Trips
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Saalfeld Fairy Grottoes
During the bridging days between Christmas and New Year, it was once again time to make a few small excursions. In addition to visiting relatives and ice skating, we also wanted to go to a new place we hadn’t been to before: the Fairy Grottoes in Saalfeld. We had already been to the Dragon’s Cave in Syrau, the Wieliczka Salt Mine in Poland, or the Turda Salt Mine in Romania – now we wanted to visit this nearby mine, although “near” is relative here. By car, it would have been about an hour’s drive to the south, but we traveled by train and bus via Jena Göschwitz, so the journey…
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Ilmtal Cycle Path and Falconry
In late summer 2023, we decided to go on a short bike tour while the weather was still good. A few years ago, we cycled south from Weimar towards Hohenfelden Reservoir. However, the bike path turned out to be a real challenge as we had to push our bikes uphill through an overgrown forest. Surprisingly, even today, Google does not feature the Ilmtal Cycle Path. This time, we relied solely on road signs, without a navigation system, and rode to the neighboring town of Kranichfeld, from where we had taken the train back the last time. Depending on how early we would arrive, we planned to visit the castles there…
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The Drei(n)schlag 2023
In mid-August, a special event took place here in Thuringia. It was called the “Drei(n)schlag” (Three Strike). This is a fireworks display celebrated irregularly since 2002 in the area between Erfurt and Gotha at the “Drei Gleichen” (Three Equals) hills. The Three Gleichen consist of three castles (Burg Gleichen, Mühlburg, and Veste Wachsenburg), which got their name from the “Dreinschlag” when allegedly on May 31, 1231, lightning struck all three castles simultaneously, causing them to blaze like torches. Conveniently, an autobahn runs between the castles, and a train station is also not far away. Taking the train wasn’t an option due to the late evening timing of the fireworks (although…
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The Napoleon Trail near Jena
The Napoleonpfad is an approximately 8km circular hiking trail near Jena that Nathalie, René, Dominik, and I hiked recently. But first, how did we come to choose this particular trail to hike? We had already been hiking twice in Jena. Once on the Jenzig-Hufeisen-Kunitz trail and once on a trail near René’s place. During the second hike, we noticed that we intersected with another hiking trail, and even more exciting, René mentioned that he had developed an app for that particular trail at his company! Of course, for Nathalie, that was reason enough (as if she needed any reason in general to go hiking) to explore this trail and try…
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Jena Canoe Trip
Nathalie wished to go canoeing for a long time and we found out a while ago that this is offered in Jena. But since it could be boring for two and a small canoe is more likely to tip over, we also invited Dominik and René. We chose Jena-Porstendorf as the route, which is only a 2-hour boat trip of around 9 kilometers. We booked an appointment on a Sunday and the weather was fine – just a little cloudy, but no rain. The fact that it had hardly rained in the last few weeks was to be a small disadvantage. The three of us – Dominik, Nathalie and I…
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Activities between Christmas holidays and New Year
The year 2021, like the previous one, was special due to the pandemic. What was new was that Nathalie did not go home for Christmas due to Corona, so we were both in Weimar and were able to carry out our own plans over the holidays and up to the New Year. Of course we were still restricted by the pandemic, but we had just had our third booster vaccination and were therefore able to do a lot to make the last week of the year a special one. The Christmas Holidays Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day fell on Friday to Sunday this time (actually quite stupid on…
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Hohenfelden Reservoir
On the last weekend in June the weather was particularly good and so I planned a little trip again. Since we have already hiked enough lately, a bike tour was on the agenda. The plan was to cycle to the reservoir Hohenfelden early in the morning and have a nice day there. Unfortunately, the bike path turned out to be not that ideal at all. A significant part of the route led along main roads and unfortunately it was uphill several times. Somewhere between Weimar Legefeld and Bad Berka we finally stood panting in the indentation of a country road that led through the middle of the forest and wound…
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The “Drei Gleichen” Hike
Already when I first sat in the car from NRW in the direction of Erfurt, I noticed three castles shortly after Gotha, which stand on neighboring hills and are clearly visible from the highway. Nowadays I know that these are the so-called “Drei Gleichen”. At that time I planned to visit these three castles one day. Shortly thereafter, however, the idea unfortunately fell into oblivion again. When we recently walked a section of the 3 Towers Trail with Marie and Christopher, Marie made the suggestion to do the hike at the Drei Gleichen. She had already done this twice and the path was quite beautiful and also not too strenuous.…
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The Thuringian 3-Towers Hike – A Self Experiment
After Kevin and I have recently hiked a section of the Thuringian 3 towers path together with friends, I wanted to know my limits. On the last Saturday in May, Kevin had a big card tournament and was thus busy all day. But since the weather was quite promising, I decided to unpack my previously unused hiking poles and do the Thuringian 3-Towers hike on my own. Kevin and I both got up early in the morning. Kevin to get ready for his tournament and me to pack my backpack and prepare provisions. We had a chickpea-avocado salad and a strawberry-wheat-arugula salad. In addition, of course, I took a bottle…
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Gotha Zoo and wet animals
It was the beginning of June and sights in Thuringia that had been closed for months have slowly reopened, including zoos. So we thought, why not go and admire animals again and we haven’t been to the Gotha zoo yet. Unfortunately the whole thing fell into the water. Although Sunday was predicted to be the sunniest day, it turned out to be the day where it only rained from morning to night. In the morning we weren’t sure whether we’d rather go somewhere where it is covered … such as the Saalfeld fairy grottoes. However, due to the current corona regulations, you had to buy the tickets a day in…
