Getting into a Groove

It's been almost a month on the road and we've been starting to get into a groove - travel, planning, driving, accommodations, and Josh's schoolwork. We have had to slow down on the sight-seeing and have spent some much needed days with a more relaxed itinerary.

After leaving the farm, we moved west toward the Black Forest ("Schwartzwald" in Germany). We had one night at an awesome Airbnb where our hosts, Arthur and Brigette, treated us to a beer tasting of local beers (Arthur is a beer aficionado and volunteer at a local brewery) and great conversation. It's evenings like this that we will remember long after the trip is over. We drove through the Black Forest, stopping to visit a cool clock museum, a beautiful waterfall and the Mummselsee lake trails. We shared a slice of Black Forest cake after our hike and all three of us were underwhelmed. Josh took one bite and made a face and, although Todd and I finished the slice, we all agreed we didn't need to have any more while in the area.

 We spent 2 nights in Baden-Baden where we explored the Lichtentaler Allee, a stunning walk through a neighborhood of old mansions, tons of flowers and even a great playground (for both kids and adults). The playgrounds in Germany are awesome, most with steep slides and lots of climbing equipment and ninja-warrior style apparatus. I'm glad Josh is six and not two! We decided on a whim to spend a couple of hours at the Caracalla Therme on our last day in Baden-Baden. It's a spa where the waters are fed from thermal springs underground. We paid a small fee to use the pools (12 of them, all different temperatures and water features like waterfalls, sprayers, currents, etc) for a couple of hours. It was super relaxing and lots of fun. For those of you who are curious, this was NOT one of the German spas where people must go "textilfrei"... I'll let you figure that one out! After we left Baden-Baden, we had a short drive to Heidelberg, where we got to meet up with some friends who used to live in Durham. They are living in Heidelberg now for over a year and were kind enough to take us around their city. We got to ride the tram, explore the Heidelberg Herbst (a celebration of the end of summer) - as my friend Terri says "The Germans celebrate everything!" - and enjoy the beautiful views of the castle, the river and the old town. We had lunch while listening to a mostly-topless Celtic rock band and found some beautiful Christmas ornaments to take home as souvenirs. We stayed overnight at a remote family-owned inn, and arrived in Bamberg the next day. We've been in Bamberg for a couple of nights and leave today to drive north to Cologne. We are gradually making our way closer to Amsterdam for our flight out on Friday. Next stop - India!