We stayed in a holiday flat in Riedern in the south of Germany, not far from the Swiss border. The area, which is just on the edge of the Black Forest, is prime farming land full of rolling hills dotted with tiny villages. Not really a prime tourist spot, but nice and quiet.
The flat was lovely, and quite homely... if not a little mid 80s in style and decor! There were paper butterflies everywhere! But who goes to a German for advice on style?! The lady who owned the flat only lived up the road and couldn’t do enough for us – she was only too happy to provide us with a cake tin so we could make a Dr Oetker cake!
Raymond and Linda arrived a couple of hours after us – just long enough for us to get the washing machine cranked up for the first of a dozen loads!
We decided to head to Freiburg for our first trip as the weather didn’t look too good. But it just got worse as the day wore on; and that was after a long traffic jam on the way there! We did enjoy a sausage in the main square, and coffee and cake, but didn’t linger long in the end.
The following day the weather was much more promising so we went to Titisee, a pretty little lake and town with quite an entertaining name! David has taken school groups here several times but thankfully this time came without study packs and coloured pencils! Having walked around the town and stopped to watch a huge cuckoo clock, which was somewhat underwhelming, we took a swanky boat (complete with fridge) out on the lake for an hour.
We enjoyed several meals out in local restaurants over the course of the week but we often forgot the phrase books, so weren’t always sure what was going to turn up! There was a good bet it would be pork based! Although on one occasion, Mum’s salmon turned out to be something Captain Birdseye would have turned his nose up at! We also cooked a roast chicken dinner one evening, complete with crumble for pudding; our first since January and all the better for mum’s stuffing!
We decided that a trip to Lake Constance would be a good idea, although the journey there wasn’t the best! Lady Tom Tom took us over windy roads and through Switzerland – a bit worrying as Dad didn’t have a vignette to travel on Swiss roads - see previous post re road tolls. We got away with it and after a lovely picnic on the banks of the lake, we took a ferry out to the island of Reichenau. A food festival was taking place on the island so the main square was filled with food and beer stalls. Radish with salt is the traditional accompaniment to beer in Germany and we were quite amused to find that someone had adapted an old sewing machine especially to slice the radishes.
We decided that a trip on the cable car at Belchen would be nice, as the guide book said it provided the best views for miles around. Our experience was rather different as the cable car ascended straight into thick cloud and rain. There was a nice cafe at the top though which did, of course, have a great selection of cakes!
The Rothaus brewery was a couple of miles down the road from the flat, and their beers were the only ones served locally. So it was only right that we visited for a tour! Despite it being in German, and David’s rather vague interpreting, it was really informative and showed us the different processes in the factory. The huge bottling room was the most interesting. Crates of used empty bottles come in at one end, they’re sorted, cleaned and refilled before leaving at the other. A large percentage of their beer bottles are recycled. It was quite amazing to see, and hear, thousands of beer bottles rattle along the production lines at high speed.
There’s a famous old German law about beer ingredients called Reinheitsgebot. This means beer can only contain water, barley and hops. This ensures the purity and quality of beer across the board, and apparently less of a hangover. The Rothaus tour ended with a meal and of course, a couple of beers, after which we went home to eat our Dr Oetker and watch one of the DVDs at the flat. Whatever you do, even if you’re in Germany, don’t watch the George Clooney film ‘The Good German’! It’s scheisse!
Our final day was spent in the lovely little town of St. Blasien. The town’s claim to fame is that its church has the third biggest dome in the world. Now, we’ve seen so many towns claiming to have the biggest of this, the longest of that and the deepest of the other that we’re getting rather sceptical! But the church with its stark white interior was admittedly pretty impressive.
Although the weather was mixed, we had a great week in Germany with Mum and Dad and it was a very picturesque and friendly area. After a bit of van cleaning we said our goodbyes and headed for Lake Constance. 10 minutes later we were sat at the side of a busy A-road as lorries roared past our little red warning triangle...
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