Hotel Tanneck Baden-Baden

... cute little animals and feast on them, well at least I was. So, coming back from the Volksfest, the guard on duty spoke English. Turns out, it's a club where they raise little animals. So I asked if they ate them. His jaw almost dropped, "no!" So no, they don't eat the little animals. They show the little animals and have club meetings and events where they eat large animals that are decidedly not raised there. It's a Thumper safe zone.

Hallo Tonia,
wir freuen uns, dass Du Dich so gut eingelebt hast und so viele nette Leute kennengelernt hast.
Hoffentlich klappt alles weiterhin wie am Schnürchen. Deine Berichte sind wirklich interessant und lese sie mit Begeisterung.
Uns geht es auch gut. Zur Zeit ist es etwas stressig. Der Garten nimmt viel Zeit in Anspruch, von der Obstwiese in Amstetten ganz zu schweigen ...

It was a quick drive from Nuremberg to Stuttgart so we decided to spend a few nights there. Stuttgart is famous for being the home of Porsche and Mercedes Benz. We decided to visit the Mercedes Benz museum and although Im not a big car person it was very fun seeing the evolution of the car. It was kinda frightening to learn how much involvemnet they had in World War II making planes ...

We'd learned enough to say "zwei fur schloss, bitte," and enough to hear "nein." But we didn't understand a word of the lady's explanation after that . . .

For our second weekend in country, Jon bought 3-day passes for the trains and busses. We found our way by bus to the train station, up to Ludwigsburg by train, then on another bus to the schloss, pretty good! We even thought we found the castle, looked just like the picture on the ...

... work out.) We'd already been downtown three times. We've got the bus and train down for that route. Discoveries? Koenigstrasse is prime for people watching and eating doners (sort of like a Turkish gyro). The alte schloss (old castle) might have a cool museum with nice displays, but when you don't speak the language, museum trips are pretty quick. Also, vorsicht stuffen does not mean closed. We stared at that one for awhile before a German ...

... of the Mercedesturm to get a nice view of the city, for free!

On our drive back we spotted a castle ruin high above the autobahn and tried to find it. We climbed up a steep and winding hill through wine fields to the castle gates, which were locked. A sign posted on the gates stated that the castle is private property and trespassers will be fined. Unfortunately this is the only thing I took pictures of from our entire trip.

... air. This is only the second time that I have dreamt of flying and I must attribute it to the sense of freedom just recently acquired this year. I slept for over 10 hours. I could have slept longer but was woken up at 9am for the buffet breakfast. The have great food here. Homemade cheeses and berry yoghurt, soft boiled eggs and coffee made to order! Then it was back to bed. Mel took the first ...

Caught a night train from Vienna and arrived in Stuttgardt in the morning. Had a great day wandering and seeing the sights. Yet another map from yet another tourist info place. More statues and old buildings (Boring right? Not by a long shot). Still walking around wide-eyed like kids at Disneyland.

... touristy, with lots of Black Forest sausage and cheap cuckoo clocks for sale, but the falls are beautiful and we ate a really good bratwurst and beer from a street vendor there. From Triberg we went to Furtwanger, where the German Clock Museum is located. This is a little town with nothing other than the museum and a clock making school next door. It was EXTREMELY quiet! The museum itself is very nice. It shows the history of clock ...

... and towns and a few trees here & there. Luckily Freiburg made up for the journey with loads of atmosphere and tree-covered hills. Once I got to town I headed to the tourist office, and asked (in German!) if they could call the hostel and inquire about a bed for me. They assured me there was space, and sent me on my way with a map which made it look like the hostel was just on the outskirts of town. The map lied. The walk took about 45 minutes, and I thought I was halfway back to ...