A Beacon in the Night

 

Barnegat Light, NJ

Lighthouses have always held a magical fascination for me. A lonely, firm post on a rugged shore, they send their lights out to the souls on the dark oceans. Their beacon of bright light can be seen as a sign of hope or just as a light source that shortly brightens the darkness - here it comes, there it goes, and here is comes again.

When I was a child of six and seven years old, my family spent the summer vacation in Denmark, in a small summerhouse amidst the dunes in Jutland. The sandy beaches were incredibly wide and seemed to be endless. One of my fondest memories is walking along the beach with my parents and older brother at twilight and seeing Rubjerg Knude lighthouse further up the coast, sending its white beacon across the North Sea, again and again in its steady rhythm. I felt the comfort of my family and since then I've always associated lighthouses with safety - not only for the ships out on the oceans of the world, but a safe haven for my emotions as well.

Of course there is also the solitude of a lighthouse, its tall lone standing. I have often dreamed about what it would be like to live in a lighthouse. I imagined a big light room with white washed walls. A desk would be in front of a window from which I could see the open sea and just a little bit of shoreline. A vase with yellow and orange flowers would sit on the desk. Here I would sit and write novels all day and live my solitary writer's life. So romantic.

Dreams... my life has turned out very differently. But I live close to one of the most beautiful coastlines that gives many lighthouses a home - places you can visit and learn about lighthouse keepers and horrendous ship accidents. Seeing those lighthouses still give me that feeling of having reached a safe haven - where my dreams continue to live and delight me.

(first written for Vision and Verb almost exactly 15 years ago)

Moin Moin

 

We are getting into our last weekend in Germany. After visiting and spending almost the entire day in  Miniatur Wunderland we spent another night in Hamburg and left early the next morning by train, back to Münster where we met up with my brother and his partner in the afternoon and evening. The next morning we left for Ostfriesland (East Frisia) in the Northwestern part of Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony). The last time I spent in Ostfriesland was for our Bartz Family reunion on the island of Spiekeroog in June 2014. This time we went in the middle of November, a rather gloomy month in Germany when the weather can be described with just one word: grey. You can also add damp and cold. All those four-letter words...

A defining feature of East Frisia is that it is not dominated by a larger city. There are five midsize towns and five small towns as well as a multitude of villages and small communities - and there is a chain of islands off the coast, including before-mentioned Spiekeroog. The vernacular in East Frisia is Ostfriesisches Platt (East Frisian Low German) which I can understand a little bit, but cannot speak. The Platt dialect is being found in many regional varieties; where I grew up Sauerländer Platt was spoken. Platt is only spoken in the Northern parts of Germany. Bilingualism is promoted by the East Frisian Landscape, for example through assistance with bilingual teaching in kindergartens and elementary schools by the Plattdütskbüro. The standard greeting in East Frisia is “Moin” and is used at any time of the day or night.

Located so close to the North Sea seafood is something you can get at every corner (almost). We went to Greetsiel and the first thing we did is going to the Fischbude (fish stall) and getting a Krabbenbrötchen (roll with North Sea shrimps) and Kibbeling (battered and deep fried cod nuggets). Oh, it was so delicious! 

We walked through Greetsiel which is a very charming village. We visited little unique shops and I enjoyed all the little details.

It wasn't far to the harbour. The fisherboats and Krabbenkutter (shrimp trawler) were all lined up at the dock. Many people here make their living from fishing - and tourism in the summer.

Beautiful houses at the waterfront with lots of restaurants and cafés. All these houses are well cared for - people are proud of their homes and village. Reminders of the sea were never far.

Buildings are built of brick and often have interesting little details as well as old gates and doors.

A canal runs right through the village, the Neues Greetsieler Außentief. It is lined by houses, little shops and cafés and lots of trees.

As it should be, the church is in the historical center of the village - it has a very beautiful old tower. But that was not the only thing that was interesting about this church.

In the churchyard is one of the historical iron bells that were replaced by three bronze bells.

When you look at the church from this side you don't really see anything remarkable - it's just a beautiful building.

However, if you stand right next to it and look along its side, the strong lateral inclination of the church walls catches the eye. I wasn't able to find out the reason for this - maybe it's because it's very old. The church dates back to the 14th century. It isn't unstable, though - we were able to go inside and there is also a rather big organ hanging from the ceiling inside.

Greetsiel is famous for its windmills that you can see from some places within the village.

This one was very beautiful.

After we had walked around the village for a while we decided to drive out to the Pilsumer Leuchtturm (lighthouse). Despite the grey weather and overcast sky we could see the lighthouse from quite a way back due to its happy colors. It was proudly standing on the dyke.

It was cold and windy (Ostfriesland is one of the windiest regions in Germany), nevertheless, we decided to walk out to the lighthouse. We didn't walk on top of the dyke, but opted for the slightly less windy route next to it. Looking at Kaefer you get an idea how cold it was.

Despite the cold, Kaefer and the Geek still were in the mood for some goofyness, and I enjoyed taking pictures of their goofyness. What the heck are they doing here?

This:

Isn't this a pretty little lighthouse? So happy with its brilliant colors.

From the dyke we had a wide view acroos the land - well, at least as far as the clouds would allow. Many wind turbines are found all over Ostfriesland. This is the perfect location for this source of renewable energy.

We drove back to Greetsiel and stopped at the canal so we could take a few more pictures of the Zwillingsmühlen (twin mills). I think both are very picturesque, especially on this grey day.

We went back into Greetsiel for an early dinner. We found a lovely little restaurant called Moin Moin where we had the most delicious local food. Krabbensuppe (shrimp soup), Krabbenbrot mit Spiegelei (dark bread with North Sea shrimp and fried egg) and as dessert Zimt Panna Cotta mit Ostfriesischer Bohnensuppe (cinnamon Panna Cotta with rum-soaked raisins). It was so good!

The food was accompanied by a Bavarian Weißbier which was a perfect companion. Of course this is for Bleubeard and Elizabeth's T Tuesday.

It was such a lovely day! After our delicious dinner we drove to Aurich (one of the five midsize towns) where we had a beautiful vacation rental for two nights. I wouldn't mind coming back!

Le Phare d'Eckmühl

 

When you're so close to the ocean like we were in Brittany, it is unavoidable to come upon a lighthouse. We visited the Phare d'Eckmühl, an active lighthouse in Penmarc'h in the Département Finistère. It is 213 feet (65 m) tall and thus one of the tallest lighthouses in the world. Constructed in 1897, the light was automated in 2007. Like so many lighthouses it has a Fresnel lens.

The lighthouse is open to the public and in order to reach the viewing platform you have to climb 307 steps - 227 stone steps followed by an iron staircase.

Entering the lighthouse, we were greeted by this view to the top:

It wasn't exactly encouraging and I wondered whether my knee would actually make it all the way. While Kaefer and the Geek sprinted to the top, I took my time, stopping every now and then at one of the many windows. Eventually I reached the top as well. While it was sunny, it was also pretty windy and quite chilly.

The view over the Atlantic was quite nice.

I watched the fisher boats for a while and the gulls that were following them in the hope of catching a fish.

The long shadow of the lighthouse onto the neighborhood was interesting - I always like shadows.

Finally, we went down again - my knees weren't too impressed with that! First view down:

It is a bit dizzying, to be honest. The look back up after the climb is much better, knowing that we had made it.

Spiral staircases are so fascinating.

We walked around the neighborhood a bit - I really liked how the lighthouse appeared with the sun behind it. Doesn't the cloud look like the lighthouse is fuming?

The beach was rocky and quite rough here, but the gulls sure loved it.

That afternoon we drove to Guilvinec where we stayed in an appartment right on the beach. We took a walk, looking for shells and enjoyed a beautiful sunset.

Now I need a face for Nicole's Friday Face Off - I give you two. The Geek and I participated in this year's Pride Parade in our town. We do this every year, but this year we thought it was particularly important for us to show support for the LGBTQ+ community. It was a very happy and joyful event. 

To the West

 

While looking for all those menhirs, we reached the very West of Brittany and stopped at Pointe de Corsen. If you'd swim across the Atlantic in a straight line from here (not recommended), you would end up in Newfoundland, Canada. Since we're sensible people, we don't do that and just stay here at Pointe de Corsen, the most Western point of continental France.

This is the Atlantic Ocean, but this part is also known by its other name, Celtic Sea. I have to admit that I didn't know this before we went here. But it doesn make sense since the sea also reaches the shores of Cornwell and Ireland, all well known for their Celtic history.

We took a short walk along the edge of the cliffs. It was an overcast and slightly chilly day.

At the end of October there was still a lot of Queen Anne's Lace (Daucus corota) around. Even though you see this plant in America, it is actually a native of Europe, but was naturalized in the "New World". It's such a beautiful flower and a great pollinator plant. It didn't mind the rather harsh conditions at all.

There were rocks in the sea where the waves crashed noisily. Further out there were a lot of smaller rocky islands - a treacherous sea to navigate for sure.

But ships and boats have a lifeline - it's called a lighthouse. Of course there is one here. Interestingly though, it is not right at the shore on the cliffs, but a little bit further back in the commune of Plouarzel, 500 meters (1640 ft.) from the shore. The Phare Trézien was erected in 1894 and automated a century later. It stands 37.20 meters (122 ft.) tall and its beacon ranges up to 35 km (approx. 22 miles).

The path up to the lighthouse is lined by many hydrangeas, still beautiful even though they were past their prime.

Someone posed as the lighthouse keeper.

We weren't far from Brest, the largest city in Western Brittany with a very important habour. We were looking for a crêperie where we had an early dinner (very unusual in France). Usually you have two crêpes courses, first a savory buckwheat crêpe (called galette) and then a sweet one as dessert. Here is my galette with salmon, leeks and a creamy sauce. It was delicious. 

Today I also want to show you where we stayed for several days while exploring the Northern and Western part of Brittany. We had found a B&B in a tiny village near Lannion from where we left for our daytrips.

Every morning we got a freshly cooked breakfast with lots of choices (the French are not known for a big breakfast) and Monsieur (our host) always made something different. Everything was delicious. We met the other guests at breakfast and had lively conversations, even though sometimes the language was a challenge for us (we were the only foreigners). Monsieur himself loved to talk as well and unfortunately he spoke with a very heavy Breton accent that was often hard to understand. Kaefer and I did our best to keep up, but the poor Geek, who doesn't speak French, was a bit lost, even though we tried to translate as much as possible.

The view from our second-floor bedroom (our appartment occupied two floors) at sunset...

... and right before sunrise.

Inside, Monsieur had decorated with some pictures - nothing special, but I liked them.

I especially loved the big poppy on the wall in the upstairs bedroom. How could I not?