Sunny Sunday

I went running and it felt great. I’m a bit slow and out of practice, so I have to go easy on myself. The weather is great!

When I got back, I could hear Killswitch Engage blasting from a flat across the way. There was a guy playing guitar in front of his flat; I think it was Led Zeppelin. Vince has been playing that song too, so I recognized it. Another couple, possibly from India, were playing badminton with no net. Others are yelling at each other in Spanish between buildings.  This place is friendly and social.

Herrngarten, which is in the middle of the city and next to Darmstadt University, is the place to be when the weather is good. Which it was today, and even better since it was a Sunday and everything is closed. (Some restaurants and cafes remain open.) The masses were out; playing Frisbee, lawn games that I have not seen before, playing music, or simply enjoying the day with friends on a blanket. I found a couple guys and a girl who had set up a slack line, so I asked if I could try it, and I stepped on. They left me alone for a bit while I walked across it a few times, and then I thanked them and was on my way.

I couldn't sit around during such a nice day, so I headed out again on food to explore a different part of the city. I ended up a building that I’d seen earlier from the top floor of the skyscraper on h_da campus. It’s a really cool housing complex with a garden that starts at ground level and becomes the roof of all the spaces below. It reminds me of Gaudi’s work with organic shapes, flowing lines, and tiled detail work. It’s all private residences so I couldn't walk all the way up the garden, but I did jump the fence and get a very short way up. After that, I just walked around and took pictures.

I was just lounging around, working on getting my computer to work as if it was in the US when I got a text from Rita. She was bored and wondered if we were doing anything. A few messages back and forth and it was decided that we’d head out to climb a tree at Herrngarten. My random suggestion of things to do was answered with an affirmative Yes, and even a suggestion of a specific tree. It’s not every day you suggest climbing trees as an activity, and the girl knows WHICH tree to climb. So we went. For just over two hours we walked around, climbed a tree, I climbed partway up a building, grabbed some food, and explored some local spots.

Rita knows these cool spots that would be hard to find unless you were shown by a local. There’s a house with a very artistic garden with metal cut-out lamps, 7’ tall glass lanterns, flowing water fountains, and a TRAMPOLINE! I didn’t realize it until we were in the back yard that this is a private residence. The owners are just nice people who leave the gate open and let people walk around. There’s a sign asking for people to respect the property, but Rita and I were there at maybe 10:00 and the gate was still open. Then it was up to Mathildenhöhe, where we sat on the balcony and watched the starts for a while. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought this was a pretty sweet date. Sadly, no. We probably walked a little over 5 km during this outing.