Where the Danube begins - Donaueschingen

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Not far from Zurich, just two-hours drive north towards the Black Forest, Germany, is a little town called Donaueschingen, and the reason why we went there is to see where the mighty river Danube begins. Yes, it "begins", since there are actually two small rivers, Brigach and Breg, which merge at one point (in Donaueschingen) and from that point this "new" river is called the Danube. I believe that most people who grew up in towns on or near the Danube, like myself, are emotionally connected to this beautiful, although not quite blue (maybe when Strauss lived and composed On the Beautiful Blue Danube it was actually blue) river. It runs through ten countries, four capital cities, i.e. Vienna-Austria, Bratislava-Slovakia, Budapest-Hungary, and Belgrade-Serbia, and not to forget, through my hometown of Novi Sad.
In Donaueschingen, we also discovered the Furstenberg brewery, and tried their beer (very good), and saw the Furstenberg family palace. Later on, I realized that Diane von Furstenberg, the famous designer (ladies know) was married to one of the Furstenbergs, and used to visit this palace.
On our way there, we stopped near Shaffhausen-Switzerland, to see the Rhine Falls (Rheinfall), the largest waterfalls in Europe, and to be honest, it's a lovely place, but since I've seen the Niagara Falls, many times, I must say I wasn't very much impressed. Still, it's worth a short stop.

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