The Black Forest

I can't believe it is already June! The time has just flown by here. My classes are finally beginning to get difficult and interesting, I have finally made some real German friends and I am really getting the hang of traveling on a small budget. The other weekend Lirra and I took a trip out to this huge lake in Southern Germany called Lake Constance. It boarders on Switzerland and Austria. It is kind of neat how these three countries kind of meet on the shores of this huge lake surrounded by Alps. From there, Lirra and I traveled up through the Black Forest regions of Germany. It was a really lovely trip.


This pictures is from a town named Lindau on this huge lake in Southern Germany.


It was absolutely beautiful there. I think this man would agree with me.


The next day we took a train to a town named Uhlbringen were we found an outdoor market.


This was our lunch-- only 3 Euros 50.


Then we took a ferry across the lake to Konstance. Lirra and I took a ton of very glamorous pictures of each other the entire time. This one is me with this strange green dwarf woman on the front of the ship.


In Konstance there was also this very goofy fountain. I love the dog!


Here we are terribly lost and confused in Freiburg. Our youth hostel was hidden in the black forest! We followed sign after sign before finally finding it. It was kind of neat being hidden away in the woods over creeks and valleys.


After Freiburg we went to Baden Baden. Baden Baden is where a lot of very wealthy vacationers have come for decades. There are tons of rose gardens, real thermal baths and fancy, fancy casinos (like the one features in this picture).


Lirra and I splurged and spent 3 hours at the cheapest and non-naked thermal bath. It was one of the best 3 hours ever. There are all sorts of saunas, message pools, hot tubs, cold tubs and steam rooms to play in. It was SO relaxing. Afterwards, we just went out of ice cream, went back to our youth hostel, put on our PJs and giggled all night.


In the middle of a whirlwind trip home that involved 5 different trains, we got 1/5 of the trains wrong and ended up in Diedelsheim for an hour. Ick. There is nothing in Diedelsheim except some chopped wood and a bench.


This is Stuttgart from the train station, one of the many, many train stations that we stopped in that day.


We were only in Ulm for a few hours before leaving to go home for the weekend. Ulm is where Einstein was born, where the hang glider was invented, and where the largest bell tower (Münster) in the world is located. Next to the bell tower is this huge daring modern building right next to it. I loved the contrast.


Here is a piece of homemade tiramisu that we ate in Ulm. It was so good that I saved a piece for you.

More pictures are here. Believe it or not, I am leaving for Poland this Wednesday. My friend Neal and I found very cheap bus tickets there, and everything in Eastern Europe should be very inexpensive as well. I am looking forward to seeing another totally different language and culture for the weekend. There will be many, many pictures- I promise!