Day 9: First day in Germany. The Titisee (It's ok to giggle)
Last morning in Switzerland. But that is OK because the day started so fresh and clear, no one minded. Even the "free basers" aka base jumpers, were having a good day. After breakfast mom and I walked to the bakery to pick up bread for lunch. We had gotten the cheese and meats yesterday. On our short walk we saw about five people jump off of the cliff near the top of the falls and parachute down the narrow valley.
We had a long drive today. I blogged about yesterday on half of the drive. I seemed to have lost one of my blogs if you are following and are wondering how I got to Lauterbrunnen...I hope it shows up later...it is a great story.
Our drive took us across the border to Germany and it is so interesting that there is a noticeable change in the house architecture. It went from little wide A-frame chalets to really tall roofed houses. This is the Black Forest (Schwatzwalt). The terrain changed too. We moved down in elevation and out of the glacial, alpine region to a lush, dense, green forest. This area is known for it's carvings, smoked ham, kirshwasser and hats. We descended to the lake where the town we are staying at sits and it was a lovely drive. The day is clear and warm and the lake is deep blue and glassy. The town, called Titisee, is the busiest of our trip so far. I don't mind all the people here though, because we are the only Americans. That tells you that this is still a well kept secret from the travel people on TV and I hope it stays that way. Usually we get embarrassed by the other Americans with their loud, garish, "all about me" behavior. It was refreshing to spend the afternoon listening to no English.
We checked into our hotel which is beautiful. We are on different floors but both have an unobstructed view of the whole lake. My room is AWESOME. It even smells good. It is decorated in beige and neutral colors with neat Scandinavian furniture. The walls are covered in gorgeous photos of forests to make you feel surrounded by the forest, which, in fact, you are. One wall is all glass and looks out to the giant balcony. I have a corner room so I look down on the private hotel beach and the local park.
We all freshened up and headed to the sweet little town. The hotel is a perfect distance from the town that we don't have far to walk but we have a quiet place to retreat to at night. We went to a cafe looking onto the main street to have an eiscafe. This place made it with what I am used to having: coffee with a vanilla ice cream scoop and whipped cream. I was nervous about having coffee but I figured I am on vacation and plus, I have my Atavan if i get into trouble of the panic attack kind. I was OK.
Mom and I shopped for a while while dad took a rest. Now that we are in the Black Forest, there are a lot of Christmas shops and mom and I spent a good hour in a giant Christmas store. I bought a bunch of stuff...pictures to come later....Then we grabbed dad and had a drink over looking the beach and lake. I felt a bit anxious so the alcohol felt really good. I ordered a glass of white wine. The glass was the traditional German white wine glass with the green stem but this one was a quarter liter! It was huuuge. And like I said, I needed it! We sat by the beach and watched the little boats get rented and moved around the lake. I got jealous but dad was not into paddling for a half hour. Mom and I decided to go just the two of us. Dad finished his beer as we paid the five Euro to take a little orange boat out. There were three main boat renters... a blue one, an orange one and a green one. The orange one had the best dressed operator so we chose him. Also, it was five thirty and everyone else was closing up. Mom and I paddled out little legs off. We went to the center of the lake and then turned back along the front of out hotel. I had so so so much fun. I just LOVE paddle boating. We paddled then glided, then steered then turned. I ran my hand in the water....just a great feeling. We returned just before our half hour was up but we were the only people on the lake at that time. Dad was waiting for us.
We had time to kill before our dinner reservations so we walked to our hotel's private beach. We sat on a park bench and relaxed, looking out on to the lake. A woman walked up and spoke German to us. We said we didn't understand. She said "will it shock you if I swim naked?". We said that was fine and she took all her clothes off and swam in. She swam out a little then came back. She talked to us as she dried off....it seemed that she took a really long time to dry off. It is difficult to keep a normal conversation with a naked middle aged woman I have learned.
We walked across the tiny main street to the place we were having dinner and chose, much to the staff's surprise, the inside table. I am on steroids, so i can't take much sun and I had me a pretty good sunburn going so it was a good idea to skip the balcony seating this time. The restaurant was very cute I side...all carved wood paneling and animal antlers on the walls.
First night in Germany.....what to eat? Well I figure it is either schnitzel or bratwurst. I chose the former. We all got another giant glass of white wine with dinner. My Schnitzel was the best I have ever had.....sorry mom. It didn't need salt, pepper or lemon. It was a perfect cutlet of pork, flattened to a giant pancake and breaded with a fine breading. It was then fried to a perfect crisp in butter. It came with a large side of fries..
When we were shopping earlier in the day, I saw a lot of these little shot glasses that look like a tiny bowl you would have onion soup out of. It was a brown pot with a handle. Apparently, there is a local drink that you are supposed to light on fire then drink and you use the little pot. I felt compelled to try it so I ordered it as my dessert. It was cute. She brought it out, gave me a coaster to out out the flames and lit it on fire. I watched it for a while then put it out and drank it. It tasted a little sweet and herby. It was fun.
We took a walk along the lake back to our hotel and said good night. There was a large group of Middle Eastern people staying above my room. They were singing and dancing and listening to crazy music. I had to complain at about ten. I had to complain again at eleven. That is when they disbanded. Mom and dad were woken up to some construction in the morning. They even had a plumber come in their room to look at their toilet for some reason. Because of all tis, we got a thirty percent discount on the rooms. That pretty well makes up for the inconvenience.
We had a long drive today. I blogged about yesterday on half of the drive. I seemed to have lost one of my blogs if you are following and are wondering how I got to Lauterbrunnen...I hope it shows up later...it is a great story.
Our drive took us across the border to Germany and it is so interesting that there is a noticeable change in the house architecture. It went from little wide A-frame chalets to really tall roofed houses. This is the Black Forest (Schwatzwalt). The terrain changed too. We moved down in elevation and out of the glacial, alpine region to a lush, dense, green forest. This area is known for it's carvings, smoked ham, kirshwasser and hats. We descended to the lake where the town we are staying at sits and it was a lovely drive. The day is clear and warm and the lake is deep blue and glassy. The town, called Titisee, is the busiest of our trip so far. I don't mind all the people here though, because we are the only Americans. That tells you that this is still a well kept secret from the travel people on TV and I hope it stays that way. Usually we get embarrassed by the other Americans with their loud, garish, "all about me" behavior. It was refreshing to spend the afternoon listening to no English.
We checked into our hotel which is beautiful. We are on different floors but both have an unobstructed view of the whole lake. My room is AWESOME. It even smells good. It is decorated in beige and neutral colors with neat Scandinavian furniture. The walls are covered in gorgeous photos of forests to make you feel surrounded by the forest, which, in fact, you are. One wall is all glass and looks out to the giant balcony. I have a corner room so I look down on the private hotel beach and the local park.
We all freshened up and headed to the sweet little town. The hotel is a perfect distance from the town that we don't have far to walk but we have a quiet place to retreat to at night. We went to a cafe looking onto the main street to have an eiscafe. This place made it with what I am used to having: coffee with a vanilla ice cream scoop and whipped cream. I was nervous about having coffee but I figured I am on vacation and plus, I have my Atavan if i get into trouble of the panic attack kind. I was OK.
Mom and I shopped for a while while dad took a rest. Now that we are in the Black Forest, there are a lot of Christmas shops and mom and I spent a good hour in a giant Christmas store. I bought a bunch of stuff...pictures to come later....Then we grabbed dad and had a drink over looking the beach and lake. I felt a bit anxious so the alcohol felt really good. I ordered a glass of white wine. The glass was the traditional German white wine glass with the green stem but this one was a quarter liter! It was huuuge. And like I said, I needed it! We sat by the beach and watched the little boats get rented and moved around the lake. I got jealous but dad was not into paddling for a half hour. Mom and I decided to go just the two of us. Dad finished his beer as we paid the five Euro to take a little orange boat out. There were three main boat renters... a blue one, an orange one and a green one. The orange one had the best dressed operator so we chose him. Also, it was five thirty and everyone else was closing up. Mom and I paddled out little legs off. We went to the center of the lake and then turned back along the front of out hotel. I had so so so much fun. I just LOVE paddle boating. We paddled then glided, then steered then turned. I ran my hand in the water....just a great feeling. We returned just before our half hour was up but we were the only people on the lake at that time. Dad was waiting for us.
We had time to kill before our dinner reservations so we walked to our hotel's private beach. We sat on a park bench and relaxed, looking out on to the lake. A woman walked up and spoke German to us. We said we didn't understand. She said "will it shock you if I swim naked?". We said that was fine and she took all her clothes off and swam in. She swam out a little then came back. She talked to us as she dried off....it seemed that she took a really long time to dry off. It is difficult to keep a normal conversation with a naked middle aged woman I have learned.
We walked across the tiny main street to the place we were having dinner and chose, much to the staff's surprise, the inside table. I am on steroids, so i can't take much sun and I had me a pretty good sunburn going so it was a good idea to skip the balcony seating this time. The restaurant was very cute I side...all carved wood paneling and animal antlers on the walls.
First night in Germany.....what to eat? Well I figure it is either schnitzel or bratwurst. I chose the former. We all got another giant glass of white wine with dinner. My Schnitzel was the best I have ever had.....sorry mom. It didn't need salt, pepper or lemon. It was a perfect cutlet of pork, flattened to a giant pancake and breaded with a fine breading. It was then fried to a perfect crisp in butter. It came with a large side of fries..
When we were shopping earlier in the day, I saw a lot of these little shot glasses that look like a tiny bowl you would have onion soup out of. It was a brown pot with a handle. Apparently, there is a local drink that you are supposed to light on fire then drink and you use the little pot. I felt compelled to try it so I ordered it as my dessert. It was cute. She brought it out, gave me a coaster to out out the flames and lit it on fire. I watched it for a while then put it out and drank it. It tasted a little sweet and herby. It was fun.
We took a walk along the lake back to our hotel and said good night. There was a large group of Middle Eastern people staying above my room. They were singing and dancing and listening to crazy music. I had to complain at about ten. I had to complain again at eleven. That is when they disbanded. Mom and dad were woken up to some construction in the morning. They even had a plumber come in their room to look at their toilet for some reason. Because of all tis, we got a thirty percent discount on the rooms. That pretty well makes up for the inconvenience.
/
0 comments: