Back to Germany...

After only one week back at the office, it was time for Jimmy to take a week off so we could go on his company ski trip. We flew into Munich for a quick overnight stay. We found yummy all-you-can-eat sushi for lunch, then headed to the Deutsches Museum, the world’s largest science and technology museum that Jimmy had visited as a teen with his parents. We were bummed that the brick making factory was out of order, but thoroughly enjoyed the mines underground, the room of bridges and tunnels, and the high voltage show. We’ll definitely plan on a longer visit next time. The next morning we spent in the wellness center at our hotel, which was amazingly sophisticated (we’ve had great luck staying at Novotels in many cities--we highly recommend them for families). Jimmy found a discounted bakery on the way to the train station; the name was a bit discouraging, but the giant pretzels were great.

Welcome Home, Daddy!

The girls were very excited that we were traveling home by plane instead of train since they thought it would be more dramatic to greet us at the airport than the train station. They had a fun week staying at David and Andrew’s, where they all helped to make this great sign. When we got home, the girls played a PowerPoint presentation that they made him. The four months that Jimmy was away really did seem to fly by quickly. It definitely helped that he emailed almost daily and called at least once a week--thank goodness for the Internet and speaker phones!

A Morning in Switzerland...

After a near panic when we thought we’d locked ourselves in the historic chapel at the hotel, we managed to be on our way back to Switzerland for our final morning of sightseeing before heading to the airport. Our first stop was at Augusta Raurica to see some Roman ruins. We met up with some very aggressive geese and I was happy to have my red umbrella along to defend myself. Next we ventured into Basel where we were carried along by the wind in the above motorless boat across the Rhine into the historic center. We met Bill’s wife Nina for lunch near her office and then were dropped off at the airport for our return flight to reality.

The Rhine Falls...

The Rhine River definitely was a big part of our travels with Bill. First we saw one of its lakes, then we headed to its falls, which just happened to be in Switzerland. The Rhine Falls is the largest falls in Europe, obviously because of its width not height. We’re hoping to come back this summer when the Swiss Hash hosts a special weekend at the youth hostel in the castle at the top of the falls. Our route to our hotel on the bank of the Rhine took us back and forth across the river and jumping between the two countries several times along the way. It was interesting to see how some of the borders were quite official where we were made to show passports and others were literally two guys sitting in a truck waving us through.

Road Tripping in Germany...

Bill was a very enthusiastic tour guide. After a night in Freiburg, we hit the road to see the Black Forest. We ended up in the historic town of Meersburg along the eastern coast of Lake Constance (which is actually a lake on the Rhine River) where we found a restaurant with this beautiful view of the Alps in the distance.
We toured this medieval castle, Germany’s oldest remaining fortress, then took a car ferry across the lake to the quaint city of Konstanz, where additional Fastnacht events were taking place.

Fastnacht...

Jimmy had been to Mardi Gras twice in New Orleans back in the 80’s, but that didn’t prepare him for what we saw or in this case, didn’t see. There were no women flashing for beads or drunks peeing in the bushes. In fact there was no decadence at all. Of course, to help make up for the lack of vomiting spectators, the above spinning wheel could easily cause these participants to spew instead.
Afterwards, we headed into the oldest part of Freiburg (90% of this town was destroyed during WWII--the Germans accidentally dropped 60 bombs in 1940, then the Allies followed up in 1944) to go to a microbrewery. As you can see, Bill loaned us his goofy hats so he wouldn’t have to wear one.

Carnival German-Style...

When our old San Diego Hash buddy Webfoot, known these days as Bill, heard we’d be in the area, he invited us to join him in his town of Freiburg for Carnival. Germans call the pre-Lenten Carnival season “the foolish season.” After seeing dozens of groups wearing strange masks, the name definitely fits. Carnival can be traced back to pagan Roman festivals. Ugly masks were worn to drive out the evil spirits of winter and encourage the coming of spring and good crops. The weather was rather spring-like, so perhaps it was working.