LL 518, Road Trip Day 3

Saturday, August 14th. 

Sylvain and Ben left shortly after 7 for an hour run. Ben is quite an accomplished distance runner. He qualified for the 2020 Boston marathon, but unfortunately it was canceled due to Covid. He's training for a half marathon in Strasbourg at the end of the month. 

By 10:30 we were on the road to Gengenbach for our German day. The girls requested to ride with Mary and Ben so it was a quiet day of driving for Sylvain and I. 

In Gengenbach, we bought picnic fare at the farmers market and a local bakery. The girls got some local honig for Marie-Elisabeth and I purchased some himbeere balsamic vinegar for us. It was hard not speaking German. Luckily, Ben speaks some, Mary knows a little, and Sylvain remembers a few words from his school days. We realized we needed a knife for our picnic, so we found an appropriate home goods store. We also picked up metal Thermos water bottles for the girls. It was something we needed, there was one with flamingos and they were at a good price. We stopped for weizen on a shady patio at an Indianrestaurant. It was a lovely little village with pretty houses and lots of flowers. 

Next, we went to picnic at an outdoor park with a natural swimming pool. There were lots of people, but we were able to stay socially disranced for the most part. The girls and Ben did a little swimming. Maëva and Ben did the big twisty waterslide. 

About 4, we were back on the road destination Hotel Restaurant Im Spinnerhof, a lovely wooden Lodge in the hills, for kuchen and drinks. We had Black Forest cake (and cheesecake and apple strudel and apple pie) and Black Forest still water in the Schwarzwald (Black Forest). The portions were humongous, but it worked out well as they tided the girls over until our late dinner. 

Our final stop was a little further on for a Schnappsbrunnen hike. Along the way there were three drinks stations with schnapps, beer and wine you can stop for. We sampled a small cranberry schnapps at the first, then sat down for a local beer at the third. The forest portion of the trail was a lot like Southeast Alaska, but with giant orange slugs that freaked Laureva out. Elsewhere, we saw some deer on a hill that appeared to be fenced in. At this point, we were only 40 kilometers from Strasbourg. The cathedral was just perceptible on the horizon. We cut our hike short as it was getting late. At 8pm, we were back at the cars to head home. 

Back in Schiltigheim about 9pm, the girls helped Ben make homemade cheese spaetzele for a delicious culinary treat to top off our German day. We also had a little taste of blueberry schnapps we brought back from our hike. 

I quite enjoyed spending the day in Germany, even though I was a bit embarrassed I couldn't speak the language.