Summer-Ends.de

This time an excursion led again to France to the Alsace in the Northern Vosges. On the plan was the castle ruin Wasigensten. The former castle dates from the 13th century and was actually two castles. A smaller and a larger one. The castle was finally abandoned in the 16th century and almost completely destroyed in the 17th century. Nevertheless, some of its old splendour can still be seen today. On the one hand, it lies in the middle of the forest on a small hill and on the other hand, not everything has been completely destroyed. There are still the main stairs and some rooms that were dug into the rock. There are also remains of other rooms, towers and staircases, which make a visit here extremely worthwhile.

ALSACE, FRANCE: On this Sunday excursion we went to nearby France to visit another castle ruin. The destination was the ruin Fleckenstein not far from the German border. Fleckenstein is a typical robber baron castle as there are many in the area. The castle ruin is however relatively well preserved for a ruin. So rooms and corridors can be visited, which were dug into the rock. Of course you can also go to the very top, where you have a wonderful view over the forests and mountains of the area of the French Alsace and the German Palatinate Forest.

This time we visited another ruin in the Palatinate Forest during our Sunday excursion. The ruin Drachenfels was a robber baron castle until the 15th century. It is assumed that the castle was built before the 10th century. Due to problems with the robber knights the castle was finally destroyed after it was captured by surrounding troops. Today you can hardly see anything, because many stones were removed and houses were built with them in the village. Nevertheless, after 500 years there are still clear traces visible, which give an idea of its former mightiness.

ERLENBACH, GERMANY: Castle Berwartstein is located in the Palatinate Forest in Germany. It was built somewhen before the 1100s an is a complex building. We visited this interesting castle in May 2020 on a Sunday trip.

GERMANY, BLACK FOREST: We went out on a sunday in may for a little bit excursion into the Black Forest. We drove to the Nagold dam, which is a storage lake.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA: I wanted to discovery the surrounding landscape of Sydney, Australia. Before i had visited the south and drove around the Blue Mountains. The only part which was left was the north. I heared about the Hunter Valley, which is famous for its Wine and decided to drive there. Unfortunately I started too late and because of some heavy traffic it took much longer to go there than I had expected. I visited some Wineries and drove back along the Central Coast through The Entrance and further South back to Sydney. The Movie was made in December 2019 when the bushfires around Sydney startet to increase. The fire at the end of the movie intensified and resulted in a thick smoke in Sydney the coming days.

Because of the current situation it is not possible to go anywhere. Its good if you have a garden property where you can stay outside in the beautiful weather and do some things. We worked for some weeks now in the garden and planted something. Lets hope that everything will grow and that we can get a harvest in some weeks.

Some impressions from Australia Day 2020 in Sydney.