A walk in the forest.

A late, lazy breakfast- going to and fro from the buffet table, asking for omelette without bacon, sipping coffee... In short, a breakfast where I did not have to worry about the menu or it's ingredients! Naturally this led to that full feeling. The sun was peeping through the clouds, "so why not?" Said the heart to the mind and I decided to prepone my walk at twelve to ten!                                               

Put on my waterproof coat (in case it rained!), scarf, boots... Some money and my cell phone (working one) in one pocket and my normal cell which doubles as my iPod in the other with my headphones in the other pocket. Took my gloves too and walked out of the warm confines of the Hotel into the street.

The cold blast hit my face and even with my glasses to protect my eyes, they started watering! Bracing myself with bullish body language, I proceeded towards the road which would lead me to the Eilenriede forest. Two days ago I had been there and found it lovely. We had discovered a cafe which served gluhwein. I had been with Junu and hadn't actually mapped out the area in my mind. Anyway I thought I would walk till the forest cafe, treat myself, sit for some time and then walk back.

I waited at the traffic lights even though the road was empty! How impatient we are when we are at home to jump lights! Sigh! Crossed when it turned green took a picture of the majestic stag before I entered the forest. Right at the beginning, there was a fork in the path and I, like Frost took the road least travelled on. The head phones were squished into my ears; the music loop was selected and away I went. 

 There were a few mothers with prams, a couple of joggers, a group of kindergarten children with their teacher splashing into all the puddles and one single beautifully dressed woman in high boots! She looked at me suspiciously and purposely walked slowly so that I would overtake her! I did and smiled at her in amusement which she returned with a grim smile. I traipsed deeper into the forest. Two policemen (one was a woman) rode by on a pair of magnificent horses, talking nineteen to a dozen without paying any attention to me! Soon I was absolutely alone, I couldn't even hear the cars anymore. If you wanted to define blithe, you should have taken a picture of me today!

The sun was warm on my cheeks, the wind had died down and I had left civilization far behind me. The green trunked trees with their leafless branches enticed me to go forward. The little yellow, pink and white grass flowers that bedded the foot of these large deciduous trees reminded me of all the fairy tales that I had read. The only thing missing to complete the picture was the mushroom and toadstool!

I walked on. The meandering roads, the birds chirping, and the rustle of the dry leaves and scrunch of the wet leaves were my only companions. I must have walked for about forty minutes by now when I came near a dry stream way with a small wooden bridge, I tried to wrack my brains on whether I had seen this before. I decide to turn back and was met with too many forks on the road and I obviously took the wrong one! And loitered about in unknown areas. Chiqui had warned me about getting lost like Hansel and Gretel the night before... Was I lost? 

The sun hid behind a cloud, the rolling clouds brought with them wind! The wind had picked up speed; the cruel and cold thing was whipping against my legs. The nose was frozen by now; I picked up my walking speed. I wasn't exactly panicking but I was definitely worried. I shut off the music to think clearly.... I must find a main road then it's simple ...just take a taxi back to the hotel or I could phone up hubby dearest at the office and tell him I am lost in the forest and get a search party organised! But both these would smack of the failure badge so I trudged on. It was getting overcast by now, the rain was imminent and the wind had started a plaintive whine in my ears. I picked up speed. The heart was beating faster. I took off my gloves as I was feeling hot and dropped one of them too. Did not realise it for five minutes then walked back to pick it up!

There was a lovely wooden bench, I took a deep breath and sat down on it. It was now an hour after I had left. I had told Mickey I would be back in two hours so she wouldn't be expecting me now. I took deep calming breaths and took stock. Direction wise I was pretty sure that I was in the right direction for getting back I looked desperately for any kind of landmarks but there were only tall trees everywhere!

I gave myself fifteen minutes to walk on and if I couldn't find any signs I would use the phone. The jauntiness of my past one hour was missing as I plodded on determinedly ahead. Within five minutes I sighted a car and a main road. I felt secure, civilisation was back! I walked on .... In ten minutes I espied the entrance to the zoo and now I knew I was on the right track (I had taken a whole round of the huge forest!). The heart rate was now normal and all though it was dark, I was no longer feeling hot! I walked ahead and saw a ramp I had noticed the day before and soon the statue of beloved stag came into view and hey presto! Like magic, I was on home stretch :)

Those ninety minutes of my life was a small microcosm of an entire lifetime. The joy, happiness, fear and insecurity and myriad other emotions that flitted across my conscious and subconscious taught me to value every precious moment of my life. From now on I hope I am able to treat every obstacle in my life as trivial and I hope to convince myself that there is nothing such as the end of the world. I hope to go for many more such walks in my life and come out triumphant and happy.