Big Friendly Giants walk in Viehofen

Our Big Friendly Gianst walk in Viehofen coincided with Gloria's birthday! It was one of the last really hot days of this summer and we enjoyed the weather and the walk.
The path starts at a huge Black pine (Pinus nigra) - the only natural monument pine tree in St. Pölten. It is growing in someone's yard and the yellow sign is almost overgrown with ivy.
The next tree is also growing on private property. It is a large but hollow lime tree. We try to identify the species and decide that this is an American basswood (Tilia americana) because of the huge leaves. But we are still not sure about this. It is quite hard to distinguish the American lime tree from the European one.

This lime grows like a column at the entrance to Rosner villa, a beautiful building built in 1750. Another small lime tree is already growing inside this hollow tree, with spiders and ants living there.
We admire the horse chestnuts and lime trees in the villa courtyard and walk further towards Kellergasse, the alley with the wine cellars. I find this street delightfully beautiful - it has colorful houses, a small wine bar with tables on the roof, and flowers at the entrance. I say that this seems to be one of the most beautiful streets in St. Pölten and in that moment I realize that this walk will be my favorite.

When the street ends, we turn into a field – on the left, there is corn growing, while on the right, there is buckwheat and white mustard. In the field it gets even hotter and we take off all our sweaters and stay in t-shirts.

Soon we reach the observation point, from which we have a magnificent view of St. Pölten. After that we say goodbye to Milla, who has walked this part of the way with us, and get on our bikes.
The next tree we stop at is again in a private area. It is a huge London plane (Platanus × acerifolia) in the courtyard of Rosenhof Villa, an architect's office. I look at it admiringly and say that it seems to be the most beautiful tree in St. Pölten.

Our admiration is noticed by an old lady watering flowers outside her house. She is happy that we like the plane tree so much. She says something else but I can’t quite understand her. I can only make out that she wants to know if I've been in a fire or if someone has hit me in the face, but my German is not good enough to tell her that it's just a birthmark. Then she said goodbye and added that it was a pleasure to talk to such “schöne Damen”.
We smile and head on into another yard. In the middle of the yard is a huge Weeping willow (Salix babylonica) that looks like it has just visited a hairdresser. Its crown is neatly trimmed and it looks very festive. Its festive look is also enhanced by a hot air balloon flying nearby.

In the same yard, I suddenly notice a cornel (Cornus mas). These are my favorite berries and to tear me away from them is not so easy. After a mouthful of berries, I catch up with Gloria and we continue on our way.
The next tree is not far from another beautiful villa. It's a horse chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum) and we call it "The Scream". The name was chosen due to the similarity between the hollow shape and the famous painting "The Scream" by Edvard Munch. The similarity between the tree and the painting makes me very happy.

The next tree also has a poetic name. It is a Common Oak (Quercus robur) called "The Guardian of the Souls". The name was given for its vicinity to the Viehofen graveyard. The oak is very twisted, birds sing in its crown, and while we reach it through the bushes we are all skinned with nettles and burdock.

The last tree we see is a beautiful and tall Incense cedar growing near a building under construction.

Here, our path ends and we start our way to the office. I felt very happy and I can say that this BFG walk is surely my favorite.