15) North-South: From the Sunny North to the Rainy South
- O Peregrino
- 13 hours ago
- 7 min read
Education: Many German universities are tuition-free or have very low tuition fees, even for international students. This makes Germany an attractive destination for higher education.
For the first 400km that we travelled on the Intercity Express, we cried our eyes out in deep, wistful grief that we were leaving our kind hosts Maika and Klaus and our adventures together in the far north behind. Finally, the sunny weather changed to an impenetrable, gloomy and threatening blanket of clouds that announced heavy rain showers.
But the gloom quickly turned into anticipation to meet again mom/grandmother also we thought about her delicious food and the hearty cakes that will soon be on the table at home again.
What we didn't yet know was that we had three days of rainy weather ahead of us, and the first rainy day in the south was quite heavy. But we remember our trip together in 2019, where we only had two full days without rain in the lovely month of May.
Rainy Day Survival Guide
Ah, three days of relentless rain. Mother Nature's way of saying, "Hey, you needed an extended staycation, right?" Here’s how to make the most of it with the orginal Beyond Borders Tip:
Day 1: Embrace the Indoor Cat Lifestyle
Netflix and Ignore Reality: Dive into a Netflix binge. Pick something light-hearted, like a dystopian future where rain is a scarce resource. Ironic, isn’t it?
Netflix Marathon
Start with a Netflix marathon of a series that everyone raves about but you secretly loathe. This will fill you with the delightful feeling of superiority and regret simultaneously. Binge-watch until you can't distinguish the characters from your own family members. Perfect way to start a lazy day, right?
Reorganize Your Closet: Rediscover clothes you forgot you owned. Marvel at your past shelf's questionable fashion choices.
Write a Novel: Start writing the next great American novel, only to abandon it after three paragraphs because you've realized that writing is hard and requires actual effort. Spend the rest of the afternoon Googling "how to become a writer" and watching YouTube videos of authors talking about their process, because research is half the battle, right?
Read a Book: Find that one book you’ve been "meaning to read" since forever. Feel intellectually superior for about five minutes before you give up and go back to Netflix.
Day 2: Channel Your Inner Culinary Genius
Gourmet Experimentation: Attempt a complicated recipe. Realize halfway through you’re missing half the ingredients. Improvise. Bask in the glory of your culinary disaster.
Gourmet Cooking Challenge: Transform your kitchen into a battleground. Attempt to cook a gourmet meal using only the expired ingredients lurking in the back of your pantry. Think of it as "Expiration Date Edition." Bonus points if you manage to set off the smoke detector. Again. Oh, the joy of discovering that can of mystery meat!
Culinary Catastrophe Cleanup: Spend the rest of the day cleaning the kitchen. Remember, it’s not just a mess; it’s an art installation.
Master the Art of Napping: After your culinary adventure, you'll need a nap. Make it a strategic one: just long enough to ruin your sleep schedule completely.
Paint-by-Numbers: Unleash your inner Picasso with a paint-by-numbers kit. Because true artists follow strict guidelines and color within the lines. Marvel at your masterpiece that looks almost exactly like the box cover. Proudly display it, because everyone needs more mediocre art in their lives.
Day 3: Productive Procrastination
Home Workouts: Attempt a home workout video. Get through the warm-up before deciding that stretching on the couch counts as yoga.
Indoor Camping: Set up a tent in your living room because why not? Use all your blankets and pillows to create a fort that would make your 5-year-old self proud. Eat s'mores made in the microwave and tell ghost stories about your exes. Nothing screams creativity like pretending to be outdoors while your Wi-Fi works perfectly.
Learn a New Skill: Attempt to learn a new skill through YouTube tutorials. Pick something completely impractical, like juggling flaming torches or knitting with spaghetti. Fail spectacularly, but take solace in the fact that at least you tried. Post your attempts on social media to harvest pity likes.
Declutter Your Digital Life: Clean out your email inbox. Relive old regrets as you read emails from that online course you signed up for and never started.
Social Media Deep Dive: Scroll through social media. Witness the perfect lives of others and feel a combination of envy and relief that you’re not out there getting soaked.
There you have it, a foolproof plan to creatively waste three rainy days with maximum nonsense and minimal effort. Enjoy your indoor escapades, you magnificent time-waster, you!
Return to Reality
But we are tough, tough as Krupp steel, tempered with fire and water; so we set out to film the flood, to wander around the nearby Seewald forest and to make a detour to Ravensburg, which is twenty kilometres away and has a population of 50,000.
Ravensburg is a popular holiday destination, thanks to the Alpine scenery, the city is full of sights, too. Known as the city of towers and gates, Ravensburg features 17 structures from various centuries, showcasing a range of different architectures.
It's nice for sightseeing in the Summer, or at least in dry weather. Our result was that after every wet foray we returned home soaked to the bone. But Huayna learned to enjoy the famous "Magenbrot" in Ravensburg.
Magenbrot is a small, sweet glazed biscuit that shares many similarities with a gingerbread cookie. The name of the dish directly translates to "stomach-bread" as it is believed to help improve digestion. This recipe first appeared in Swiss cooking books in the late 18 century. It is usually sold in Christmas markets in northern Switzerland and southern Germany. It is known by many names including Honigkuchen (Honey cake), Gewürzkuchen (Spice cake), or Kräuterbrot (Herb bread).
The Rotach River, once a mere whisper of water that meandered gently through the serene
countryside, had always been a symbol of tranquility. Its crystal-clear waters reflected the azure skies, and the gentle murmur of its flow was a soothing lullaby to those who lived nearby. But today, the heavens themselves seemed to rage against the earth.
As the rain began to fall, it was at first a soft, rhythmic patter, the kind that coaxed the leaves to dance and the earth to drink deeply. But then, the sky darkened, and the gentle rain turned to a torrential downpour. The once-peaceful Rotach, a humble stream that could be almost crossed with a single step, began to swell with a fury unknown to it. The raindrops, now relentless and heavy, pounded the surface of the water, urging it to rise, to grow, to roar.
The Rotach obeyed.
It surged, no longer a meek river but a beast awakened. The placid waters churned and foamed, crashing against the banks with a thunderous roar that echoed through the valley. Trees that once stood tall and proud at its edges were now threatened, their roots clawing desperately at the eroding soil, trying to hold on as the river tore at them with reckless abandon.
The current, wild and unbridled, raced through the landscape, swallowing everything in its path. Stones that had lain undisturbed for centuries were uprooted, carried away by the unstoppable force. The once-clear water turned a murky brown, thick with the earth it had claimed.
The Rotach River, in its newfound ferocity, no longer whispered; it screamed—a cry of raw, untamed power, a reminder to all that even the most serene of forces could become destructive under nature’s wrath. The countryside, which had once found comfort in its gentle presence, now trembled before the might of the transformed river, knowing that nothing could stand in its way until the storm had passed and the Rotach had spent its fury.
Now it was time to go shopping for Grandma. The nearest shop is a three-minute walk away, and we mischievously planned to buy delicious apple turnovers as a side effect of running through the dense rain. Apple turnovers are a crispy pastry shell filled with a hot, sweet and sour apple and cinnamon filling. But the wild Rotach flooded our path, but spurred on by the apple turnovers that were already waiting for us, we increased our pace.
Bad luck! All the apple turnovers had already been bought up by some greedy glutton. No time for the next delivery. Let's make do with mini pizzas.
And finally, after three somewhat cloudy days of rain, the sun finally flashed shyly through the retreating cloud cover. And we hear the irresistible call for new adventures (between you and me - they are not really adventures, but it sounds better).
The black swan (Cygnus atratus) is a large waterbird, a species of swan which breeds mainly in the southeast and southwest regions of Australia. Within Australia, the black swan is nomadic, with erratic migration patterns dependent on climatic conditions. It is a large bird with black plumage and a red bill. It is a monogamous breeder, with both partners sharing incubation and cygnet-rearing duties.
The black swan was introduced to various countries as an ornamental bird in the 1800s, but has managed to escape and form stable populations. Described scientifically by English naturalist John Latham in 1790, the black swan was formerly placed into a monotypic genus, Chenopis. Black swans can be found singly, or in loose companies numbering into the hundreds or even thousands. It is a popular bird in zoological gardens and bird collections, and escapees are sometimes seen outside their natural range.
The black swan, also called the mourning swan, is a rare guest on Lake Constance and because it is not native, it is actually unwelcome.
Watch the moist video in full screen here!
Go from one place to another, typically over a distance of some length. The Photographic Society of America defines a travel photo as an image that expresses the feeling of a time and place, portrays a land, its people, or a culture in its natural state, and has no geographical limitations. Travel photography as a genre is one of the most open in terms of the subjects it covers. We started to get interested in photography because of our journeys as backpackers
The only problem with travel photography is that you are usually always on the move. In practice, this means: lighting challenges and weather conditions. Unless you are only staying in one particular place with the purpose of photographing it, you are at the mercy of the weather conditions.
Here is a link to our Insight Magazine about our trip to Germany in 2024.
Published: 15/05/2025
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