Triberg in the Black Forest

Sounds enchanting, right? Beauty & the Beast's story took place here, in the Black Forest, and it is a magical, romantic, and awe-inspiring place. The forest coming into view while traveling down the highway is just beautiful. As you get closer and enter the forest pathway via highway, you are still impressed with the superstitions of old, depsite the wide road cut thru the trees. You can just imagine the old stories coming to life; the 7 little dwarfs marching through the forest to dig in their caves; Snow white running for her life through the dense woods, scared of it all; the big bad wolf popping out from behind a tree, trying to get Little Red; the castle on the ledge, surrounded by the forest, home to prisoner Belle.

There are wonderful places to see in the Black Forest, but the first trip I took down there was with my family, and our friends, Allen & Denise. It was a beautiful drive, and we greatly enjoyed the trip. We hiked the Triberg Wasserfall, roamed the shops and found carvings galore, and hunted for cuckoo clocks. We even saw the world's largest Cuckoo Clock- and it functions!

I had neuer wein with lunch and we tried authentic Black Forest Cake. I loved the neuer wein, but we found the cake to be terrible. It tasted like extract because it had such a high concentration of liquer in it. That almost didn't surprise me, because a lot of Germans drink liquer straight instead of in mixed drinks. blek.

Heidelberg

I lost my heart in Heidelberg. That's the catch line for this university town, and it's true for so many people, including me. It is a wonderful town filled with history, good views, great shopping, fantastic food and even more wonderful people. It has been a major role in religious circles and has been marked by war, love, literature and archaeology.

We have visited several times, and we still love to go as often as we can. We always take our visitors to enjoy Heidelberg. With the Neckar river flowing gently by this busy town, and the castle overlooking it, it is an enjoyable atmosphere.

You can read about Heidelberg's history on my link on the list of European Destinations.

Ladenburg

July 2006

While my mom and aunt were visiting us, we took a lot of day trips, but one particular visit stands out in my mind. It was an evening visit to the altstadt of Ladenburg.

In summer, dusk does not arrive until after 10 pm in Germany, and so we had ample time to enjoy the town after putting the kids to bed.

When we arrived, the sun was setting its' glow upon the town, and with it, the church bells chimed. Whilst walking along the alleyways and cobblestone streets, we came upon a choir rehearsal, and the music echoed off the buildings and sent our spirits soaring. How romantic! Any notion that an American has about the romanticised old way of life had come to life for a few moments for us. What a perfect experience.

While we had a relaxing evening exploring this great altstadt, and the photos are a good reminder of it, they are not sufficient of the actuality of the place, nor even do my memories of it do it justice. One must see it to fully appreciate it. Breathe the air there, hear the sounds, feel the stones beneath the feet, the smell of delicious food. In some ways, this reminds me of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our Heavenly Father and what He has prepared for us. The wonder of His handiwork that we see everyday is amazing, and yet is just a reflection of what is to come in the new heaven and earth, and in heaven itself. Even these created places cannot compare to God himself; His infinite glory, love, magnificence. Oh, how magnificent indeed must our Lord truly be!

Super Switzerland

Ah! Switzerland! A very charming place, indeed. What a wonderland full of fantastic views, beautiful lakes, fresh mountain air, and great food. We were all so excited to go to Switzerland. I've always wanted to go there, and since my mom and aunt were visiting, they just couldn't pass up an opportunity to go either. As we sat in our rented van, traveling down the highway, we just sat, awe-struck at the beauty surrounding us. After a few moments, I grabbed my camera and started snapping away.

We arrived at our lakeside hotel after several hours of driving, and a few pit stops. The road that lead us down the side of the mountain to the shoreline and hotel was steep, and rather narrow, considering it was supposed to be a two-way road. There's no way 2 cars could get by each other. Option 1: ram yourself into the stony mountain side. Option 2: drive off the side of the road, and land yourself into the lake. Despite our nervousness following us down that road, we were so glad to be there and what a view!!! Couldn't have asked for better. So far, it is our favorite spot we've stayed.

The view from our room was great. Check out the photo of a sunrise to the left. Just beautiful. Even though it rained everyday that we were there, the sky would clear for the sunset and sunrise, with some sunny skies during our outings.

After spending our few days at the lake and checking out a bit of the Interlaken area, we packed to go home. We stopped in Giessbach on Lake Brienz (the same lake on which we stayed), which is on the NE side of the lake. Aren't we glad we did! After a nice drive up the scary mountainside road in an oversized van, we arrived at a parkplatz near GrandHotel Giessbach. We decided to hike the trail that followed the waterfall up the mountain. The kids did great; in fact we were hard pressed to keep up with them. There are several levels to the falls, and we got pretty high up, but the trail turned from a paved road, to a footpath, and eventually into a deer trail, and so we turned around and what a view down! Through the trees, we found a marvelous view that overlooked the falls, the hotel and the lake beyond, with more mountains behind it all. How beautiful is God's creation!

Remembering Bodensee

We took a weekend trip in May 2006 to see Lake Konstanz. A town by the same name is a big attraction there and it borders with Switzerland. We visited this town, finding the pier with the famous bare-breasted statue, Imperia, which is a tribute to all the "working girls" brought here for a prolonged council for Catholic clergy and the businessmen who followed to profit from the council.

Since it was a rainy day and we were tired from traveling, we didn't see much other than the pier, and a playground that was in small park a bit from the pier. Konstanz is also where we found the best pizzeria we've found in Germany thus far. Their food is the freshest, most flavorful, and the crust won't break your teeth. haha Anyone who's had a European pizza knows what I mean.

There are 2 islands on the lake; Insel Mainau and Insel Reichenau. Mainau is a blooming island, where there are gardens galore. They have a butterfly house, children's playground, ponies to ride, and extensive paths to wander. It is pleasant enough for a day trip. We always love the butterfly houses, as they also contain exotic plant life and have ponds and waterfalls throughout. This one was smaller than a lot that we've visited, but it was still nice, and the kids love it too. We found this beautiful specimen of an orchid. I've never seen a purple variety until I saw it here.

Insel Reichenau is where a monastery was built, and the land is preserved as farmland, with a few houses and B & Bs. It is very pretty here, with high reeds growing along a tree-lined road to the island, which you can see in the air-view photo.

We stayed on Insel Reichenau while visiting the area. It was really nice. Calm, open fields with all kinds of lettuce and other veggies growing in colorful array, with trees as a back drop to the scenery. It was a very relaxing place to be, with a bit of shore to linger at and the monastery and church to visit. Watching the boats come and go as well as the storms was great. We just love the lake!

We would like to return someday, when allergies aren't a bother and the skies are a little bluer. There are many towns along the lake that are worth the time to see, as well as the Schaffhausen Rheinfalls that we didn't have time to see.

The car ride there and back yielded beautiful scenery, as the mustard fields were in bloom, as well as the wildflowers. It rained a lot of the time while we were visiting, but the skies were gorgeous on our driving days. We are looking forward to another weekend at the lake one of these days.