Germany: Day 1 and 2

This past week I travelled to Germany with my friend Laura. We spent the week at her parent’s house in a small village called Ohlsbach near France and Switzerland

Day 1: Travel Day

Since I bought my ticket later than her, in order to get a cheaper price we had to travel separately. I travelled from Tilburg University station, to Offenburg, stopping in Dusseldorf and Heidelberg along the way. Sadly due to my train connections I couldn’t explore those cities. As I mentioned in the last post, this week was Carnaval in Germany and the Netherlands. Because of this I saw many people on the trains and in the stations dressed up in various costumes, drinking, and singing.  Although once the majority of them left my train it became very quiet. I should have been able to get a lot of reading done for my classes but often got distracted by the mountains, rivers, castles, and cute German towns out the train window. Once in Heidelberg I met a young German girl who helped me translate the old German phone Laura had given me. Since Laura’s train arrived two and a half hours after mine she arranged for her friends to pick me up in the train station in Offenburg. Leonie and Rebecca took me out for ice-cream and showed me around the small village of Offenburg, which is pretty deserted on a Sunday night. Later on we picked Laura up from the train station and were dropped off at Laura’s adorable wooden house, where her mother had homemade pumpkin soup waiting for us.

Laura's House

Dressed up for Carnaval

Spaettle for Carnaval

Ohlsbach Germany

Gengenbach Germany

Cute street in Gegenbach

Apple Pie

 Day 2: Ohlsbach and Gengenbach

Our first day in Germany was spent exploring the villages around Laura’s house. First we went to Ohlsbach where we celebrated Carnaval complete with costumes and a German band. Afterwards we walked to the neighboring village of Gengenbach, which just happens to be the cutest town I’ve ever seen. While in the town we met a Spaettle. Later on we met with Laura’s mom for drinks and desert. Before dinner Laura and I walked from Laura’s house, up the hill, through the vineyard, to the castle near her house. We watched the sunset from the top of the mountain. That night we drove back into Gengenbach for dinner with Laura’s family. We ate flammenkuchen, which is a very thin French pizza, and shared an apple cinnamon flammenkuchen, which is set on fire for desert. While we were eating people dressed up as witches and spaettles came into the restaurant. Every year during Carnaval they walk around the towns dressed like this and scaring people. They spoke in creepy high voices and carried broom sticks

Gengenbach

Vineyards

Augustus Gloops Butcher Shop

The castle by Laura's house

Sunset at the Castle