One day Odilo took AM and me on a road trip to the Black Forest!
I had told him way back when we first met in the fall that I thought my German ancestors were from somewhere in the Black Forest. His reaction: maybe we're related! He also thought it was cool that I grew up learning how to make spaetzle from scratch. Of course, we can't get them premade, so that's the only (and best) way to get them!
But anyway, he was so sweet to make sure I got to see the Schwarzwald for myself before I left. And of course, that meant we had a chance to hang out on one of my last days in Switzerland, too!
We met in the morning at a really fancy cafe in the Altstadt, uphill from Niederdorferstrasse. Odilo invited one of his friends to join us; I can't remember any more if this was Herr Hoesli, or the friend who wished Herr Hoesli "Proesli!"
After breakfast we were off!
We drove to the small town of St. Blasien, which is home to an enormous church, with Europe's third largest dome north of the Alps.
Benediktinerkloster St. Blasien. 1772-81 frühklassisches Kuppelbaus
eisern Meridiantragern 1880
1910-13 Innenausbau der Rotunde
-Stahlbeton innenkuppel
-Arch: Ostendorf u. Schmiede
1981-83 renoviert
Columns so wide ~1,2m!
nur in den letzten 20 Jahren mit echten Marmor bekleidet- x mal geschliffen- kann die Fügen nicht sehen!
-Struktur: Backstein gemauert
Such a delicate sound of the choir of ~20 people sounds so rich & full, like 100 people, but at the same time so light and airy
~5s. Nachhallzeit
Sound from left and right, not from front, applause sounded like heavy raindrops
The town was so cute! And what better way to visit than with two wonderful friends!
Afterwards we continued along, stopping a few times just to take in the beautiful surrounding landscape.
I like the enormous roofs on the barns here.
Somewhere along the way Odilo pointed out that we were driving on the roads you see in German car commercials. Cool!
There are a few things I remember about this day. One was all three of us laughing and gabbing the whole way, having a wonderful time.
Another was realizing how comfortable I had become chatting in German, and how I wasn't ready to set that aside just yet. It made me in effect make everyone's lives more difficult as I was jumping back and forth between the two languages- and translating constantly- rather than just speaking in English.
Finally, I remember thinking how awesome it was that my best friend and a good friend from Zürich were getting a chance to hang out and meet each other!
On our way back, just as it was approaching dusk, we stopped at a covered bridge that crossed the Rhein in Bad Säckingen.
Germany was on one side, and Switzerland was on the other. No border crossing nonsense, just two towns joined by a nifty bridge!
Thanks, Odilo, for such a great day to wrap up this amazing year! :)
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