Julia is more adulty than I am, so she has to work this week. This leaves me to my own devices. I could wile the day away in her lovely apartment, but I’ve seen plenty of 4-walled habitations…Yesterday I tested the waters with a walk to downtown Esslingen to find some wifi (only partially successful). With the chops I honed yesterday, I went a step further and went train hopping. My current German vocabulary consists of thanks, excuse me, man, woman, exit, entrance, bread, water, ice cream, and counting to ten (but not numbers without counting; I’m really just a rotary telephone dial). I wasn’t quite brave enough to tackle the bus, so I walked 45 minutes to the train station, purchased my ticket, navigated to the correct platform, and took a seat. My rapt attention was directed to my phone screen as I watched the blue dot creep along the plotted course, to ensure I caught my stop. An hour later, Bad Urach Wasserfall! I walked with purpose as I exited the train, though I didn’t know which way I was headed. I crossed back and forth in front of less urgent Germans, then finally decided a direction. Things I learned today:

1. 0.5 L is not enough water for a 20+ km hike.
2. It is relatively tortuous to hike alongside a babbling brook with an empty water bottle.
3. Finding a tap with the handle removed is also not encouraging while hiking with an empty water bottle.
4. Baden-Wurtemburg is Wisconsin with the carpeting pulled up to make the hills steeper.
5. Jessica’s Wisconsin legs are not entirely acclimated to steeper hills.
6. Hiking toward unknown points of interest on a German map is highly rewarding.

I started my trek on what I thought was off the beaten path, toward Burgruine something something. It sounded French, and it involved some terrain, so I went for it. So. Worth it. Burgruine Hohenurach is a fortress on a (tall, steep) hill, with construction beginning nearly a millennium ago, in 1052. (!!!!!) I was free to explore the rooms and stairs and walls, peering over the countryside and catching my breath with each view. Spectacular! I continued on my way to the Uracher Wasserfall, which took me over an hour to soak in. I spoke with a German man who had hiked 15 km one way to let the sound of the cascades offer soul-salve. My hike to Uracher Wasserfall was, uh, more meandering than I had planned, so I looked more frequently at my maps as I carried on toward Gutesteine Wasserfall. A single stanza of today’s theme is copied below. Listen with the sound of falling water as accompaniment:

For the beauty of the earth,

for the glory of the skies,

for the love which from our birth

over and around us lies;

Lord of all, to Thee we raise

this our grateful song of praise