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| Boys on tour |
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| Happy Easter! |
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| A breathtaking panorama |
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| Climbing the steeple |
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| Typical architecture in Ulm |
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| Residents of Ulm zoo |
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| A cheeky rhea |
Since last year's Easter ski-touring trip was such a success, Mike and Pete decided to repeat the experience, with our - the wives' - blessing of course. They did several tours, which included the ascent to and descent from the Amberger hut in the Ötztal region, taking in some wonderful panoramas and getting fitter and fitter.
With it being school holidays, Lucy had two weeks off but didn't fancy going away anywhere. So Mike and I arranged for Belka to stay at a friend's and engaged the services of our old babysitter, Melinda, to look after Lucy while we went on a two-night mini-break to the cathedral city of Ulm, just over the border in Baden-Württemberg.
Ulm has the tallest church steeple in the world, but you wouldn't believe it just looking up at it from the ground. Climb up the hundreds and hundreds of steps to the top, however, and it's a different picture. I got so dizzy going up the spiral staircases that I thought I'd fall over. Going downstairs again was just as bad. My legs were like jelly by the time we were back on solid ground.
Our hotel was at the trade show grounds, so not in the most beautiful of districts, but was only a few metres from the Danube and right next door to the tiny zoo. Mike had fun encouraging one particularly cheeky rhea to bite his camera lens so that he could get a silly photo. It worked, as you can see.
The highlight of our trip was spotting Frieder (pron. "Freeder"), the beaver who lives in the vicinity of our hotel. As we were walking back in the dark after a delicious Indian meal in town, we heard something gnawing at wood on the bank of some inland water. And there he was, this ball of fur that we at first thought was a big stone ... until he swam off to safety.
I saw Frieder again the following evening. Mike couldn't resist going back out later on to see if he could get a photo. He was in luck: Frieder materialized again and click, he was on film.
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| Frieder the beaver |
