Side-Trip to Germany (April 12-15)

Karlsruhe
I decided to go ahead and take the train to Karlsruhe, Germany to visit my friends I met while in Costa Rica five months earlier. Steffi & Susi had some time off for Easter break so I hopped on the train and five hours later arrived to a smiling German face I remembered! Although we didn't have the best weather while I was there (cold and grey) it didn't really rain on us so we walked around four towns (two German & two French) and the Black Forest!

Steffi took me on a little walking tour of Karlsruhe, very cute town with a great rail and tram system. Just watch out when you cross the street, there might be three trams coming and going at once. The layout is radial with all roads leading to the palace. It was so nice to catch up with a friend who I had only met while traveling and hadn't seen in months.

Heidelberg
Steffi and her boyfriend Marcus drove me to Heidelberg, a bigger but still cute town with the river running through it (hmm, isn't that a movie?). The town is actually on the River Neckar and is Germany's oldest university town. The architecture was different, with the traditional style German houses with the wooden slat design. After walking to the old bridge, only used for pedestrian traffic now, we walked through the other side of town back to our car. On the way we stopped by the church/cathedral (what is the difference anyway? or is there one?) Steffi was a good traveler and packed some snacks for us! We drove up the hill to the castle ruins, pretty massive with gardens but not quite livable these days. It towers over the old quarter of the city. :) When we returned to Karlsruhe they took me to a restaurant for some traditional German food. I tried schnitzel and mal???, the latter was my favorite but who doesn't love pasta rolled with filling and then fried! Mmmmmmmmmmm, don't worry I also had a salad for my health.

Black Forest (Germany), Strasbourg & Lauterbourg (France)
Despite some grey and foreboding skies Steffi, Susi, and Marcus took me to the Black Forest or Schwarzwald, with a much higher elevation. Turns out they still had a bit of snow there so I didn't miss out entirely on the wintry weather. It was amazing to see the huge firs and pines. It consists of mountains and forests 200 kilometers long and 60 wide and extends along the River Rhine. We didn't walk around the lake because we couldn't actually see across because of the fog. Walking on the icy snow was also not great in our current footwear. We quickly headed to the border to cross over to Strasbourg. Oh, did I mention that there are sections of the highway that don't have a speed limit in Germany? At least for a minute we were going 143 miles per hour! Crazy huh, don't worry family Marcus was a good driver too.

We arrived in Strasbourg to a bit better weather so we walked around (again it has the water through & around town) the city. Very cute with an interesting mix of both German and French architecture coming from the times when it was passed back and forth between the two countries (not amicably I think). We all, except Steffi who obviously has great willpower, had to test out the Haagen Daz ice cream. Yup, it tastes great in France too! We visited the cathedral of course, there was an interesting astrological clock at the entrance. As this was Good Friday most of the shops were closed, good for me since my budget doesn't include ANY more purchases!

So, I realized after we left town that we weren't headed straight back to Karlsruhe. Evidently I missed the conversation in German where my friends decided I need to try this Alsace region food called Flamkuchen (flame cake). After one fals start in Wizembourg we found a place in Lauterbourg. Basically, this is a thin crust pizza with sour cream, fried onions, and ham (everything in France & Germany has ham-speck-jambon). We added mushrooms and cheese just to make ours more healthy. Then for dessert we had one with sour cream, apples, cinnamon, and a liquor that they lit on fire. Oh, my I loved both the dinner and dessert. I think I can make it back home too. Thanks to my friends for thinking of me (and my health).

Back home we decided to head to a bar for some drinks since it was my last night there in Germany. I loved the Hefeweizen, yummy! Steffi & Marcus took me to the train station and even waited by the platform until it left. We worked out some good hand signals through the train windows and tried taking photos of each other!

It was so great to see the girls again and meet Marcus. It was well worth the visit even if we had just stayed in Karlsruhe. Thanks so much to Steffi, Susi, and Marcus for spending their holiday time with me and taking me all over the place! I miss you already!