A Jewelry Box floating in the night sky
Close your eyes, and you will feel something similar to the sound of silence.
It allows your five senses to wake up. I'm in a deep forest, in Germany.
During the times of Former East Germany (also known as GDR), there was a period when entering the Mülitz National Park was strictly prohibited to the public. Because of this, the plant and animal life of the forest remained undisturbed for years.
Rare plants and trees that can only be seen at beech virgin forests along with several bird species and wild animals inhabit the forest.
Species like the endangered white-tailed eagle known as Osprey, common cranes, black storks, red deer, Eurasian Bittern, pigs and woodpeckers live in the woods.
I take several deep breaths. The clear and fresh air makes me forget the fatigue caused by the long train journey that brought me here. It smells of wood, fallen leafs and soil. An animal was there recently.
Mülitz national park was founded in 1990 over 318 ㎢ of land (The same size as six Tokyo Domes!), in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. In total, there are 100 lakes and countless bodies of water in the park. I felt that if I go deep inside the forest alone I could easily get lost. This forest is huge.
Now it must be the time when cherry blossoms are catching people's attention in Japan. In Germany, we are in the middle of the Easter holiday.
Last time I saw my friend Falk was August. Now he looks like he has lost some weight. I don't know if it's just my imagination, but he really looks different. Germany is facing a serious immigration problem nowadays. His way of seeing all this is very patriotic, maybe even going further than most people do. He must be mentally tired, so I decided to ask him about it.
I got the feeling that everyone reacts more sensitively about this subject recently. They can't hide their irritation, making it hard for them to face reality.
They don't know ho should they blame for, what leads them to hurt people that has nothing to do with all this. It's like a vicious circle from where they can't escape easily. Since we didn't met for a long time, I thought that the best was to stop talking about it. I still think that we shouldn't ignore reality.
We arrived to a town called Neustrelitz. Neu means New. The name Strelitz is a derivation from Polabian (the language spoken by the ethnic Slavic people that came from the Baltic Sea, at the Elbe River basin of northern Germany). Strelci means Shooter.
Long time ago, around 1278, this place was a small village called Strelitz. Over the centuries it became bigger, so the town of Neustrelitz was built next to Zierk lakeIt, becoming the official capital city of Mecklenburg-Strelitz in 1736.
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| Mülitz National Park |
A bright and elegant orange blossom is the symbol of the city. The palace that used to be on the small hill was destroyed in 1945, but the beautiful garden still remains. A Neo-Gothich church along with a statue of a pricess that died when she as young and several tombs are located by the lake. This place is full of historical aspects.
Falk took me to what he said to be the best ice cream shop in town, located in the center of the town's square, and from the castle ruins we moved on through a street that was radially divided. We walked for about eight kilometers while talking about the town of Neustrelitz.
I wear the cobalt blue rucksack that I've been using almost everyday during the last seven years along with my favorite lace up shoes, which I bought years ago. They are pretty comfortable. I filled the rucksack with small little souvenirs from Japan, minimum necessary clothes and basic toiletries. Very light and simple journey. He asked his friend to keep my luggage. That was nice of him, otherwise I couldn't have been able to continue walking anymore.
We were heading to the rural village where Falk's uncle used to live, and where he spent vacations during his childhood. The buildings started to disappear as we continued walking, spreading endless grasslands in front of out eyes. Sun was setting very quick. "Shall we walk faster?", he asked.
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| Beautiful sunset |
I was starting to be afraid that we couldn't manage to arrive to the village before night. In that moment I wish I had a headlight, but then I forgot about it since I was not alone. Completely far away from the hustle and bustle of the city, only our footsteps could be heard, endlessly echoing into the forest.
We saw some cattle grazing in the distance. I had a mystical sensation mixed with a huge relieve knowing that I was going to safely reach the town while looking at a beautiful sunset and nature. Expectations for an unknown destination along with tiredness and fear of the dark.
We spotted a goose on the darkness of the grassland. Contrary to the white gooses from Japan, this one was grey and dark. They are cautious with humans, so we couldn't get near it.
I head some birds chanting, so I looked up at the sky. Some clouds were thinly overlapping, making it look like the canvas of a painting. Two black gooses, were crossing the sky, coming from the west and heading to the east. We also spotted some fellows of the grassland goose eating something on the ground. The sky was becoming completely dark. Bats and unknown birds fled along the hazy path in front of us.
"Look! We can see the Cassiopeia constellation"
Looking up the night sky while listening to his voice, I could see thousands of sparkling gems scattered on top of the dark blue carpet floating over us. I never saw anything like that before in my life. So many starts twinkling and sparking.
I can't describe how beautiful it was even using Japanese.
For me, those starts shine much more brightly and attractive than the sparkle of dozens of carat diamonds. I felt like the distance between the sky and me as not so distant.
After walking for awhile, we finally saw the orange lights of the village.
This is my entrance talking about Mülitz National Park. I hope you can also live such an amazing experience when you visit it.
Tomorrow is Easter Sunday. We will go to drink pure water from the fountain that is located deep in the forest, but we are not allowed to talk until we drink the water. If we respect the belief, we will supposedly get beauty for one year! Let's see if it's true.
