Kreidefelsen!

The other thing that Rügen is famous for, besides the Communist vacation homes, is the Kreide Felsen (chalk cliffs) in Jasmunder National park. They are the subject of some famous paintings by Casper David Friedrich, and many tourists' photographs I'm sure. The 30-65 year old demographic headed out to see them this morning while the kids and Oma stayed home.

 Looking down off the cliffs.

The fall colors certainly make for a good picture.

Jasmunder Bikeride

After the Kreidefelsen, Matthias, Martin and I decided to take the bikes further, exploring the national forest between Hagen and Sassnitz. It ended up being another 20-mile day trip!

Mushrooms!

Mushrooms are one of my favorite natural subjects! I don't know why (Fantasia perhaps?), but they are just magical... no matter how much I understand them scientifically, they are still an other-worldly mystery. The bikeride through Jasmunder National Forest afforded plenty of opportunities to photograph them.

On a previous bikeride, Matthias and I and a few other amateur "pilz-jäger" collected Pfifferlinger (a bright yellow-orange edible mushroom) for soup. One of my fondest memories was collecting them in Sweden when Nina and I came over in '96. Like a treasure hunt!

These first mushrooms were found in Groß Zicker, actually.

Sanddorn Suppe

After the bikeride, Matthias Martin and I stopped by this über-posh restaurant on the cliffs called Panorama, and had some Sanddorn soup and some Kaffee and Kuchen. The island of Rügen is somewhat known for the wild Sanddorn (lit. Sand-Thorn) berry bushes. If I had just come across these berries, I would have guessed they were poisonous. Not so! That was the best soup I have ever had.