Strasbourg, France and the Black Forest

If you look on a map of Germany, you'll see Karlsruhe is basically on the border with France. Well, one day we drove over to Strasbourg to see the sights.














This is the cathedral square. ^^

And this is the cathedral




















Here are a few details of the cathedral -- vaulting over one of the doors and some gargoyles...

































A side street in Strasbourg




















Another part of Strasbourg known as "Petit France" (Little France)




















We ate lunch nearby at a sidewalk cafe -- so help me there was an accordion player...

This is a local delicacy "Tarte Flambee"




















After leaving France, we drove back through the Schwarzwald (Black Forest}, stopping in a few towns, including the ancient resort/spa site of Baden-Baden.

I made a new friend!





















That's not a guy in a bear suit, that's a HUGE stuffed teddy bear.

A "drive-by shooting" on our way through the Schwarzwald.












This is a typical street in the villages of the Black Forest -- note how narrow they are!




















We went shopping for Cookoo clocks. Well...authentic ones are pretty but also pretty expensive.

More pics

At the heart of Karlsruhe is the Schloß (pronounced "Schloss") or castle, but Americans would think of it as more of a palace. Karlsruhe means "Karl's rest" -- basically it was founded as the retreat and hunting grounds of Margrave Karl Wilhelm of Baden-Durlach (click on the link for the Wikipedia article).




















On the castle grounds is the Turm or tower. Sorry folks, no elevator, but the view at the top, of course, is worth it!



















The castle grounds looking toward the city.



























The castle and grounds from the air -- no, I didn't take this one...




















Inside the castle is an amazing and LARGE cultural and local history museum, with interactive displays! :)




















We also visited the nearby botanical gardens.












After our long day of sightseeing, we rewarded ourselves with dessert at a sidewalk cafe -- it's called "Mozart's Chocolate Parade." It was as good as it looks!

Here are pics from two different shopping trips or "Einkaufsbummeln."

The first one we went by car to a famous local supermarket. Here I am with Milka the cow -- she was mooooooving...



















On another day, Martin and I went shopping for dinner on bikes to the city center. Karlsruhe has one of the largest numbers of bikes per-capita in the world!

A few pictures from the trip so far...

Popo really wanted to go, but she wouldn't fit in my luggage.

First stop: Heidelberg.




















We are going to climb up to the castle -- LOTS of steps for this jet-lagged tourist!












But, the trip was worth it...































A side street in Heidelberg -- I love the German term for a crosswalk -- Fußgängerüberweg, aka "Zebrastreifen" (zebra stripes).

Here's a store selling only Gummi Bears (Gummibärchen).