Die Rhoen

This last weekend I traveled alone to meet some friends in Fulda. My boyfriend (Julian) is from Wuestensachsen, a tiny village outside of Fulda proper. I met two other friends with him, my friend Omar who has been traveling for 6 months, and my friend Sophie who is completing an internship in London.

I visited Fulda and Wustensachsen before the program started. I met my boyfriend's family, many of whom do not speak English. It was great fun and sometimes confusing, but I was thrilled to go back a second time to meet them again.

We all stayed in Fulda on Friday night. We had an enormous dinner outside on the patio. The weather in Fulda is much different than here in Duesseldorf. It is much cooler and little windier due to the elevation. It is near a nature preserve called Die Rhoen. Wuestensachsen is situated in Die Rhoen, and we went there the following day.

We ate a HUGE breakfast in Fulda, then went on to have soup in Wuestensachsen. Julian's Oma always makes soup on Saturday from the vegetables in the garden. It was DELICIOUS and I finished my entire bowl even though I was still stuffed from breakfast! I love German food and I'm really not sure how I'm going to get along without it in Texas!

Julian's Opa is the leader of Die Rhoen club in Wuestensachsen. This area of Germany is absolutely beautiful and full of places to hike that are undisturbed besides the wandering of Die Rhoen club! The club meets up to hike whenever they can, and this weekend there was a special evening hike. We started around 5 pm for Nallenberg. It was home to a mine shaft that has long since been abandoned. There were about 20 hikers in this party, some children. We hiked up to an intermediary goal that everyone could hike to. Celebratory Schnapps was handed out to everyone by Julian and myself. I wondered why everyone only wanted ein bisschen...then when we took the shots I drank a full plastic cup. The cups were made for shots, but I realized that half a cup is more than enough! Julian had filled my cup up completely and laughed when I couldn't finish. It's hard to take a shot of Schnapps in the heat of the day, especially when your heart is still pounding from trekking up an enormous hill! Opa saw this too and laughed. He took the cup from me and finished it himself! Hilarious!

Julian led some others up to the peak that overlooked the shaft afterwards. I went of course...I couldn't let these German hikers think I wasn't up for the challenge. I began to worry when only a small fraction of the hikers wanted to go, and most were men with gigantic calf muscles, a sign of a true wanderer! I went only reluctantly. It was fun trying to walk up a hill at a 45 degree angle that's covered in leaf debris! It was so slippery and I worried about our return hike. Julian said this path was much safer since the other one edged on a sort of cliff. This path was really difficult, but it was more than worth it when we arrived at the peak! I could see the whole valley and see a couple villages. Church bells were ringing and the sky was a clear, bright blue. It looked so surreal. I didn't realize how much I missed the open sky.

The hike down was great. Julian found a stick for me to use for balance and I made it down slowly but surely. We met up with the others and returned to our cars. We drove a short distance to Paula's Hahnchen, a restaraunt where I suppose the club met often. They served half chickens with other odds and ends and it was really delicious after a long hike. We sat outside at the restaurant, and it grew cold as night came. It must have been 60 degrees, probably less. It was wonderful! I could live with weather like that forever!

I'm sure you could guess by my novel of a post that I really loved Die Rhoen. I could live somewhere like Fulda; a moderately sized city edging on the side of a nature preserve. It was absolutely beautiful and I already miss it. It was hard for me to leave and I know that I will think about it for years to come.