Skip to main content

Day 8

 Guten Tag from Germany! (Jessica writing).

Our morning started off the same as most. Luke woke up to watch his tv show and eat breakfast, and Adam and I slowly came to life while trying to survive without coffee. We packed our stuff up and said goodbye to Ribeauville and made our way to Strasbourg, a major city about an hour away. It took a little bit of time to find parking, but once we did, we were off on our next adventure. The thermometer read 4 degrees Celsius, so we thought it might be a little warmer than the past few days. We were wrong. The wind and cloud coverage made it feel much, much colder! We quickly made our way towards the city center, stopping for pictures and to look at the Christmas Market stands. Even though it was a Monday morning, the city was still bustling. 

Adam found the cathedral and stood in a line that he thought would take him inside. Luke was having no part of that. A nearby carousel had caught his eye, so he needed to ride it. While Adam went in to the cathedral, Luke hopped on a giraffe and had the time of his life! Once the ride was over, we walked through the Christmas Market stands and managed to snag a cheesy pretzel while we waited for Adam. When he emerged, he informed us that the line was for the tower (which he climbed) and not the church entrance. We walked around but found out we had just missed the last entry time. Oh well....

It was getting close to lunch time, so we settled on some more snacks from the market stands, a tarte flambee for Adam and a crepe and waffle for me and Luke. We realized that there was just too much to do in this city for the limited time we were there, so we took some final pictures, and started walking back to our parking spot. Our next destination was Rothenburg ob der Tauber in Germany - a mere 3 hour drive away. 

The drive was uneventful and quick. It started snowing once we got further east and there was a light dusting on the ground. We stopped at a Lidl (grocery store) once we arrived in the city. I was even able to find milk! Hopefully this means coffee tomorrow morning. The drive to our B&B was short, and before we knew it, we were checked in and unpacked. Our B&B is fairly modern, is on the ground floor, and even comes with free parking nearby - all of which are much appreciated when carrying around luggage and a 2 year-old. Also, it even includes breakfast! We relaxed for a few before deciding it was time for dinner. Most businesses and restaurants in Germany are closed on Mondays, but our host recommended a nearby restaurant that was open, and we didn't want to risk it filling up, so we headed over quickly. 

When we arrived, we were told that only certain face masks were allowed in Bavaria. Thankfully, the restaurant had some for us. And thankfully, Adam realized before we went that we needed a different app and QR code for Germany to prove vaccination status. We settled into a booth and ordered a delicious dinner. I had the schnitzel (breaded pork) and Adam had a game goulash (venison, we think). Both were amazing! If we have the opportunity, we might go back before we leave. We wrapped up dinner, made the short walk home (it was freezing, literally!) and put Luke to bed. Tomorrow is a full day in Rothenburg. No Christmas Markets (they were shut down in Bavaria due to the spike in Covid rates), but still lots to do!
















Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 9

 Hello! Well, we made to it Bavaria last night to the town of Rothenburg (see map below). As the weather was turning colder, we decided this would be more of a relaxing portion of the trip. Believe it or not, our goal for this trip was to have it be more relaxing, which is why we decided to visit a bunch of small towns with Christmas Markets rather than large cities where we'd have to walk and travel extensively to see all the sights. We also thought that Luke would enjoy seeing the small towns - but, as it turned out, he has been mostly enjoying his toys, coloring books, snacks, dinosaurs, and TV shows...oh well.  After a slow morning, we looked outside to see snow dumping down on the town. I stepped outside to gauge what the weather was like, and the wind was whipping up and down the narrow cobble-stone streets. I checked AccuWeather and it said that with the wind chill, the temperature outside was 8 degrees F!  Regardless, we stomped out confidently into the streets to...
Post a Comment
Read more

Day 10

 It's Jessica writing today :) We slept in a bit today, until nearly 8am! That was perfect timing though as our breakfast reservations were at 9am. We leisurely got ready and made the short walk to the Guesthaus Viktoria. On the menu today was extra pretzels (for Adam), an apple pie pastry (for me), lost of fruit (for Luke) and meat, cheese and eggs for the table. Freshly brewed coffee and apple juice rounded out the meal. It was divine. The breakfast was so filling that we needed a short break back at the BnB before heading out into the city.  After 30 minutes, we were bundled up again and on our way out to explore. The weather today was 40 degrees and clear (ish) skies. The forecast called for rain, but it was dry when we went out. We walked through the city, the cobbled streets, the main square and even let Luke run around for a bit. It was fairly empty and very peaceful. We found our way to the famous Kathe Wohlfahrt Christmas store. This store is known for all of their Ch...
Post a Comment
Read more

Day 12

 Jessica writing today. Happy Friday All! We woke up in our favorite B&B (Barbaras in Bruges) and had a nice, slow start to the day. I went out to get some breakfast from a nearby bagel shop, the same one we went to last week. I ordered a delicious egg, bacon and avocado bagel, some fresh fruit, and coffee. Adam and Luke were very pleased when I returned. We all fueled up, got dressed, and then made our way into the city for some sightseeing.  The first stop was the Basilica of the Holy Blood. This church houses a vial that is said to contain some of Christ's blood. As we arrived, they were bringing out the vial for the daily veneration. The interior of the church was very nice as well. After Luke had enough of the church, we walked around the city for a while until we found an operating canal boat tour. Luke seemed to be excited to go on the boat and was very anxious as we waited. Once we were on, we sat in the back and he was pointing out the ducks and swans in the water...
Post a Comment
Read more