SUNDAY, 6 AUGUST 2006
Sunday --- nothing open --- nothing to do. A welcome day of rest after a hectic week.
I finally have a chance to explore my own neighborhood. I was very excited when I looked on the map and saw that all the streets in my area, at least to the west of the main street I live on, are named after characters from Wagner operas. Senta, Tannhäuser, Elisabeth, Lohengrin, Elsa, Tristan, Isolde, Siegfried, Brünnhilde, Hans Sachs, all are represented. I could only imagine what kind of businesses and pubs and restaurants might be in this area.
Alas, there are none of those things. The entire area is the European equivalent of an American suburban cookie-cutter subdivision. It is nothing but apartment buildings, and they all look alike, all surrounded by pavement. Until you round one corner and there is a charming little stone cottage with a garden of flowers and vegetables, bright and full, like out of a fairy tale, right in the middle of the development. It must have been there before everything else was built. For how long? Centuries? And the TV satellite dish on the roof?
Then you turn into the ominously-named Alberichstrasse, which goes past the development and into what seems to be virgin forest, and at the end of it a restaurant, almost hidden amid the trees. I will eat there tonight.
But now I go on into an area of small cottages, modern ones, all with well-tended gardens in full bloom. People that live in the city must come here just to garden; these houses are too small to live in. The little yards are laid out in a neat grid, with straight alleys between them, row after row, stretching on for... half a mile? A mile? Many of the gardens have privacy fences: wouldn't want to create a beautiful garden and then let people see it, would we?
Beyond the gardening area is the Waldpark, a natural area that goes on to the banks of the Rhein. Here I lose myself in the deep green of the forest along the narrow trails. They are much like the nature trails in Reedy Creek Park in Charlotte, only I think this is bigger. How old is this forest? It can't be old growth, not this close to the city. Is there any old-growth forest left in Europe? But the trees seem healthy. I wonder how many of these species are not found in America?
I end up at a sandy area on the riverbank. There is supposed to be a swimming beach around here, but I'm not sure this is it. But there is sand going right down to the water, and low trees all around. Children are playing in the water, but no one is actually swimming. In America there would be an old tire suspended from a tree branch so you could swing out and drop in the water. But none of these trees is tall enough.
I will have to come back with my bathing suit before the weather changes. And this forest will be where I come to relax and commune with nature. I will have to learn about the trees.
Twilight --- I am sitting on the terrace behind the restaurant. There is a small lake here and a great willow tree on its shore, towering against the sunset. This place could be miles away from any town. And with still abnormally warm temperatures, it could be the tropics. Of course it's actually a 15-minute walk from a busy street, but it's nice to forget for a while.

FACTOID --- With low mountains to the west, as well as to the east, the Rhein River valley around Mannheim (aka the Pfalz) is the warmest region in Germany. The western mountains shelter it from the Atlantic winds that sweep across France. That is why the wines produced here are so good. They say it doesn't even snow much here. I hope I get to see some anyway.