Hotel Mercure Am Franziskaner Villingen-Schwenningen

Final Destination

km198'149

A day never to forget! An adventure never to forget! A experience never to forget!

What nobody (really) thought to be possible, has been done. I arrive at 17:00h at the same place, where I started this journey the 30.4.2006 (click here) with the same vehicle, the same rider and complete the full scale world trip across all 5 continents happiest and well ...

Primer contacto con Alemania. Ciudad universitaria por exelencia, donde la bicicleta tiene la prioridad absoluta, el centro es enteramente peatonal. Una de las ciudades mas animadas del viaje, su ambiente nos recargó las pilas después de muchos dias de viaje.
Su catedral es especialmente destacable, y tiene una torre muy recomendable, aunque se encuentra actualmente en obras. Por la mañana estuvimos en un mercado artesanal muy, muy completo.

... one of his passengers was a bit confused when she saw Gaz's towrope on his bumper, thinking we had been towing him when we broke down!! The driver gave us the details of a local Landy dealer, just in case we needed them, and went on his way.


So fix in place once again, we drove off to catch up with Kieran & James.







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We caught the wrong train and wound up in Gengenbach. While we were waiting for a train back we met a lady who told us the town had a beautiful old-town section. So we went discovering again. After a good look around we stopped at a pub while we were waiting for the next train and got talking to the owner. Turns out he'd been to Australia on holiday, so we had a good time talking to him until it was time to go.

Day trip from Villingen. Wolfach has a factory cum tourist attraction where they blow the glass manually. It was good to watch them making vases etc. in the traditional way. The highlight for me was dobbing Roz in to get up on the stage and blow her own vase. She did a good job, and we bought the vase and brought it home. A very special souvenir.

Home of the world famous Hubert Herr clock factory. Met Reinhard Herr, Hubert's great grandson, who still owns and runs the place. The clocks are still handmade and handcarved in the traditional designs. They even make their own clock movements. Spent an hour or so talking to the gentleman, and he explained ...

Just a day trip to see this old city. Lots of brightly painted buildings with ornate oriel windows. Most of the windows were carved with scenes or fancy designs, sometimes painted, sometimes both. Lots of fountains and statues. Found a chocolate shop and pigged out.

Stayed here a couple of nights. Just a really pretty place in the heart of the Black Forest. Got my first look at a woodcarvers shop and was blown away by the quality of the work. The fine detail has to be seen in person to be truly appreciated. Snow everywhere ...

... with costumes and masks and bands. Damn near froze standing still for that long, but I had a good vantage point for the pictures so I wasn't going to move for fear of losing my spot. After the parade we got stuck into the gluhwein and some hot food then went back to the hostel for a hot shower, then out for dinner. We went to a local brewery that had a restaurant incorporated and had such a good time that we made it a regular while we were there.

... about local politics. It was quite informative. We came back to the Jugendherberge (hostel) for dinner and then went outside to play table tennis, but right as we began to play, the German students who will be going to America through the program came to meet us. The took us into the city and we ended up spending a few hours talking with them (almost entirely in German!). It was really fun, and it was no problem ...