I lived and worked in Deutschland for some 27 years; husband Bob for almost as long. We love the country and have many friends there. But, when it came time for Bob to retire, we decided to seek the sun in southern
We just returned from our annual trek back north to see friends, dentist (they don’t do proper teeth cleaning in
First stop on our trip was in This summer billing goes to Aida. We visited the “stage” where cranes were in place to build two gigantic feet (shoe size 2,400) which will feature in the production.
We continued along the lake which is the third largest lake in Europe and borders on three countries:
One of our favorite lakeside towns is Lindau in picture-book perfect with snow-covered mountains providing a backdrop for the harbor, its lighthouse, and boats big and small. The town suffered no damage during World War II and has several well-preserved structures from the Middle Ages, including the old City Hall.
Northwest of Lindau is the Swabian Alb, a region of bizarre rock formations, dense forests, rolling hills and sheer cliffs. We wandered in this beautiful area for two days with many stops. We admired a collection of historic buildings which have been reassembled in an open air museum in Neuhausen ob Eck. We followed an especially scenic route to Beuron and its Benedictine abbey. There we spent the night in a lovely hotel, Haus Maria Trost, on the side of a hill with spectacular views of the abbey below. The hotel’s managers, Herr and Frau Zimmermann, told us frightening stories about how they and their three sons escaped from
The next day we continued on to Sigmaringen with its famous castle, then to Zwiefalten to admire an outstanding Baroque church, and finally to a cave, the
Our overnight stop was in Lichtenstein with its impressive castle perched dramatically on the edge of a cliff. We had a fabulous trout dinner below the castle at a restaurant which has its own trout farm.
The Swabian Alb tour ended with a visit to the town of
We lived in a small village on the edge of
We left
After
When we lived in We spent a day revisiting favorite haunts along the Alsatian Route du Vin. The hills of vineyards, the storybook villages, the flower-bedecked half timbered houses – all are a wonder.
Of course, we made some stops to taste and purchase some of that delicious Alsatian white wine.
Special places to stay: Hotel Weisses Kreuz in Bregenz: www.hotelweisseskreuz.at,
Hotel Helvetia in Lindau: www.hotel-helvetia.com, Haus Maria Trost in Beuron:www.mariatrost.de; Farm Neufeld in Alsace: www.leneufeld.fr
For photos of our trip, click on the Photo Album in the center column

Sounds like you had a wonderful trip to Germany & Alsace. I was intrigued to read about Heti's and your new kitchen appliance. How do you like your Thermomix?
Posted by: Frances Tierney | July 17, 2010 at 12:37 AM
Hi Frances,
Thanks for your comments. We've been busy and I haven't had that much time to devote to the Thermomix, but it is an amazing machine. I'll give you a full report later. Love,
Leah
Posted by: Leah Larkin | July 17, 2010 at 09:02 AM