Baden-Baden, Strausburg, Gengenbach, near Villingen

The morning began with taking photos of the little village in which we stayed overnight.  Our hostess at the guesthouse could not speak a word of English but she wanted to be sure we were pleased with her accommodations.

Overnight Guesthaus



View of Vineyards from Guesthaus

Vineyards along the road in our town

Once on the road we were headed to Strasbourg, France.  Strasbourg says it is the Christmas Capital of the World!! We do not know who set the standards, but we will say it was very large and it was very nice.   Strasbourg is just over the Rhine River into France, so their Christmas market does have French items for sale, plus much of what we have seen elsewhere.  Very little English is spoken in Strasbourg!! And we know NO French! We do know a little bit of German – enough that we can survive, plus some words you can simply figure out, while in French! NO WAY!

Plowing the green crop in.

Strasburg Christmas Market

Strasburg Cathedral - Closed Today

Christmas Market Entrance

 

Pizza Baguettee for lunch

Stand selling Figureens

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We returned to Germany and began driving southeast to the Black Forrest region. We stopped in Offenburg & Gengenbach to see their markets.  Gengenbach was the nicer of the two.  One of the main buildings on the central plaza which is lovely in itself has the Advent Calendar on its windows, so each day of advent at 5:30 pm a shutter is opened.  It is a popular time to be at the Christmas market.

More vineyards on the route

Entering the Gengenbach Market

Those irresistible crapes

Ice Skating

Advent Calendar on the Building

City Gate Tower

Take your pick - Just in time for Christmas

We continued driving southeast on back roads. The higher we got the more snow was on the ground, plus in some locations they just received snow today as the roads were not clear.  It was beautiful, but it was after 4:00 and getting too dark for good photos as you are driving.  We passed through some lovely small villages.  We arrived in the tourist town of Triberg!  Triberg is a beautiful village anytime of the year but especially in the snow! However we did not find any opened hotels, as many of them are beginning to close for the winter, so we continued on to the village of St George.  We found an open guesthouse at the top of the town in St George.  We will be the last guest for the season at this guesthouse, as they are closing tomorrow, so we were fortunate to have located it.  We will take photos in the morning from the view of our windows as we are so high above the valley.  We will also walk around town taking photo before we leave.

The Streets of St George

Our Guesthaus

The weather – It is cold – about 12 degrees, and up in the mountains they have had about 12 inches of snow.  Tonight we walked to a Chinese restaurant – It was good we had boots with traction, as we walked down the hill to the center of town.  There are piles of snow everywhere and ridges of snow beside the roads.  Tomorrow we plan to drive the few km back to see Triberg in the daylight, before we move ahead.  

Tomorrow is Thursday and we have to back in Frankfurt by Sunday pm – our 3 weeks is almost over!  As we have traveled in Europe in the past we have avoided the larger cities, as we love the little towns, so why deal with the hassle of larger cities.  However this time, if we want to see the Christmas market, we have to go into the ‘Centrum’.   We have done well driving right into the town centers (only a few missed turns), parking in the ‘park houses’ (parking garages), and being near the Christmas markets. However being out on the back roads is more our style.         

Speyer, Heidelberg, Baden-Baden

There was a light snow shower again this morning, enough to cover the car.  After breakfast we visited the Dom.  The Spayer Dom is the greatest Roman Church in the world, construction from 1030-1124.  The Cathedral is a UNESCO site.  The cathedral is and always has been an Episcopal Church.

 

Spayer Dom

Our Overnight Guesthaus in Spayer

 After seeing the Dom and a walk around the town of Speyer, we were on the road east to Heidelberg.  We did not realize the city of Heidelberg was so close to the mountain.   It was a lovely setting with the castle and castle ruins on the hillside above the city.  The Christmas markets were located in plazas spread along their large pedestrian shopping street.  The markets were nice, but not one of the best.  Of course after seeing 20+ Christmas markets we are looking for unique!

Shopping Street in Heidelberg

Christmas Market Pyramid

Christmas Market with Castle Ruins in Backgraound

Cathedral in Heidelberg

 

We stopped for tea at a local Coffee-Bakery Café.

 

Wish you were here for a cup of tea

When we had our tea the waitress told us about the Schwetzingen Christmas Market, which was nearby.  After we arrived we found that the market did not open until 5:00 pm on weekdays.  However the market setting was very unique.  Some of the market was inside on the grounds of the Castle and the rest of the market was on the plaza right outside the Castle gates.  They also had a very large outdoor ice skating area that was already in use.  

We decided to continue on our way to Baden-Baden.  In the past we have looked for hotels/guesthouses in the downtown area so that we can walk to the Christmas markets.  Tonight we did something different.  We are in what I would call a B&B that is 20 minutes from the downtown of Baden-Baden.  We stopped at the Tourist Information and they recommended a guesthouse that is in a small village located over the mountain.  ‘Over the mountain’ it was!  We were on a very narrow winding road, up over the mountain and down again to these three little village in the valley.  Grapes are growing on all the hillsides and at the top of one mountain are castle ruins.

 

Mais - Corn on the cob German Style

French Sweet - French Fudge

 

Putting Melted Cheese on the baguette

After checking in we went back into Baden-Baden for the Christmas market.  It was located on the grounds in front of the Casino and Performance Hall.  It was a very nice market, and we ate something we had not seen before.  They filled a baguette with ham or brats, and then topped it with melted cheese.  The cheese was melted in a special way and then scraped off the wheel of cheese into the sandwich.  It was delicious – especially the aged melted cheese!   We did not stay late at the market, as it was beginning to freeze on the sidewalks and we knew we were driving ‘over the mountain’ on a steep narrow road - there are times Cal mentions the grade (steepness) of a road and how difficult it would be to ride a bike up that road!! Bike riders see roads differently! 

By the time we first reached the guesthouse it was too dark to take photos, so we will try to capture the ambience of this place/village in the morning.   Once again this would be a beautiful place in the summer or early fall.  I told Cal today that sometime we’ll have to return to Germany to go ‘castle hopping’ like we are ‘Christmas market hopping’ this time!

Tomorrow we are heading deeper into Bavaria.  Not sure where we will be tomorrow night!  We are really ‘winging it’!

 

Cal’s birthday! Traveling Germany! - Ruhdesheim, Speyer

 

 

Our time in Bernkastle was as always - memorable.  The morning began with a little snow shower. Everything had melted from the day before so the fresh snow was again magical.  As we climbed out of the Mosel Valley south and east toward the Rhine Valley, we were again driving in falling snow.  It was another beautiful drive among the pine trees.  The road followed along the top of the ridge, so the views of winter white snowy fields and peaceful villages below was delightful.    

As we were leaving the valley we were reminiscing - 39 years ago friends from Des Moines came to see us while we were living in Holland.  We brought them to Bernkastel and the Mosel River, however it was October Fest and we underestimated the crowds.  We could not find accommodations for the night in the valley, so we crossed the ridge to a village outside of the valley, where we found beds. It was an eventful night and weekend.  Life is made up of people & experiences, so it was wonderful thinking about them as we were driving.

Our first destination was Rudesheim along the Rhine.  However it was on the other side of the Rhine from where we were! Bridges are not frequent so we crossed the river at Weisbaden.  The drive along the Rhine was lovely.  It was amazing how much river traffic was moving up and down the river hauling everything from junk to sea-going containers.  Rudesheim had a nice Christmas market and it was a nice town.  The Christmas stands wound in and out of the streets, all around the village.



Entering a Cafe

Inside the Cafe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Later in the afternoon we drove south on the Germany Wine Road (Deutsche Weinstrasse).  If we thought we had seen a lot of grapes along the Mosel and Rhine, we saw as many in fields along this road.  Field after field of vineyards!  They are planted on good land, that at one time produce crops, now it is grapes for wine.  It was raining during much of the afternoon, therefore we were not able to take any photos.

 

Large House-Barn Farm Complex

We continued south, stopping Newstadt, but ended in Speyer for the night.  After some searching we found Guesthouse (Gasthaus) right by the Dom.  Speyer has a nice Christmas market, and it was not crowded, as the markets were over the weekend.    We decided we would eat in a restaurant tonight, instead of at the markets, as today is Cal’s birthday!    After walking around for a while we found a Mexican restaurant!  It was very good!  And a good switch after 2 weeks!

Speyer Christmas Market

 

 

 

Near the Christmas market in Speyer was a church which had its door open.  We went into the church and found an interior that was very different.  There are two balconies that run down each side of the church, one above the other, except on the side where the pulpit is located.  They were decorating for Christmas. 

Interior of Catholic Church in Speyer