Heimkirchen: Wandering Through the Woods, Looking for Food

Up the hill and into the forest

(more photos follow the aimless verbiage)

The Germans are outdoor people.  Even in the midst of winter, you see people old enough to know better, creaking along, stabbing their canes in the snow as they tramp through a morning walk.  When the weather turns fair, meaning anything above freezing, pouring rain or not, the multitudes come forth to walk, jog, or bike through the woods and fields.  Quite often on the weekends and holidays, these walks are organized, with signs to guide you and refreshments at beginning and end.  If you’re lucky, there are even souvenir prizes, like mugs, metals, or plates.

Clubs exist whenever two or more Germans share a passion, whether it’s classic cars, rowing, or cake decorating.  One of my German friends is in so many clubs it’s tough to keep track:  model boats, classic cars, hiking, rowing, et al.  Very social folks these Germans.

Anyway, back to the subject of volksmarches.  As you might imagine, there’s an organization for that also, dating from 1968, the International Federation of Popular Sports (IVV), or in German, Internationaler Volkssportverband.  The essence of the sport is non-competitive walking.  I like the non-competitive part, which not only gets people of all ages out in the fresh air and verdant forests, but also keeps me from igniting my competitive side and busting my hump in a never-ending quest not to be dead last.

There’s another aspect that draws me to IVV events.  In a word, beer.  In another word (as if any red-blooded male needed another one) is wurst.

You tramp through the woods, stop for a bier and a brat, then tramp some more.  Hills.  Dales.  Forests.  Past swaying fields of grain, cows, horses,  Best of all, at the end there’s more bier und wurst! 

This particular walk, near Heimkirchen, favored outdoor flavors.  There was local wine, sausages and smoked bacon made from wild boar, as well as smoked trout from nearby streams.

Other culinary tours I’ve enjoyed, and plan to write more about, are walking tours through vineyards, and those sponsored by restaurants. Hey, I walk for food.

The volksmarches get you to quaint villages, through fertile fields, and into some of the most luscious forests on earth.  The German passion for the outdoors is catching and I think I’ve got the bug.

Wheat fields are everywhere

The social aspects are every bit as important as the exercise

I love the quaint villages nestled in the countryside

Scenes From The Zweibrücken Rose Garden

I’m an outdoor kinda guy, but different from some of my friends who like to scamper up forbidding cliffs, fingernails worn clean by scaly rocks, or the odd folk who think nothing of sleeping outside on the hard ground, with only ticks and mosquitoes for company.  Nope.  Not for me.  The almighty didn’t offer hotels with room service and put money in my pocket so I could roll in the dirt with the vermin. I’m the outdoor guy who sits in the shade of a well kept garden, sipping a cool beer, watching the roses smile at the sun, while bees do their sworn duty.

Speaking of gardens and roses, garden season sneaked up like a warm, wet kiss.  I’m ready!  Sparkling days, sunny temperatures, trees and flowers bursting into bloom tell me it’s almost time for the annual Zweibrücken (Two Bridges) Rose and Garden Market.  Scroll down for the rest of the story.

A placid lake leads the way

Zweibrücken’s history dates back more than 650 years and even has a tie to the United States, having sent the Regiment Royal Deux-Pont to help us win our independence from Britain.  Today, one of Zweibrücken’s sister cities is Yorktown, Virginia, where the Royal Regiment fought in the eponymous battle that essentially put an end to British resolve.

Rose and Garden Market

From 09/06/2012 to 06/10/2012

Besides looking and drinking and eating, the rose garden offers all sorts of garden plants and herbs for sale, as well as garden implements, furniture, and decorations.  Expert advice lingers at every sales booth.  For more information, follow this link:

http://www.zweibruecken.de/index.dante?back_id=4077&parent_id=18529&node_id=18960&sid=CIEJDBDADDDCAKEGDBDDDDDHDIDDDIDIDIDHCODIDBDGDADDDJDDAKEMDBDDDDDHDIDDDIDJDADEDEDJDCDCEMAKHEHADBAKCO&aid=1131&dph=&cmd=showevent&kategory=&filtdate=

Also, Don’t miss the Town Market on Saturdays!  0800-1400

A total of 25 market stalls feature all sorts of edibles, under the slogan"Fresh from the region for the region." A large selection of cheeses, baked goods, fruits, vegetables, oils, jams, flowers and plants, fish, meat and meat products, fresh eggs and pasta, dairy products, honey, liqueurs and spirits delight the senses. To make the market experience even better, there is now a great tasting and gourmet zone.

Another thing to consider is a visit to Zweibrücken’s vast shopping complex, The Style Outlets (same name in German and English), featuring many famous and popular brands.

So, ok, fellow outdoor enthusiasts, go straight to the city that boasts over 60,000 roses.  Grab a bier and a wurst and sit in the shade in a most magnificent garden.  Enjoy the great outdoors in style. Buy a few plants for your garden, or pick up a stylish bottle of rose liquor.  No need to roam the jungle and sneak between the mongoose and the cobra to claim your share of nature’s bounty.  Zweibrücken offers my type of outdoor experience.

One of the Essential Books I Bet You’ve Never Read

            No, I’m not talking about “The Ethical Slut,” or “The Myth of Monogamy,” both fine books, I’m sure, and both available from Amazon.  Take care of all those details yourselves and let’s get serious for a sec.  “Deep Survival, Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why,” by Laurence Gonzales is much more important to me and everyone else who desires a fightin’ chance.

            But, you say, I do not go deep in the woods, oh no, no, no.  I do not do the crazy things my friend Grunt does, like take flying leaps from airplanes, or my friend Eman does, such as climbing on the sides of terribly high cliffs in god-only-knows-which-backwater country. 

            You’re thinking, I only visit shopping centers, take a few commercial plane rides, do a little skiing.  One of the most poignant stories in the book begins with two teenage girls at a shopping center, who go for a nearby nature walk, without really knowing the nature of the walk.  Nope.  Not what you think.  No molesters or killers lurking.  Just the girls and Mother Nature, whom you soon find out, is about as forgiving as the wicked witch of the west with PMS.

            Or maybe you’re thinking, ah a book about how to build signaling blazes, roast tadpoles, splint limbs, or get water from dead leaves.  Deep Survival is not that kind of book.  Gonzales has been studying accidents and human behavior for decades.  Deep Survival is about what he has discovered, but most of all it’s about how what he has discovered can help you in the darkest of hours and the bleakest of circumstances.

            He doesn’t preach or list rules.  He weaves a web of stories.  There’s the kid in a plane crash who is the only human to make it home alive, and the skier who just does what he always does, and suddenly experiences vastly different results.  Nope.  Didn’t hit a tree and he was on a course he’d skied many times.

            The best part of the book is that, in addition to choices for survival, the author provides a rough blueprint for how to stay alive, period.  All of it told by a master storyteller.  You race through pages at novel reading speed, then reflect and go back to reread.

            Gonzales describes civilization as a bubble of sanity, replete with rules we understand and live by.  Inside the bubble, except for the occasional catastrophic event, nature is mostly contained and controlled.  Outside the bubble, there are no rules and often the bubble ends where we least expect it.

            All is not lost, however.  There are things you can do to protect yourself from getting in a survival situation to begin with.  But, if you find yourself as alone as a star in the heavens and as scared as the icy pee in your socks, you can help yourself and your family.

            If you decide to read this book, available on Amazon, I can guarantee two things:  You’re going to learn a lot, even if you’ve had a million years of survival training, and you’re going to be entertained with edge-of-the-seat excitement.