The Black Forest & Strasbourg

I am losing steam in getting these blogposts up and also, I am seriously considering making our blog private. Stay tuned. 

So, after Christmas, we headed towards the Black Forest. My mom really wanted an authentic, genuine cuckoo clock and word on the street is, the black forest is the place to go! We ended up in a little town called Triberg. It was darling. So, so much charm. I guess they also have Germany's tallest waterfalls? Or they're famous at least. We didn't go see them because they were having a Christmas spectacular that would have made us 40 euro poorer. So, we just enjoyed the charm of the town. 

And we shopped for clocks ... I think they're adorable. My mom got one, I'm still trying to decide if they're "my thing"...

{this one would have put us back about 12,000 euro!!}

We stayed at the cutest little hotel outside of the city a little bit. The owner spoke zero English. Those are the best kind of places!!

The cute owner of the place had the greatest set up of German breakfast for us. Breakfasts here usually consists of meats, cheese, some bread and jam. Definitely not your waffles, eggs, and fruit you get in America. 

I have a (weird) obsession with old Germans. I think they are absolutely adorable and there is so much history and wisdom hiding behind their eyes. I wish I could speak to them and hear their life stories. The cute owner of this hotel was no different. I really wanted a picture with her so after we checked out I asked her ... "Ein Foto mit Ihnen, bitte?" Her response made my day. She looked so surprised that I would want a picture with her...she blushed a little, gasped as she put her hands to her chest and asked, "Mit mir!?" Ahhh, she was my favorite. 

The black forest was beautiful, in a dark, magical way. I wish I could show how much darker it was than a "normal" forest. Let's just say ... I wouldn't ever want to get lost in the black forest. Night or day. 

Next, we headed to Strasbourg, France. They keep their Christmas market up until New Years! 

Strasbourg was amazing. But, then again, anywhere in France is amazing to me. I love France!

On one stretch of shops and restaurants, all the store fronts were decorated for Christmas.

Before getting some food, we wandered down to the river that passes through the town. Love me some river views!!

How can you pass up a photo-op like this!? 

We had read that this restaurant had amazing French Onion Soup, which is Brad's favorite. It was pretty delicious. And the decor inside was so charming. And ... Kason had just gotten in trouble. He was NOT happy...

After eating (and a little French shopping...I got a cute little creamer and my mom got some pretty green? blue? colored glass cups) we wandered back to the car and headed home. 

So stunning. 

A couple nights later we dropped my mom off at her hotel in Munich, for dinner we ate at the Hofbrauhaus. It's quite the crazy experience. You have to fight for a table and when you're seated, you're sitting next to people you have never met. There is a band in the middle of the huge open room, playing traditional German music. Beer mugs are covering every table and you have to shout just to talk to your neighbor. Our table-mates happened to be American, so we were able to chat a little bit. I loved the experience!

After dinner, we went and dropped my mom off. I was SO glad she could come visit. I hate living so far from family so when we do get visitors, its hard to let them leave!! 

(we have about 8 months left...who's coming!?) 

{thanks for coming to visit mom, we love you!}