Germany trip, part zwei.

Hello Dear Readers,

Finally all recovered from that cold I picked up on my trip, though it was a long slog. I felt well enough to jog into work yesterday to pick up my bike (I bussed it home Friday) and it felt really good to be up and active again.

When we last left our intrepid travelers, we were in the charming city of Rotenburg, home of a huge number of Christmas stores and specializing in large chunks of sizzling ham served in frying pans...... after gorging ourselves on these specialties, we soldiered on to the charming forest town of Freiburg. This was a true road trip, about 5 hours in the car, me resting for the first half, then enjoying a joyride down the Autobahn! God it felt good to be behind the wheel again, although having Reverse in the wrong place on the gear shift made for some interesting driving, and I may have whipped a doughnut the wrong way in a city traffic circle...... .
If you don't know what that means, you probably live somewhere where whipping doughnuts is either not feasible, illegal or both. I think it's a rural thing.......except apparently in Freiburg. We got in late and tired, so just had a brief jaunt around the place scouting for food and a large Munster. I'm sure we found it, but it's hard to describe, except for large, dark and gothic. We collapsed into bed to prepare for a day of hiking.
We took a stunning gondola ride up and up and up and up into the mountain. It was Chris's first time on a gondola and he was so excited, it made the whole thing worth it. At the chilly top we took a few moments for hot chocolate and Black Forest Chocolate Cake or Schwartzwalder Kirschkuchen. MMMMMM getting all that energy for the hike down.
It started out cold and overcast, but the views were stunning, huge trees, well maintained trails, and thank's to Amy's finely honed map and trail reading skills we didn't even get lost, and made it all the way to the bottom, sore but happy.

After such a big day of hiking, we were ready to head to another impossibly quaint and gorgous town in Bavaria, Treiburg, home of the famous black forest cuckoo clocks. It is also famous for being home to one of the largest waterfalls in Germany, even visited by Hemmingway.
Some kind tourists took our photo at the falls, it was such a great trip, the conversation and company were second to none. I forget how much being around Skippies makes me laugh, it's such good exercise for my abs and my soul I'm sure! See, we are laughing here, thinking about fanny packs, whipping doughnuts and milkshakes.........
I even got in one of my favorite hiking activities as we explored the falls, knitting hiking socks WHILE HIKING! These are my Tyrolean socks from Interweave 2007 (thanks for the magazine Jennifer!!). The Tyrolean region is in Austria, but hey, close enough! We walked around Treiburg enjoying the cuckoo clocks and wooden carvings, then drove up to see one of the two world's largest cuckoo clocks. We got there just after 1, so had to wait 3o min for it to go off but it was pretty neat.
Not the right time, but hey, you can't have everything in a giant cuckoo clock you can live in!

Yeah, now after all that I just have one question to ask myself. Great European vacation? or Greatest European Vacation!! I miss you already Amy, hope you are having a good hike in CA, and you arn't suffering too much from the cold I may have given you.....

Germany

Hello Dear Readers,

Well what a whirlwind trip I had! There is so much to tell I'm going to break it into multiple posts. Friday Chris and I trekked up north to the London Stanstead airport. We got a flight to Frankfort and drove a rental (an Opal!) to Heidelberg where my friend Amy was just finishing up attending a conference. The next day we drove the mostly scenic route, with some autobahn driving to Wurtzburg, my old home town!

The first and most important stop on the trip for me was to see my old house (above). The grounds had changed a bit, but I still recognized the old playground and the street. Thanks to Amy's intrepid-ness we went into my old building which was being renovated. They had added a few walls and redecorated, but my old room was still there with the same window and ancient radiator. It was very nostalgic, and I could probably have hung out there all day, but we pressed on to enjoy the beautiful city.


Old buildings, churches and palaces, and Wurtzburg isn't even that big of a town! We explored the markplatz on the first day and the next we hiked up to the Marionburg castle (in the background above), with a lovely winding descent into the vineyards. We ate lunch at the most exquisite and quaint wine house in the world, and headed up to Rothenburg, midevial quaint walled tourist town.

I remembered traveling there as a kid, and especially remember the neat clock building (the salmon colored one here) that has two windows that open showing a gentleman and a man drinking beer when the clock chimes. The other big memory I have of the town is the amazing Kathe Woflheart christmas shop.
And the medieval wall upon which you can walk around the entire old city.
It was so scenic, so picturesque, and so peaceful. I felt a real sense of familiarity with things and places, the items for sale at the shops that were so much a part of my childhood, like the ubiquitous wooden Christmas pyramids and cuckoo clocks. I could imagine my parents there 25 years ago, playing the tourist just as I was and buying those things that I would later grow up with and take for granted. It was a great pleasure to see them in their natural habitat, though I probably won't have a home of my own to populated with such things for many years to come.

We finished off most evenings with hearty German meals (I for one am glad to be back in the land of fiber, but it was nice to take a dietary vacation too.) I sampled local wines and Chris tried to do a beer and meat tour, not too difficult considering that's mostly what was on offer!

Giant hunks of meat served all on their own seems to be a restaurant staple there. And the beer, always the beer.

Next week, Freiburg, Triburg, and my nasty chest cold that knocked me down, but I still kept on trucking through my beloved Germany!