Having spent a week in the Black Forest with Fiona it is a little depressing to be back in Leeds where the wine is a little less local, the views a little less mind blowing, and life generally just a little less exciting.

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Mmmm.. mineral water

We stayed at Haus Wussler - a lovely house owned by a lovely couple just outside the town of Gengenbach. They were awesome - they even gave us authentic german break-dinner when we arrived late in the evening. The apartment we stayed in was awesome - lounge, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, 4 beds, balcony.. it was basically a family home for two :)

We got around using our rental car and free train travel that you get when you stay in the area. Having not driven for 9 months, driving on the wrong side of the road in a car with the wheel and gears on the wrong side on the autobahn was most definitely intimidating. Although we got lost a few times we worked in an awesome driver passenger combo to get around the place.

We looked around Gengenbach a lovely little town, we visited the awesome Triberg waterfalls, explored the largest model railway track in the World :), went tobogganing (on a rather sketchy mile long track on a steep hillside), and visited a shop which contained over 1000 cuckoo clocks (aptly named The House of 1000 Clocks).

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The Triberg waterfall

Personal highlights were the Caracalla Spa in Baden Baden which is an awesome indoor spa with steam rooms, cold pools, hot pools, jacuzzis etc. The Germans being super liberal make their saunas etc nudist areas. Having been to the Black Forest before I was aware of this :P Fee was a little surprised.

We also had an epic day mountain biking in the black forest. We rented bikes for 10 euros a day - soo much cheaper than the UK. The black forest is ridiculously beautiful. Even though the weather wasn't as good as it should have been around this time of year it was still nice for the most part.

We had a couple of no-expense-spared meals out including in Gengenbach. The Germans do awesome awesome food. Why had I never thought to put stuff inside a steak..?! Fee had Deer and some mind blowing form of pasta.. it was just insanely good.

We made a Sunday roast on easter day and had a caramel chocolate easter bunny from a Strasbourg (French) chocolatier.. yup - we decided to cross the border into France where we had another epic dinner. Strasbourg station is also pretty impressive.

It was generally an awesome holiday.. Thanks Fee for your company :P I'll leave you with a few thoughts:

  • The german rail system is super efficient, never late.. They also have double decker trains. Why don't we?

  • Milka chocolate is incredible. Why don't they sell it in the UK?!

  • Capri sun.. why don't they sell their Cherry, Cola, and Fairy flavours in the UK?!

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You don't want to know what he did.