I’m taking the advantage that I am needing to take it easy today as I fight a bad head cold to do another post about our summer adventures. These are obviously a whole lot more exciting in person, but hopefully it is still nice to see and read a little about the area we live in.

This trip was the second large outing we did while my Mom was here. It really was a lot of fun and we are planning on taking John’s parents there as well this weekend. We bought the cheap family train tickets which allow us unlimited access to certain trains in our state of Baden-Württemberg. After a 20 minute ride to a nearby train station, we were able to make the rest of the trip using public transportation, which can be quite fun and in some cases more relaxing than driving. Most trains from our out of the way area head to Freiburg before heading anywhere else, so we took advantage of this fact to also spend a little time showing Mom and Liza this city.

Freiburg is very beautiful with tons of old buildings, a large Münster (cathedral), and little water canals running through the streets. John came here every day for his language classes, so he is familiar with some of the areas of the city. The day we went was market day, so we had a chance to wander through the market stalls and sample some of the food sold there. My mom bought the boys two little wooden boats to float on the canals, and they spent a long time racing these up and down the street canals. It’s such a simple thing, but when I look at the pictures of their time I feel like that memory will stick with me as a picture perfect moment for the rest of my life. Hopefully it will be added to their fond memories of Germany as well.

After returning to the train station, we boarded the train for Titisee. The train took us through the mountains to the lake that is situated in the middle of a forested area. There were tunnels and steep wooded hillsides. It was a wonderfully beautiful trip. Despite a stressful beginning to our outing when Will accidentally broke an intricately delicate wooden carved toy, we found Titisee to be one of the most relaxing places we’ve been in Germany. The weather was perfect, with a nice breeze coming off the lake. Despite the other tourists it didn’t feel crowded, and shopping the little shops, sitting by the lake, and sampling German ice cream were all relaxing activities. John took the two oldest kids on a boat on the lake. The rest of us shopped for little trinkets to take back home and treated ourselves to ice cream treats. Seth got his first taste of Spaghetti Eis, which is a very German treat.

I was exhausted by the time we were ready to head home, but it was worth it.