Friday, August 1: Black Forest to Lake Constance

We woke to the tinkling bells of the whole herd of cows coming out of the barn and into the field – we smiled a lot!

We left the campsite and drove south on through the southern part of the Black Forest to Konstanz, Germany on Lake Constance. The lake sits between Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The traffic into the city was horrendous and we could find no place to park. We found that we had tried to get into town on Switzerland's National Day and a massive fireworks display was to happen that evening.

We gave up on trying to get into the city proper and headed back north along the lake to a campground right at the northern tip. Lots of sailboats and folks enjoying the small lakeside beach a the campground. We enjoyed a nice afternoon of sunshine on Lake Constance.

Thursday, July 31: Colmar, France to Black Forest (Furtwangen)

We drove east across the Rhine into Germany through beautiful rolling hills eventually becoming dark pine-covered high slopes. We kept seeing these huge square buildings that appeared to be hotels and/or restaurants, but there were so many of them! We finally figured out that they were farmhouses with barns and outbuildings all in one huge building. We could tell the home from the outbuildings when we looked close because the home portion at pretty lace curtains in the windows.

We stopped in the touristy town of Triberg, known as the heart of the Black Forest Cuckoo Clocks. We shopped about five different stores with hundreds of hand-made clocks – most traditional, but also some modernized ones that ranged from under $100 to well over $5,000. Jack decided on one that both of us liked and had it shipped directly home.

Our rural campground

Now that is a Bell!

We continued south through the Black Forest to a very small rural campground on the side of a hill. We kept hearing tinkling bells, but couldn't find the source until we realized that the cows in the adjacent field all were wearing large bells around their necks! After that, every time we heard a bell, we would smile.....

Saturday, July 26: Luxembourg to Germany to Alsace-Lorraine

Jack's online banking problems are back, so he is one unhappy camper (pun intended). We left the campground in Luxembourg close to noon and traveled southeast into Germany through Saarbrucken and along the Saar River. This is an old industrial city and one of the old abandoned steel mills was at least one mile long as we drove and drove the adjacent road and this building never seemed to end! According to the guidebook, it is even lit at night, like a tourist attraction...

We stopped to do a little grocery shopping since stores will be closed tomorrow, had lunch and took a nap. We continued south, back into France's Alsace-Lorraine region. 

We spent the night in the small city of Saverne, slightly northwest of Strasbourg. The place names here are mostly German, but the language in French. The region has switched hands between the two countries over many centuries and now it is a great mixture of the two – they love their wines and their sauerkraut!

From our parking lot campground, we could walk into the city with the hopes of finding a nice restaurant. We did see quite a few, but we were not really hungry yet and the shops in the cobble stoned pedestrian area were all closing up.  Jack wasn't feeling well, so we returned to the RV, made a nice dinner and early to bed.

So, I spent my birthday in three different countries...Luxembourg, Germany and France!