Deep in the Magical Forest
Two sweet travel companions join us for a venture to discover this majestic region of Germany.
After all the pivots of the first quarter of 2024, another one came in March while we were still in DC. We got word from Emily, our oldest daughter, saying that she and Mercy were going to be in Germany for one week in June and asking if we could we possibly join them there. Well, of course we would! We’d planned to go to Germany sometime in 2024 anyway, so here was the prime chance! Germany has long been one country we’ve wondered if we might want to live in, so we decided to add two extra weeks - one before our time with Emily and one after - to do some exploring. We researched to find the best place for us to spend one week with our girls then added one week in Leipzig before and one week in Nuremberg/Munich/Allgäu (where the famous Neushwanstein Castle is) after.
Have any of you been to the Black Forest region of Germany? I know a couple of our friends have actually lived there. It’s in the southwestern corner of Germany, down near the Swiss border. We have longed to go there for quite some time, so we selected this region for our week with Emily and Mercy. We met them at the Frankport airport where they arrived from Kenya, overnighted in Frankfurt, then drove down to the Black Forest region, specifically, to a charming mountain town called Sankt Märgen. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a place this beautiful (well, actually, we will later discover another region in Germany which was just as breathtakingly beautiful, if not even more).
We spent the week at this lovely Airbnb which had been an old motel in days gone by. It sat up high on the main street of this tiny mountain village overlooking the expansive Black Forest region. In the winter, this area is ski country; in the summer it is a hiker and biker’s paradise. No air conditioning in the homes because it’s not needed. Our Airbnb had a long, covered porch along the back side called a “loggia” (new word to look up!). From morning til night you could sit out there and drink coffee or beer/wine, chat, sing, play cards, breathe in the mountain air, and just marvel at the beauty stretching out as far as your eyes could see.
For us, this week was a dream come true. Getting to have Emily and Mercy to ourselves for an entire week was so special. We loved driving down the mountain to visit a quaint town there called Freiburg im Breisgau. If you’ve been to the Black Forest region, you may be familiar with Freiburg. There is a university there. The center of the town, as in most German cities, is a gorgeous old cathedral. With cobblestone streets, cute coffee shops, fun boutiques, and cool, crisp air, Freiberg was definitely a favorite for us. Several mornings a week they have a huge market out in the central plaza around the cathedral where you can buy fresh fruits and vegetables, homemade jams and honey, woodcrafts, and, of course, some of the best BRATWURST!
Walks through the forest, laughing at all the many cows on the hillsides, chatting around the table after putting Mercy to bed, and a week of lots and lots of snuggles with our little sunshine filled our love buckets to overflowing.
Some observations/things we learned while in Frankfurt, Leipzig, Sankt Märgen and Freiburg:
Senior citizens in Germany remain active until they’re on their death bed. We saw so many gray hairs hiking, biking, carrying backpacks, and generally “going for it” every day. We were blown away by this. We’re talking about people in their 70’s, 80’s, and even 90’s leading very active lives, doing as much physical activity as they possibly could. Some were using walking aids such as Leki poles or even walkers, but they were booking it down the road! Very inspirational!
Germans like things to be “in good order”. A common question is: “Is everything in order?” This shows up in every aspect of their culture, the way they do life, the way they behave, the way they relate, etc. Everything must be “in order”. That meant their public restrooms were super clean (I’m going to blog about this one); meals at restaurants were served very properly; residential lawns, public parks, roadside areas, other green spaces and even cemeteries were kept very tidy.
If you ask a German how does the cold or the rain or the dreariness of certain seasons affect their lives, they will tell you, “In Germany, there is no such thing as ‘bad’ weather; only ‘bad’ clothes!
Bread is king in Germany. Competitions, awards, even a UNESCO commission as an “intangible cultural heritage”, bread is central to German culture. According to the German Bread Institute, over 3,000 different types of bread and other baked goods are sold in Germany EVERY SINGLE DAY. There are bakeries EVERYWHERE you look. Germans LOVE their bread.
A ritual that is an integral part of German culture is the daily coffee and cake break in the afternoon. Young and old, working or not, no matter where in Germany they live, Germans LOVE to have afternoon coffee and cake. I can go along with that one!
Germans love to be close to nature. Camping is a really big deal in Germany. Pop-up campers and other RVs are everywhere! Some Germans love to be reeeeeeeeeeeally close to nature, if you know what I mean. While on a walk in the countryside around Sankt Märgen, up in the mountains of the Black Forest region, on a cool cloudy day, we came upon a woman “sunbathing” on a blanket in a freshly-mown field. A few other spottings of such nature were found along our German journies.
Driving on the Autobahn is not as scary as I’d thought it would be. Yes, there are long stretches where there is NO speed limit and people do drive up to 200 mph, but it’s mostly like driving on SH130 or SH45 in Austin. It’s actually pretty fun.
We’d love to hear from those of you who’ve lived and/or traveled in Germany about the observations you remember having about this wonderful country. Feel free to share them in the comments below!
Next Stops . . . . Nuremberg and Munich!
