"Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall..."

Sometimes your plans just don't work out.  "Into each life some rain must fall...," said Longfellow; and it did (literally) last Saturday as we were making our way back to Germany's Black Forest.  This time we were going to take a ride through a lot more of it, further north than Titisee.  We were also going to take a stretch of road called schwarzwaldhochstrasse---literal translation, black forest high street.  It's a 60 km stretch of road between Freudenstadt and Baden Baden that is way up in the mountains with beautiful vistas (if there's not raindrops, clouds, fog, and mist in your way).  We'd hoped to spend a few hours in Baden Baden, too.  Once, we were there, however, there was a constant drizzle with constant dreary yuck.  We decided we'd have a lot more fun exploring the city on a nice summer day.  I snapped a few pictures (yes, from the car) as we started out (while the clouds were gathering and turning darker and darker).  Later, I quit taking them at all because we were up in the mountains with trees on either side of the road or with crumby visability.  The weather vane I caught while going through a tiny village, and the church was one in Baden Baden.  So, though there's nothing really too new or exciting in these shots, you can get an idea of why it is called the Black Forest as the pines look so dark, and you can get an idea of rural Germany in this area.  Anyway, it was a pretty ride albeit disappointing because we couldn't see all we went to see:





Auf Wiedersehen!!

A Little Shopping Extravaganza

So I've shared with you how Denise and I go visiting teaching together.  Heidi and Gaby are really good friends, and we visit them together at the same time---that's how they want it.  I shared a picture of them on my "happy" post here.  Well, we decided that as a twist to our visiting teaching appointment for May, we would take a train ride to the small town of Rheinfelden and go shopping together!  How fun is that?

Just so you know, for me to go to the train station is a feat in and of itself.  I just got the tram route down last month.  Then....the station is huge, not by Grand Central standards, but it's busy.  Luckily, I didn't have long to wait before Gaby and Heidi showed up and showed me "the ropes" for ticketing and boarding and all.  Denise ended up missing our excursion.  I have to add that I love riding trains.  I rode the train from SLC to Riverside, California when I was a teenager.  My cousin, my sister, and I even had a sleeping berth.  This train ride, however, just lasted a little over 10 minutes.  Once we got off the train, we walked a few blocks down the hill and hit the main street in town, and that's basically it as far as shopping goes---one street!  I snapped a few pictures before the battery pack on the small camera died (I purposely took it because I knew the big one was low, and I didn't want to fiddle with changing out the batteries---see what I get for being lazy).  Anyway, it was a fun little stroll.  The company was great.  They taught me a lot about Switzerland.  And....if I wasn't trying so hard to save lots of money, I could have had some serious shopping FUN!  Cute shops.  Nice things, expensive things.   I did buy a new bracelet.

So let me take you on a stroll down the streets of Rheinfelden ( with very little commentary, really)...



A lot of the houses and buildings had sayings or names painted on them.



My own restaurant in Como and now my own bakery!





And guess what I accidentally cut off on the top of this city gate???  Yup, an occupied stork's nest!

And though this picture does not depict the "old village charm", I thought it was interesting.  You've heard of "cat walks" before---this gives the term new meaning:

This serpentine-looking contraption was actually a series of small wood steps that wound their way up from close enough to ground level that the cat at this house could leap, dig in, and follow it to the second-story window.  How did the cat manage in the winter, you ask?  What you don't see in the window pane that is opened back into the house is a small cat opening in the glass itself!!  These people love their cat (and/or don't want to be bothered to let him in)!!!

And possibly you're lucky that the camera died, but I think not.  This little village was chock-full of all the things that make Europe what it is---charming, historical, brimming with the ingenuity of bygone days, a showplace of craftmanship that is hard to replicate today, and a place that has a story to tell----lots of stories to tell.  I absolutely L.O.V.E that I can be here to take it all in!  Just sorry I didn't get pictures of it all, nor pictures of us on our little outing.

Before we caught the train back to Basel, we stopped at a restaurant/bakery that sits on the Rhine, next to a bridge that you can cross on foot and be in Germany.  They have a wonderul cobblerock patio that overlooks the river.  You go inside and order what you want from the glass cases and can choose to dine in or out (they also have a menu of "hot" entrees).   The chocolate mousse was delish.  The Black Forest cake looked good, too.  The company was enjoyable, the weather---delightful until the very end (it actually started getting a little too cool).  I found out that my "new" friend, Gaby, is a good friend of one of our "old" friends, Danny Jackson and his wife, Louise.  Danny is from Vernal, was two years ahead of me in school, and worked for my dad and with DJ for several years!  The Jacksons and Gaby have known each other for 20 years, and she is on her way to the U.S. in June to visit them amongst other friends.  Small world.  Since we were going to see Gaby the next night for dinner, I made a homemade card that said, "Greetings from Switzerland" and included a note to Danny and Louise.  Gaby took pictures of DJ and I to put inside.  She'll hand-deliver it next month!

All in all, it was a delightful afternoon as was the next evening when the same group plus Denise and three of our husbands went to an Italian restaurant for dinner in the hills overlooking Basel.  We dined on the patio again and had a great time.  Gaby took our pictures (the resolution wasn't good if I blew them up, so here's the small version).

Left to right:  Becky, Denise Von Allmen,  Paul Schmutz

Left to right:  Heidi Glur-Schmutz, Heinz Von Allmen, DJ

 Heidi and Paul gave each of us a little treat---a Swiss specialty that is only made and sold during the month of May---May bugs.  We have our June bugs in the states, but Switzerland has May bugs! I don't get the significance of the white and red on top of them, but the rest of them (done in dark and milk chocolate) are very real looking.  Haven't thought about eating a chocolate bug before; but I'm sure that one of these days, we'll endulge!

A close-up of their backsides!

The Flora and Fauna of Alsace

On our trip to Koenigsbourg, I just couldn't help but take some shots of the flowers and such growing in and around the castle.   So, if you will, here's some of the FLORA there:

I know this isn't a gorgeous photo, but this tree is growing in a courtyard that is in the middle of the castle at about the 4th or fifth floor level.  They just built walls and rooms all the way around the trees up near the top of the mountain.  It's really cool to see the trees growing out of the middle of the castle (look back at the brochure in my other post and you can see the trees---you just don't realize how much castle surrounds them).

There was a small garden area along one of the outer walls.  I just loved these irises.

There were several of these arches (arbors maybe) throughout the garden.

Now for the FAUNA (animal) part:

Remember my fascination with storks' nests last fall in Colmar and again in Riquewihr and again near the Roman ruins at Augusta Raurica in March.   Well, THEY'RE BACK, not just the nests, the STORKS!  In village after village, we saw a stork or two storks in nest after nest.  On the way home, DJ stopped in one of the villages so that I could get some pictures (I'm only posting the one where you can see his/her awesome beak the best):

That's it.  Not much, I know; but my other post was getting too long.  I don't want to ever forget the beautiful flowers we've seen here, and I will now always have a fascination for storks---still want to bring back a stork stuffie for the playroom.