Friends, Fest and France

Our good friends, Kim and Brian, came out to visit us last September for some German fun at Volksfest: Stuttgart's Oktoberfest.  We not only had a great time at fest, but we enjoyed plenty of beautiful sights in Germany, as well as in France!

Their trip started off a bit rocky...we got locked out of the house within 5 minutes of their arrival!  It was all uphill from there after some MacGyver maneuvers to get back in.  We spent the day strolling the streets and chowing down on some excellent German food in my favorite local town of Tübingen. The next day we headed to Volksfest for some beer and chicken to start off their Germany trip in just the right way!

Fest bound! (Kim's pic)

We slept in the next day before heading out to check out some abbey ruins in the Black Forest.  The ruins in the town of Hirsau date back to the 11th century.  After taking plenty of pictures in the ruins, we headed to the nearby quaint little town of Calw.  It's exactly what you think a German town should look like!

Calw

Of course you can't visit Germany and not see a castle, so we went to see the impressive Hohenzollern castle.  It looks so perfect from the distance perched up on top of it's hill.

We also did a nice hike to the waterfall at Bad Urach.  It's a pretty easy, flat, path, but we made it much more difficult by deciding to climb the waterfall.

On our way home from hiking, we stumbled upon a magical Italian place for dinner, just about 5 minutes from our house!  We ended up going back just a few nights later!  Their pasta is just divine!

Kim's pics

We drove a couple of hours to cross the Rhine river for an overnight trip to the Alsace region of France, one of our favorite places!  We started off in the northern part of the Alsace in the gorgeous city of Strasbourg.  We ate crepes for lunch, followed by gelato and a look at the beautiful cathedral.  From there, we headed south along the wine route through picturesque villages and vineyards.  We stopped and stayed the night in the picture perfect town of Ribeauville.  We did some wine tasting and found out that we are not big fans of stinky cheese, which is very popular in the region!

Beautiful gelato!

The next day we checked out two more beautiful Alsatian towns; Riquewihr and Kayserberg.  I don't think a town could be any cuter than Riquewihr!  I also love their free samples of delicious coconut macaroons!

These coconut macaroons make Riquewihr smell like heaven!

We took the scenic route through the Black Forest on the way home, stopping in Triberg for a hike up Germany's tallest waterfall.  It doesn't look that tall from the bottom, but the higher you climb you can see that it just keeps going and going.

I think this is the only pic of the four of us! (Kim's pic)

We entertained ourselves for a few days while Kyle had to work.  A cold rainy day was the perfect time to take Brian for a drool fest at the Porsche museum.  We also made a stop at the Motorworld in Böblingen, a car lover's paradise.  We even had time and a break in the rain for a hike up to the Birkenkopf, (aka Rubble Hill).  Rubble Hill is the highest point in Stuttgart with great views over the city.  It was created by piled up rubble from damage done during the war.  Most of the hill is wooded, but the rubble is visible at the top.

Brian and his dream machine (Kim's pic)

Motorworld

Rubble Hill (Kim's pic)

We lucked out with a beautiful sunny day to head to Dachau, a very somber destination.  Dachau was one of the first concentration camps opened in Germany, located just outside of Munich.

You can't be 20 minutes from Munch and not stop for a beer, so we did just that.  We also happened to be there the same day an old dance class friend was visiting!  Never would have guessed that we would be meeting up in Munich!

Dance buddies!

We had so much fun travelling and seeing the sights with Kim and Brian!  We're already looking forward to their next visit in fall 2017!!

The Joest's in Germany: Part I

In early July, my mom, dad, and little sister, Kari, came to Deutschland for a visit and some sightseeing.  They stayed for just over two weeks, and we had a wonderful time!  This was Kari's second time visiting us, and Dad was stationed in Germany in the 70s, but it was a first for Mom! In their short time here we visited Italy, Switzerland, France as well as many of our favorite local places.  For their first day, we hit our usual spots in Tübingen and Bebenhausen.  They are gorgeous places that really make you feel like you're in Germany!

I guess the jet lag caught up with Dad in Bebenhausen.

Kyle was off the day they arrived, but had to work the next several days.  I took them to some nearby destinations, starting with the Black Forest.  Instead of going to Triberg like we usually do, we went to a couple of places that I had not seen.  We started with some hiking around the Mummelsee, which is a pretty little lake.  We had a really nice hike that had some great views!  After our hike, we headed to the tiny town of Allerheiligen to see monastery ruins and a very pretty waterfall.  It was a great day, and it was nice to see some new things in the Black Forest!  (All of the Black Forest pictures are from Mom and Dad.  I've gotten really bad about taking pictures since Kyle always does it!)

On their third day in Germany, we went down to the Bodensee (or Lake Konstanz) on the German, Swiss and Austrian borders.  We went to the beautiful town of Meersburg right on the lake.  We walked around the town, had schnitzel for lunch and rented a little electric boat for an hour on the lake.  It was a beautiful, sunny and very enjoyable day.  (All of these pics are Mom and Dad's as well.  I spared you the picture of the old naked man that Mom took a picture of at the lake!)

We spent a lot of time checking out local farmer's markets, butchers, and bakeries.  The prettiest markets we visited were in Tübingen and Esslingen.  They had a great variety of fresh produce, meats, cheeses, flowers, bread, etc.  It's very enjoyable to nose through the markets in such beautiful and historic settings.

Nosing around Esslingen

On the 4th of July, we picked up some delicious spare ribs from the butcher and some other things from the market.  Dad grilled the ribs and they were awesome!  We also had some fried zucchini, fresh bread, salad, and a cherry pie with cherries from our own tree!  It was a perfect all-American dinner for the 4th!

Kyle had two sets of four days off while my family was here.  On his first set of days off, we took a road trip down to Lake Garda in northern Italy.  It was a gorgeous drive through the Austrian and Italian Alps.  At the border of Germany and Austria, we stopped to take pictures of the Zugspitze, Germany's highest peak.  My dad was stationed in Germany in the 70s and injured his ankle on the Zugspitze while doing some skiing.  I'm sure it was nice for him to see it again from afar and without injury!  (All of the Lake Garda trip photos are Kyle's.)

We rented an amazing villa that originally dated back to the 15th century.  It had beautiful views overlooking Lake Garda.  It was perfect for us!

Our first evening we spent exploring the historic streets of Malcensine.  It's an atmospheric town on the lake that sits right at the foot of a castle.  We enjoyed drinks, pizza and gelato by the lake.  You couldn't ask for a better start for a trip to Italy!

Mom and Dad's pic

Mom and Dad's pic

The next day we checked out the town of Sirmione, sticking out on a peninsula at the southernmost tip of the lake.  It is a gorgeous town with lush gardens, a castle and ritzy hotels.  The town actually dates back to the 5th-6th centuries BC.  There are Roman ruins there, as well as monastery ruins.  

Scaliger Castle, 13th century

Kyle caught this amazing moment on camera.  An old man opened his shutters and reached out his hand with a bit of food in it, and a bird immediately came to land on and eat out of his hand.  I wonder how many years this has been part of his daily routine?

Monastery ruins

Later that afternoon, Mom, Kyle, Kari and I visited a family run winery/organic farm.  The owner was so kind and told us all about their wine, homemade olive oils, jams, grappa, soaps, etc.  We did some tasting and bought a few bottles to bring home with us.

The next day, Dad stayed to relax at the villa while Mom, Kari, Kyle and I went to see Verona. It is a beautiful city, and it was well worth the visit!  The city had bit of a Venetian and Tuscan look to it.  There are plenty of quiet old streets to wonder, and impressive Roman ruins to see.  There are also some "Shakespeare" sites, since it was fair Verona where the star-crossed lovers laid their scene.  However, the Shakespeare sites, such as Juliet's balcony were built much later than those times and are purely tourist attractions.  Overall, Kyle and I were much more impressed with Verona than we were expecting!

Juliet's balcony...

...and the hoard of tourists below it.

Poor Kari getting drizzled on at lunch!

Roman gates

Roman Colosseum

It rained quite a bit once we got back from Verona, but it cleared up enough for us to stroll around the town of Torre del Benaco near our house before dinner.  Since it had been raining, the town was so quiet and peaceful.

The locals catching some dinner

The day we headed home was beautiful and clear, so we took the scenic route along the lake and through northern Italy.  When in doubt, always take the road less traveled.  It's usually worth the extra time!

Clear views from our terrace

It clouded up on the other side of the Alps, but we went ahead and stopped to take a few pictures of the famous Neuschwanstein Castle.  It's just like a fairy tale castle!

Mom and Dad's pic

We had a wonderful little trip!  We managed to dodge the rain and see a lot of amazing places!  Coming up in the next post, we'll visit the Swiss Alps, monkeys and the Alsace!