Ascension Day (May 21) is a holiday in this region, so Jo-Ann and Joe led a small group of students on a nature hike through Jena’s Pennicken valley. We left early to avoid the more boisterous holiday hikers who dominate midday and later hours. The beginning of our hike was accompanied by the sound of the waters that for centuries have patiently formed travertine and other limestone here. We stopped at the Fuerstenbrunnen (prince’s fountain), the best known of ten springs in the valley. We then hiked up through the woods observing flora (from strawberries to wild orchids) and fauna (mostly confined to the ubiquitous German snails and slugs, and the more delightful songbird choruses). Parts of our 10-kilometer route took us along more barren limestone outcroppings. A fitting end to any German hike is a ruined castle, today the 12th-century Lobdeburg, which by the end of the 16th century had began forfeiting its stones to the construction of bridges and other structures in the region.

(Other students in the unit will be doing this or a similar hike on Monday or Tuesday afternoon.)