BLOGYSSEY: Ordinary is Extraordinary

In previous posts I have gushed endlessly about European cities, their size, beauty and atmosphere. I thought that they would be what I would love most about Europe, but then I went to Heiligenberg to visit my Grandma and family. I cannot even begin to describe how absolutely amazing this area of Germany is. On the drive from the train station to my Aunt Emily’s house, we drove up little country roads with pear and apple trees in full blossom on either side. The blossoms were so numerous that you could barely see the branches behind the white, or white-pink petals. If each of these flowers turned to fruit, I am sure the branch would snap under the weight of it! I was told this was ‘farmer’s country’ and the further up the road we travelled the more I could see it. After the trees we passed into areas of vast paddocks, newly ploughed or with thick, lush green grass. And I mean really green. Dark and shiny, New Zealand green! But unlike New Zealand, there were no fences around the fields, the road just ended and the field began, giving the feeling that you were really right in the middle of a farm.

The In-Farm Feel (taken in a moving car!)

Emily’s house was near the top of a hill, and from the valley below looking up I could see a Castle nestled in the trees. It was a light shade of goldy-yellow with a black roof, a tower, and too many windows to count. Once we finally reached the house I realised we were just down the hill from the Castle, and in the morning, when I looked out over my breakfast muesli, I could see it from the window!

Castle View from Breakfast

The next five days pasted extremely fast, both due to the fact that I had decided to make myself a patchwork apron with the help of the extremely talented seamstress Emily, and that whenever anyone had to go anywhere, I would go along for the ride to see more of this beautiful countryside. Because I had come in spring, the beauty of the place was amplified. Previously bare trees were beginning to bud small, spring green leaves. Flowers filled every spare inch, with fields turned yellow from buttercups and dandelions. Tulips, daffodils and other colourful flowers I really don’t know the name of filling garden beds in front of clean, proud German houses. Emily once said to me, “I think Germans all try to compete with each other to have the nicest house, tidiest garden”, and I think she is right. Every house looked beautifully kept, wood stacked ridiculously precisely in neat lines, yards swept and flawlessly kept gardens. But oh, it made the area so beautiful!

Beautifully Kept Houses

Well Kept Village Fountain (it's Easter!)

Wherever we drove we past old, beautiful churches with high towers and bells that rung out over the land. Driving past them I would stare in wonder and gush at their beauty. Emily would just laugh, saying, “It’s just so ordinary for me!” I still find it so strange that castles on hills, old churches and these beautiful views can be ordinary. In saying that I guess that there are many things in New Zealand, the bush, waterfalls, and beaches that I also don’t give a second glance but that others, with fresh eyes, find amazing. I had often wished when I was younger that we had stayed in England instead of moving to New Zealand, but coming to Europe and finding the ordinary extraordinary totally makes up for ever not wanting to move!

Beautiful Church

Beautiful (tiny!) Church

However, undoubtedly the most extraordinary thing was the view from the house. On the first day I was there it was a bit cloudy, and so I could only make out the outline of the Swiss Alps that were apparently hidden amongst the clouds. But on the second morning, I woke early and decided to check of the clouds had cleared. Walking out onto the balcony I was just in time to see the Alps bathed in the pink light of the rising sun, clear without a cloud in view. I was truly speechless. They were HUGE! Again I found myself thinking the obvious. I knew mountains were big, but these were amazing. Naturally, I whipped out my camera to take a photo and couldn’t help being disappointed as the picture came out far less amazing that they really were. The harsh cuts of the mountain side, the lines of snow and rock, the particular red-pink sunlight that turned them a deep rose-pink colour that looked so beautiful and wild in real life seemed far tamer in the photo.