Our first trip to Germany

“Schnell Schnell” and some other things that I couldn’t possibly repeat were Mike’s words as we drove over the Rhine to pass in to Germany. I can tell that this ‘O level’ German that he keeps telling me about is going to come in very useful!!!

I don’t really know what we were expecting but I have to say that already Germany has exceeded our expectations.  First stop was Freiburg fringed on one side by lowlands covered in grape vines (hopefully not for their liebfraumilch) and on the other by the mist covered southern hills of the black forest - which is where we are headed.  We happened to drop in to town on market day so we were able to stock up on fresh produce for our stay in Hinterzarten in the middle of the forest.  We plan to do some hiking and exploring from here over the next few days.  

Day two involved a hike through the forrest which inevitably means that we got lost.  Our 7km walk soon doubled but what’s new about that!  The walk ended at lake Titisee where we hired a motor boat to cruise the pine fringed waters in style (well as much style as a 12 euro electric motor boat permits!).

The weather on our third day put paid to our previous plans of a guided tour through the forest.  We decided that the hidden wooden climatic retreat in St Blasien was a much better idea.  That was of course until we entered the sauna.  We should really have known better, we are in Germany after all - why did we no think that this place would be a hedonist’s paradise!  More to the point why is is that these places are only ever full of crinkly white octogenarians who consider it perfectly acceptable to parade their little bits of manhood in your face and then have the audacity to stare at us like we are strange for wearing swimwear!!!!! I’m worried we shall be mentally scarred for life.  

The afternoon’s activities called for a few beers in the local Rothaus before dinner.  Sitting at the bar in something akin to a tradition english pub meant that we quickly made friends - slightly problematic when you only have Mike’s O level german skills to rely on!!!  We were welcomed by all of the locals but Herman, our closest neighbour, was obviously desperate to talk to someone and despite a serious language barrier with lots of hand gestures (my favourite being Mike actually meowing) we managed to hold a conversation all night.  We were glad to head home for some Bratwurst and a rest!