Into the Forest

In June, I began planning a long weekend for our July visit with Jenny.  I searched Homeaway.com for rooms in Munich, then broader Bavaria, then Salzburg, Berchtesgaden, Innsbruck, various small ski resort in the Austrian Alps....fully booked.  Europeans plan ahead.  I found one two bedroom apartment in Todtmoos,  a small town in the Black Forest.  The Black Forest had been on our top ten list, so why not.  I overlooked the condition - probably last updated after the War and the lack of  reviews.  I just wanted a place.

The Black Forest, Scharzwald, consists of dense forests covering a 100-mile range of hills - the highest peak 4,900 feet.   The area begins about a 90 minute drive south from Frankfurt and extends to Switzerland.  Rick Steves promised clean air, cheery villages, and cuckoo clocks.  I planned a four night trip with a day at a glacial lake, one in Freiburg, and one in Rheinfalls, Switzerland.

We decided to rent a car.  The air conditioning broke in the van and with such a cold spring, we considered not fixing it.  We regretted this decision when the temperatures reached 100 in the days proceeding our trip.  After calling three car rentals places, Dave found one with an automatic.

After working 21 consecuive days, I needed Saturday morning to regroup.  We slept-in, packed, picked up the rental car, carried our 60-plus pound air conditioner down three flights of stairs and squeezed into our very small trunk, and stopped at the market for waffles before we headed south.   (I told Dave there was no way the air conditioner - which we named R2-D2 - could possibly fit in our trunk.  Thank God, I was wrong.)

Two hours into the drive I asked Dave where he put the passports. "Why would we need those?"  "To get into Switzerland." "That may be a problem."  We phoned a friend.  Switzerland is not part of the EU and would most likely be doing passport checks.  One day trip bites the dust.  (We considered checking with border control, but I could not imagine anyone letting us in with no documentation because we "looked nice.")

We arrived at guesthouse "Bi.ke" in time for dinner.  Dave and I headed for the grocery store - always an adventure in a new still foreign city.  The mountains did not escape the heat so Emily and Owen squeezed into our room while Jennifer, who does not run her air-conditioner at home - yes, you heard that right, stayed in the living room.  We all dreamt of the North Pole.