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 […]

Regensburg

We enjoyed two days in Regensburg, an old city on the Danube. Perhaps the most famous sight in Regensburg is the 336-meter-long stone bridge, built in just 11 years (1135 to 1146). Considering that many cathedrals took centuries to build, that seems incredibly fast. Perhaps commerce was more urgent than housing the archbishop? Or perhaps […]

An Engineer’s Dream

Munich’s Deutsches Museum is a fantastic science and technology museum. We spent a few hours there and only saw a fraction of their excellent exhibits. We could easily devote several days to it. Detailed explanations were given in both German and English. The detailed dioramas about bridge building were even more impressive. If you just […]

Munich

We spent a week in Munich, mostly visiting family. We did manage to see a few of the sights…and take a pile of pictures. We hope to come back and see more! Oktoberfest starts on September 16th. They’re busy building what looks like a whole small town in Theresienwiese: We were surprised to learn that […]

Strasbourg

Strasbourg’s city center, the Grand Île, is a great place to stroll. Two rivers converge in the city, forming the island and giving visitors beautiful views in all directions. La Petite France, which began as a quarantine area for French soldiers who had brought syphilis to the city, has morphed to the most picturesque (and […]

Le Chateau de Haut-Koenigsbourg

As we drove to Colmar on Sunday, we saw a castle on top of the pointiest hill around. On Monday, we visited it – the Chateau de Haut-Koenigsbourg. (Yet another fine mix of French and German names here in Alsace…) This castle has had a hard life. First mentioned in 1147, it was destroyed in […]