Before my trip to Germany, I was so stressed out that I thought I would lose my mind. I felt almost burnt out. I needed a change of scenery almost desperately. I needed to have the possibility of taking long carefree walks, wandering around the streets, sitting in a quiet place, and doing nothing but gazing at the distance. One of my favourite places when I needed to feel the nature surrounding me was the Eichenhain nature reserve,in the south of Stuttgart. Perhaps the most striking thing about this place is that it is the home to magnificent ancient oaks, some of them as old as 300 years.
The beauty of the oaks along the main path
There are, of course, other trees. Like this pine:
On the steep slope
The dry, fallen oak leaves make a beautiful contrast with the green pine needles
Beautiful colours of change
But there is a lot to see (and photograph) other than the trees. There are plenty of shrubs, herbs, and fungi.
There are shrubs...
...as well as herbs, grasses, fungi, fallen leaves. There is beauty at every scale and every stage in the cycle of life
Fallen tree trunks look spectacular with their colours and textures, and the mosses and lichens growing on them
Rotting barks sustain fungi, lichens and mosses
Dandelion, mosses et al.
And there is all that open space, all that air to breathe. It may not seem a big deal to many, but it was to me, especially back then.
Breathe in, exhale and let go
Look up at the golden leaves and blue sky. Breathe deeply and smile
People go to the Eichenhain to walk their dogs, jog, stroll, or even hike. There are a couple of main paths and some minor trails to walk on. The terrain is mostly steep, but the main trails run through a pretty flat surface.
Merging paths
There are wooden benches sprinkled around, some of them on the steep slope. They were not easy to reach, but I found them to be the best ones to sit on and stay for as long as I could withstand the cold, staring at the distant hills and the fields of Kleinhohenheim.
See the wooden bench?
I sat there, enjoying the view
There is a brook at the bottom of the ravine. It runs parallel to a road: the Mittlere Filderstraße. The green fields in the distance are part of the Kleinhohenheim research station.
I took all of the pictures with a Samsung SM-J510FN and edited them with Snapseed.
The fourth photo has already been published on my EyeEm account.