And we are back to the travel posts, with our first glimpse of Germany!
Taking the train to Germany always has some interesting moments. Changing trains onto the more local line is particularly good fun, because the signs at the station don’t always mention the name of the station that is on your ticket, and one has to wander around with a large suitcase looking for a map which might suggest the likeliest train to get on. Fortunately, I did manage to find my way onto a train to Mainz Hauptbahnhof, where I was met by my friend A.
A has an apartment just on the edge of Lerchenberg, near Mainz, which is full of windows and light. Below, there is a carpark, a row of trees, and then open fields. At this time of year, even though Mainz isn’t really that far north, the horizon never gets absolutely dark.
I’d arrived in the late afternoon, and A had just finished her University semester, which had been fairly taxing due to several conferences late in the term and the fact that she is actually working in a neighbouring country and taking the train back to Mainz every weekend. Given that I had been busily walking my feet into ribbons all over Paris, and was still recovering from that endless cough, I was very happy with her plan for a quiet few days, and a chance to sleep in and catch up.
We took a walk through the fields near Lerchenberg, which I foolishly failed to photograph – there really are long fields of barley and of rye, with the occasional bright red poppy raising its head. This was very lovely, and the first taste of an Arthurian theme which would recur several times in our German travels.
