Torch Walk

Germans love walks. I've yet to do a volksmarch (long hikes through towns). My friend Jennessa is really good at looking up German fests and events. She saw a torch walk advertised in the paper for this weekend, so we decided to check it out. The weather was awesome - a really clear sky, no rain and pretty mild temps. It felt great to get fresh air. When we got to the meeting parking lot, we bought these long torches. After a few announcements, people started lighting their torches (like at candle-lit Christmas eve services). We had no idea where we were hiking, we just got in the line and off we went. (It sort of felt like we were in Beauty and Beast.)

We ended up going up this trail/hillside and came to a large opening area. There was a huge pile of old Christmas trees. After another announcement, people walked up to the pile and began tossing their still lit torches on the pile - setting it on fire. The sound of all the needles burning up was really cool. The sparks flew high into the air. (There were lots of firemen on hand ... and the ground's always wet in Germany.)