Schwarzwalder Freilichtmuseum Vogtsbauernhof (English Translation: A Real Snooze-Fest)

While researching places and things to do and see on our weekends, the Black Forest Open Air Museum (Schwarzwalder Freilichtmuseum Vogtsbauernhof) caught CM's eye. Farmhouses, cottages, crops, and livestock are all contained in this outdoor park that demonstrates how people lived in the Black Forest for the past 400 years. The reviews online used words like "fascinating",  "informative", "culturally educational". It was also touted as the most popular and most visited open -air museum in Germany. Even with this info, I wasn't all that enthralled with the idea of this road trip, but I signed on when CM told me that we were also on the hunt for authentic Black Forest cake.

After a lovely car ride into the Black Forest we arrived at the Schwarzwalder Freilichtmuseum, paid our entrance fee and headed in to see what all of the hoopla was about. We spent an hour and a half walking around, checking out the way the farmers of the Black Forest lived. Frankly, it was really boring (how did these people endure this lifestyle?) However on the way in we spotted a refrigeration case filled with Black Forest cake; so with the prospect of the cake looming, I kept on truckin.

We ended up having a really nice lunch at the restaurant, although the Black Forest cake wasn't everything we had hoped it would be. German sweets aren't terribly sweet, so what looks like a cloyingly sweet cake was really kind of bland. We decided to call it a day and chalk it up to an experience.

I made quite the discovery on the way out. Between the corn and wheat, lay the answer to my question (how did these people endure this lifestyle?):

Cannabis!

CM says it was used to make rope and clothing (yea, okay.)

The Spring We Felt the Love... (visits from our Amerikanische Freunde)

What fun we have had these past few weeks. Many of our dear friends made the trip across the Atlantic this Spring to check out our life in Germany and to experience some of the local culture. I continue to be touched and humbled that they would spend their limited free time and their hard-earned money to see us. We visited cities, villages, castles and biergartens. We walked and talked and ate and drank. My heart was filled.

Calw

Another one of our day trips took us to the northern part of the Black Forest to a small city called Calw (pronounced 'kalf'). The outskirts were very industrial, so we felt a little bummed driving into town..we even passed both a McDonalds and a Burger King. Not exactly what we were looking for! So of course we were pleasantly surprised to find the small village that sat a little further in, with an open air market, a green park, restaurants and eis cafes.  And even though the photos of these quaint towns are starting to run together, we still love the "going back in time feeling" we get each time we stumble upon these little pockets of German history.

Weiden and Nuremberg

CM has continued to travel a lot for work. This past trip, he stayed in a great little German hotel in a town named Weiden. He booked the family suite and asked us to join him. Weiden is a lovely small town with great restaurants, shopping and a large park with running/biking path that runs parallel to the village.  And although we stuck to our regular schedule, it was a welcome break from our normal routine. (We even had gelato, and only gelato, for lunch one day....we were crazy like that. It did put G in a short-lived sugar coma, however ...documented in pic below)

For the weekend, we headed to Nuremberg. Of all the larger cities we have been to in Germany so far, this is one of our favorites. It's a fantastic walkable city with a castle that sits on the edge of town high on a hill. Nuremberg is known for its Christmas Markets that are said to draw over a million people each winter. It was nice to see this city in the Spring but being only a two hour drive from Stuttgart, we plan to return for the markets next holiday season. 

Essingen

 

Just when I think that we may have visited and seen everything there is to see within a half hour of our house, we stumble upon another amazing find. This time it was the town of Essingen, which is a little reminiscent of Tubingen with its cobblestone streets, open air cafes and old homes that date back for centuries.  However unlike Tubingen, Essingen has the old castle walls still in tact high on a hill.  The hill is surrounded by vineyards and once you make the climb, there is an amazing view down into the village. Within the walls lie a beautiful green space and huge playground.  This is only a twenty minute drive from our home! I wonder what else is out there that we have yet to discover?

Spring Rains ...and Rains

Ug! I was told that if I made it through the cold and dark winter days, Spring in Germany was the reward. Everyone speaks about "last May"...how HOT it was, how people went out for the morning without sunscreen and came back with a burn...well, that is not a Germany with which I am familiar. They are just mean people spreading untruths. May Day is when the rain started to pour..and pour..and it wasn't stopping. We had to make the best of it...we pulled out the finger paints, then the Play dough and then when we couldn't take much more, we headed out in our rain gear to splash in the puddles and the mud.

Just when we started to embrace the rainy weather, something amazing happened.  The sun came out... and with it our tulips bloomed (as did our moods).

Fruhlingsfest

Stuttgart boasts that it hosts Germany's largest Fruhlingsfest, which is the Spring version of Oktoberfest. The last weekend of Fruhlingsfest coincided with a visit from our close friends from home. Could there be a better way to indoctrinate them into German culture? We called our babysitter, reserved tickets for a beer tent, and headed downtown. Fruhlingsfest didn't disappoint.

This guy had the best time of all:

 

Tulips Tulips Everywhere

On the way to Brugge, we made a pit stop in the Netherlands. We spent our first night in Amsterdam and after settling into our hotel room, we headed out to tour the city. Amsterdam was such a dichotomy between beauty and sleaze.

The streets and canals that surround the University are clean and lined with gorgeous, historic buildings. Just 1 Kilometer away, there are still gorgeous, historic buildings but the windows are lined with red neon and scantily clad women for hire are standing behind the glass. It was both fascinating and depressing. After finishing our walking tour, we found the restaurant and bar, Cafe Luxembourg, that CM had read about in the New York Times.  There we had a few Dutch cocktails, a great dinner and dissected what we had just seen.

The next day we headed to Keukenhof to see the tulip fields. Tulips are some of my favorite flowers and you will find them in my home on a regular basis. Keukenhof was such a worthwhile trip to take. The landscaping of the flowers were gorgeous and the endless fields of tulips were breathtaking. In the park, there were also playgrounds and a petting zoo.I love playgrounds.  I hate petting zoos. It took a lot of strength to stifle my gagging and spend some time there.Thankfully, I don't think it is one of Griffin's favorite places either. Fifteen years ago, I probably wouldn't have thought to visit the tulips fields.  That is one of the reasons I love that I am experiencing this adventure now. I am finding such pleasure and beauty in all of it.

Show me your waffles..Spring Break in Belgium

We just returned from a wonderful week and a half in Amsterdam and Belgium. Having mentioned my husband is a planner in a previous post, this trip was no exception. He planned each day's activities: Keukenhof to see the tulips, Trappist breweries to taste and purchase their goods, Calais, FR where we could see the ' the white cliffs of Dover', and both a carriage ride and a boat ride through town. This isn't including the multiple walking tours of Brugge itself, where we rented our vacation house. It was wonderful. The beer, the food, the history, the chocolate, the beer..oh, did I already mention that?

Garmisch with my Bro and SIL

I mentioned in an earlier post the importance of family in my life. My relationship with my little brother is no exception. He's great. He is a cooler, more talented version of me. Or at least I like to think so. He also married someone who is smart, fun, athletic and the best part, hysterical. 
We were so happy when they made plans to visit over the winter. The winter was very cold and that made some of the days very long. Their visit was such a bright spot in an otherwise dark season.
We headed to Garmisch for the long weekend to ski and snowboard. They are much better snowboarders than I am a skier and they could have ditched me many times up on that mountain. They didn't. Like I said, they're great.