A Taste of the Black Forest

Our arrival in Titisee did not look promising. It was hot and the small town was packed with tourists. Our lunch was okay, nothing special. But then we checked into our hotel, Treschers Schwarzwaldhotel. Ahh. Despite being right in the center of town, the hotel blocked the noise from the street completely. Our room had […]

A Little More Bodensee

We recovered from our bike trip with a stay in Immenstaad am Bodensee at the Heinzler am See hotel. Ahh, sleeping in! Actually, the first day we got up relatively early to catch a ferry to go see the dahlias. There are ferries between many of the towns – it’s a great way to travel! […]

Soooo Many Flowers

If you don’t like dahlias, this is not the post for you! Last Monday we went to the Insel Mainau, an island in Lake Constance (the Bodensee). It’s known as the Blumeninsel – the Flower Island – and it’s not hard to figure out why. 12,000 dahlias in over 250 varieties – wow! – You […]

Biking the Bodensee Part 3

The interesting public art kept coming. Not really sure what the inspiration for this fountain in Friedrichshafen was – steam punk? shipwrecks? – but it’s cool! I wished I could fit some of the garden ornaments in my luggage… From Friedrichshafen we biked to Lindau, which has a very scenic old town and harbor. We […]

Biking the Bodensee, Part 2

We left Schaffhausen by boat, a two-hour trip back to Stein am Rhein. The Rhine has a pretty strong current – I’d guess two to three knots. So we were surprised to see, along with half-timbered houses, modern homes with big balconies, and lots of waterfowl, these water creatures: The river was not very wide […]

Biking the Bodensee, Part 1

We started our bike trip around Lake Constance (the Bodensee in German) in Konstanz (Constance) at the Hotel Halm. The hotel restaurant where we had breakfast had a Moroccan theme with incredibly ornate decoration. How long did it take to create this?!? Our route is shown below. Our first day took us to the small […]

2 Bikes, 2 Valleys

We’re in the midst of our around-Lake-Constance bike trip, but today’s post is a quick one about our first short bike trip in Oberstdorf. We rented two e-bikes for a day and used those awesome batteries to bike up two valleys, the Trettachtal and the Oytal. Here are some of the views along the way. […]

The Cows Are Home

On Wednesday, the cows came home to Oberstdorf after a summer spent in the mountain pastures. In a traditional event called the Viehscheid, the cows are brought in then divided up to go with their owners. In September many towns hold them. Here in Oberstdorf, it drew hundreds of spectators and there’s food, drink, and […]

A Perfect Day

Tuesday blessed us with beautiful weather and we made the most of it. We started with a trip to the Breitachklamm, one of several ravines in the area. As we headed up along the beautiful stream, the temperature dropped at least ten degrees (F). The water is COLD! It’s also crystal clear and a lovely […]

The Alps – Just The Way You Imagined Them

We started to get excited as the mountains rose before us as we drove south from Regensburg. The corn fields and hops gave way to hay fields and pasture. It only got better when we reached Oberstdorf, a town surrounded by mountains. Every where you look – more mountains. And flowers! On the houses, on […]