Solitary walks and being a tourist in my own town

My love for solitary walks is something I discovered a few years ago when I was unhappy with my living situation and wanted to avoid the negative atmosphere in my shared apartment as much as possible. So when I couldn't spend time in a friend's place or spend hours in my favourite coffee shop, I used to wander around .. and it turned out that I actually enjoyed it. Nowadays my living situation is much better and I actually love my apartment, so my solitary walks aren't necessary as a means of escape and avoidance anymore, but I still like them. They have a soothing effect when I feel nervous or anxious, they help me think when I need to figure something out, and I generally feel better when I go for walks more frequently. I guess they are also good for my poor fitness level. ;)
In winter I hardly go for walks, though, due to my aversion to cold weather. So it is an activity that is a bit limited to nice spring/summer/autumn days. But with the nice spring weather we are now having, there hopefully are many walks to look forward to! Quite often I combine my need for walking with needing to get into town, and there are several routes to get there. Some are faster and more practical, others are more scenic, others more secluded and through the woods .. this way, it also doesn't get boring.
 And since I was on one of those walks today, I thought that I might as well share some pictures on my blog! :)

Today I went for the route via the fortress, a route that I enjoy because of the nice view and it being neither too short nor too long. I only wish that I would meet less dogs on this route - I'm not sure if many people know, but I have kind of an ambivalent relationship to dogs. Often I meet dogs that I find cute and immediately want to cuddle, and one day I want to have my own dog to keep me company. But sometimes I meet dogs that don't give off a friendly vibe at all, and then I can get scared, especially when the owner is hundreds of meters away. Or, in an even more unappealing scenario, the owner reacts to the situation with hysteric yelling and running, because apparently he is aware to that his furry friend would be the perfect cast for 'The Hound of the Baskervilles'.
But it is a nice route. Usually I simply walk past the fortress or pass through it without taking the time to really look at it, because either I don't have enough time and have to get somewhere, or because the place is too crowded for my taste. Especially in summer and early autumn, it can be swamped with tourists! However, now in early spring it isn't crowded yet and there were only a few people around. And since I had some time on my hands, I used the opportunity to look around. It was fun because I was doing it kind of at the same pace as a Japanese couple did, and they were so much in awe with everything .. to me the view from the fortress isn't so special anymore, but they were really impressed by it. So I tried to see it through a tourist's eyes again, too - and with taking pictures of everything, I must have looked like a tourist anyway.

But enough with the rambling, and here finally are the promised pictured of today's walk:

View towards the Fortress

View towards Höchberg