Hiking in the Schwarzwald

29.4.12 Oppenau, Deutschland (Schwarzwald)

So I started this post about 2.5 months ago after I originally went hiking in the Schwarzwald with my fellow Badger Lindsey... after completely spacing out about my Blog I am back and updating my entries a bit and will try to keep them short, interesting, and colorful.

Welcome to Oppenau!

At the end of April, Lindsey invited me and Erik to go hiking with her on a Sunday in the Schwarzwald.  She had picked out a specific spot that we could get to by a series of trains, set just outside a small town (Oppenau).  There would be waterfalls and the ruins of an old Monastary.  Erik didn't make it, but Lindsey and I still went and had a great time.

Unfortunately, the buses in a small city like Oppenau (unlike Stuttgart) do not run on Sundays... so Lindsey and I decided to hike the entire way out into the forest ourselves.... this mean that we hiked about 25 km total round trip!  We made it through the forest, over hills and through some valleys along the riverbank, through fields and past summer homes and youth hostels.  The waterfalls were really cool! It wasn't one single waterfall, but rather a 6- or 7-tiered / stepped waterfall that wound around the mountainside like a spiral staircase.   We climbed around 300 steps to follow its path to the top, and the views along the way were really neat.

After we reached the top of the falls, it was just a short walk to the monastery where a cloister of Monks used to reside... Quite possibly the coolest ruins I've ever seen.  It was nothing on the scale of a castle, rather small what was left actually, but really neat architecture.  We got some ice cream at the restaurant next to the ruins, hung out for a bit, hiked back (another 2.5 hrs) and caught a train just in time to get back to Stuttgart by 9pm.  Great day of hiking and some awesome views in a really unique and quintessential German location!

PS- We saw some cows, too!

VfB!!! Stuttgarter Fußball-Spiel

13.4.12 Untertürkheim-Stuttgart, Deutschland

Toooorrrrrrrrrrrrr! Is what we heard a number of times when our group took an excursion to the Mercedez-Benz Stadion (Stadium) to watch the Stuttgart Bundesliga team, VfB, play against Bremen.  Stuttgart won 4-1 in regular game time and in a resounding fashion.  It was quite fun to join in on the hype that the fans have for their games.  The stadium itself was probably very similar to the size of Camp Randall, but less seats.  Still, I must say it was quite impressive.  The fans definitely showed up too! It was almost entirely full with fans wearing the Red/White jerseys of VfB-Stuttgart, and just one section near us that was PACKED full with Bremen fans toting their green kits.

Football in Germany (or Europe, for that matter) is much more exciting than I ever thought it was in the states. Definitely glad I went and got to experience the football hype in person at least once.  Below you can see us showing off our VfB scarfs before the game.

-= of course: after the game, we went back into town for a few celebratory drinks =-

Strasbourg/ Strassburg, Frankreich

31.3.12 - 1.4.12 - Strasbourg, Frankreich


France.  The country of fashion, expensive wines and cheese, and snobby people. Stereotypes? Yes. False? Nope. Not in my opinion.  BUT - not all bad things.  I had a great time in Strasbourg with some great friends - one of which happens to be french and our tour guide for the weekend.  Clement (frenchie) put together a plan for about 13 of us to take a 2day/1night trip to the edge of France and see some touristy sights including a gigantic, beautiful cathedral and "Petite France" - a small section of town teeming with half-timber houses, restaurants and wineries on the river, and swans. Wild swans in the river. Yep.


We spent the days we had wandering out to see the sights aforementioned as well as the current seat of the European Parliament and some other political offices.  Saturday night while we were there we had some drinks in our hostel as a group and then went out and partied all night at a club - Se7en.  Below are my two favorite pics of the scenery.

The food was also really delicious - and expensive.  We went for a 3-course lunch at a top restaurant when we arrived that Clement had booked (and neglected to warn us about the price...) Oh well - it was super delicious! I had a salad and onion pie for appetizer, fish and noodles for entree, and creme brulee for dessert. Apologies for lack of `'s above my french letters.  I also had Flammkuchen which is basically a french version of a very thin pizza- except replace the sauce with a not-so-sour cream.  Great food!!

-=Here's a couple of us snagging a photo at the club from the photographer=-