What to do on our last day?  Find more castles and/or ruins? See more churches? Take a hike?  Yes (for the hike)!  Knowing that we would be spending a good amount of the following day on a plane, hiking sounded like the perfect activity to stretch our legs and get a bit of exercise before crossing the Atlantic.

Across the river was a series of hiking paths, including a garden area called Philosopher’s Way.  There was also a biergarten near the top so this was going to cover all of our  interests.  First task was to cross the river, guarded by this statue.

We started early in the morning, as eventually the weather was going to be rather warm for hiking mid-afternoon.

We found some interesting sites along the way.  First this tree house, and then several gates.  It seemed (though confirmed by no one) small sections on the hillside were being cleared by individuals for their own private enjoyment.  I’m going to assume they were renting the spaces, much like the community gardens we’ve seen in the past.

We walked past this kids rustic play equipment with a nice covered area for the parents to rest and watch.  Great theming and placement as it was a natural fit for the area.

We found the Philsopher’s Walk Garden and I grabbed a few photos.  Most of the plants I could identify, a few I could not.

Just up the hill, we came across this interesting structure.  I said “Karen, come on, we’ve got to try it!”.  OMG!!!!  It was an absolute hoot!  Just in case the video doesn’t work, I included a few photos.

 

 

Nature was definitely the inspiration for everything from fences, directional signage  and sight-seeing lookouts.  It was nice.

We (finally) reached the biergarten.  It was a nice break in our hike and a well-deserved break.  We had a few wrong turns and after asking a few other hikers, we still weren’t sure we were headed in the right direction.

Naturally, beer was involved.  🙂  Along with sausages.

This is one of the best things I like about Europe – we’re always eating outside.  If the weather is chilly, you need to bundle up.  Sometimes there are blankets available for warmth, but I love eating out in the open.  We don’t have enough of that in Florida.  We’re just heading into Florida weather that allows for eating outside.

A short distance away from the biergarten was an amphitheater (Heidelberg Thingstatte) with an unfortunate past. It’s an open-air theatre, built during the Third Reich for propaganda events, seating 8000 people.

I’m sitting about halfway up the venue.  It is now used for a wide range of summer concerts.  It was a cool place.  The day we were there, very peaceful, but I can see this being a real jammin’ place.

Sorry to say, Eric and I had reached our hiking limits.  While Karen and Rich went further up and saw some ruins, Eric and I headed down.  It didn’t take nearly as long to get down as going up – go figure.  We finally made it to the bottom and while enjoying the hike, realized we are out of shape, way out of shape.

We did a little more walking around town, getting one more gelato before leaving Europe.

I wanted to visit this Heidelberg church that we’ve been walking around all week.  It’s surrounded by small markets selling a variety of souvenirs.  Sad to say, I never discovered any of the history surrounding it.  I went inside our last day in the city and there was a christening taking place, thus I couldn’t get past the vestibule – darn it.

We had a nice European meal that evening and packed for the plane ride home.  Read – some in our party were tired of sausages & sauerkraut, I was not.  The next morning we got up early to drive to the Frankfort Airport.

It’s never fun when the trip is over.  It used to seem like the flight home took forever.  This one took longer than expected.  That tailwind that helped us get to Europe quickly,  several weeks ago……………….became a headwind and made our flight back over an hour late.  Uugghh.

One thing I try to keep in mind…………………Europe is a short hop, compared to traveling to Shanghai.

While I expected this to be my last European post for this trip, I found some photos that I  took, but seem to have no real home.  Be prepared for some randomness.

 

Ginny

A part of our European trip was spent in separate locations.  I most definitely did not want to go to Munich with all of the crowds – no thank you.  Many years ago we were in Munich the day before Oktoberfest – aacckkk!  Eric loved it, I did not – too many people, too loud and too much noise.   We looked at a map of Europe, discussed several possibilities (Prague was my first choice – too far away  😦 ) needed an airport nearby and ultimately  selected Freiburg.  I’m glad we did. Karen and I really enjoyed our time in that city and the boys enjoyed their time in Munich  Here’s their story, written by my husband.   Ginny

 

Rich and I sent the girls on their own adventure and we finally headed to Munich for Oktoberfest.  Truth be known, this was the genesis for our entire 2 week trip.

The trip from our apartment to the Venice airport was a little stressful, but once we arrived things went smoothly.  We saw the girls off then had  hours to kill, which was done in the Priority Lounge.  I did not take photos of the lounge but it was the largest and nicest yet.  I did manage to get a photo of the girls flight to Freberg taking off.

 

Our flight from Venice to Munich was only an hour on Air Dolomiti, which is actually owned by Lufthansa.  It was an uneventful flight.  As was the train trip from the Airport to the Munich City Center and our home for the next 3 nights, Hotel Concorde.

The hotel was nice and had a very nice breakfast.  The best part was the location.  It was 2 blocks from this famous location!

We quickly settled into the hotel and headed out for our dinner reservations at Ayinger  which is right across the courtyard from HofBrauhaus.

Our meal was a dramatic change from the cuisine in Venice:  roast pork, roast duck, crispy pork skin, sausages, potato dumpling, bread dumpling, and gravy.  Good German fare!

After dinner we crossed the courtyard and finished up the night in the Hofbrauhaus beer garden.

We quickly made a new friend.  Not surprising since neither Rich nor I have ever met a stranger.  Santosh asked if he could share our highboy and of course we obliged. We quickly got to know him and his story.  He lives in southern Sweden and came down alone just to experience Oktoberfest.  His wife and 6-year-old boy live in India, where he is originally from.  Not surprising, he is in IT while his wife is a lawyer.

We were up fairly early Saturday  morning and after a nice breakfast at the hotel we were to see some of the sights of Munich.

Ginny and I had been here before but it was a first for Rich.  We hit the daily market, the Rathaus with the Glockenspiels as well as the Duke’s residence.

Next we wandered thru the Residence Gardens and right into the Englisher Gardens, one of the largest municipal parks in Europe.

We ended up at the famous Chinese Tower.

And how lucky!  It has its own beer garden!  The second largest in Munich.  We enjoyed typical German food then was joined by some boys from Denmark and Germany. We visited with them for a couple of hours.  And had a few more beers.

After wandering back to  our hotel room we got ready for our dinner reservations.  We are dining at Augustiner Keller which is hard to get into during Oktoberfest.  I made the reservations in June.  It was a great meal with way too much food.  We each had pork knuckle (schweinshaxe) and half a duck with all of the fixins. Rich cleaned the plate.  Me, not so much.

I am afraid that Karen would have hated the place.  It was a good 20 feet underground and definitely had a cramped feel to it.  These are the cellars where Augustiner used to age their beer.

We were again joined by our friend from the night before, Santosh!  I had made the reservation for 3 so we had an extra spot.  Santosh has plans to bring his family Disney next year and if he does Rich will come down for a Oktoberfest reunion!

We made a stop at Der Pschorr Hall where we all had one.

It was getting really, really cold, so we made plans to go back to the hotel, get our jackets, and then meet Santosh back at the Hofbrahaus.

 

We made it!

Facts about Oktoberfest.

• First held in 1810 celebrate a royal wedding.
• Is held on the Theresienwiese (Theresa’s Meadow) a 90 acre field near the center of Munich. Theresa was the royal bride in 1810.
• It is actually a fair with rides and other attractions.  And 36 beer tents.
• It runs for 16 to 17 days with the majority of the days in September.
• Only Beers conforming to Reinheitsgebot and brewed in Munich city limits can be served limiting the choices to 6.
• Over 70% of attendees are actually from Bavaria making it a very local event.
• Seats in the 36 beer tents are free, but most are reserved months in advance for very loyal patrons.
• Beer is served Die Masshich is a regulation size beer mug in Bavaria and part of Austria.  It is just over a liter in size.  Almost 8 million liters of beer are served during Oktoberfest.
• Food is a big part of the event and each tent specializes in certain traditional dishes.

Both Rich and I had read that getting a seat in a Oktoberfest tent is very difficult on weekend days and the only way is to get there early.  So we arrived around 10am or so.  We passed several tents that had lines then we saw Ochenbraterei, commonly called the Spaten tent.  We entered and made our way to an empty table.  We were intercepted by a waiter who had us sit with 7 other folks, mostly from North America.  Regardless, we had done it!  We had a seat in a tent at Oktoberfest.  Our goal for over a year. You can see how happy we are.

The tents can be almost overwhelming.  The Spaten tent we were in holds most 6000 people, has a huge kitchen with hundreds of wait staff, a band, sound system and giant bathrooms which are necessary with 6000 people drinking copious amounts of beer.

Our first order of business was eating so we ordered more roast meat.  I had suckling pig and Rich had duck.  Sorry no photos, but look at the previous photos above.  It looked the same.  We were soon joined by a German (Bavarian specifically) who was friends of one of the Americans at our table.  Matthius was his name and he was dressed in true Bavarian fashion.  Very sharp and very expensive.  All the gear he is wearing would push $1000.  Which is why Rich was not sporting the same fashion!

Matthias and Rich. Yes standing on a bench.  At a certain time that was a mystery to us but Matthias knew, everyone stood on the benches. Eventually half of the beer hall was bench standing.  That I or anyone else manages to stand on those narrow benches after consuming so much beer is surprising.

What kind of beer am I drinking?  I went to Oktoberfest expecting to be drinking lots of Marzen, the beer called Oktoberfest in America.  It is slightly dark and very malty.  Also normally has over 6% alcohol.  But that is not what I was drinking at all.  No one was drinking it.

What we were drinking was a Munich Helles, the original one. I found that I could still order a Marzen or strong beer but that was not normally served.  I had a great one at Ayinger and Hofbrauhaus.  Apparently about 150 years ago Marzen became the most popular beer replacing the dark beer it started with.  In the 1970s Paulaner Brewery began the move away from Marzen with a new style of beer called Festbier and everyone followed to the point that by the 1990s it was the only beer being served.  Festbier is more malty than a Pilsner but less malty and heavy as a Marzen.  With significantly less alcohol.  Another thing about the beers at Oktoberfest is that they  not artificially carbonated. Which means not nearly as fizzy (or filling) as many other beers.  The perfect beer to drink in quantity but potentially dangerous.

By 6:00 pm I was done.  Totally done.  We had started before 11:00am and drank beer almost non stop.  Rich called Uber and we headed back to the hotel.  We were in bed by 9:45pm.

Last order of business in Munich was to pick up our rental car and head to Frieberg to meet up with the girls.  We picked up this beauty, set the GPS to Frieberg and was on our way.

Oktoberfest is something  every beer lover should experience once in their life.  Not sure I need to do it again!  But if the opportunity presented itself, I could.

The Husband

 

 

Our last week in Germany was spent tooling around in a rental car.  While we love walking around historic sites, touring churches, signing up for local tours and utilizing public transportation, sometimes you just need your own wheels.  🙂

Our first castle was the one that overlooks Heidelberg.  You could take the easy way and ride the funicular to the top, or walk the stairs – which was our decision. Yep, we’re stopping for photos, not because we’re out of breath……..

Then, we saw this amazing biker.  He and his friend were going down the stairs on their bikes – crazy.  At least they have helmets on.

We get to the top and find this great photo spot.

Here are a few historical facts:

• Construction started before 1214 and dominates the view of the town.
• Has a history of construction, numerous attacks, lightning strikes, abandonment, demolition, re-construction – you get the picture – always changing or being attacked.
• It was only partially rebuilt since demolition in the 17th & 18th centuries and a portion has remained as ruins.
• It’s considered an architectural masterpiece of the Renaissance and attracts over a million visitors annually.

We were able to participate in an English-speaking tour and go inside the parts that had been rebuilt.

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The wood architectural elements were amazing.

We finished in the chapel……….

……before seeing one of the castle’s inhabitants.

Some of the overlooks seen in the first photo at the top, allows photos like the one below.

We continued our search for castle ruins by heading out-of-town with our first stop being the city of Dilsberg.

This ruin overlooks the Neckar Valley and the houses surrounding the ruin on the hilltop are fully livable and it’s basically a small town.

Continuing the trend of historical facts:

• It was a medieval fortification with the first documentation dating to the 1200s.
• It was the administrative authority for the surrounding villages.
• During numerous fierce battles and defeats, the fortress remained largely undamaged.
• It appears as a ruin today due to the past practice of impoverished people, tearing down castles to build their own houses.

It appeared we were the first visitors that morning and had the site to ourselves.  I didn’t expect to find this staircase and get another view of the surrounding area………..from the very top!

From above, I saw this interesting pattern of branches.  We ran into someone and he explained it was a well and it was to prevent kids and others from getting too close and possibly falling in due to the unstable groundwork.

Eric and I found this chocolate shop as we were heading out and couldn’t resist a mid-morning treat.  What’s a little chocolate after breakfast?  🙂

Naturally I found some floral shots as we walked around the small town and this mural on the side of one of the houses.

When on top of this castle ruin, we could see other structures in the distance, which possibly could be more castle ruins – Rich was right, they were.  After a little internet research, we discovered four castles, their location and their story.  They are called ‘The Castles of Neckarsteinach’.  This ensemble of four castles is unique in Germany and attracted attention in the early 19th century.  They were built between the 12th and 14th centuries and while they were built by different nobles, ultimately they were taken over by one family.  Today, two are ruins and two are in private hands and not available to tour.

We first reached The Hinterburg castle ruins.

Then it was on to the next castle ruins further up the hill.

After an upward trek, we found Castle Schadeck – The Swallows Nest.

It is considered the youngest of the castles of Neckarsteinach and the emblematic landmark of the town.

Again, surprisingly, we found a staircase and were able to reach the top for more amazing views.

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Now I’m turning to the part of the title that is ‘not’.  We found several palaces that were built, kind of the next upgrade from a castle.  The first one we visited was the Mannheim Baroque Palace and it was built when the Prince Elector in the 1700s transferred the center of power from Heidelberg to Mannheim.

The complex is used for a variety of offices and only a few rooms and floor were part of the tour.  A nice part of this tour were audio guides in English – love it!  At the beginning of the tour, you listen to some history and see some amazing chandeliers.  I think I have more than six photos of different ones we saw on our tour.

This dining area had another chandelier, but also a full setting of dinnerware.

There were lots of molding all around these rooms and I couldn’t resist these few shots.  This was in the alcove for each of the windows (and there were numerous windows).

A lot of the details were directed by the widow, Katherine.

 

So here’s a bit of info:

• Intended to be the second largest Baroque palace complex in Europe, after Versailles.
• Interior was one of the ‘wonders’ of European architecture for the time.
• One interesting visitor was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
• Unfortunately it was severely damaged during WWII.  Any remodeling has tried to stay true to the original design.

At the end of our tour, we saw the library.  It was beautiful.  Where are the shelves or bookcases for the books?  The walls were designed to hide them.

We also saw these amazing tapestries.  The more you looked at them, the more animals you saw.  Karen and I just stood looking at them and comparing notes for the number of animals we saw.

 

 

Our last palace to visit was the Ludwegsburg Residential Palace in Schwetzinger.  Tours were only in German, unless pre-arranged.  That left the gardens for us to tour – which were impressive and far-reaching.

I enjoyed the palaces, but I think I like the ruins more.

Auf Wiedersehen.

 

Ginny

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had some amazing meals during our five days in Heidelberg.  We used Trip Advisor when seeking places to eat and most did not disappoint.  Here’s a snapshot of the places we visited for a meal.

As you saw in the last post, after lugging out suitcases to our new apartment for 6 days, walking to two other highly rated restaurants- with no luck – we settled on Heidelberger Schlossquell and were happy with our choice.  It was a good introduction to Heidelberg.

Our breakfast was generally coffee or cappuccino and pastries.  After the first day, Eric usually went out and brought them back.  Thanks hon.  🙂

Vetters was the original brewery in Heidelberg, started by Klaus Peter Better in 1987. It was born out of his private passion and has turned into a family affair.  The motto is ‘Every guest is welcome’ and they feature handcrafted beers served with traditional German cuisine. We were able to find a table in the corner.

First thing to order……………….beer of course!

We were enjoying the jovial atmosphere and admiring their copper tanks and the hops hanging from  chandeliers.

Karen was good and ordered the salad.  Rich and I both ordered the Nuremberg sausages with sauerkraut while Eric ordered blood & liver sausage with potatoes.

Oh yes, we had to ‘fill in the cracks’ with some gelato.

While Rich and Eric found another brewery down by the river to visit. That’s my drink on the right – coke with no ice.  For those that haven’t visited Europe, most soft drinks do not come with any ice cubes, even those areas that have a high tourist visitation.

One evening we ate at Bier Brezel. We’re pretty much staying close to the 1.6 km pedestrian zone which is part of the ‘old’ part of the city and are trying not to repeat any place.

Yes, I got another dark beer.  I’m still surprised at myself that I like dark beer better than most anything else.

We took a break from sausages and ordered a flammekuchen, tomato soup w/cheesy bread and this salad.  In case you haven’t noticed, many times we split our entres between each other and tasted everyone’s choice.  Okay, I guess I really meant to say that many times Karen and I split our meal.  🙂

 

We kept walking past this next place and the inside decor looked intriguing (not to mention the smell of meat cooking).  Early in the week we said ‘Didn’t come to Germany for a hamburger’.  Later in the week, it was ‘Hhhmmmm, what would a hamburger taste like?’

Birch trees were used as a major part of their decor to delineate spaces between booths and each table had this wooden try with a rosemary plant and four sauces to accompany any meal.

Yep, we got burgers and shared a pound of fries between the four of us.  Yes, I said a pound of fries.  Each of us easily had enough fries to split between us.  This meal was a nice departure from our European norm.

Schnitzel Bank was one of those places we tried to get into our first night in town.  Eric had no luck getting us in, so he had the concierge service from our credit card make a reservation for later in the week.   Success!

This place is one of the top rated restaurants in Heidelberg.  Some research revealed this was originally a barrel-making shop and local wines were being stored in their barrels.  They discovered that selling wine in barrels was more profitable than selling the barrels.  Incorporated into their tables was wood from the original workbenches and only adds to the small intimate feel – yes, it’s very small, hence the situation with getting a reservation.

We all enjoyed their salad and Eric ordered their bread soup.  He asked ‘What is in bread soup?”  Our waiter said………….bread, of course. Ha!  Our table and the water got a good laugh.  He shared it was a very old recipe, that nobody remembers its origin and they continue to have it on their menu.

You guessed it……………….we all ordered schnitzel.

Nobody wanted dessert but me.  I had seen the apple strudel on their menu and after my first venture with this earlier in the week, I wanted another version.  I told the waiter – 4 spoons.  It was excellent!  I believe all of us wanted to lick the plate after it was gone.

So looking at the reviews, most were extremely positive, but there were a few unhappy customers.  Many restaurants in Germany are communal dining – which we love, but others do not!  We enjoy talking with anyone that joins our table, which we did that night.  A couple from Northern Germany was here on holiday, put at our communal table and since the wife spoke really good English, we had a lively conversation throughout the remainder of our meal.

 

Another one of our good meals was in a nearby village, sitting outside in their biergarten.  We had visited some castle ruins and needed the refreshment after our (exhausting) hike.

This was the first time our lack of German caused a slight situation.  Karen and I were going to split the flammekuchen, but instead we each got one.  Oh well, we ate the best parts and left some.  The boys ordered brats and Nuremburger sausage.

Before eating, we had visited a castle ruin.  Rich and I wanted a photo with our beer with the ruin in the background.  It’s there between us – way, way far away.

The last dinner in Heidelberg was the place we tried to find our very first night – Schlossberg Keller.

At the time of our visit, it was the second highest rated restaurant in town.  Eric started with a cream of spinach soup, accompanied by pieces of smoked trout in the soup.  We all had these great salads before our meals.  I would like to say they were ‘light’, but pork schnitzel w/ fries and schnitzel, fries with mushroom sauce don’t exactly qualify.  Eric ordered the pasta with smoked salmon.

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Believe it or not, we were too full for dessert.

I know there are many more places in Heidelberg that should have been visited, but these were (mostly) within walking distance and my idea of German food.

There’s a few more posts coming to wrap our latest European travel adventure.  Still waiting for my guest blogger to regale some Munich beer stories……………just saying.

Auf Wiedersehen

 

Ginny

 

 

 

 

Once the boys arrived, we wanted to show them our town Freiburg and how we had become comfortable with the older parts of the city and what has turned out to be a favorite restaurant for Karen and I,   Schlappen.  Okay, maybe we were a tiny bit obsessed with it.  🙂  Before they arrived, we ate there for lunch Monday and I found a beer I loved!

Since I got Karen to sit in the bar area (but not at the bar, I’m still working on that) I saw another customer with this good-looking dark beer.  I asked the waitress about it and voila!  I’m drinking the Schwarzbier aus Tschechien.  Delicious!!!  And of course, we had to have our pizza again.

Okay, I can be honest.  This version wasn’t quite as good as our first one.  Today’s cook put waaaayyyy more spices and sauce on this one.

Back to the boys……………………after our initial choice, then our second choice and then our third choice for dinner didn’t pan out Monday evening, we walked to Schlappen.  It gave me a chance to drink my new favorite beer again and also to get those delightful, crispy tasty potatoes that are their specialty with both choices of dip – spicy garlic and also the ketchup.  We like to dip the potatoes in both.  Yum.

A salad, flammekuchen and lamb were our dinner choices.

The beer got the Munich stories started and we started hearing all of the tales and people they met over the weekend.  There was talk of a ‘guest’ blog post on my site, so we’ll see if it happens.  In the meantime, I wanted to include a few photos they sent.

Before getting on the road, we walked down to the morning market at the church.  The boys wanted to start the day with a local sausage.  Karen and I visited a bread & pastry truck, but alas, no photos.  Karen got a delicious cinnamon roll while I selected a pastry that included raisins.  Oh yes, and we both got pretzels to munch on throughout the day.

You might notice that they are wearing coats – it got cold!  At least for us Floridians who aren’t used to the chilly temps.  Overnight the temps got down to the low 40s and this was one of the few overcast days we experienced during our two weeks in Europe.

They also enjoyed visiting some of the produce shops and after hearing my initiation to ‘new wine’, 3 selected new wines were purchased (and drank) for the remainder of our vacation.

All too soon it was time to leave this part of Germany and head to Heidelburg since the boys picked up our rental car for the remainder of the trip.  We wanted to make the most of our drive and found the ‘Black Forest Open Air Museum’.  A few facts:

• Founded over 40 years ago as a museum of architecture while also experiencing living history directly.
• Six furnished farmhouses along with numerous outbuildings such as a sawmill, storehouse, distillery and chapel to name a few are available to view and walk through.
• It showcases how in people in the Black Forest lived in the last 400 years.

This barn is featured prominently in all of their advertising and looks  beautiful with their flower pots.  Unfortunately, they had been removed due to the lateness of the season. It was still a fun place to wander through, all the way up to the 3rd floor.

Also saw other interesting sites on the grounds.  Had to throw in a few flower photos – of course.

This is where I finally got to eat my Black Forest cake.  It was very good………but not my favorite dessert on the trip.  I’m afraid I’ve been too Americanized for the Black Forest cake we serve in the US.

We got in later than we wanted to Heidelberg, mostly due to the traffic we encountered.  Our instructions were to park in a nearby garage and our apartment would be within a few blocks.  We walked through the pedestrian zone with our suitcases, dodging all of the people traffic.

We’re staying in another apartment in their mile+ pedestrian zone of the old part of town.  Once we entered the hallway we were supposed to look for  red staircase.

Good thing we only had to walk up one flight – carrying the suitcases up was still a struggle- or maybe we were just tired.

Now the apartment.  Sometimes it’s amazing what living quarters we can create in unique spaces.

Bedrooms were on the second and third floors.  Bathrooms on the first and second floors.  Oh well, you can’t have everything. I did get the one photo of the Heidelberg Castle the night we arrived.  This is from an outside seating area on the top floor of our apartment.

While that outdoor seating area looked really cool when booking the place, the weather didn’t encourage outdoor eating and did you notice that stairway…………………….you had to carry everything up, enjoy your goodies, then (carefully) go back down the spiral stairway to the bottom where the kitchen was located.  My photos truly don’t give you any idea how skinny it was, especially between the second and third floors.

We were hungry and we were tired.  We walked to two different highly rated restaurants (one of which we couldn’t find) and  settled on this place.

The waiter took pity on us and said if we would wait 10+ minutes, he thought he could seat us as a few tables were getting ready (he thought) to pay.  He was right.  Ultimately, we enjoyed our meal and was happy with all of our selections.  They were a salad, wiener schnitzel with mushroom sauce, Nuremburg sausages with potatoes and lamb w/fries.

We topped off the meal with apple strudel.  It was very good, but……..

……the strudel was accompanied by a vanilla sauce (okay) and fruit salad with watermelon and cantaloupe.  You can just see the cantaloupe peeking out from under the strudel.  So I’ll repeat, it was very good, but a bit odd.  I’ll also share that there was nothing left on the plate by the time we were done.  🙂

Auf Wiedersehen!

 

Ginny

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday gave us a chance to leisurely explore the old town of Freiburg.  No tours, no reservations and no plans had been made besides walking and hopefully finding some good places to eat more German food.  Oh yes, and drink German beer.  🙂  The area highlighted in orange is the old part of the city – which we were staying just a block away.

I had another sausage at the market in the morning.  She warned me that it was spicy – it was.  I like spicy food, but this definitely had a kick!  And I totally didn’t expect two sausages

How can you visit a town – especially those with such rich history – without including a few facts?  I can’t, so here you go.

• First reference of habitation in this area was in 1008 due to being a strategic trade route.
• Founded in 1120 as a free market town, hence its name (Frei means free in German).
• It is a center of higher education since the mid 1500s and at the present time is the biggest employer in the city.

Before coming I read about these water channels throughout the town called ‘Bachles’. These were not used for sewage, but instead as a water source and to fight fires in the past.  They were originally in the middle of the road, but in the mid 1800s, got moved to the side.  Unfortunately when we were in town, most were dry except for those around the church.  There were some cool photos on-line that included rubber ducks, rain boots, kids boats and other random items.  A few areas have decorative metal grates over them , along with planters to prevent anyone from tumbling in.

Legend has it that if someone steps into these bachles, you will marry a Freiburger.

• In 1992 Freiburg was given the title of ‘Environmental Capital of Germany’ and has made a name for itself for environmentality.
• They led in the concept of ‘Dual Refuse’ – separating recycling from refuse waste.
• Today, it is above all in the field of the utilization of solar energy with seeing solar panels on many, many roofs and even their national league soccer stadium.

Walking around we also saw more examples of the mosaics in the sidewalk.  These mosaics are commonly attributed to a paver who lived in Freiburg in 1858.  He was inspired by work seen during his time as an apprentice in southern France.  In the past, the stones used to be extracted from the Rhine flood plains, but they have been depleted.  The mosaics commonly show symbols of trade or historical references to the building that lies behind it.  Here are my favorites.  We also found one entire alley that had been created as a mosaic.

While there have been a few photos of the church previously, here are a few different details.  The tower entrance hall tells many stories, primarily The Last Judgement, but also the Birth and Passion of Christ.

The up-close shot shows the (green pol-bellied) devil underneath and to the right of Christ.

Warnings against the temptations of the world are expressed by these sculptures and were one way to instill the fear of God into those that could not read.  When this was created at the end of the 13th century, it was one of the most extensive and significant of its kind in Germany.

Upon entering the church, the interior darkness highlights their fabulous stained glass windows.  Despite the dangers throughout the years and being bombed in 1944, almost all of the original stained glass in the cathedral has been retained.  Several of the local guilds that sponsored the windows in the 13th and 14th Century can be discovered by their distinctive tools incorporated into the glass.  See if you can find the tailor, blacksmith and boot-maker windows.

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I have way too many photos, but these I wanted to share and keep for my files.

So let’s go back outside.  There are many interesting items to note.  I found this calendar on the south-facing wall.

Along with the size specifications for market purchases used in the Middle Ages. This ensured the folks  were not being cheated by those selling corn, charcoal, bread, bricks and floor-boards.

The church is rich in figurines and in addition to the technical functions the gargoyles serve to protect the church from evil forces.  Above them stand the saints, prophets and apostles standing in stoic calm.

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There was one interesting figurine we heard about and a story behind it from some locals.  It seemed the person overseeing the building of the church was getting tight with the money and not paying the workers.  The workers put a figurine up near the top and the story goes that it’s pointed in the direction of his house.

The church is made out of local red sand-stone and many of the oldest city residents said they have never seen the church without scaffolding of some type.  There is always work being down repairing the joints or replacing blocks or figures.

Karen and I had two great meals today.  With the weather being so good, we had a late lunch outside in a garden.  I would recommend this restaurant to anyone going to Freiburg.  In fact, I tried to take the guys there for dinner when they arrived on Monday, but they were closed on Mondays.  😦

Karen got a great salad and I ordered a ‘flammekuchen’.  This is the German version of something I got in France called tarte flammbe’.  I totally loved them on previous trips and this was an excellent version of that unique flatbread.

Naturally there was beer involved and my choice this time was the Ganter Urtrunk, a natural lager.  It went great with my flammekuchen.

The last photo above details our dessert.  It was excellent and we didn’t see it on any other menus throughout the trip so this was a definite win.

It was a nice outdoor meal……..in a beautiful, medieval  city…….. and towards the end we were serenaded by some local musicians.

Our other meal late that day was at a neighborhood pizza place recommended by our Black Forest tour guide.  It was just down the block from our hotel.  Most surprising…….Karen got ice cubes in her coke!

So near the beginning of this post I talked about the bachles and water.  We also saw lots of water fountains as we walked around of which people are encouraged to drink from or refil their water bottles.  My internet research said that when Freiburg was being developed, wooden pipes were used to create urban running fountains and was a source of drinking water for the population.  Here are a few of the (many) fountains we walked past.

Obviously (or not), I’m always taking photos of flowers or interesting produce displays, so I’m ending with some of those for today’s post.

Auf Wiedersehen!

Ginny

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our first entire day in Freiburg was to be a Black Forest Tour with Simone.  Awe-Some!  I should state now, while I tried to keep everything straight, some of my facts may have gotten mixed up.  I didn’t take notes, so this is mostly from my memory.

Eric found the tour through Trip Advisor and it definitely did not disappoint.  I’m definitely a fan of using Trip Advisor, both to find things to do and to read the reviews that others post.

~I wanted to throw in a few facts occasionally, so they are mostly bullet points in a different color.~

• The black forest name came from the general dark color of the pine trees in the region.
• The area was originally a mixed forest of deciduous trees and firs.
• During the middle of the 19th century, it was almost completely deforested and it was subsequently planted with spruce – hence the name.

Eric had been corresponding with Simone for a number of months and once the time got closer, she sent a pretty extensive survey to us so she could really tailor the tour for our tastes.  The survey asked about our goals for the tour, anything special we wanted to see or do, lunch options, hiking length (if any) and numerous extra options were listed  gauging our level of interest for the region.  Got so say – best way (ever) to run a tour company.

• Simone is a native from Germany, the Black Forest.
• Lived in San Francisco for 15 years before returning home to Freiburg.
• Each tour is customized to fit with your style of travel.

She picked us up at 10 am (our request) and spent the next several minutes going over the survey I completed with her ideas to best accomplish those goals – perfect.  Since we had already walked around the local market at the church, we headed out of town.

• Realized the Black Forest has primarily been a travel destination for Germans and others (non-German speaking) found it a bit difficult to get around.
• She has had over 300+ hours of training and is a partner with the city of Freiburg.
• Truly, does not want you to feel like a tourist, but a friend who is visiting her city.

First stop was in Zarten at a farmer’s store for local product and products.  While not the best photo with the sunlight, here’s the front of the shop.  Lots of apples and pumpkins since the fall harvest season was here.  The bottom photo shows some of their local apples with a strand of hops behind it (generally used to make beer).

At the very far right edge of the first photo above, you might notice some white round containers.  These hold ‘new wine’.  It’s only available for a few weeks out of the year but it could be either juice from apples or grapes and the fermentation has just started.  Delicious!  I tried it at this place and drank it several times during the week.  Once the boys arrived and they tried it, we got several additional bottles to drink during the week.  The different colors could be due to the variety used and/or the length of time for its natural fermentation.

This was also the chance to try local schnapps – which I did at 10:30 am, wowser!  I only had a tiny sip of the cherry flavor, but it was mighty powerful.

Right down the road, Simone took us to a farmer that was creative with additional revenue sourcing.  Many farmers have rooms they are renting out like a hotel for visitors but this gentleman went a bit further.  While yes, the poster is in German, I thought it was a novel way to increase revenue for his farm.

He let customers buy ‘shares’ to visit his farm, which gives the kids chance to interact with animals.  There are brushes sitting nearby so the kids can brush and touch the animals.

In addition to a small market store, he also had this vending machine for his products.  Even if someone stopped by when he was closed, they still could get local butter, meat and cheese.

We found this chicken running around and guests could get free-range eggs.  A few places on his farm we saw this box to be used as the honor system for paying for their veggies.

We did a quick walk in their farm store and I found a fruit I hadn’t seen before – quince.  It was crazy busy inside with customers buying their produce, fresh meat and baked breads.  The little piggies and cows seen above, turned into meat for their butcher shop – sorry Karen.

And of course I LOVE the pumpkins.  🙂  Seeing this little bit of farming was perfect for our tour.

Next on the agenda was a stop at St. Peter’s Church.

The inside was as striking as the outside.  The organ was magnificent.

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The story goes in 1093 a duke and his wife founded the Benedictine Abbey of St. Peter in the Black Forest. Through the years the church suffered through four fires and survived numerous wars, yet remained largely unscathed.  One reason the church is still mostly intact was that the abbey did not become a ‘stone quarry’ for the local parishioners to build their own houses, but instead the buildings were used as storage.  This is an absolutely fantastic example of a church that survived through the ages and my photos do not do it justice.  This was on the ceiling of the church and was one of many beautiful things to photograph.

 

Simone continued to share stories about life in the Black Forest.  One example being this ‘barn’.  The original use for the building (with the tractor) in front was two-fold.  The upper front half was used for the family, while the back half was used for their equipment and grain.  Down below the livestock were kept so everything was in one building.  A number of farmer’s had their own chapel built and you can just barely see this one, between the tractor and the new farmhouse.

Another stop was the small town of Geschwend which had several all-wood houses that are still in use today.

Driving through the hills and valleys, we occasionally came upon some cows that were too cute to resist a quick photo.

And then Simone took us to the perfect spot for a photo.  We parked the car, I got a quick shot surrounded by the Black Forest……..

……….while Karen and Simone headed towards an overlook.

It was so quiet and peaceful and several benches were available to sit and take in the scenery.

Since our goal was to truly soak in the scenery and take photos, our lunch plans called for a picnic instead of a sit-down meal.  Simone took us to Titisee, a resort town, where we had sandwiches made to order.  I got a taste of black forest ham and that totally was my selection for my sandwich, along with cheese and cucumbers.  A glass of white wine completed the picnic meal beside the lake.

One option mentioned on her survey was a short hike to a waterfall and we both said yes!  We stopped in Todtnau and a short hike later, found this.

All too soon, it was time to head back to Freiburg, but Simone made an extra stop when I asked about these gardens.  The plots can be rented fairly cheaply, but the cost to maintain them and follow all of the rules can be high.  😦  Some are very elaborate and would be a great place to grow your own veggies and have friends come over.

Simone gave great suggestions for restaurants and a walking city tour, along with ideas for when the boys joined us.  There were so many things to do in and around Freiburg and truly not enough time on this visit.

She dropped us off near a trail to climb and look over the city.  Naturally, we climbed to the top for these views and to see this statue guarding the city.

We took her suggestion for a German meal and ate at Ganter Brauereiausschank for dinner.  We could see the church out our window.

I ordered the Schweinaxen with the potato dumplings and sauerkraut while Karen ordered the pork schnitzel with potatoes.

It was a fun-fill day with a remarkable person, ending with a German meal.  Now I want to end with a few flower photos taken throughout the day.

Auf Wiedersehen!

 

Ginny

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friday morning we split our European adventure and went a different direction from the boys.  They are going to Munich – totally not my thing – and we are going to Freiburg, Germany.  Initially, I really wanted to go to Prague, but it was going to be too far to travel.  After looking at a map, we settled on Freiburg.  Let me tell you now, it’s a great city!  I wish we used it as a base instead of traveling to Heidelberg next week.

Okay, let’s get going.  We had a few moments of doubt in Venice first thing in the morning as we waited for the water taxi to the airport.  After waiting 20+minutes for the first one, it was too full and only 4 people got on.  The driver said the next taxi would be there in 25 more minutes.  We were the last stop before the airport and the taxis were always fairly full – a fact we didn’t think about.  When the next one arrived, we were held back until the others got on and we said that Karen and I needed to get on this one.  After the others got settled, there were at least 8 more after us that made it.  Too much stress for the morning.  Eric heard the guy say ‘You win.’

At the airport we split since Karen and I were flying a different airline – EasyJet.  I liked the airport.  Once we got our bearings, it was fairly easy to navigate.  Before you knew it, we were on the plane.

Did I tell you that Karen loves having her picture taken – not!  She’s been a very good sport on the trip.  Early on both Rich and I told her that being with me was ‘implied consent’ for all photos, since we were traveling together – sorry Karen. 😦

Our last look at Venice was from the air.  We read that the view overhead was like a fish caught on a line – I can see it.

We landed at the EuroAirport – Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg.  So named because it is one of the few airports in the world operated jointly by two countries (France & Switzerland).

We next had to wait for a bus to take us to Freiburg, with the first one arriving at 2pm, in about 40 minutes.

Arriving at the bus station, it was (fairly) easy to walk to our hotel, the place we’re staying for the next four nights – The Alex Hotel.

It’s very modern looking and highly rated by Trip Advisor.  We’re staying here an extra night, once the boys arrive.  While we are surrounded by residential apartments and the university buildings, there were several local food places right down the block.  We visited the bakery every day – usually more than once.

The only scary part was the elevator.  Our room is on floor 3 and Karen doesn’t enjoy small spaces.  You should have seen her when we were both tucked away in the space with our suitcases and backpacks – yikes!

After settling in, we went exploring and first on my agenda was a stop at the Feierling Biergarten. After all, if the boys could drink in Munich, I could drink in Freiburg.  I had the first one listed  –  Inselhopf .3 liter.  Yes, the price listed is 2.9 Euro.  Karen has always been really good about drinking water, until she found out that water was more expensive than a coke, which is more expensive than beer.  Never could convince her to order a beer.

Karen was in charge of the map and planned our route to and from our hotel.  Nope, that is not Karen’s beer.  🙂

After a bit of walking, hunger pains were beginning.  I had found a few restaurants before coming and the first one we located was Schlappen.

I tried another local beer, again, the first one listed on the menu below – the Jever Pils.

They are noted for their potatoes and OMG!  They were absolutely delicious.  We also ordered the caprese pizza for our meal.

After a short walk back to our hotel, it was time to turn in.  Saturday was going to be a fun-filled day as Eric had found this awesome tour of the Black Forest.

We asked to be picked up after 10am on Saturday as we were going to have breakfast in their local city market that surrounds the old church.  You’ll be seeing a lot more pictures in future posts of the church.

The market exists 6 days with Saturday and Wednesday being the biggest.  Since the weather is a bit chilly, I went for the hot sausage as my breakfast.  The old church is in the background.

We both got a sweet pastry and pretzel to munch on later.  It was time to head back to our hotel to meet Simone, our guide for the day.  That in itself is a full blog post.

Auf wiedersehen!

 

Ginny

 

So, my last post was an exercise in frustration.  My internet connection was coming and going, I kept switching between the computer and my phone – multiple times – and eventually lost the post I created.  Aarrgghh!  I was putting our last two days into one long post……………..and I”m going to assume that was the problem, too long.  I was able to find an old draft from my original post and started writing it again, for like the 4th time, cutting it in half.  Here is the second half of the original post and was our last day in Venice.

 

Every morning we started with a cappuccino and pastry.  Karen and I really enjoyed the cream-filled croissant and the Nutella-filled croissant and would go there on our  own.

With being our last day in Venice, we had several last things to check off of our list.  I wanted to go to the produce market, as that’s always interesting to me.  We saw lots of good things to eat.

But primarily, I wanted to go to the fish market.  OMG x 3!  This market was definitely my favorite!  Be sure to look for the sailfish.

Okay, maybe, just maybe I got carried away with the seafood photos.  But man (!)  there was so much to see and take photos  of.  This is less than half of the ones I took.

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Looking at the seafood got us hungry and since we were so close to some of the food shops we visited on our food tour earlier in the week, we made a stop.  The prosciutto wrapped ham was some of the best I had ever eaten.

Next up was something on Rich’s list – the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore.  It was literally across the water from San Marcos Plaza and was a quick water taxi ride.

One of the best things was the ability to go up into their bell tower and get this amazing photo of Venice.

After walking the grounds, Eric and I left for a water taxi ride around the city and saw these amazing sites.

We jumped off at a station near our apartment and I found this little kitty.  He was one of the few I’ve seen.  Everybody has a dog in Venice.

Walking back, we went through the Jewish settlement and found this shop.  There was a purse that interested me and after talking to this gentlemen, we discovered he was the owner and the gentleman that created the leather purse.  He graciously agreed for a photo and then suggested it be taken back in his workshop.

For our last meal in Venice, we walked to a place that was literally around the corner from our apartment.  We kept looking at the menu throughout the week as we walked by and since we still had to pack, this seemed like a good choice.  It definitely was.

We started with the house red and the house white wine, which accompanied our seafood carpaccio (swordfish).

Our meals were great selections and even though there were some repeats from earlier in the week, this restaurant was the best.  Our selections were:  tortilini with ham (Ginny), cuttlefish pasta (Rich), seafood pasta (Eric) and gnocchi (Karen).

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Rich and I split the home-made tiramisu and after paying our check, they dropped off four shots of limoncello.  Yep, I took a sip (yuck) and Eric got the rest of mine.

It was a great ending to a really fun week.  Friday starts another adventure in Europe.

Ciao!

 

Ginny

 

Before leaving home, we made tour arrangements for the Italian Alps and Dolomite Mountains.  Wednesday was the day.  We didn’t know exactly where to meet the tour guide, just a general idea, so we made sure we had plenty of time for the journey.

We started walking, then got on the ‘people-mover’……..

……..before walking the final distance.  As you can see lots of boats are going everywhere and our original instructions were to take one of the water taxis to the meeting point but late the previous night, we decided walking would be good since we’d be in a van for a good period of our tour.

Our first stop was in Pieve di Cadore, about 70 miles north of Venice. It was the birthplace of the Italian painter Titian in the late 1400s.

We had a great cappecuono and croissant during our 20 minute stop.

We stopped for a photo opportunity at Lago de Auronzo.  The beautiful color is due to a natural copper leaching from the ground.

There’s a dam for the lake and this statue protecting the dam.

We could see the Dolomites in the distance and our driver made several photo stops.  He explained that the alps had the trees and the Dolomites had no plant growth on them.

I have to throw in some of my flower shots.  While most were taking mountain shots, I found little bits of color trying to grow in the higher altitude.  At one of the stops I found this little raised garden where the family was growing different leaf lettuces and strawberries.

Lorenzo, our driver, was probably not the best tour guide we’ve ever had.  He was basically a driver, pointing out some good photo spots, parked the minivan while we walked around and then got us to the next photo spot.  There were 8 on our tour, of which one of the couples (the Australians) were on our food & wine tour earlier in the week.  Our last photo shot was one they advertised on their website.

Upon our return to Venice, we took the water taxi back to San Marcos plaza for a few more photos.

 

Then found the ‘bridge of signs’.  The story goes that as prisoners were being led to the dungeon, they crossed this bridge after being sentenced and ‘signed’ at their last view of freedom.

That evening we walked to a nearby restaurant (Osteria do Alberta) recommended by our tour guide, Claire.  Since we eating so early (for Venetians) we were able to be seated at a table near the front door – fine by us.  Rich hinted that he would like to order Preseco for his meal and we ended up getting a bottle to share (amongst the 3 of us).

 

Eric order a fabulous seafood sampler.  I wasn’t really expecting to eat any of us, but once I saw the octopus salad (bottom center) – I was in.

Next to the lemon was a baby octopus – sorry Karen.  😦  Rich and Eric said it was delicious.

Our meals were excellent – the dessert not so much.  We ordered pesto Tagliani (Karen), seafood risotto (Rich & Eric) and vegetable lasgna, the special of the day.  My lasgna was excellent.  It’s not something that I have ever ordered – anywhere – but I would again.  It was that good.  🙂

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We had a delightful evening and one of our best meals.

Ciao!

 

Ginny