Blogs from Baden-Württemberg, Germany, Europe - page 6

Where in the world is Gabby the motorhome? She is in a city. You know us well by now . We don't really like busy cities and normally we would avoid them like the plague . That is unless something is worth seeing. We had started the morning in a rather cold and dismal Lake Constanz, done our shopping, emptied Gabbys toilet and filled her with water. We had restocked the cupboards thanks to Lidl and plenty of fresh bread. The journey to Freiburg was not the most pleasant. The roads were exceedingly busy, It felt as if all of Germany were on the road. As always we found many roadworks. Germany is still spending on their roads. Some are being completely dug up and many have lanes coned off. It took us rather a long ... read more

After returning form Strasbourg, there was time to explore the Rhine waterfront of Kehl. Baedeker described Kehl thus: Kehl (460 ft.), a small Baden town (3000 inhab.), was erected by the French as a tête-de-pont of Strassburg in 1688. Wars have taken their toll on Kehl. A number of monuments line Rheinpromenade, the Rhine Promenade, the riverbank park. Begegnung (Encounter) commemorates peace and reconciliation between France and Germany. Another memorial commemorates French resistance fighters killed in 1944. Four cenotaphs, the Denkmäler für Flutopfer, memorialize those drowned in Rhine floods in the line of duty. A stone marks the Jakobsweg, The Way of St. James. This was a pilgrimage route through Germany that led ultimately to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. In the park is a Biblical Garden. Each of the 17 stele made of red sandstone ... read more

Travelling day today - the trains from Freiburg to Salzburg are not good - 7 hours and several changes so we thought we’d take the car back to Munich and then jump back on the train to Salzburg. Quite a long drive nevertheless for Pete but we were able to drop Sarah off at Freiburg bus station for the super Flug-Flixbus to Basel airport and we headed east via the north shore of Bodensee and the autoroute to Munich. It was great to see a bit more of the BlackForest in the early part of the day, and then powered through to drop the car at Munich station. Luggage in the lockers and then just enough time to head for Karlsplatz for a well deserved beer and snack before our train at 7. Arrived in Salzburg ... read more

We‘re really quite taken with Germany - people, landscape - it’s all lovely! Today we took a drive about an hour or so up the autoroute ( yes they do drive very fast - and faster at night ?) to Baden-Baden. Ooooo gorgeous town! First we took a leisurely stroll in the park (Lichtentaler-Allee) - famous for a real range of tree species - also smashing little river with heron fishing - and this is in the middle of town! It has horse statues and fountains everywhere. Then walked along to the casino - obviously had to have a look inside - very tasteful gambling ( casino royale-ish) - if only we had a spare €1500 deposit to sit at the table!! close by was the opera house ( again so stylish) and then the Trinkhalle ... read more

First day in the Black Forest so we drove to lake Titisee - largest lake in area ! It’s not big by Lake District standards - probably a mile long by half a mike wide but a lovely setting and well protected from development - just a few houses tucked into the surrounding forest. Very chic town, touristy but in a very posh way - a couple of top notch stores selling designer stuff and cuckoo clocks ( pretty much constantly going off - not my cup of tea!) and then the usual main drag with market stalls but all very tasteful not tacky. Coffee and first swarzwald torte of the trip (scored 7.5) followed by a rowing boat out on the lake. Pete took the helm first and powered across to the other side, then ... read more