Morning Walks in Erlangen, Germany

A graceful tranquillity existed in the early winter mornings in Erlangen, the little town situated a few kilometres off Nuremberg in Germany. The air always refreshingly cold, my overcoat soon became dew sodden as I stood for a few seconds on the sidewalk with my camera in my hands.
The streets were pin-drop silent except for the slight rustling of a few leaves visible in the bare trees. As my camera went to capture the peaceful scenery, all at once several mockingbirds echoed the click sound to an almost mystical elevation. I knew right then that the walks were bound to get interesting.
Cars and bicycles were parked idly on the roads, as the indolent residents of the town went on in their deep slumbers. I loved to walk on those quiet mornings, memorising the soft echoes of my footsteps as I strolled along the clean pavements and headed for the small park in the centre of town.
It would always be deserted in the early dawn and I would choose a seat on one of the wooden chairs beneath a shady tree and breathe in the fresh air. My journal seldom kept me in ardent company, as I scribbled a few lines or jotted some topsy-turvy ideas on it now and then. However, the moment only felt right to just to sit there quietly; watch morning advance and wait patiently for the grey skies to clear up and transform into a light blue hue.
I enjoyed gazing at the scenery as the sun slowly shone and its rays gleamed on the golden green grass. I remember thinking how remarkably cold it still felt afterwards as I hastened to tighten my scarf around my neck and watch my breaths come out in little wisps of smoke. A few toddlers and their parents would come later on, the children chattering as they clambered over the slides and see-saws.
If they caught me looking, they would always smile their friendly smiles and I would politely smile back. During one walk, I could not help but stare at an adorable dog that this old lady was walking, and as soon as she caught my eye, she started speaking in her soft musical voice -- a stream of fluent German. I could not understand a word of it, but neither could I stop smiling. A friendly vibe exists here.
The shops in the corner of Erlangen town, all lined on the same street, were adorned with Christmas decorations, garlands and festoons. A smell of freshly baked bread and rolls, and a whiff of gingerbread being taken out from a hot oven, mixed with the spicy scent of freshly ground coffee, emanated from the bakery shop as I watched people dressed in their trench coats walking hurriedly along the streets, on their way to work.
I enjoyed ambling into the small but seemingly endless department store at the corner of the street, with a wine shop next to it, filled with thousands of colourful glass bottles piled from the floor to the ceiling. And I loved the walk around it so that I could head off to the forest behind the beige-coloured independent houses, with their pruned gardens of gnomes and statues.
A bridge led over to the quiet, deserted forest and then a long way off to a canal. The evergreen trees held their canopy over the winding pathways, covered by bushes and brambles that continued towards the horizon. The sweet musical chirpings of the birds and the scampering of squirrels provided solace to my solitary walk.
The ripples of the water in the canal fell into a rhythmical sync as the wind softly blew strands of grass and flowers in the air. In the distance I could see narrow meandering roads above mounds of earth covered in green grass, whilst around me remained an unimaginable and yet comfortable silence.
Vaguely, the memories of my mind reached out to the lines of a poem that I had once read as a child – 'The Brooke' by Lord Tennyson. The pitter-patter of the delightful and simple poetry that talked about a river's journey across the countryside hummed a distant tune in my ears, as I stood there for a long time, loving that I was so far away from the hustle and bustle of city life. Until slowly but surely my stomach grumbled and I had to turn back for breakfast, feeling satisfyingly and plainly happy.

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