Feeding your wanderlust
r A snowman at the Pfaffensee l wor r thei turn n let the lockdow
Walkers and cross-country skiers enjoy trails near the Pfaffensee, located close to Patch Barracks.
Story and photos by Bardia Khajenoori U.S. Army Garrison Stuttgart
The adopted English word “wanderlust” has come to represent a general desire to travel and explore. But in a time when traveling for pleasure is verboten, one can still satisfy that craving in a way that both complies with lockdown rules and runs closer to the term’s literal German language origin: enjoyment of hiking or wandering.
Roughly a third of Germany’s land is forest, and its people are the fifth most active in Europe, 10
February 2021
according to European Union statistics. Although renowned hiking destinations like the Black Forest and Swabian Alb lie close enough for a day trip from Stuttgart, the city and its surroundings offer numerous opportunities for residents to “take the air” without traveling too far from their front doors. This can make all the difference for resilience and well-being, especially under pandemic conditions. Michele Stockdale and her husband arrived in Stuttgart last September, just over a month before Germany’s Nov. 2 introduction of partial lockdown measures. They began a two-week quarantine upon arrival, during which they could not even leave their hotel room. Since then, and through the introduc-
tion of a curfew and subsequent national lockdown measures, walks in the fresh air with their dogs have been both a welcome escape and a way to settle into their new community. “The walking has been a lifesaver for us, and even though we can’t do much else right now, it’s allowed us to experience Germany,” said Stockdale. “It seems to me that a lot of people, when describing their country, describe nature. So for us to get out into nature kind of helps us feel the country, its culture and its heartbeat.” Stockdale drew a parallel with the Japanese practice of “forest bathing,” an example of nature therapy. The term refers not to literal bathing, but
