Last weekend in Donaueschingen!

I finished work last Wednesday, and spent most of the weekend preparing for a little trip that I've planned.
I did have time to hop out to Loeffingen for a party, Lenzkirch for a BBQ, and Braulingen to see Andreas Tesch's custom smoker/bbq/grill fire up for the first time.
There won't be any posts for a month, since I'm off to make the following itinerary a reality (and won't have a computer with me).

-Helsinki
-Stockholm
-Copenhagen
-Hamburg
-Berlin
-Prague
-Florence
-Rome

See you on the flip side!

Ravensburg and the Bodensee

I took a trip to the small city of Ravensburg to visit some friends I had met along my travels.  I hopped off the train and said hi to Rika; she said she had a surprise for me.  I was handed a poncho, and we turned the corner to see a 1970's East Germany-made scooter.  I squeezed my head into the three-sizes-too-small helmet, and we set off into the downpour.  Some notable comments: "Sometimes my driving isn't so good"  "The brakes don't really work"

Fortunately the route didn't have any downhill slopes, so we made it to our destination alive.  After setting up in a bedroom, a few other friends came over to get ready to head out to the city festival: Rutenfest.  Friday night was a bit of a downer.  The pouring rain put a damper on all outdoor festival activities, and the beer tents were at capacity by the time we arrived.  We all had a mas (1L beer) under some umbrellas they had set up outside, wandered around for a little while, and headed home.

Subtle Bathroom Tiles

My only picture from that night

The next day, after a successful morning of shopping for some necessities..

Out with the old, in with the new.

And watching parades and traditional drumming,we made a trip out to Friedrichshafen to enjoy the Bodensee (Lake of Constance).  It rained and rained, but we still got ice cream.  By the time we got back to Ravensburg, the rain had stopped, so we went to Rika's aunt's house for a small get-together before heading down to the Rutenfest.

A rainy Friedrichshafen

The crowds around the drummers in Ravensburg

Pipers

We were moving slowly through the crowds when I saw one of the saddest sights I've seen on my travels:

He sat there for a good two minutes before I moved on

I briefly considered doing something about the situation, but we had friends to meet, a carnival ride to ride, and beer to drink.

The next day was gorgeous, and Rika and I drove out to Bregenz to check out a more picturesque view of the Bodensee.  We went up the gondola, and absorbed these views as we lounged in a reclined wooden bench at the top of the mountain.

Houses above Bregenz

Rika and I Relaxing in the sun

The views from where we sat overlooking Bregenz

The Alps in the back

Bregenz and Lake Constance

Europe can be beautiful.

Stuttgart Hip Hop Open

Short entry this week: I went to the Stuttgart Hip Hop Open.

We (Flo, Diana, Basti and I) left for Stuttgart at 11:30 on Friday night, slept at Basti's house, and spent all of Saturday at the one-day festival.  The forecasted rain showed up, but only for half an hour in the morning.  The rest of the day was spent in the glorious sunshine, drinking and getting sunburnt.

Rap Crew

Left Boy

Flying the Flag

Hilltop Hoods

Marsimoto

The stage says it all

Some guy getting comfortable near the end of the day

We considered going out on Saturday night, but made the wise decision to sleep instead.  On Sunday, I visited Flo's family and had Fleisch Fondue in memory of the first meal I had with them in January.  It was delicious.

The Thomas Troupe Travels

So I'm sitting in this dinky little train, rolling along the fields in France with the diesel engine thundering along below my seat.  Every passenger had beads of sweat running down their foreheads - the tiniest bit of relief from the sweltering heat.  An announcement sounds from the speakers in German; I couldn't understand the muffled speech, but the numerous passengers expressed their dissatisfaction with a collective groan.  I figured this wasn't a good thing.

Our bus-on-rails came to a slow halt, and the still air slowly increased in temperature as we sat baking in the non-air conditioned, slits-for-windows railcar.  I sat in great discomfort, trying to avoid the heat of my dark blue seat and humourously noting various peoples' reactions to the extreme heat.  25 long minutes later, the engines grumbled back to life, and as the air finally flowed through the tiny windows, the temperature slowly dropped from what must have been 45 degrees to the ambient 35 degrees.  I was glad I brought my water.  

After transferring onto an air conditioned train, I arrived in Colmar in much better shape than I had been an hour previously.  When I stepped off the train, I saw something I hadn't seen in 6 months: my family!  

After a group hug and lots of greetings, we walked to the flat we were staying in.  The medieval building is featured on tons of Colmar postcards, so I didn't bother taking a photo of it.  Of course, I didn't buy a postcard either.  Oh well.  

We went out for a French dinner, then wandered around and checked out the city.  

Dinnertime

Had to capture this beaut

The canal just outside our flat

Being in the Alsace region of France, we went on a wine tour.  We went to a few wineries, and rarely spat out the wine.  Eventually we found ourselves in the USA:

Jill at the war memorial

We fooled around on the hill overlooking the great expanses of vines, enjoying the gorgeous views and weather.  

Wine-to-be

Pops taking flight

YEEAH

Later on in the afternoon, we checked out a few more picturesque french towns, and one with a little extra "character:"

Jill & Mar in some medieval town

Under the nest = eye of the storm

We had a massive thunderstorm that night, and the rain continued into the next day when we started the trek towards my new hometown of Donaueschingen.  

Tonight's feature: torrential rain and lightning

Uncharacteristically (maybe my family was really happy to see me), we stopped at the French car museum in Mulhouse, where there happened to be a classic car show in the pouring rain.  We checked out the show and went on inside:

None too dry

Only 5 of these survive.  I wonder why...

A little less than attractive

Modern Bugatti

Old Bugatti

Opulence, in its largest form.  The largest, and possibly most valuable production car in the world: the Bugatti Type 41 Royale

Old Maybach

Classy Bugatti

They rolled slowly around this racetrack before entering the outdoor show.  It wasn't exciting, but we watched for a while anyway.  

A quick pitstop on the extremely twisty and foggy roads to Donaueschingen

Before we made it home, we made a pitstop in Löffingen to visit my second family: the Hoffmans.  I was greeted by a bunch of my friends, and we sat down for some delicious Black Forest Cake and story sharing.  

The week in Donaueschingen blew by.  The family was staying in a very Asian house, complete with scriptures on the walls and photos of the kids.  It had a spacious kitchen and beds for 5, so I slept there for a few nights.  They checked out the local sights while I worked, and we met up in the evenings for dinner and family time.  

Before we knew it, Friday had come around again and we were on the road to Füssen to check out some castles and swim in lakes at the foothills of the Alps. 

Just trying to take a picture..

Neuschwanstein (New Swan Stone) castle

Overlooking Hohenscmhwangau from behind Neuschwanstein.  Oh, and we swam in that lake to the left.  

The edge of the Alps

Mar, Me, and Jill

The sun decided to peek through on our way down

The next day we took a trip out into the countryside to go on the summer luge and swim in a lake.

Quick shot from the road

Me taking the luge a little to seriously

All too soon we had to say goodbye, and I hopped on a train back to Donaueschingen.  'Till September, meine Familie. 

.

Southside Music Festival

The weekend of June 23-24: legendary in local circles for torrential rain.  Gumboots are the name of the game when dealing with the massive crowds of inebriated fans at the Southside Music Festival, and a rainjacket is a must.  

However, I was lucky - the sun decided to shine all weekend, reflecting gloriously off my you-wish-your-teeth-were-that-white skin

A festival's worth of food and clothing

Gearing up for adventure

Me, Kathi, Lisa, Andreas.  The Canadian can't take the heat.  

Since we left late Friday morning, we were one of the last cars to arrive.  Finding a campsite was an hour-and-a-half long ordeal, but we eventually got our 4-person tent set up (after another 2 hours of struggling with the frustrating puzzle that are pre-hoop tents).

Scenery en route

Yes, we actually called home before winging it

Success!

Drinking commenced, and we moseyed on over to the concert grounds to see a couple amazing shows:

Grand Entrance

"Flooorreennnccee!!!" - Hat girl repeatedly throughout Florence and the Machine

That ain't orange juice - we were only allowed Tetra Paks on concert grounds

Live screening of Germany-Greece game

Beardyman - Check him out

JUSTICE!!! Legendary show

Saturday was much the same, with music festival activities going ahead full steam.

A couple of our neighbours

Niveau Free Zone (No Class Zone)

Urinals were a little gnarly here..

Sunset at The XX

Katzenjammer

Lisa and Kathi on the big screen! 

Cellphone charging station - humourously depressing.  Didn't stay.  

Floating on crowd 9 at Aoki

At 3am on Saturday night, I had been asleep for about 20 minutes at the campsite when the rest of the crew came rolling in.   I hear cries of "BEN!! Wake up!!"  "RAVIOLI!!  RAVIOLI!!."  There wasn't much I could do to argue with such a good-natured group of drunks, so I hauled myself out of bed to watch them light the grills, cook the cans of ravioli, and talk and listen to music until the first glow of the morning sun.  After waking up, we were a bit slow getting the day started:

Nutella, cookies and orange juice

Andreas and his Ravioli

Sunday was the last day of the festival, with a few good concerts and some reasonable mid-day alcohol intake.  

Our neighbours left a little mess.

Puppeteers with a sense of humour

Bungee jumping done differently

Annnd all of a sudden it was concert time

YEAH!  ORANGE JUICE!   Don't judge a book by the cover.  

Sunday's lineup: Wolfmother, Rise Against, Sebastian Live, Blink 182 and Bassnectar.   Wolfmother was amazing, and the Germans throw together some pretty awesome mosh pits.  They're very strict about people not entering the massive circle that opens up in the crowd until the beat drops, and on some occasions all drop to one knee in the middle of the show, waiting:

We made it home by 1am, and I somehow managed to survive a full day at work on Monday!