Sometimes I still have moments when I look around and think, wow, I´m so lucky to be here. Inevitably, it´s easy to take for granted the beautiful hills chocolate box aesthetic etc etc etc (after all, otherwise it´d be necessary to walk around in a perpetual state of wide eyed admiration, preceeding every statement with "oh wow, I can´t believe...") but it is nice, every once in a while, to appreciate some of the nicer aspects of life here.

Leaving a seminar, I was struck by how I could see pointy little gingerbread houses looking down on me from a vantage point above. Turning the other way, the schwarz wald on the other side of the river was lit up with late afternoon winter sunshine in the way that makes things look gold. I dunno, I don´t really want to wax sentimental about it because I think it would sound kind of schmaltzy and probably detract from what I´m actually trying to say.. I think grandiose language sometimes actually detracts from what it´s attempting to represent. You know, ´oh great, yet more majestic hills and enchanted forests..´... I think maybe, sometimes, it means more just to say, well.. it´s really nice.