Jenn and Dad go to Germany 2009

We arrived at the airport in Stuttgart a little late after being delayed on the ground in Atlanta, and our friend Otmar is soon there to pick us up in his diesel Ford Fusion. We choose to recover from our long travel by making a 20 km bike trip to visit an old castle/monastery/hunting lodge called Bebenhausen which is just north of Tuebingen.

After touring the grounds, which is surrounded by a small village, we continued onward into the adjoining nature preserve. There we stopped to view some of the local wildlife, conveniently held in a pen for easy viewing. As usual, Jenn attracts the attention of the local males.

The next morning we walk into the town of Tuebingen, a beautiful medieval city which was not bombed during the war and retains many of its ancient buildings, including the ornately decorated Rathaus which is situated on the main plaza.

Later on that day we accompany our host Otmar as he drives to his nearby home village where he still plays once a week with the local tennis club (which he has done since he was young). On the way we visit another castle, Hohenneuffen, which is high in the Schwabian Alb with a nice view from the castle walls.

As is customary, the tennis club gets together for a potluck style dinner after they play, with food from the local gardens and pantries, so Jenn gets a truly authentic German meal. What she finds most impressive, though, is the vending machine (“automat”) in the clubhouse, which dispenses beer. Of course we try the product (drinking age in Germany is 16, when in Germany do as the Germans …) along with our meal. To go along with dessert we sample some of the homebrewed “kirschenwasser” (literally cherry water, a type of schnapps) - “it’s only water” we are told.

The next day Jenn and I make an excursion a bit north to the city of Heidelberg, where we visit the famous castle perched above the Neckar River. We stay at a hotel on the outskirts and take the tram (S-bahn) to the city center, where we walk along a crowded and very touristy shopping area leading to the castle. There is an incline railway that we ride up to the castle, and we take a picture of one of the towers (undergoing reconstruction), with the river and the old stone bridge crossing it visible behind Jenn.

On Saturday we drove south through the Black Forest region, stopping to look at Germany’s highest waterfall in Triberg and sampling the local Schwarzwaelder Kirschtorte. Back at our host’s home, we enjoy a pizza dinner (which Jennifer helps to make) in the company of our host’s two sons, both pursuing graduate studies nearby.

The next morning we head out for Austria, stopping along the way at a couple of places along the Bodensee (Lake Constance). Jennifer gets to hear part of the Catholic service at a beautiful baroque church, the Kloster Birnau, which we stop to admire (the mass is delivered in German).

We also make a stop at the Pfahlbau Museum to look at a reconstructed early lake settlement built on stilts by stone-age (and later bronze-age) peoples.

Then it is across the border and up into the mountains, where we stay at a bed and breakfast style cottage in an area best known as a ski resort but also popular for summer hiking. Talk about a room with a view!

The next day we head out on a trek through the hills, starting out on a ski lift to quickly gain a bit of altitude. We climb a nearby peak, the Mittagspitze, which is adorned on the top with a cross - the rock trail goes steeply upward, with ropes to help out along the worst stretches, and a beautiful view from the apex.

Past the peak we make a loop for a few kilometers, accompanied everywhere by a gorgeous display of alpine wildflowers and a concert of cowbells from the ubiquitous small groups of dairy cattle that are grazing the slopes and are milked to produce the mountain cheese (Bergkaese) that is a famous product of the region.

Later that day our hosts take us to the nearby train station where Jenn and I make our way back to the Stuttgart Airport, where we fly home the next day. We have to switch trains 3 times, with connections 6 minutes apart, but as usual the trains run on time in Germany.

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