In the city of Halle, south of Saxony-Anhalt, central Germany

 "It is pleasant to sit in the green wood, and watch the Sun in his chariot of gold, and the Moon in her chariot of pearl. Sweet is the scent of the hawthorn, and sweet are the bluebells that hide in the valley, and the heather that blows on the hill." -- Oscar Wilde

===================================================================
(in the Hallerbos, also known as the "Blue Forest," near the Belgian city of Halle) The city of Halle, in the Halle-Vilvoorde district of the Brabant province, is located on the Brussels-Charleroi Canal -- on the Flemish side of the language border that separates Flanders and Wallonia. Halle lies on the border between the Flemish plains to the North and the undulating Brabant lands to the South. The Hallerbos, covering an area of 552 ha (1,360 acres), is mostly situated in the municipality of Halle, in Flemish Brabant -- with a small part in Walloon Brabant. The Blue Forest is known in the region for its bluebell carpet, which covers the forest floor for a few weeks each spring, attracting lots of visitors.

+ Historically, the Hallerbos was part of the Silva Carbonaria -- the "charcoal forest" (the dense old-growth forest of beech and oak that formed a natural boundary during the Late Iron Age through Roman times into the Early Middle Ages across what is now western Wallonia.) During World War I, most of the old trees were removed by the occupying German forces. Reforestation took place from 1930 to 1950.

+ Hyacinth carpets have long been a spring fixture in age-old European woods, such as Britain’s Micheldever and others, and are not unique to Belgium. Still, it’s the Hallerbos with its slender beeches rising from the violet tapestry that walks away with the “most enchanting” title every time. Its carpet is the densest, and its history as part of the legendary “charcoal forest,” the most illustrious.

+ There is no better time than now to visit the Blue Forest, during the famed Hallerbos-Bluebell Festival, which is fully open for the first time since COVID-19 appeared more than two years ago. (Tens of thousands have already thronged the pathways during the crowded long Easter weekend.) As of yesterday (23 April 2022), the sun’s rays still cast tight shadows from the trunks over the purple-blue sea of ​​flowers. Since last night so many leaves have been added to the trees that the sun can barely filter through the foliage. The forest is now filled with a soft diffused light and two pastel colors: on the forest floor the soft blue-purple of the bluebells and above the transparent fresh green of the young beech leaves. The oaks are also almost completely in leaf. As in many past years, the trees took 8-to-10 days to completely fill the sky above the bluebells with leaves. This beautiful period with soft diffused light will last for a few more days, but it will soon darken in the forest and the intense purple-blue color of the bluebells will turn a light blue-grey. The magical fairytale time in the forest is nearly over, for this year at least.