My wife, Timi, had been wanting to go see the headwaters of the Danube river for a long time, and once she discovered that Europa Park -- Europe's answer to Disneyland -- wasn't too far away, it became imperative that we do it. I wasn't overly excited about any of the planned activities, except wanting to see the Black Forest in Germany, but I'm always open to going someplace new and checking things out, so I let her do all the planning, and I just went along! It turns out, ironically, that the Black Forest was a bit of a let down, and the headwaters of the Danube and Europa Park were the highlights.
Timi wanted to book us into this little spa/hot springs town, called Bad Durheim, not too far from the Danube springs in Southwestern Germany, so that we could have a "Spa" weekend on top of everything else. The town turned out to be very quaint and nice, with a huge, beautiful park and lots of ice cream cafes, but the spa facilities were so overrun with old people -- really, really old people -- just standing and sitting and shuffling around in the water, that we kind of got creeped out and decided not to go. I don't mean to say that old people creep me out in general, but such a dense magnitude of them in a contained area gives me the willies a bit. Sorry. To be honest, though, I think I might be disturbed by any single, homogeneous group of humans congregating in one place for seemingly odd purposes. A pool full of nothing but little kids? Kind of creepy. All pregnant women? Creepy. Fat people? Very creepy -- and a little gross. All men? Creepy too. All young, attractive women? Not so creepy, but a little odd.
The trip there involved driving through parts of the Black Forest of Germany, which I was looking forward to. Before we left, I imagined traveling through darkened, ominous regions of brooding primeval forest. I was hoping to get lucky and catch a glimpse of Hansel and Gretel, perhaps tell them to watch out for any cottages made of gingerbread and candy canes, and any suspicious old wart-nosed, snaggle-toothed crones. Or maybe give a shout out to any young girl skipping through the forest in a red riding hood. You never know about wolves in those parts. It would really have been awesome to espy some Trolls or Goblins traipsing and lurking around some dark glen -- but no luck with any of that. Unfortunately, the Black Forest of Germany, although pretty, was extremely domesticated and tamed. It had probably all been chopped to the ground, in phases, 15 times in the last 30o years. There was no old growth, and absolutely no ancient fairy tales gamboling about. What a bummer! Apparently, if it hadn't been for the plague sweeping through Europe multiple times during the Dark Ages, and killing off two thirds of the human population, there would be no Black Forest at all today to speak of. It was a nice drive, though.
The day after we got there, we headed down the road to the town of Donaueschingen, which means something like the "Gift of the Danube" or whatever, where the springs of the Danube sprung. It was another nice little town, where one of the springs of the river come bubbling up out of the earth, is contained by an ancient, intricate, circular stone cistern on the property of what was probably the Noble's manor who used to control this particular area of Germany in centuries past, and then trickles down and into the creek. I'm not sure why they gave this particular spring the designation of the head water of the Danube, seeing as how there is already a creek that it empties into, but apparently there are multiple springs in the area that all come together, and once they've all properly met, the Danube begins. Whatever the reason, it was interesting, and we had a nice walk around the town and along the banks of the beginning of the Danube. It was a good day, and my wife declared herself satisfied.
The next day, we headed to Europa Park! About an hours drive from our hotel, it's in the middle of Southern Germany. Timi had really been looking forward to it, but I was skeptical. I really didn't see how it could compare to Disneyland, Universal Studios, Busch Gardens, or most of the other American amusement parks. After all, who had ever heard of Europa Park? I certainly hadn't before moving to Switzerland, but everyone in the world has heard of Disneyland, right? I am happy to say I was pleasantly surprised. The park was much bigger than I had anticipated, and close to the quality of Disneyland. Not quite as nice as Disneyland, but considering that it's a younger park, nobody knows about it outside of Europe, and it probably doesn't make nearly the money Disneyland makes, I would definitely give it five stars. Also, I would say there were even more food offerings, that it was mostly good quality food, and it wasn't even very expensive! No charging you $15 for a lousy cheeseburger and fries, or $8 for a churro. It was really reasonably priced, tasted good, and was served in a nice environment. Gotta say I was impressed. Maybe it was partly from our having become accustomed to Swiss restaurant food prices and quality!
That pretty well covers our last Germany trip -- and still leaves me way behind on all the life we have been living lately. I still have to talk about Timi's parent's visit, our trip to Geneva, and update our progress towards leaving Switzerland and heading back to the homeland.Now in keeping with my intent to write at least something about Switzerland in every blog post, here is a little tidbit. There is a government sponsored and paid-for service in Switzerland called "Dial-a-rubber". If you and your sweetheart happen to be getting a little hot and heavy, but are caught unprepared, then you can call this number, and they will send a bicycle messenger out to your address as quick as can be with the necessary merchandise, and the sweet lovin' can begin again with no worries. It's part of a federal program to keep HIV/AIDS and other STD's infection levels as low as possible. What a concept! See you next blog!
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