Monday, April 28, 2008

South Germany

I have been in Germany for almost a week now, and have seen a lot in just a few days.
Southern Germany is very beautiful- filled with old castles, historic towns, modern cities, vineyards, and forests, with the Black Forest being the most famous of all. Gerhart and Annie have been very kind to take me to all of these, and I have some great photos to illustrate it: http://www.flickr.com/photos/24491659@N03/sets/72157604738180004/
On Friday we went to visit some friends of theirs and my parents, Harold and Ute, in a small village near the Black Forest. We took the day to walk in the forest and see some amazing castles which seemed to appear from nowhere from the trees. On the way home, we drove through the Black Forest and past some more beautiful old German towns.
I also visited the UNESCO World Heritage site of Maulbronn Monastery, founded in the 12th Century AD. It was truly amazing, as most of the buildings have been completely preserved, and its very elaborately finished for a monastery. It did make me sympathise with the monks however, who had to live within the freezing stone walls of the buildings with no heating and the vow of poverty, chasity and obedience. They werent allowed to eat meat either, but the cooks would sneak meat into big pasta squares, giving birth to the regions culinary speciality, the Swabian ravioli. I tasted it today and it really was good. South Germany also makes some great wines which I sampled today in a wine growing suburb in Stuttgart.
Tommorrow I will spend another day in Stuttgart and then its on to Dresden.
Tschüs

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