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Journeyed from Frankfurt to Schwarzwald via train, changing at Karlsruhe and then to Freudenstadt (whose name translates as "City of Pleasures"). From Freudenstadt we were collected by relatives to be taken to their "little cottage" (Herrenwald) in Schwarzwald, which is two refurbished barns whose foundations date from the early 16th century. The area is high ground and denseley forested with firs and ferns resulting (as the name indicates) a very dark and cool place. As one could expected we took several long walks with great views ("panoramaweg"), along with visits to Mummelsee, legendary home of a water spirit (Nix), hence the logo, which was also an opportunity to eat Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte, and a morning on a tour of the Alpirsbach Abbey, an 11th century Benedictine monastery.
From the Black Forest we have travelled to Stuttgart for a few days, where we took the afternoon to visit the rather impressive Mercedes Museum, both in form and content, which includes several stories of vehicle history and engineering well correlated with historical events. The city itself lives up to its traditional name ("mare's garden") with a heavy automative influence, being the world headquarters of Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, along with parts manufacturers Bosch and Mahle. "See if you can smell the money", as one Australian friend advised me on this trip. Afterwards made visit to the Bismarck Tower and today (having had one work meeting shifted to tomorrow) too the opportunity to spend some time in the Ludwigburg Palace, an enormous building and grounds with highly differentiated baroque and neoclassical styles. Built in the early modern period, one could sense the opulence and excess that came from medieval royal lines - and the impetus towards revolution that would come in the future.
From the Black Forest we have travelled to Stuttgart for a few days, where we took the afternoon to visit the rather impressive Mercedes Museum, both in form and content, which includes several stories of vehicle history and engineering well correlated with historical events. The city itself lives up to its traditional name ("mare's garden") with a heavy automative influence, being the world headquarters of Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, along with parts manufacturers Bosch and Mahle. "See if you can smell the money", as one Australian friend advised me on this trip. Afterwards made visit to the Bismarck Tower and today (having had one work meeting shifted to tomorrow) too the opportunity to spend some time in the Ludwigburg Palace, an enormous building and grounds with highly differentiated baroque and neoclassical styles. Built in the early modern period, one could sense the opulence and excess that came from medieval royal lines - and the impetus towards revolution that would come in the future.
