The Black Forest and Roman Baths...

Another week, two countries and three cities later, it's time to be back in front of a computer.

The week started off with a road trip through Germany to spend three days in Baden-Baden (which is situated right next to the Black Forest and the Oos River in Southern Germany). This town was originally known to the Roman's for the thermal baths that run throughout the town which of course, has now helped propel Baden-Baden to become a prime destination to experience authentic nudist Roman baths (which of course is self-explanatory and I do not need to describe my experience there).

Due to the small nature of the town, there isn't too much to do there except shop and enjoy the spas however, we were determined to really discover what this town had to offer. So without the help of any maps, tourist guides or stopping to ask for directions, we took off for the day with our supplies and took to the trails leading up into the Black Forest. We did not know if we were going left, right, straight or up but we knew that as long as we stuck to the trails, we would find something and from the bottom of the Black Forest, we did. Far up in the distance (about 8 km away - about 3.5 miles), we spotted the old remains of a castle and immediately determined that that was our destination. What made this hike challenging was the fact that there were about twenty different trails to follow and no idea which one to take so we randomly choose the left trails as long as they appeared to lead up the mountain. It seemed to work out since two hours later, we had reached the top of the mountain and discovered Hohenbaden, the original old castle of the city. Although a tourist attraction, there was no entrance fee and one had free reign over the entire castle. There were no limitations to where we could wander (except when we reached the top) so we discovered all the nook and crannies of this 14th century castle and I sure did learn that I love living in a time with running water! The long journey up to the top of the mountain was satisfying, especially when we looked down from the mountain and saw how far we had gone.. Now of course naturally, it's not fun to retrace the route but rather discover new ones so on the way back, it was all about choosing right and down. Of course the down route was a lot shorter since that trail was the direct trail to the castle, not the long way around like the one we choose to go up! Oops. On the plus side, Germany makes sure that the hiking is worth it so at the mid way point of the trail is a bier garden! Random but sure refreshing after a 12 km hike (a little more than 6 mile hike).

Next stop: Amsterdam
One of the memories about this trip to Amsterdam was the emotional impact that Saturday afternoon held. Through the years, I have been to many museums, but not once, has one ever lead me to tears. Anne Frank's house did that. The powerful words that she wrote in her short years made an everlasting impact from the first time that I read her words and to walk through the home where these words were written became an emotional journey. I wish that I could write what I felt that afternoon but my words will not do it justice.

Final stop: Belgium
There were only three main things that I really needed to do while in Belgium: drink a beer, eat a waffle, eat some chocolate. Initially, Brussels was the city where I could cross all three of these things off my list however since traffic was bad we detoured into Brugge and Blakenberg (coastal town next to the North Sea). One of the main attractions about Brugge is it's medieval architecture so that was super cool to see. Although to be honest, after awhile, a lot of the buildings start looking the same to me. I am looking forward to making it into Spain, Italy and Greece. I think that the buildings/structures/etc will start looking different there (I hope!). We also did make it into Blakenberge just so I can put my feet in the North Sea...one word: freezing! The town also reminded me of Miami since the coast line is only hotels and apartment buildings where it just never ends. At least I can say that I have had my feet in the North Sea.

So that was my past week. A lot of hiking, some relaxing, some wonderful German and Belgium beer in the belly and at least fifty mosquito bites to date! I expected my Asian portion of my trip to be full of mosquitos but the Netherlands sure do have a ton of them and we have a love/hate relationship. Also, we got to spend two hours on the infamous German autobahn playing catch on it since an accident shut the autobahn down for a few hours. I don´t think that that is something that I ever want to experience again though!

Anyway, the next stop will be Paris, France. There we will spend a few days taking in a super romantic city and then Marijn will head home while I continue my journey into Spain.