a better version. With more snow too! Second pic is Saint Walpurga’s chapel (Walpurgiskapelle).
This afternoon: typical scene of ‘Franconian switzerland’ after a bit of snow.
The moon was peeking through the clouds on the way back from Nuremberg Friday night so I thought maybe this tree would make a nice photo. It’s at a place called Fishstein, just a few km down the road.
The photo I really want to take is when there is a good layer of snow and a clear night with at least a quarter moon. Might look cool.
Nuremberg Christmas market last night (Friday).
Christmas markets here are quite popular and a large and historic one like Nuremberg’s draws tourists from all over. Hot Glühwein is a popular drink which helps keep off the cold and every stall selling it always has a huge crowd standing around and talking with friends in the crisp winter air. Lots of cool little crafts to see along with all the cookies as sweets to be bought.
This past weekend marked the beginning of a month of Christmas markets (Weihnachtsmarkt in German) all across Germany. Although Regensburg in not especially known for having a good market, we decided to head there for the afternoon anyhow. Hopefully I can get to the Nuremberg market on this coming Friday, as its supposed to be much bigger and better.
A nearly perfectly boring photo of nothing, well, of a cold nothing. But for some reason I find it sort interesting.
Yesterday I was looking for a cool isolated tree in a winter field and somehow managed (well, it wasn’t very difficult) to find some small little road that had not been cleared of snow. Within about 30 seconds I realized that I had probably passed the point of no return and it was either keep going and possibly end up stuck or try to turn around and definitely end up stuck – wouldn’t be my first time getting stuck in the snow. Never found any cool trees, but I thought these power lines would be an OK substitute. I managed a pretty good face plant (without camera) when I was sort of ‘hopping’ across the snow and found the waste deep drainage ditch on the side of the road, which was filled with snow and looked flat. Second photo is of the same ponds as yesterday.
Sunday was a thoroughly cold and snowy day; perfect for a nice hike. Snow kept me from taking many photo, but here’s a couple from a little hill above Pottenstein. I’ll be coming back to this spot again in early January, as there is a festival where they light hundreds of little fires on all the surrounding hills.
