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| The beauty of the edge of the Black Forest |
This is the last post from Germany, and I really was so sad to leave. I enjoyed myself so much and the people I met were incredibly kind and wonderful to me. It makes me tear up a little thinking of it all.
We stayed close to home for various reasons on Monday and Tuesday- I did go out for lunch at an Italian place one day and we had delicious meals at the house as well. Anne-Sophie's dad had a birthday party Monday and (again with the wine) we had some lovely champagne and cake. The German cakes you guys- oh yeah. Lots of kinds of cake...
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| Part of the Ruines Diersburg |
Wednesday we went into France and visited the town of Straßbourg, which is where I took the train the next day. It was a short drive really, but we did take a train into the city center which was - as pretty much all the cities I was in- BREATHTAKING. Feel free to write in appropriate adjectives because I am running out and I haven't come up with new ones. And I still have London to write about. Goodness I am a procrastinator- but better late than never. ;)
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| You can see just beyond that house the valley that this castle looked over. |
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| View from the Ruins |
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| Part of the footprint of the castle |
First off though, during the day when I was left to my own devices on Tuesday, I was encouraged to go to the Ruins that I am still fascinated by. The Ruins is a centuries old ruins of a castle that belongs to their family. It was destroyed at one point in I think the 1400's. A sort of funny story, though, I had some issues trying to get there. I swear to heaven that I followed the map and the directions. I, of course, had no idea where I was going. Because if you know me at all, you understand that I will get myself turned around. I did know that I should not proceed up over the hills of the Black Forest, so I am not still wandering around there. Anyway, I walked and walked and looked. I saw it from afar but I could not find how to get there! It made me sad. I did see beautiful country side, though and it was a nice walk.
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| Now doesn't this look easy?? Nothing apparently is all that easy- especially with ill-marked roads and directionally challenged art teachers. |
So before we went to Straßbourg, we went for a little drive. It is hard to explain the whole thing, but we drove there, going up the way I came back (of course) and then she parked the car along the road and said we are here. WHAT?? WHERE?? Look up! Oh. I didn't take a picture of the location because there were just too many trees in the way, and it didn't lend itself.... and also I was busy rolling my eyes at myself.
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| And so this guy was hanging out across the road when we got to the car |
So basically I walked right by the path to the ruins and didn't know it was there, but I forgive myself because how was I to know, right? TOTALLY worth the wait, such a cool place. You know me and abandoned stuff....
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| Cathedral in Straßbourg |
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| Look at all that carving! And the pink sandstone was just glorious |
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| Just beautiful |
So Straßbourg is a gorgeous city, and has some amazing buildings and one gorgeous Gothic church The architecture was fantastic! I have to reiterate how much I enjoyed the buildings and details of such buildings in Deutschland. Anyway, we wandered around and enjoyed- ahem- ice cream, I got some post cards and we went to a park where Johann played in the fountain. What a wonderful day. I did not take as many photos anywhere as I "should" have, but I sure enjoyed the moments I had. AND I found another palace!
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| Johann! |
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| Some fine Baroque architecture here!
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A few detail photos that I really enjoyed above! Blogger is being difficult and not letting me put things where I see fit.
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| Let's just go play in a fountain! |
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| I took a quick shot of the inside of the train station that I left from. Pretty cool |
That evening we had some photos taken of the group of us by the neighbor and we got back to the house so I could gather my things because the train left fairly early. I'm sorry I made Anne-Sophie stay with my until the Eurostar came, but I was nervous. Though I had coaching from my dear friend Paula, a truly seasoned traveler who gave the the confidence and information necessary to get myself through Paris- which will be discussed at length in the next post- I was still a bit terrified- yes I was a mess. You probably should know the whole event was undoubtedly more dramatic in the mind of Debi than in real life, but eh. That is part of my charm, no?
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| This time it was a party of 5 |
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Just a small selection of some gorgeous sweets. I got something,
but don't remember what. |
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| Selfie with cathedral |
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| This was such an opulent carousel. |
This was the end of my Germany based travels- on to another transition and travel.... and a new country as well! It was certainly easy to find my joy here. Stay tuned for more adventures!
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