Friday afternoon Kyle rented a car from our train station and we set out for Tubingen, Germany (location of Unterwegs~the German Globalscope). They had just had their end of the year/semester dinner so we missed out on seeing the ministry in action. But it was the perfect time to get away for a weekend. Chandler gave us a nice walking tour of the city while enjoying ice cream cones. It's definitely a lovely little town. Next we shopped groceries to make dinner. Chandler cooked and we just talked with him and Tyler for a bit.
Downtown Tubingen in the dark
Secret Tubingen passage way
The men folk chatting while making dinner
Unlike other trips where the goal is to see landmarks and learn more about the history of a certain location, we just enjoyed the beauty of the Alps this weekend. Saturday morning we got up early and drove through Germany and Austria to arrive in lovely, little Liechtenstein. We visited a castle belonging to the king...no entry for unauthorized personnel. Just a little ways up the mountain on which we found the castle, there was a plethora of snow and a whole ski village filled with (surprisingly) English-speaking ski folks. I think I'm the only person I know who has never seen ski slopes; it was nice to hear the fellas talk about their snow skiing and boarding experiences. We ducked out of the snow to have pizza and beers for lunch.
Forgot to mention the frozen river we played on...
Enjoy this video!
Forbidden Castle entrance
Just up the hill from the castle
Happy group enjoying happy beers at the pizza place
It's snowing! We like wintery terrain
On the way out of town, I dozed off and miraculously awoke at a dairy farm in Switzerland. Kyle reserved a place for us in the best little bed and breakfast I've ever been to. After dropping off our backpacks, we drove down to town to see what we could see. We ended up at a small lake watching ducks and swans for a while before it got dark and really cold. We grabbed some food to make sandwiches back at the B&B and to take in the view from our little kitchen. At our arrival, the lady that owned the B&B invited us to see the baby cows who were less than a week old. It's astounding how big new born baby cows are. We got a little education (thanks to Chandler's translation) on dairy cows and such.
Switzerland!
Husband looking majestic on the lake
Our B&B bedroom!
Baby cows and Kyle pulling my leg
Breakfast Sunday morning was insane delish! We awoke to a table full of bread, jam, butter, coffee, cheese, and milk fresh from the cow. Our hostess was kind enough to check on us and send her children to make sure everything was alright every now and then. We were seriously spoiled.
View out our window
Another view out our window in the morning light
Posing with our B&B sign
Glorious breakfast!
On the road again...
On our leisurely drive Sunday morning we came across two beautiful bridges. We stopped to look at one to find it was nearly as old as America (built in 1789). Our next destination was Konstanz in Germany. It's right over the boarder from Switzerland and as we tried navigating our way around, we kept ending up at places to cross back to the land of the Swiss instead of finding reasonable parking in Germany. Eventually we settled in and began our walking tour of the town. The weather was amazing; people were out walking everywhere. It was a good town to stretch our legs and sight see.
The two bridges
Built in 1789
Random place where we stopped before leaving Switzerland
Free from the car!
The car which took us through 5 countries
Konstanz
Horse (which reminds me that Switzerland was covered with crucifixes with a golden Jesus...what is that about?)
Germany is wonderful.
Crazy talking bird startled us when he laughed at us in a Konstanz park.
With nowhere definitely left to go we determined to just go where the wind would blow us. In the Black Forest we spotted castle ruins on the top of a mountain. I about had a panic attack as Kyle veered ever so carefully up the one lane, two way drive way. Yikes! We finally made it to the top of the mountain to find extraordinary views and snow covered castle (not off-limits). We even managed to scale icy stairs to explore another section of the ruins. It's hard to imagine how someone could build a huge fortress on such a steep mountain. I don't even know where we were, but I really enjoyed this stop.
Antenna likely for television reception
When asked to pose in a "cool" way, I heard "cold".
Lookin' good, Kyle!
I wish you could tell how high up we were...
The dangerous job of traversing icy steps
Sunday night we were back in Tubingen. Kyle made risotto with brats; it was super tasty. We wound down the weekend watching a movie and just hanging out at Chandler's apartment. Monday the last leg of the trip meant returning to France where it is rainy and will be rainy all week. It was nice to escape the gross weather we were having and explore new places with my sweet husband and our buddy Chandler. Bon voyage, indeed. Hope you are having a lovely day whatever day it is wherever you may be. Take care!
