#2024-08

[merpmonde]

Hornberg (at last!)

I've been putting this off for long enough, but here is a real gem in the heart of the Black Forest: the little town of Hornberg! Located in the Gutach valley with hills on all sides, it makes for an easy-access spectacular outing, as my parents would hopefully attest to having been there recently. This will be a mini-series as there's a lot to see, but let's start with some establishing shots and the two most obvious sights: the castle and the railway viaduct.

The castle on the top of a rock face is the first view on offer when coming out of the train station. It dates back to the 1200s and the first lords of the town. Progressively, the area came under the control of larger and larger domains, first Württemberg, then the Grand Duchy of Baden. Today, the tower remains, and can be climbed to enjoy a 360° view of Hornberg.

The railway viaduct is part of the ramp the Schwarzwaldbahn uses to get out of the Gutach valley cul-de-sac. Trains start climbing out of Hausach, and after Hornberg, they continue to Triberg and its loops. The view of the viaduct and station from the castle is marketed as a "life-size model railway": once an hour, Regional Express trains come through in both directions, and if they're perfectly on time, they cross the viaduct in sync!

After walking down from the train station, several routes lead to the castle. The steep, winding path on the Eastern rock face, visible in the second photo, is the quickest, but not always open, depending on the season. Going around the South side of the mountain leads to two more access roads, one straight up from the residential area and again rather steep, and the paved road, which is the easiest but, of course, the longest. In any case, it takes less up to an hour (longest route and really strolling) to get to the top - in time to watch the model railway!

[merpmonde]

A few bugs seen this summer!

The East side of Île de la Table Ronde is the noisy side, with the motorway running on the opposite side of the river. It's also the side with the widest walking track, and it was teeming with grasshoppers! I noticed a couple had landed on my shirt and were just chilling (maybe interested in eating the fabric? I'm thinking of locusts, aren't I). @teamroquette took the photos as I was unsure how much I could move without them jumping off. Turns out they were really chill.

Other critters seen this summer include some seen at Oberkirch: bees working on flowers, that's a classic, and... some less fortunate insects.

Bonus - posted here because my sister will kill me if I post this on Instagram where she can see it: a spider hanging out by Nonnenmattweiher lake.

[merpmonde]

Summer highlight reel: Île de la Table Ronde

To the South of Lyon, the "Island of the Round Table" in the middle of the Rhône offers a fantastic escape from the city. While the East side is exposed to a lot of noise from motorway traffic, the inside and West shore are gorgeous, and the southernmost end is a nature preserve.

The river flows by at a steady pace, making it a good spot for a reaction ferry similar to the ones in Basel. Fair play to the locals, they thought that too!

Bridges now do the job - though the suspension bridge from Vernaison isn't doing too well. Built in 1959, it needs replacing and until then, traffic is limited on it so as not to overload it. This hasn't been helped by the North side of the island being an industrial estate.

In the centre of the island, one finds a ruined farm, the Ferme aux Loups. One thing @teamroquette likes to do is geocaching, and so we looked for some, but the most elusive geocache of all was the namesake of the island. There are pictures of a round table associated with the island on Google Maps, but we missed it. That said, one Google review also mentions that they couldn't find it, so who knows.

We did find these interesting and somewhat imposing water level meters though. Lay on them to measure yourself... and get the wrong answer!

[merpmonde]

MiniWorld Lyon

Looking for a cool place to go with @teamroquette on the hottest day of my trip to Lyon, we opted for... Lyon. But the miniature version, housed in the MiniWorld diorama park!

MiniWorld Lyon was surprisingly impressive at every level. The sets are huge and the details are amazing. We spent hours there and didn't catch everything - there are 4 Wallies (Waldos) in the whole park and I only found two. But to show the level of dedication, see that traffic jam going into Fourvière tunnel on the left? It goes all the way in, as far as the turn...

And it's like this all the way through the park. The main exhibit is divided into four zones (each with a Wally): generic city, mountain, countryside and Lyon.

This exhibit is on a 20-minute day/night cycle, and every hour, Mini Lyon holds a replica of Lyon's Fête des Lumières held in December, which includes light shows projected on buildings, such as those on Place des Terreaux.

The current temporary exhibit is called Japan Mania, with dioramas from Japanese pop culture. A few Japanese elements have been added to the main exhibit too, including something familiar...

[normn354]

Abandoned farm house off of hwy 367.