It was a very special time. In total I was there every weekend for 55 days. Much too little. I wish it would have been infinite.🌠 I will miss it very much!
Goodbye Bad Bodendorf! 😢❤️

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Be yourself.
Know what you want.
Stay curious.
Go your way.
Discover beauty.
Come together.
Enjoy each other.
Enjoy the world.
Run around.
Plant some seeds.

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Beautiful shiny hoverfly!✨🐝

I suspect it is a Melanostoma species. Pretty sure a male.

The distance between the eyes of hoverflies is always narrower in males than in females.👀

Their larvae eat aphids and the adults feed on flower nectar and pollen.🌺🌼🌸

📊 Around 48,000 animal species have been identified in Germany, including over 33,000 insect species. Insects make up around 70 percent of all animal species in Germany.

Behind me you can see the presumed remains of Nürings Castle. Around 1100, the Counts of Nürings built a residence on the mountain. After the male line died out in 1171, the county of Nürings was first taken over by the Lords of Münzenberg and then by the Lords of Bolanden. In 1233, after a division of the family property, Philipp von Bolanden called himself "von Falkenstein". This new Falkenstein line removed the remains of Nürings Castle and built New Falkenstein Castle right next to it.

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The Falkenstein Castle was inhabited from the 13th to the end of the 18th century.🏰 However, after the Thirty Years' War (1618 - 1648) it already lost its importance, fell into disrepair and was only partially habitable.

Not much is left of the castle. The demolition was only stopped in 1842, the entrance gate is a reconstruction dating back to that period. The square bergfried dates from the 14th century with its round turret from the 15th century and is 18 meters high.

The view is very nice, because the small town of Falkenstein looks as idyllic as the intro of a German soap opera from the 80s and 90s.😆📺

A small group of ibexes lived on the mountain until about the 1980s. They were sent from the nearby Opel Zoo in Kronberg.🐏

I didn't stay long there and hiked a bit through the forest.😊

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Nice wandering Berlaar-Gestel-Kruiskenberg-Berlaar

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This Lourdes grotto in the garden of the Sint-Augustinus nursing home in Berlaar was built in 1912 and got decorated in 1915. Earlier it was also decorated with a church on the top of the grotto.

A Lourdes grotto is a replica of the original grotto at Lourdes, France or a grotto honouring "Our Lady of Lourdes" unassociated with the Lourdes site. St. Bernadette saw "Our Lady" (Mary, mother of Jesus) in this grotto in 1858. In place of the Marian apparition, a Madonna figure adorns the grotto. The original figure was created by Joseph-Hugues Fabisch in 1864 according to Bernadette's instructions.

Doel, in whose brick houses more than 1000 people used to live, is to disappear. It's empty in the streets. You can hear the metallic creaking of the jackdaws. Windows and doors are locked with plates. Plants overgrow the buildings. Few tourists walk the streets, just like us. We admire the beautiful murals, enjoy the calm atmosphere. All of this will soon be gone. The port of Antwerp needs space to grow.

The restaurant "De Molen" is located in an old windmill from the 17th century. In the background you can see the Doel nuclear power plant. It's one of two nuclear power plants in Belgium and the one with the most densely populated area in Europe. Around nine million people live within a radius of 75 kilometers. In my home country, Germany, the last nuclear power plant will be taken off the grid at the end of next year. After the disaster in Fukushima, a rapid nuclear phase-out was decided, which will be completed in 2022. Belgium is also in the process of phasing out nuclear power. Both nuclear reactors are to be taken off the grid by 2025.

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Wandering in the Kalmthout Heath.
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