As promised, I am going to now spend the next posts (with intermittent progress notes about my current Dutched reality) sharing about my “extraordinary” European Road-trip to Italy.

Amusingly, Bram and I started our vacation a day earlier than anticipated. We didn’t realize this until the moment we arrived at the roadside motel after six hours of driving. At first glance, one can immediately recognize it as a motel specifically booked as a pit stop somewhere in Southern Germany before the final destination to Italy. According to several reliable sources, it was a no-nonsense, clean budget hotel that provided weary travellers a place to rest and possibly a good night’s rest.

Perhaps it was the desolate and uninviting aura of the motel or possibly the gloomy rainy weather, but Bram immediately sensed my hesitation. Being a proud glorified tech geek, Bram heroically opened his trusty macbook pro and corresponding 3G card (wireless internet access) to book another hotel that was a more gezellig.

As luck would have it (and stayed with us for most of the trip), a hotel reminiscent of a “Sound of Music” experience was available for two nights. The family-run hotel was also conveniently situated at theentrance of several hiking trails in Germany’s ancient Black Forest. Somewhere in the recesses of my childhood memory I am convinced of having once heard about the Black Forest. As far as I was concerned, it was an ideal setting for all those fairy tales. What better way to start a vacation than in a land inspired by fairy tales?

Bram and I spent the next two days wandering around the idyllic countryside. The second day we even managed to ambitiously hike 14 miles through the Black Forest to Waldkirch and back. 

I must also embarrassingly admit that I never had an inclination to ever visit Southern Germany and play tourist. Granted, Glottertal and Waldkirch are not the friendliest places in the world. Despite our numerous attempts at a reciprocal hello from the local villagers, we only received blank, possibly discriminatory stares and/or hurried strides with heads bowed down.  Nonetheless, we had a pleasant time being goofy and enjoying the Southern German Sun.

For your viewing pleasure: 

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2340313&l=8bbf7&id=1223201

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 24th, 2008 at 9:50 pm and is filed under Expat Journey(s). You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.