The historical Mainschleifen Bahn and the Jungle path

 

In the tradition of the blogs I have written about the historical O&W train in the states I am writing about the Mainschleifen Bahn and the 'Dschungelpfad' . The historical train goes from Seligenstadt to  Volkach. 

Early in the morning I took the train from Wuerzburg Hauptbahnhof to Seligenstadt. From there I took the Mainschleifen Bahn to Volkach. The Mainschleifen Bahn goes only on  special days like holidays or like today on Buss und Bettag the German prayer and repentance day. 

It was muddy and slippery on the Jungle trail. 

Older people should maybe consider a wanderstick. Fortunately I had good shoes. 

I enjoyed this 10.6-kilometer loop trail near Volkach, Bavaria. The route is fairly  easy. 

The „Dschungelpfad“(in english "Jungle path") between Astheim and Kaltenhausen leads you through an (almost) pristine forest. Decrepit trees lie all over. 

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• It is a beautiful shady path, but it has many nettles that may burn you. There are some super nice spots at the Main, with mini beach sections and huge willow trees and that brings variety to the tour. 

• Below the Vogelsburg - up to the Main ferry at Kaltenhausen/ Volkach-Fahr (district of Volkach) there is the wonderful "Mainhang", which runs close to the banks of the Main. A natural paradise, with an exciting route and the feeling of being in the " wild jungle". It's definitely worth it. 

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• Well, it is almost wild nature, but at least you can say it very close to wilderness. 
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   ☀️ Everything is included in this hike : forest, meadows, adventure, water, shade and sun. . 

The path next to the Main was also problematic when hiking. A thick layer of clay on the soles, the path partly sloping like soft soap. Would only use him in dry weather

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• • And where else is that? And this is the ferry - in Volkach, Germany. 

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  • For the tour back from Fahr to Volkach  I took the other side of the Main. Of course there are also alternatives. But it was nice evening sun and easy to walk on. 
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  • We looked for a parking space in Astheim am Main and started walking from there. You should wear good shoes, because in the jungle section you need them! An excursion into nature for children. 
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  • You have the Main next to you. Once at the top you have a wonderful view over the Main Loop. 
  
  
  
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  • Allerdings nicht bei nassen Verhältnissen und nur mit festem Schuhwerk zu empfehlen
  
  
  
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  • The trail is not suitable for a stroller or wheelchair!!. The way back from the Esche Endorf turnoff is only in the sun... don't forget your sunscreen! Use the toilet at the Vogelsburg! After that there is no more possibility for that
  
  
  
  

  
  
• I took the tour on a beautiful sunny fall  day. Many trees and bushes were loosing their leaves. An impressive Indian summer with  colorsof nature. But the tour may also have its appeal on a damp summer's day, or a cool white winter day. By the way even if it doesn't look like a jungle for the first 2 kilometers, it can still get quite slippery when it's wet. So you  do need sturdy shoes.  🦎😍
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• • Like I said before it is a very beautiful, natural hiking trail! However, not recommended in wet conditions and only with very good shoes. 

    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
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  • Nice footpath along the 

  •  🦎😍  Albrecht A great path in nature.... I just loved it. 
  •  path, but the warning signs are justified. Hardly walkable when wet and after rainy days. Then extremely slippery - even with a good profile
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  I heard from locals that Accidents happen there once in a.while. Then a rescue team has to come to the scene of the accident from the water. The path should really only be walked by people who are VERY GOOD on foot!
  
  
  
  
  
  
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  • Hiking & cycling 🚲🧦 Don't forget sticks when it's wet 
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   I took the bus back to Rimpar at 6 30 pm. 

  
  

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How I learnt to speak Norwegian fluently in a year

In High school I used to go to the Nordic juggling Convention in Denmark and after my Abitur German university entry exam in Germany I traveled to Helsinki . So of course I decided in my first year at University to take Danish and Finnish. It took me 3 weeks to drop out of the Finish language course and I took French instead. But I got a little further in Danish.... I learnt to ask : 'Hvad heder du?' Und `Hvordan gar det med dig?`Hvor gammel er du...and I learnt to order in a Cafe or Restaurant. 

More than 20 years later I went back to learning Danish with a book I bought in a bookshop right at the University in Hamburg.

I often learnt vocabulary and phrases when lifeguarding. Then in 2019 a Norwegian friend said to me, why don't you learn Norwegian. It is easier pronunciation wise. 

Die griechische Inselwelt des Altertums (Zykladen) ...eine Tourempfehlung!

 Autor: Meike Elisabeth Fromm

Griechische Inselwelten des Altertums

Für im Altertum interessierte hat Griechenland sehr viel zu bieten. Die Inseln des Altertums sind nicht nur geschichtsträchtig sondern auch schön - und oftmals leerer und ruhiger. Wir stellen Ihnen 5 Inseln der Cykladen vor, die unserer Meinung nach  eine besondere Rolle in der Welt der giechischen Mythologie und Geschichte Griechenlands gespielt  haben. Mit unserer 5 Insel Tourempfehlung kann man im Sommer das reiche kulturhistorische Angebot mit einem Badeurlaub an den Stränden dieser wunderschönen Inseln kombinieren.  Wenn man Sonne, Wind und Meer mit Geschichte des Altertums verbinden will sollte man diese 5 Insel Tour in seinem Urlaub nicht vergessen! Wir veraten Ihnen in diesem Blog, welche Sehenswürdigkeiten diese Inseln zu bieten haben. 

 

       <1.- Delos 2.- Mykonos ·3.- Eubøa:  ·4.- Lesbos · 5.- Kreta>>

Die Insel Delos - die Insel des Apollo

Die Insel Delos (oder auf neu-griechisch- Mikra Dili ‚Klein-Delos‘) ist eine Insel der Cykladengruppe im Ägäischen Meer. Die Insel gehoert zum UNESCO Weltkulturerbe. Die Insel ist die wichtigste mythologische, historische, und archäologische Ausgrabungsstaette Griechenlands. Die Ausgrabungen auf der Insel sind die grösste im Mittelmeer. Die meisten gefundenen Artifakte sind entweder im archäologischen Museum von Delos oder dem Nationalen Archäologischen Museum Athens ausgestellt. Delos war im Altertum eine blühende und durch das dortige Apollonheiligtum heilige Insel. Heute leben dort nur noch 44 Leute, und zwar die Museumswärter mit ihren Familien.

 

                      Delos. archäologische Ausgrabungsstätte und Altertumliches Heiligtum

Die Insel Mykonos - Herakles Insel (der Legende nach hat Herakles die Insel gebaut)

Die Insel Mykonos ist zu jeder Jahreszeit einen Besuch wert. Etwas außerhalb von Mykonos Stadt, eher im Landesinneren, finden Sie zahlreiche Denkmäler, alte Brunnen und Ruinen, die Ihnen eine Vorstellung davon geben, wie die Griechen vor vielen tausend Jahren einmal hier gelebt haben.

Eine flache Kapelle, die noch sehr gut erhalten ist, können Sie zum Beispiel in Drafaki sehen. Ein außergewöhnliches mykenisches Gewölbe hingegen ist in Vrissi. In Lino stößt man auf alte Ruinen, die zu einem früheren Verteidigungssystem der Insel gehören.

 

Bilder der Insel Mykonos

Die Insel Euboea - Geburtsort der Halbgöttin Euboa Tochter des Flussgottes Asterion

Die besten Ausflugsziele befinden sich buchstäblich überall, mit Besichtigungsmöglichkeiten, die von byzantinischen Klöstern und Museen über schillernde Strände bis hin zu traditionellen byzantinischen Dörfern reichen. Die Hauptstadt Chalkida hat neben der Festung von Chalkida auch ein kleine Sehenswührdigkeit aus der Neuzeit, die Drehbrücke von Chalkida und das rote Haus. Es gibt auch Naturschauspiele wie das Wasser, das die Richtung wechselt und die Quellen von Euböa,- Loutra!

Nach Kreta ist Euboea die zweitgrößte griechische Insel und verfügt über traumhafte Strände mit üppiger Vegetation.

 

 

 

  

 Bilder der Insel Euboea: Strand, Stadt und Karte

 Die Insel Lesbos- Wohnort des Marakas, Sohn des Gottes Marakas

Einer Legende nach soll die Insel von Marakas , dem Sohn des Gottes Helios bewohnt gewesen sein. Die Insel Lesbos bietet einen abwechslungsreiche Abschnitt in ihrem Griechenland Urlaub. Lesbos hat traumhaftes Wetter, schöne Strände und kulinarische Erlebniss und mehrere herausrgende Museen, nicht jedes hat mit dem Altertum zu tun wie z.B, das Archäologische Museum Mytilini wo die die wichtigsten archäologischen Funde der Insel ausgestellt werden. Schwerpunkt sind in dem Museum Ausstellungsstücke aus dem Leben im 2. Jahrhundert v. Chr. Weitere Museen sind das Teriade Museum  neben dem Theofilos Museum. Hier sind Kunstbücher, die Werke von Marc Chagall, Le Corbusier, Alberto Giacometti, Henri Matisse, Joan Miró, Pablo Picasso und anderen modernen Künstlern abbilden, ausgestellt. Auch das naturgeschichtliche Museum des versteinerten Waldes ist empfehlenswert. Es zeigt, wie Olivenöl Schritt für Schritt hergestellt wird.

Die Insel Kreta - Geburtsort des Zeus

Kreta ist nicht nur eine Strandparadies sondern auch eine Kulturhochburg, Wer im Urlaub gern Baden mit Kultur verbinden möchte, ist hier genau richtig. An der Südostspitze der Insel gelegen, gilt die Region als das kulturelle Zentrum Griechenlands. Kreta  war schon den alten Griechen ein Begriff und hat neben den wunderschönen langen Stränden auch noch viele weitere kulturelle Denkmäler und Relikte des Altertums zu bieten. 

So können Sie im Sommer das reiche Kulturangebot mit einem Badeurlaub an Kretas Stränden kombinieren. Die wichtigsten Weltkulturerbestätten sind  die Ruinen der antiken Palaeste wie der minoische Palast von Knossos, ganz in der Nähe von Heraklion und berühmt für seine Legende mit dem Minotaure. Der minoische Palast von Phaistos mit seiner schönen Aussicht - hier wurde die Phaistos-Scheibe gefunden.Der minoische Palast von Malia mit den Wohnräumen und höheren Mauern, um sich die Anlage besser vorstellen zu können. Eine weitere Sehenswuerdigkeit ist  auch die grösste Ausgrabungsstaette Kretas, die römische Stadt Gortyna  

An der Küste Kretas merkst du dann auch, wie nah der nächste Strand ist: Vom Hafen von Kreta bis Neah Chora Beach bietet Kreta unzählige Möglichkeiten, beim Spaziergang am Meer den Sonnenuntergang zu geniessen.

Bilder der Insel Kreta: Stadt und Grottenaussicht

Dan Jeffery's Holland America's favorite Cruise ship comedy juggler

 Altogether I haven't really been juggling extensively for three months  but now after a long time i have started up again and i  work on some of Dan's p.k.a Barnaby's juggling feats . 7 years ago i got Dan's DVD and fortunately Dan has given me priceless Feedback and helped me with some of his signature tricks. I even got the measurements for his Transfer sticks a Japanese trick called 'Daiogoru'

Unfortunately I had to work in my day job from 2014 to 2019 and did not work enough on perfecting my comedy and  some of his tricks, which he even volunteered to help me with. As a physical Education teacher i sometimes worked on spinning two balls at the same time before class.   Dan said quite clearly he would like someone to keep his show and his tricks alive. Did he know in 2013 he was going to die so soon? We will never know, but i asked him how he would feel if I used some of his comedy lines for my act and he was like.."Well, if you call your first born Dan I'm fine with it." Then he added. No one else is using my lines so you go ahead if it helps you to be a female comedy juggler on cruise ships. And by the way i have never heard of a female comedy juggler on cruise ships.  But you gotta learn my technique! But I ended up not practicing hard enough to perfect his technique to perfection like he did- So when i did my first cruise in the Bahamas I felt funny using some of his lines and dumbed down Barnaby tricks. I included some of my notes on what he said in regards tricks and practice. For a full rotation under the elbow he said it's important keep the elbow close to the body, bring the elbow down and get a smooth flow on the whole movement.

These are the 5 Steps:
Turn your wrist

Drop your wrist

Rotate arm around the ball

Lift ball directly up

Turn wrist out

A hint from Dan: try to drop it straight down with little movment side to side rotate arm around ball

Lift the ball straight up

Try to keep the ball in a direct vertical line

Then turn wrist out

and then get it smooth…

Instantly after a few tries it worked. For the ball on a stick trick, an audience participation trick with a child that holds a stick he said i should put a stick on a chair and practice placing a ball on it. I practice it like that now, but it's 7 years later. His ideas on practice were 3 hours a day plus one small practice for an hour at home. he was quite meticulous and well prepared, so I am trying to stick to that as much as it is possible. And it's weird when i watched his DVD i cried. I would like to add that he gave me  a good tip in regards to the transfer trick. It's like a click when  the second stick is in line with the first and it forms a triangle then you bring your head back to transfer the ball. I said to fellow Comedy Juggler Steve Rawlings that i found it sad that he died alone... The only thought that makes it less painful is that I believe he had some nieces and nephews and he was quite fond of them. Dan also really enjoyed force bouncing and said i should learn 5 ball force bounce, something i finally learnt when i worked with Christian Clock on the feat at Atlanta Groundhog in 2019 and some help from John Nations.  I am not working on the cigarette tricks as of yet, and i do not know if i will  but i feel quite confident that i will master all his other tricks, since his voice still rings in my ears-sometimes during practice although its 7 years ago.

Messias in the Oval office, Spiegel Magazine article from the 24th of August, 2019 translated by Meike Fromm

USA     After his Meme around the buying of Greenland we have to ask the question: Who protects the president from himself?

In one week, which gave us a display of bizarre moments, in which  the US president stood on the lawn of the white house saying:  "I am the chosen one." You may have thought it's a joke,  Donald Trump just spoke earlier about the China Trade war. But in order to underline his words, the president looked to the skies, to make sure everyone understands, from whom Trump receives his orders.

It was wednesday, a few hours earlier Trump announced on a short notice the cancelation of a statevisit  to Denmark. The president wanted to negotiate with the danish government the sale of Greenland. The biggest island in the world -but the deal didnt happen. First and foremost the the People of Greenland decide what happens with their island said danish Ministerpresident Mette Frederiksen. And second Greenland is not for sale. She called Trumps idea 'absurd". The president used the word 'nasty'  for Frederiksen a term Trump likes to use for women, he feels are treating him bad: All in all it has been Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, Meghan Markle...

The regular routine of the political machine in Washington to look for ratioale motives for the rather erratic actions of the president went into action. It just  happened this week as always. American News networks wrote exerpts, which cite great historian events: Didn't Congress allow in the year 1803 for roundabout 15 Million Dollar the purchase of Louisiana from France? And wasn't it a fantastic bargain to buy Alaska in 1876 for the ridiculous sum of 7.2 Million  from Russia by President Andrew Jackson?

But those times are over in which whole countries are for sale. Rather a polarbear is being driven upwards the potomac river on a piece of ice than that Greenlands' people will agree to sell their island to the United States!

Far more urgent is the question : Is the most poerful man in the world in his right mind? And who protects him from himself?

If you belive the Wall Street Journal then the president has conveyed the idea to incorporate Greenland into the United States at a Dinner in spring with his consultants. Appearantly nobody had the courage to convince the president of what a bad idea this was. This episode shows that the aparatus of tbe goverment is not able to keep Trump from grave idiocy. In the white house there is apart from Ivanca Trumps daughter nearly no person who can talk him to senses. The president drove everyone away who dared to say something against him..

United States Secretary of State Rex Tillerson did not want to carry Donald Trumps foreign policy. Defence minister James Mattis gave up when the president anounced to withdraw US-Troops from Syria. Again more and more people in the second and third row resign. This month Fiona Hill quit her job, Trumps consutlant for russia. She came from the resprctable brookings institute and is respected by both parties as an expert. Hill's colleagues say she joined the government to prevent the worst from happening. Definitely without success.

The only thing remaining is chaos. Will Trump be driven by panic? On his biggest foreign policy construction sites- Iran and Nortth Korea- has no progress been made for months. Now even the economic foercast is getting darker. At the beginning of last week a survey made its round were three of four US economists believe a recession is on the horizon, which will happen in the next election year. Trump's challengers with the Democrats attack Trump more and more with vigilance because of his failed economic politics. At the same time the negative consequences of Trumps Trade war with China are becomming noticeable.

Trumps cancelation of his Denmark journey was just the climax of a Trump week full of Memes and oppositional statements. Wednesday morning President Trump was busy to thank a muddle-head with the name Wayne Allyn Roth on Twitter. Wayne's celebrity status is based upon completely baseles conspiracy theories- like that Islamists and not a fanatic single man are responsible for the massmurder of more than 50 concertguests in the fall of 2017 in Las Vegas.

Then Trump demanded that Russias Primeminister Vladimir Putin has to be takend back into the cirle of most important western industrial nations. The G7 should become the G8. Nonetheless early on US diplomat Richard Grenell from Berlin called Russia a 'BEAST' on Fox Channel, which is being fed by Germany. Meant was the Nord-Stream 2 Pipeline, which goes from russian Wyborg to Lubmin in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Trump's goal is to prevent this pipeline from being built. In the german government  it was assumed that the president wanted to travel to Copenhagen to keep the government in line in regards to Nord Strema. The country has to give the permit for building a deciding part of the project. But the germans thinking was to rational.  Trump didn't have anymore friends in Denmark. Former danish Ministerpresident Helle Thorning-Schmidt explained, the president insulted a whole country. It is not likely, that such phrases are getting through in the white house. 

Walkill Valley Trail Kingston to New Paltz

Eight memorable Bike and Hike Trips in the Catskills

 On a recent trip in late July to Plattsburgh and Lage George. I came across the bike and hike trail to



O and W Museum to Liberty High school

The history of the Ontario & Western Railway is tantalizing; even for those who take a mere fleeting  interest in the state's railway origins: Back in 1860s, The O&W was originally called the New York & Oswego Midland Railroad, and apparantly, it'svisionary, Derwin littlejohn, was the spitting image of Abraham Lincoln. He was even a charismatic politician, to boot.

Littlejohn's grand idea was to put rail service in places in New York that had never seen rail service before. from Oswego all the way to the New jersey border. He also thought it would be cool to build the railroad at right angles to the surrounding mountains, which as you can imagine, was quite a feat of engineering, and an expensive one, at that.

Liberty High school to Mountain Dale

Mountain Dale to Warwassing (via Ellenville)

Summitville to Middletown

Middletown to Katrina Falls (via Monticello)

Kingston to New Paltz

Roscoe (via O&W Road and New York State Bycicle route) road to Hancock 

Kingston to Wawasing (via 10 Williams Lumber High Falls)  includes D&H Canal Museum