On the long flight back we had plenty of time to revel in our adventures of this trip. For fun, we got out our original goals of the trip...just to see what we actually did do and what we might have missed.
So here is our list with or without checkmarks:
1. scenery - small bergs...check
2. meet the people & experience the culture...check
3. mineral baths/relaxation...check
4. hikes through the countryside...check
5. foot pampering...check
6. food...a big check!
7. antiques/mustard jars...well, it's not that we didn't try!
8. photography...check
9. look for Sawatzki connections...we did get one tip...just a little late
10. wines/beer...oh yes!
11. river boat on the Rhine...nope, but didn't miss it
12. drive the Romantic Road...check
13. drive the Black Forest Road...check
14. drive the Alpine Road...check
15. picnic on a mountain stream...no...but that's ok
16. see woodcarving...check
17. train ride...well...we took the s-bahn/train into Munich
So that was our original list. And here are three extras that we discovered on the trip:
1. History/a sense of history
2. Frustuck (breakfast), that's in a category of its own as far as food goes!
3. The German language...used it way more than I thought I would...and loved it!
More ramblings and musings about our trip as we continued on our flight home:
The trip was a thrill of a lifetime to say the least. We knew it would be good, but it was even better. We are amazed at how easy it was to adjust to a different culture, setting, and time. We saw way more than we thought that we'd see. We found out that some of the most fun things that happened were the totally unplanned ones. We enjoyed the surprises that came our way, such as the side trip to Austria, among other things. We learned to enjoy flying by the seat of our pants. We had a surprising sense of awe at how old buildings and towns are in Germany. It's so interesting to put it all into perspective and to realize how young this country of ours is. We were also surprised that even though they are very traditional and steeped in history, they are way ahead of us in regards to taking care of the environment with conservation of electricity, gas, and little or no disposable plastic used, and if so, recycled. We were surprised to see the use of sustainable energy in remote places..the use of wind generators and solar panels. History came alive at Eagles Nest and the walled cities. It was almost hard to fathom the existence of these places and amazing to contemplate who walked on the exact ground where we walked and we questioned what life must have been like for them back in time when they walked the earth. We marveled at the cleanliness of Germany...every place we went was squeaky clean....the hotel rooms, the floors, the bathrooms...all were spotless.We also were amazed at the craftsmanship we saw in the woodcarving places and the attention to detail that the Germans have in all regards...they just always add that extra touch. We saw such incredible beauty...and found that beauty within is just as important. We knew the food would be good, but it exceeded our expectations. Their food is amazing, and yet with very little added sugar and not a lot of salt...but a lot of good schnitzel and beer! We liked the freedom of having a car and yet the small roads were a bit stressful. We enjoyed staying in gasthauses as opposed to cookie cutter hotels. They were all so different, so nice, and so clean. We loved having the windows open at night. Each and every restaurant we went to was a mom-and-pop place...well, I'd hardly call the Hofbrauhaus mom-and-pop, but it was unique! The only thing we'd do different would be to not stay in one place for that long...meaning the house in the Black Forest...and we certainly didn't need a kitchen...you can forget about that....we can cook at home. The food was way too good to not eat out every meal! We found the more highly touted/fancier spas...such as Baden Baden, weren't anywhere near as good as the less known places. And in general, the smaller towns suited us way better than the bigger ones. This trip was one of simple pleasures - yes, that's it in a nutshell.
Monday, October 1, 2012
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Sunday Sept. 23
Got up at 4:45. Had frustuck at the hotel and took the 6:30 shuttle to the airport. Going through security was fine. I passed through, Leo got frisked...he must have looked shady!
Boarded the plane and am currently in flight.
Taking off:
In flight:
Here's what the flight map said at that time:
Only 4,060 miles to home!
The view right now:
Later: Let's see, right now the flight map on the screen in front of me says we have 6 more hours to go (we started at 9 hrs) and that we have gone 1,371 miles, currently at 36,000 ft. altitude and are over the middle of the ocean with 2,663 miles to go. The outside temperature is minus 57 degrees. (you can tell I'm bored because I'm telling you this!)
We watched some tv shows and then they turned the lights out so tried to get some sleep, but somebody close by sounds like a billy goat. I don't know who is doing this...it's been going on for over an hour. I've craned my neck around to see who in the hell is making these continuous goat sounds. It's about to drive me nuts. I mean we had the guy from Silence of the Lambs on our flight to Germany and now we have a goat on this one. I have tried putting the ear pods in my ears and blasting classical music...but I can still hear the goat. I inflated my horseshoe shaped pillow and leaned up against that with the airline pillow over my other ear and the ear pods in and the music going...still....baa...baa. I even took the horseshoe pillow and put it over the top of my head like a headset...with the music playing in my ears...but still the bleating. Lucky for Leo he's hard of hearing...it's not bothering him. He's watching some movie or show with Chinese subtitles.
Leo just read what I had written so far on the blog and he attempted to type something himself on the keyboard which he has never done before on this trip. The keyboard didn't register so after another attempt he just told me...the billy goat noises are coming from the man sitting next to him!!! Holy crap! I've been sitting here the whole time saying who the hell is making the billy goat noises! I had no idea. I still don't know what is the matter with him. Oh no, Leo just told me something and I can hardly type this because I'm laughing so hard. It's really not repeatable this time...way worse than his "fahrt" references. Let's just say he gave his opinion as to the reason this guy was making these noises...enough said. The thing is, Leo "whispered" this to me (but we all know what a whisper sounds like coming from someone with a hearing problem)....keep in mind the goat is in the aisle seat, Leo in the middle, and I'm by the window. Anyway, the result is that I am laughing so hard, I'm crying....really! I have to turn off the screen of this before the billy goat sees this!
Ok I'm back and finally under control. By the way, a bit ago Leo and I both got up to use the bathroom (so as not to bother the goat man twice) and Leo beat me back and so he took the window seat, which left me next to you-know-who. How chivalrous!
The 9 hour flight dragged on and finally we arrived in Newark and it was NOT a nice place. We got off the plane and immediately some rude woman was barking at everyone instructions as to what line to get in ...at least that's what I'm assuming...I couldn't understand a word she was saying...I did better understanding German! Anyway, we were herded like cattle to a mile long line. We only had maybe 1 hr 45 min before our connecting flight left for Omaha...so we hoped that we could make it. So we showed our declaration of items that we brought back and our passports and they let us through...I thought that was much easier than expected (I wrongfully thought it was customs...but turns out it was immigration). Keep in mind we were toting our carry on luggage and we had checked through our extra tote bag that we bought on the military base. So now we're looking for signs to get to A27...the gate where our final flight will be. We stopped several times to ask for help and everybody was rude. Finally one guy told us we had to go to the baggage pick up and get our luggage. We said that it was going on through to Omaha, but he said no you have to get it and go through customs. I said we just went through customs and that's when I found out we had just been through immigration. So off we went to get our other tote bag. Then we had to re-check that bag back through a United gate. The guy told us to drop the suitcase and run like heck to our gate. So that's what we did...ran as best as we could toting our carry-ons. We ran/walked an unbelievable distance including a train and then more running. Then we found ourselves in another line...another check point Charlie place....(yours and my favorite...the TSA). Why we had to go through this again is beyond me. So again we're in a line waiting and waiting. Finally got through that and then had to stop at a restroom before getting on the plane. Of course there was a mile long line to the women's bathroom. Finally, we made it on the plane, in a full sweat, and just in the nick of time.
The final flight again felt long...although only 3 1/2 hours...we were just anxious to get home. As we were flying over Iowa, just east of Des Moines this is what I saw out the window:
I love flying over western Iowa because from high, it looks like the ultimate patchwork quilt. I know this photo is a bit hazy, but you get the idea. I think it would be a novel idea to create a quilt out of earthy tones such as these, with the irregular shapes.
Here's another shot of the detail:
Long story short (even though the final flight home seemed very long!) we arrived in Omaha and Sara was waiting there for us. It was great to see her, great to be on terra firma, and great to be home.
I will be posting one additional post as "musings of the trip" when I catch up a bit (probably in a few days). Leo and I had lots of time to think about our adventures when we were in flight today.
Location:on our way home
Monday, September 24, 2012
Saturday Sept 22.
We're sitting here in the hotel in Frankfurt, writing this post for the final day in Germany. We have our last bottle of Schatzle wine opened on the table and 2 wine glasses in hand (one apiece!), enjoying the wonderfulness of it all....and toasting to our wonderful adventurous trip.
We are very relaxed as we have arrived here...close to the airport (10 min. away) and we have returned the rental car...all went well...it was undamaged which is a friggin' miracle. If you would have only seen how many times we cleared a passing car or whatever...by only an inch or two, you'd know what I'm talking about. The narrow roads were at times a bit stressful, but we did fine! Ok, Leo is reading this as I type and he says to give credit where credit is due (he drove the ENTIRE time). It's sort of sad...we paid an extra 90 Euro for me to drive, but it never happened. Oh well, I was prepared (but thankful that I didn't need to do that).
So...for a recap of today: we started off with frustuck at the gasthaus...it was really good...with the usual bread, warm hard boiled egg, cheese, meats, jams, yogurt, honey, and nutella, juice and strong coffee...sehr gut! Not bad...70 Euro for the room and breakfast. Here's what the place looked like:
Here's a picture I took in the parking lot before we left. The sun was bright and the morning shadows, long. I looked down at the ground as we were loading the car, getting ready to leave, and this is what I saw...my legs. I really like this self-portrait, especially because it looks like I never even went into one conditorei!
So down the road we went...heading towards the Rhine. Crossed the Rhine to the other side at Bingen. It was a bit overcast, but still pretty. Here's a view from the ferry;
So we programmed Gwendolyn, and yes, we are going to Assmannshausen!
It was pretty overcast today so didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked to have. The Rhine is full of vineyards on each side of the river and there are tons of castles sitting high on the banks.
We went through lots of little towns along the Rhine. We're not sure if we were driving on the sidewalks or not! We did get some strange looks. (Dashboard of the car in the foreground)
And finally we arrived at our destination! I haven't mastered the art of the arm stretch portrait....but you get the idea!
Other sights along the Rhine:
We came to the point in the Rhine ...the Lorelei...where folklore has it that the sirens of the rock located at a turn in the Rhine, lured sailors with their songs and voices which caused many shipwrecks because the sailors were distracted by the sirens. Anyway, we parked the car and walked out on a long jetty. On the far end of that jetty sits a statue of the siren. It was about 1 km out to the end...and nice to get out and get some fresh air. Here's a few pics of the Lorelei siren. The first one is far away, but shows the jetty that it's on:
Here's a close up of the siren...or sireen, as Leo calls it:
Along the jetty are several sets of stairs...very steep. I think the entire jetty is slate...the stairs included. They must have tied ships to places on the jetty because there are large iron links secured to the ground.
Leo threatened to do a George M. Cohen style skip down the stairs (from Yankee Doodle Dandy). I told him if he did, he'd land on his assmannhausen!!
We stopped off and got our last treat at a conditorei and I asked for a plastic fork...but instead, I got a fife...or is that a knork???
Started to head back down the Rhine towards Frankfurt and every single town we came to, Gwendolyn told us to go on the road that led to the ferry to cross the Rhine (which we didn't need to do since Frankfurt is on our side of the Rhine). We figured that Gwen really likes ferry rides!
Got into Frankfurt around 3:30....and like I said at the beginning of this post, we enjoyed some of the good wine...actually all of it!
Walked across the road to go to a German restaurant and had a beer and schnitzel for dinner. We were feeling pretty good...here's a picture of us with our last delicious beer in Germany:
Came back to the hotel and finished off the bottle of wine and went to bed. We need to wake up really early tomorrow. Hard to believe our trip is coming to an end.
We are very relaxed as we have arrived here...close to the airport (10 min. away) and we have returned the rental car...all went well...it was undamaged which is a friggin' miracle. If you would have only seen how many times we cleared a passing car or whatever...by only an inch or two, you'd know what I'm talking about. The narrow roads were at times a bit stressful, but we did fine! Ok, Leo is reading this as I type and he says to give credit where credit is due (he drove the ENTIRE time). It's sort of sad...we paid an extra 90 Euro for me to drive, but it never happened. Oh well, I was prepared (but thankful that I didn't need to do that).
So...for a recap of today: we started off with frustuck at the gasthaus...it was really good...with the usual bread, warm hard boiled egg, cheese, meats, jams, yogurt, honey, and nutella, juice and strong coffee...sehr gut! Not bad...70 Euro for the room and breakfast. Here's what the place looked like:
Here's a picture I took in the parking lot before we left. The sun was bright and the morning shadows, long. I looked down at the ground as we were loading the car, getting ready to leave, and this is what I saw...my legs. I really like this self-portrait, especially because it looks like I never even went into one conditorei!
So down the road we went...heading towards the Rhine. Crossed the Rhine to the other side at Bingen. It was a bit overcast, but still pretty. Here's a view from the ferry;
So we programmed Gwendolyn, and yes, we are going to Assmannshausen!
It was pretty overcast today so didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked to have. The Rhine is full of vineyards on each side of the river and there are tons of castles sitting high on the banks.
We went through lots of little towns along the Rhine. We're not sure if we were driving on the sidewalks or not! We did get some strange looks. (Dashboard of the car in the foreground)
And finally we arrived at our destination! I haven't mastered the art of the arm stretch portrait....but you get the idea!
Other sights along the Rhine:
We came to the point in the Rhine ...the Lorelei...where folklore has it that the sirens of the rock located at a turn in the Rhine, lured sailors with their songs and voices which caused many shipwrecks because the sailors were distracted by the sirens. Anyway, we parked the car and walked out on a long jetty. On the far end of that jetty sits a statue of the siren. It was about 1 km out to the end...and nice to get out and get some fresh air. Here's a few pics of the Lorelei siren. The first one is far away, but shows the jetty that it's on:
Here's a close up of the siren...or sireen, as Leo calls it:
Along the jetty are several sets of stairs...very steep. I think the entire jetty is slate...the stairs included. They must have tied ships to places on the jetty because there are large iron links secured to the ground.
Leo threatened to do a George M. Cohen style skip down the stairs (from Yankee Doodle Dandy). I told him if he did, he'd land on his assmannhausen!!
We stopped off and got our last treat at a conditorei and I asked for a plastic fork...but instead, I got a fife...or is that a knork???
Started to head back down the Rhine towards Frankfurt and every single town we came to, Gwendolyn told us to go on the road that led to the ferry to cross the Rhine (which we didn't need to do since Frankfurt is on our side of the Rhine). We figured that Gwen really likes ferry rides!
Got into Frankfurt around 3:30....and like I said at the beginning of this post, we enjoyed some of the good wine...actually all of it!
Walked across the road to go to a German restaurant and had a beer and schnitzel for dinner. We were feeling pretty good...here's a picture of us with our last delicious beer in Germany:
Came back to the hotel and finished off the bottle of wine and went to bed. We need to wake up really early tomorrow. Hard to believe our trip is coming to an end.
Location:our last full day in Germany
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Friday, Sept 21
We got ready to leave today. I plugged in my curling iron to curl my hair (something I haven't done on this trip!). Of course I used the electric adaptor that we brought along. I checked back in about 1/2 hour and it was melted! Wow...I don't know what happened. No big deal, it's just one less thing to take back!
So we said goodbye to Frau Kluber and goodbye to the donkeys here.
We gave Frau Kluber a Nebraska wheat woven decoration and she seemed pleased with it.
Oh, as we left, I thought I'd take a picture of Gwendolyn:
Because of the accident on the A5 Autobahn in Germany...which was still a mess...we took a ferry boat across the Rhine River to France and drove north on the French version of the autobahn. It was less traffic & speed limits a bit more controlled so it was nice. Drove north and then back into Germany. There we went to Baumholder and onto a US military base/garrison to do some shopping. We found just what we were looking for...a cheap duffle bag suitcase that we can check through at the airport on our return flight, since we have a few more things than we started with on this trip.
Next we went to Idar Oberstein and looked around and found a recommended restaurant that serves the local dish of spiesbraten (a marinated pork that is grilled over a wood fire). So we plugged in the address into the GPS and it took us outside the city limits of Idar (thankfully away from the traffic!) and we found ourselves at a small grass strip airport on top of a hill with a restaurant.
We ordered 1 dinner of spiesbraten to split and much to our amusement, the man that was the head chef, also doubled as the air controller of the airport. So he got our pork on the open flamed grill. Notice the wood to the side stacked. That's what he stoked the fire with...you can see the wood under the round grill that has our dinner on it. The grill is suspended from the chimney.
Here he is at the grill. He has just picked up a large walkie-talkie looking thing, which was a hand held com radio.
Here he's still in front of the fire, cooking our food, and now talking to a pilot that is approaching the airport asking permission to land. You can hear both him and the pilot talking through the radio device. The landing strip was just outside the window and door where we sat at the restaurant.
So at this point the chef/ air traffic controller went outside, looked around in the sky to make sure it was clear, and gave the pilot the go ahead to land. Then he came back in and turned our pork over on the grill!
The guy was cooking our food and clearing airplanes to land all at the same time! Now THAT'S multi-tasking! During the time that we were eating dinner, we saw 6 planes either take off or land, among them, a small plane that took off towing a glider plane. And each time the chef would go out to visually inspect the area. I don't know how he keeps track of the meat being done & getting the planes landed, but he did. By the way, dinner was delicious...and done perfectly!
I wish I could download the video I have of the food cooking with the roar of an airplane taking off in the background (the door to the runway was open the entire time). The video is short, but amazing!
We continued on down the road. It was starting to get dark. Luckily we found a little gasthaus in....wait a minute...I don't know where the heck we are! Anyway, I went into the gasthaus/restaurant and asked the bartender/owner if he had a zimmer frei and he said yes and told me the price was 70 euro, including breakfast. I said "gut" and he gave me a key to room #22 & that was it. He didn't ask my name, didn't take a credit card. We just show up for breakfast in the morning and pay after we eat!
Here's a photo of the last gasthaus we will stay in on this trip:
So after we got here, we polished off one of the bottles of Schatzle wine. I had another sip of the teufel liquor and whew!...that's it for me. I'm leaving the rest for the house maid!
Oh, by the way, the bed here is a feather bed...both the comfortor and the pillows...very comfy and light!
So we said goodbye to Frau Kluber and goodbye to the donkeys here.
We gave Frau Kluber a Nebraska wheat woven decoration and she seemed pleased with it.
Oh, as we left, I thought I'd take a picture of Gwendolyn:
Because of the accident on the A5 Autobahn in Germany...which was still a mess...we took a ferry boat across the Rhine River to France and drove north on the French version of the autobahn. It was less traffic & speed limits a bit more controlled so it was nice. Drove north and then back into Germany. There we went to Baumholder and onto a US military base/garrison to do some shopping. We found just what we were looking for...a cheap duffle bag suitcase that we can check through at the airport on our return flight, since we have a few more things than we started with on this trip.
Next we went to Idar Oberstein and looked around and found a recommended restaurant that serves the local dish of spiesbraten (a marinated pork that is grilled over a wood fire). So we plugged in the address into the GPS and it took us outside the city limits of Idar (thankfully away from the traffic!) and we found ourselves at a small grass strip airport on top of a hill with a restaurant.
We ordered 1 dinner of spiesbraten to split and much to our amusement, the man that was the head chef, also doubled as the air controller of the airport. So he got our pork on the open flamed grill. Notice the wood to the side stacked. That's what he stoked the fire with...you can see the wood under the round grill that has our dinner on it. The grill is suspended from the chimney.
Here he is at the grill. He has just picked up a large walkie-talkie looking thing, which was a hand held com radio.
Here he's still in front of the fire, cooking our food, and now talking to a pilot that is approaching the airport asking permission to land. You can hear both him and the pilot talking through the radio device. The landing strip was just outside the window and door where we sat at the restaurant.
So at this point the chef/ air traffic controller went outside, looked around in the sky to make sure it was clear, and gave the pilot the go ahead to land. Then he came back in and turned our pork over on the grill!
The guy was cooking our food and clearing airplanes to land all at the same time! Now THAT'S multi-tasking! During the time that we were eating dinner, we saw 6 planes either take off or land, among them, a small plane that took off towing a glider plane. And each time the chef would go out to visually inspect the area. I don't know how he keeps track of the meat being done & getting the planes landed, but he did. By the way, dinner was delicious...and done perfectly!
I wish I could download the video I have of the food cooking with the roar of an airplane taking off in the background (the door to the runway was open the entire time). The video is short, but amazing!
We continued on down the road. It was starting to get dark. Luckily we found a little gasthaus in....wait a minute...I don't know where the heck we are! Anyway, I went into the gasthaus/restaurant and asked the bartender/owner if he had a zimmer frei and he said yes and told me the price was 70 euro, including breakfast. I said "gut" and he gave me a key to room #22 & that was it. He didn't ask my name, didn't take a credit card. We just show up for breakfast in the morning and pay after we eat!
Here's a photo of the last gasthaus we will stay in on this trip:
So after we got here, we polished off one of the bottles of Schatzle wine. I had another sip of the teufel liquor and whew!...that's it for me. I'm leaving the rest for the house maid!
Oh, by the way, the bed here is a feather bed...both the comfortor and the pillows...very comfy and light!
Location:heading north to Idar Oberstein
Thursday, Sept. 20
We started off the day going to a local backerei to get some bread for breakfast. This bakery is both a mill and bakery & as you can see by the photo, it's been operating since 1567 (tap on the picture to see the detail)..and it's been in the same family for all that time!!!! This stone is an old mill grinding wheel.
We just took it easy today and saw some interesting sights. This is a village close to where we are staying. In the photo, you can see solar panels (grey areas) on the roofs of the houses. It's an interesting dichotomy...of old houses with tiled roofs & modern solar panels. Tap on the picture to enlarge it so you can see the solar panels.
We took a morning hike through the forest & here are some sights:
Close up of a tree trunk with shadows:
While on the hike, we heard the clank of cow bells on the hillside on the other side of the trees.
Here's Leo inspecting a wildlife viewing stand:
Delia, here's another marshmallow field. How would you like these in your hot chocolate??
Sara...here are some bee hives we saw along the way. They are very different from other hives I've seen.
If you look close, you can see the bees swarming.
Here's a very different butterfly:
Oh, and today I was finally able to make an appointment with a fussflege (reflexology person). Deb, it was very interesting (but not as good as you!). I sat in a chair (sort of like a dentist's chair). The lady was very nice...she spoke about as much English as I speak German so we got along fine! She spoke a lot of German with a little English and I spoke some of each and we each pretty much understood each other. She was asking about the name Sawatzki and said those names with zki came from Prussia (now Poland)...which I already knew. But then she told me something that I didn't know. She said that all the records of family births, deaths, marriages were either kept in the church or the main center of the area government and they usually can't find the information that someone is trying to find (ancestry stuff) because if someone came and said "I'm a descendent of Johann Sawatzki" and if he had owned some land, then the Polish government would be obliged to give you part of the land...so they often don't help with getting family information. Interesting. Also the reflex. lady said she knew an Anya Sawatzki and she lived in ...of all places...Tenningen (Joan, can you believe this!!). It's too bad we found this out this late (we leave here tomorrow)...and it's also too bad we didn't have time to see Inga in Tenningen...our days have been filled til about 8:00 pm every night! Also, she said there were Sawatzkis in either Denzingen or Kenzlingen.
So we continued our jaunt south, intending to go further south and explore around there, but we saw the remains of this castle:
and Grandpa wanted to stop and take pictures of the castle to show Delia where real princesses lived...so here it is.
This castle is called Hochburg & it's near Emmendingen. Joan, is this where Frank used to play as a little boy? I'm betting that it is. The castle was totally amazing! It was built around 1100 according to the sign here. Now that's just almost impossible to comprehend. Here, you can just explore as you want...inside the castle and outside. We had to climb quite a hill to get there, but it was definitely worth it.
Here are some (or many!) photos of it. This picture shows the height of the wall around the castle:
This is inside the castle:
Delia, do you think the princesses looked out from this window?
or maybe one of these?
or one of these?
or maybe she looked out one of these. Which one do you think?
And do you think the princess walked up these stairs in her long dress?
Here's a detail of the floor:
When you get to the top of the watch tower level, the view is amazing!
I think this is looking towards Emmendingen.
Leo had to take this picture of me in a tunnel in the castle leading to another room. Luckily, I turned around before he snapped the picture!
So we left the castle and started to head back. Other sights today:
Leo's new found word:
A chestnut tree:
Jesus of the cornfield:
We went to dinner at one of our favorite places:
They have our favorite beer here:
Came back to the house & tried drinking some of the teufel liquor (remember the 110 proof stuff?) Well, I put some in a dish & lit it on fire to burn off some of the alcohol.
Well, it burned for about 5 minutes and showed no signs of stopping so I had to douse it. And I don't think it got rid of any alcohol...it still tasted like hell fire (but with 42 herbs!) Dang! I'll bet that'll cure what ails ya! Leo said it burns like jet fuel. I think we could have roasted marshmallows on it the entire evening!
While doing this, we were doing a webchat with Sara (she was off work so she was able to chat in the middle of the day. She was quite amused with the fire lighting drink!
We just took it easy today and saw some interesting sights. This is a village close to where we are staying. In the photo, you can see solar panels (grey areas) on the roofs of the houses. It's an interesting dichotomy...of old houses with tiled roofs & modern solar panels. Tap on the picture to enlarge it so you can see the solar panels.
We took a morning hike through the forest & here are some sights:
Close up of a tree trunk with shadows:
While on the hike, we heard the clank of cow bells on the hillside on the other side of the trees.
Here's Leo inspecting a wildlife viewing stand:
Delia, here's another marshmallow field. How would you like these in your hot chocolate??
Sara...here are some bee hives we saw along the way. They are very different from other hives I've seen.
If you look close, you can see the bees swarming.
Here's a very different butterfly:
Oh, and today I was finally able to make an appointment with a fussflege (reflexology person). Deb, it was very interesting (but not as good as you!). I sat in a chair (sort of like a dentist's chair). The lady was very nice...she spoke about as much English as I speak German so we got along fine! She spoke a lot of German with a little English and I spoke some of each and we each pretty much understood each other. She was asking about the name Sawatzki and said those names with zki came from Prussia (now Poland)...which I already knew. But then she told me something that I didn't know. She said that all the records of family births, deaths, marriages were either kept in the church or the main center of the area government and they usually can't find the information that someone is trying to find (ancestry stuff) because if someone came and said "I'm a descendent of Johann Sawatzki" and if he had owned some land, then the Polish government would be obliged to give you part of the land...so they often don't help with getting family information. Interesting. Also the reflex. lady said she knew an Anya Sawatzki and she lived in ...of all places...Tenningen (Joan, can you believe this!!). It's too bad we found this out this late (we leave here tomorrow)...and it's also too bad we didn't have time to see Inga in Tenningen...our days have been filled til about 8:00 pm every night! Also, she said there were Sawatzkis in either Denzingen or Kenzlingen.
So we continued our jaunt south, intending to go further south and explore around there, but we saw the remains of this castle:
and Grandpa wanted to stop and take pictures of the castle to show Delia where real princesses lived...so here it is.
This castle is called Hochburg & it's near Emmendingen. Joan, is this where Frank used to play as a little boy? I'm betting that it is. The castle was totally amazing! It was built around 1100 according to the sign here. Now that's just almost impossible to comprehend. Here, you can just explore as you want...inside the castle and outside. We had to climb quite a hill to get there, but it was definitely worth it.
Here are some (or many!) photos of it. This picture shows the height of the wall around the castle:
This is inside the castle:
Delia, do you think the princesses looked out from this window?
or maybe one of these?
or one of these?
or maybe she looked out one of these. Which one do you think?
And do you think the princess walked up these stairs in her long dress?
Here's a detail of the floor:
When you get to the top of the watch tower level, the view is amazing!
I think this is looking towards Emmendingen.
Leo had to take this picture of me in a tunnel in the castle leading to another room. Luckily, I turned around before he snapped the picture!
So we left the castle and started to head back. Other sights today:
Leo's new found word:
A chestnut tree:
Jesus of the cornfield:
We went to dinner at one of our favorite places:
They have our favorite beer here:
Came back to the house & tried drinking some of the teufel liquor (remember the 110 proof stuff?) Well, I put some in a dish & lit it on fire to burn off some of the alcohol.
Well, it burned for about 5 minutes and showed no signs of stopping so I had to douse it. And I don't think it got rid of any alcohol...it still tasted like hell fire (but with 42 herbs!) Dang! I'll bet that'll cure what ails ya! Leo said it burns like jet fuel. I think we could have roasted marshmallows on it the entire evening!
While doing this, we were doing a webchat with Sara (she was off work so she was able to chat in the middle of the day. She was quite amused with the fire lighting drink!
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