Adventures in Deutschland: October 2007

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Biking Update

I thought I would provide an update on my mountain biking experiences for those of you who read my previous blog about getting spanked by a bunch of old German mountain bikers. Saturday, a friend of mine and I rode from his house in Seeheim into the Odenwald in search of Frankenstien's Castle. After riding through various trails for about an hour we finally found it. It isn't necessarily a very impressive castle, but it was interesting to think about how it inspired "Frau" Shelley (that is how a German hiker we past referred to her) to write her novel. We rode about 8 miles total that day, which doesn't sound like much, but it was pretty steep riding so we got a good workout.

We decided we hadn't had enough, so Sunday afternoon we rode from Seeheim to a nature preserve along the Rhein river called Naturschutzgebiet Kühkopf. It was a nice , mostly flat ride. We stopped at a Biergarten in the middle of nowhere within the nature preserve to get a snack and something to drink before riding back. That is one thing I love about this country. Germans are very active people and the trails are always busy and the Biergartens in the middle of nowhere are always full of people who have hiked or ridden their bikes for miles (or kilometers) to get there. I guess it helps that it isn't 100 degrees (37 degrees celsius) outside. All in all we rode about 27 miles.

I got home around 4 and Jami and I decided to ride from our house through the Odenwald to the nearest castle before dark. We made it to Starkenberg castle which overlooks Heppenheim. We stopped at castle's Biergarten (I told you they are everywhere) and enjoyed the view of Heppenheim and the Rhein river valley below as well as some Flammkuchen (a type of thin crust pizza) and some of the local wine. We got home just at sunset, covering about 5 miles in the hills. It was definitely a more enjoyable experience than the last one.

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Technical Difficulties

Okay, I have re-posted the Bavaria post. I know many of you couldn't see the pictures. I couldn't either actually. They were there...and then they weren't. No idea what happened there. If any of you fellow bloggers have had this problem and know what to do about it, I would love to hear from you. Blogger Help was not so helpful on this point. So annoying to have to post the same thing twice...

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Nurnberg

We spent Friday and Saturday last weekend in Nurnberg. Steve's co-worker, John, was in town from Dallas for work and his sister and parents live in Nurnberg. We decided to tag along with him for a visit. Steve stayed with them earlier this year during one of his 2 week trips over. He got so sick at the time and they took care of him - even called their family doctor for him. We had a great time getting to know them...here are a few photos from the weekend.

This is a church steeple turned fountain in the middle of the town square. John told us that it was supposed to be the church steeple but there was so much gold that, by the time they finished it, it was too heavy to get it up there. So now it is a fountain in front of the church. There is a gold ring in the gate that is supposed to bring good luck when you turn it all the way around. So I took advantage of the opportunity here....I'm waiting for my big lotto win any day now. :)

Steve and John on Hangman's Bridge...

This was an interesting city, especially since we had our own private tour from the guy that grew up there. John definitely has some fascinating stories...

We will have to make a trip back because there is a lot more to see and John's sister makes great schnitzel. :)

Friday, October 12, 2007

Bavaria, Austria & Friends

This is Ben & Janet. They were are first house guests and we were so happy to have them. I think Janet handled the jet lag a little better than Ben. He had a tendency to spontaneously lose consciousness anytime we got in the car. But I can certainly sympathize - it is brutal making the 7 hour switch. Their visit to Germany was Ben's 30th birthday gift from Janet and she pulled it off like a champ. We were so, SO happy to see friends. We didn't realize quite how much we missed all of you guys until these two showed up on our doorstep.

Steve and I have been talking about getting down to Bavaria. This is the part of the country Steve really fell in love with when he visited and he was anxious to introduce it to me. So we took advantage of the opportunity and made quite the little road trip stopping in Salzburg, Berchtesgaden, Garmisch & Fussen....truly some of the most amazingly beautiful country I think I've ever seen.

This is Hohensalzburg. We toured this castle and it was pretty cool. The castle was big and there was lots of cool stuff to see inside but the best part was our first glimpse of the Alps from the courtyard balcony. I think we all caught our breath somewhat at such a striking view.

The Rhine River...

That striking view mentioned above...

The view of the city from Hohensalzburg...

Steve did not think we needed this picture. You can see who won that one. :) I mean it's Mozart's birthplace. How can you not take a picture in front of the Mozart statue in the middle of Mozart Square. This photo was taken just after I finished my afternoon Mozart-flavored ice cream...

That afternoon we drove to Berchtesgaden where we hopped the bus up to the Eagle's Nest. This was Hitler's mountain/holiday residence but you wouldn't necessarily know it from making the trek up. It's just a really amazing drive with a really amazing view when you reach the top.

Some castle on the drive to Garmisch.....

Early signs of fall...

Another castle along the drive...

Is this not the most precious hotel you've ever seen? I'm usually not one to get excited about hotels but this place was like a little dollhouse. It had really big rooms (a rarity here in Deutschland) with what appeared to be antique furniture...very quaint. I loved it.