Postings from Germany

Das Alte Land

Literally translated, it means "Old Land" but apparently it has nothing to do with old. Or land. Funny, but language does that sometimes. One source says the name is a corruption of Olland, the name for the region when it was controlled by (H)olland. So, Ol land, old land.

Regardless, today everyone here connects Altes Land with apples, cherries and pears, but mostly apples. It's the largest single apple producing area in Europe. In the spring time, it's a popular tourist destination - busloads of (mostly) old folks head up there to look at the miles and miles and miles of fruit trees in blossom. So, we went too. Even though we're not old.

And naturally, we took our bikes instead of taking the tour bus.

We drove up to Stade, a lovely town near the Elbe to start the tour. I was impressed the first time by all the lovely doors. Here's a single example.







Stade has a charming little harbor in the center of the original town, and an old and interesting crane that was used to pull goods from the ships.








Then off to the hinterland.

First we went along the dikes, used - as all of you know by now - for sheep grazing. Also occasional cows. But here it was only sheep. I'm afraid I didn't get the best shot here - we were there just after the shepherd had let the sheep through to the new area - but still, they move and bleet. Baaaaaa. Cute.

What is so interesting too - architecture is still fun for me - is the way the bricklayers can vary the patters of the bricks. It reminds me of how the women could do so much with stitches on simple linen. Art shows itself in simple ways.







Further along the trail, we came to some of the first blossoms. But of course, not the FIRST blossoms, since they had done their thing and were already finished two weeks earlier! Werner had come up here by car with his mother and seen the cherry blossoms, all deep pink and lovely. Now we have the end of the apple blossom season - still lovely, but the blossoms are white with just a hint of pink. Not quite as dramatic from a distance, but up close, they are wonderful.

It's still a bit strange to see these rather large ships looking over the river banks.


















Really, the trip was about air and space and flowers. Here, a collage of the flowers along the way.



Make a wish and try to blow all the seeds away from the dandelion.