Bicycling Rekyjavik and Icelandic Horse Ride (Fri 7/30)

Today my dad and I started out by renting mountain bikes!!! When we dropped by home before starting our ride, we invited Sascha along, too. After getting him a bike, we set out around the city. We rode along the bay, through a park, in and around downtown, to a geyser, etc. It was so much fun! We ate lunch halfway through our ride at an American Style restaurant- another burger (and WAY too many fries)! 

When we got home, Sascha and I had about 15 minutes to get ready in order to catch the shuttle that would take us to ride Icelandic horses. Once we got to the barn, we were fitted with helmets, boots, and a horse (according to our skill level). We took a well maintained gravel/dirt trail through lava fields and grassy land. The speed was mostly walking and trotting. At one point there was an option to gallop, but I decided not to. Of course, the minute it was too late I regretted it. Oh well, it was still really fun! 

After getting cleaned up, we all headed out for dinner at a fish and chips restaurant. When we finished with that, we walked around the harbor and watched the beautiful sunset. It was amazing!

Arrival in Iceland (Thurs 7/29)

Today we flew to Iceland! It was sad to leave Freigericht, but we were excited for Iceland. Our flight was running a little late, and we arrived about 40 minutes later than we were supposed to. Then we spent a while trying to get Icelandic Krona.

Once we left security, we quickly found our taxi driver and began the task of trying to fit all of our luggage into his car. It was a challenge and he was about to call another taxi, but we got it all to fit by putting one of our big suitcases stretched across the back seat on the laps of the people in the back. It was a tight fit, but it worked!

When we arrived at the house we are renting, we were shown around by the owner. Then we headed out to walk around downtown Reykjavik and find dinner. We ate at a really cool hole-in-the-wall type local burger joint. Following dinner, James and my mom headed back to the house and my dad and I walked around a little more.

Rothenberg (Wed 7/28)

Today we got up very early and my mom, dad, James, Sascha, and I took a few trains to Rothenberg. We arrived there around 10 a.m. and the town was pretty much empty. We walked around for a while, through the town and along the wall of the city. We also went up into a tower in the wall that overlooked the city.

At one point we let my mom do some shopping and the rest of us continued to walk around the town. It was good that it was kind of rainy all day because it kept a lot of the tourists away. We finished in Rothenberg around 4 p.m. and took the train back home. We had originally planned to go home at 5, and didn't realize that one of our trains was only every other hour, so we ended up getting home at the same time as if we had left at 5. When we got home, we finished our evening off with cocktails with a couple neighbors.

Gang Car and Rhine River

Today we did a fun activity called a "gang car." I think that pictures will describe it a lot better, but I will do my best. A gang car is a vehicle that is mounted on a railroad track and is human powered by bicycle-style peddlers. Ours had seats for three peddlers in the front and seats for four people to sit in the back. The track we took was 20 km long and took us a few hours. We switched out drivers frequently and at one point we stopped in a town to get drinks. It was so fun!!!

When we reached the end of the track, we had lunch and rode a bus back to the car. On our way home, we stopped in a town next to the Rhine and did some walking around and shopping. It had been raining most of the time during the drive, but thankfully it cleared up a little while we were there. We could have gone up on a gondola to a hilltop to look over the vineyards and the river, but it got too late to go up.

Gelnhausen (Sun 7/25)

Today we slept in late and started the day off slowly. Then we headed to Gelnhausen. We'd been there before, but we wanted my dad to see it, too. We walked around the markets, a tower, and a playground. It was so different from before because there were a lot more people out. At one point we split up so some people could shop and some could walk around some more. 

While walking around, my dad noticed something that we hadn't- "tripping stones." They are put in the ground, usually in front of a house, and they are in memory of someone who had lived there who had died in the Holocaust. Some of the information on the "stones" included their name, where they died, date of death, date of deportation, etc. For example, in the picture at right, the lower right stone reads: "Lived here Kurt Hecht, born 1924, deported 1944 to Auschwitz, 1945 to Buchenwald, murdered February 8, 1945." And these stones were everywhere.

We reconvened for a candle light dinner in a nice restaurant. We had our own little cove in the restaurant and took a lot of pleasure from putting the napkins on our heads. They made very nice hats.

Bicycling and Barbecue with Neighbors

Today my dad and I we able to go on a bike ride with Juergen's son, Tim. He got bikes rented for us from a local bike shop, and they were really good bikes! (see pictures). Mine is the yellow one and my dad's is the black and red one.

Around noon we headed out from his house, but first we had to stop at the bike shop to get a longer seat post for my dad's bike (we purchased bottles from the shop, too) and we had to stop to get water. THEN began the ride up the Feldberg. At the beginning it wasn't so bad, although I could definitely feel my lack of exercise for the past two weeks and the hikes from the past two days. As the road turned up, it got harder and harder. I was afraid I wouldn't make it to the top because the road just seemed to keep going and going. Finally we did, though! It felt so good to have conquered that since it was my first real climb (no mountains in Kansas!). 

At the restaurant we had drinks and a bite to eat. Then we headed down! It was chilly up top, so we bundled up for the way down. It was really steep at first but it gradually got less steep. The landscapes and little towns we rode through were amazing and it was so nice to ride on downhill/flat for so long. The weather cleared up, too, making it just about perfect.

We realized when we got to Tim's flat that the next train was in about 20 minutes and we needed to get all of our stuff and drive to the train station really fast. It all might have worked out except we kept hitting all the red lights. We didn't make that train, so we had to get on the next one. We arrived home a tiny bit late and everyone was already here for the barbecue. Our friends were worried because we had been unreachable by cell phone during the ride- Tim's battery was dead and we left ours at his flat... oops.

The rest of the evening we spent with the neighbors, eating, drinking, and having a good time.

Hiking Down and Returning to Freigericht (Fri 7/23)

Today we hiked down from the Schachenhaus. We woke up to the sound of heavy rain, but we continued on with getting ready to leave- including trying to pack all of our stuff so it wouldn't get soaked! After eating breakfast, we set out in the rain.

Our original plan was that Sascha, Dad, and I would take a steeper, more difficult route back down and through the Partnachklamm so that we could see it again and we wouldn't have to do any taxiing between Elmau and Garmisch (one car was in each place, and the first plan was to all go to Elmau and then wait while some went to get the other car and come back to get us). Because it was raining, we decided to all stick together- the steeper route probably wasn't safe with the rain. The weather began to clear and the fog lifted, making the landscape once again amazing. Below is a video of one place we stopped to rest:

As a compromise, we took the same trail for a while, then split so that we could still see the Partnachklamm again and wouldn't have to taxi back and forth. It turned into sort of a race between the two groups to see who could reach their respective car first. Dad, Sascha, and I even did a little jogging when we reached a good downhill section. 

Then we hit a dead end. We had read the map wrong and had to backtrack up where we had just run down. It seemed so much shorter running down it than walking up it and none of us realized how steep it was! We realized when we got to a sign we had previously passed that we needed to take a smaller trail that branched off the main road. There was a sign next to it that said that no one was liable for what happened on that trail... meaning it wasn't maintained.

Turns out it wasn't really that bad, just a little narrow in some places. It was sorta steep but not horrible. Once we crossed the river, we reached another gravel road that was really easy to walk on. Right after we started on the road, we got a call from the other group that they had already reached their car, only 50 minutes after we had parted with them. About 30 minutes later, we reached our vehicle.

Once reunited with the group, we cleaned up and ate a delicious meal at the restaurant near the Olympic stadium. The rest of the day we spent mostly driving to get back home. It rained most of the way. We got lucky with our dry window that most of the hike took place in!

The Partnachklamm, Hiking, and the Schachenhaus (Thurs 7/22)

Today we hiked up to the Schachenhaus, a mountain hut, to stay the night. We left Schwangau and drove to Garmisch, where the 1936 Winter Olympics were held.

We began our trip from the parking lot along a paved road. The picture to the left shows the amazingly cut wood that they have all over Germany- it's insane. We then reached the river and walked through the Partnachklamm, a gorge carved by the Partnach River. It reminded me a lot of the Zion Narrows. Once we had walked throught the Partnachklamm, our real hike began.

The trail was very steep (rises about 3,800 ft from end of Partnachklamm to Schachenhaus). It started out in the woods with many steps, and as we got farther along, the trees thinned and it was more rocky and less steps. It got hotter and hotter throughout the day and we were all very sweaty. The views were absolutely stunning, though, and definitely worth it. 

It took us between 3 hours 40 minutes and 4 hours 10 minutes to reach the Schachenhaus, varying by person. We got drinks and food and relaxed, admiring the view. Once we all got cleaned up, we prepared for the next day and then headed to dinner, where we ate, played cards, and talked into the evening.

Lake Constance (Wed 7/ 21)

Today began our journey near/in the alps. We visited the Lake Constance area, drove into Austria and Switzerland for a short time, and crossed over the lake on a ferry. The lake was just beautiful- clear blue waters, picturesque hills all around, sailboats. We stopped to walk around in Lindau. The weather was extremely hot, but we got gelato :). We ended the day at Hotel Helmerhof in Schwangau- a really nice place with a big bathroom, internet access (to work on the blog!), nice view, etc. 

Triberg, Buchenbach, and Wine Tasting (Tues 7/20)

We ate breakfast in the hotel and set out for the day’s journey. Our first attraction was the world’s largest cuckoo clock… that was…interesting. The cuckoo wasn’t as intense as we had been expecting :P 



 

Then we headed to Triberg to see the waterfalls. We did a short hike around the falls and through town, then ate a late lunch in a restaurant there.

We arrived in Buchenbach just in time for the next train to Freiburg, where we were meeting a bunch of friends for wine tasting. It was a huge group! The wine tasting went well except for that it was SO hot- inside the place and outside.

After the wine tasting venue, we moved on to a beer garden where we spent the rest of the night, you guessed it; talking, eating, and drinking! It was a really fun evening! We retired to Gasthof Adler around midnight.