Raphael and I were wondering what we should do with our long Easter vacation. (I had Fri. and Mon. off from work) Friday rolled around and we still didn't have plans. The weather was predicted to be perfect and Europe was yet to be explored so we decided to take a road trip. Why not enjoy God's beautiful creation, and we are so close to many majestic sights. Including Bodensee (the largest lake in Germany with the Alps as a backdrop)
So Saturday morning came quick in the midst of our last minute planning. In fact, we had a lot of trouble trying to rent a car (Easter is a busy season for travelers). We managed to book the cheapest smallest car in two hours only to find that the car rental company didn't have any small cars available. "Would you be interested in this upgrade?" as we peered out to see this SUV sitting in the lot. "SURE" we could hardly contain our excitement. (We had toyed with the idea of renting a larger car, in the hopes that we could sleep in it and save money, but renting large is extremely expensive).
And so for our measly economy car rental price we ended up with a driving hotel. We bought a double size air mattress and took our blankets and pillows and our portable campsite was ready in minutes.
Our first destination was the Bodensee. We spent the day walking around on a small island there and took a paddle boat ride to catch the sun and view.
Of course we enjoyed some ice cream - Spaghetti ice - the ice cream looks like noodles with strawberry sauce and white chocolate chunks which looked like Parmesan. Yummy!
Up by the light house by the island's small harbor. You can take a ferry across the lake to Switzerland. That evening we drove around the lake and slept in, what we realized the next morning, a park. We were greeted the next morning with bicyclists and joggers passing by.
We traveled to Zurich and ambled our way through the old streets admiring the architecture. We stopped in a cathedral to enjoy some Easter music.
Back into the countryside, this time headed to the Black Forest in Germany. We made our way to a small lake that Raphael's father recommended called Titisee.
We slept in the parking lot by the lake, and found the temperatures to be a bit on the frosty side. We woke up very early in the morning and had to defrost ourselves. We drove our bed around and caught the sun rising over the lake.
By day two we were feeling like we needed some freshening-up, so we did a little bathing in sub temp. mountain water. Raphael is much more brave when it comes to cold water. I caught him here shaving his face.
I would love to have stream inside my bathroom, especially if it has temperature control. The country side in the Black Forest is breath-taking.
We returned to Titisee and again enjoyed another paddle boat ride. (Doesn't this remind you of a Bob Ross painting?)
By early afternoon we were ready to see something new and decided to make a visit to France. It blows my mind that everything is so close. I never dreamed of a spur of the moment trip into France.
Along the way driving through the countryside.
A short stop to have a picnic and enjoy the sunshine in some farmer's cow field.
Below is a little French village (which use to be a fort). This is the center square. The rest of the town and surrounding walls are in the shape of a star.
Along the Rhine River, on the French side.
We had a glorious 3 day adventure.
