Winterrail 2023 in Germany

This two-week one-country (Germany) year-end interrail vacation took us to Karlshruhe, Stuttgart, Villingen, Freiburg, Offenburg, and Weil-am-Rhein. The inspiration for this trip was our twin town Kieselbronn that we wanted to visit, and nice hikes in Schwarzwald. Since we stayed in a relatively small region (Baden-Württemberg), buying the interrail tickets was not a very good idea after all; it would have been much more economical to get rail passes for this particular region. Just like in last year's winterrail, we were not particularly lucky with weather this time either: in the beginning we had some sunny days, but towards the end of the vacation the weather became increasingly rainy.

We had an early start after office hours on Friday, and spent the first night in Lyon. We visited the Christmas market and then shopped at Au Vieux Campeur for some outdoor stuff; we were looking for light-weight daypacks to be used in this kind of backpacking trips. We found a couple of nice ones, only to lose one of them the very next day :(

Rhône's water level was really high after the recent rains.

We really hope to have this kind of community bio waste bins in our town in the near future.

We had dinner in the nearby restaurant Simone (music playing at the restaurant was mainly blues and soul sung by various female artists). Tei had fish for the starter,

and the main.

Tomi had a soup and then chicken. Not the most appetizing looking dishes.

Lyon's Part-Dieu neighborhood was still a mess after years of construction.

Fast forward and we were on the morning run in the royal gardens of chilly Karlsruhe.

We stayed an extra night in Karlsruhe to avoid traveling and arriving at our next destination on Sunday, since all grocery stores would be closed then.

The old spa and baths.

We visited the Christmas market at Marketplatz.

And had curry wurst with fries for lunch.

Next day, after another comfortable train ride, we were in Stuttgart Hbf that was undergoing a major renovation.

Since we had some time to spend before being able to check in at our Airbnb apartment, we soon found ourselves at pedestrian center and the Christmas market.

This time we skipped the curry wurst, and chose to have lunch at Vapiano. Feta & avocado bowl for Tei, and

potato & mozza salad for Tomi.

Unser Sandmännchen ("Our Little Sandman") --- this East-German puppet animation was a popular children's bedtime television program in our childhood in Finland. It is no more aired there, but in Germany repeats of old episodes are still broadcast today.

The next day was the big day --- it was time to visit Kieselbronn, our twin town. We had an hour-long train ride to Niefern, and from there a thirty-minute hike over a steep hill to our destination.

After the climb and a short leg in a forest we were on a windy plateau. Even without the wind it was a chilly day. There was really nothing special about the town; it was even more peaceful and quiet than our town, and not that idyllic.

We found the only restaurant open that day (it was Tuesday), Hemmi's Schlemmerhütte --- probably the most exotic experience of the whole trip. We were by far the youngest customers at the restaurant.

Without even looking at the menu we ordered the day's specialties posted on the blackboard: a sausage salad with fries, and beef in green peppercorn sauce with potato croquettes. A sausage salad was really just shredded sausages, some onions and pickles. Later we found it also sold in supermarkets. The beer was good though.

Based on what we saw other customers having, we should have taken a look at the menu.

After lunch we made a little tour in the downtown Kieselbronn before returning to Niefern on the same trail as we came.

Downtown square.

Stephanuskirche dates back to the 13th century. That concludes our exploration of our twin town.

Evening clouds seen from our apartment in Stuttgart, located on a hill several hundred meters above the city center.

The next morning started with a hilly run in light rain through a silver fir forest to the Weissenburg park, a cite of an ancient castle. No remains of the castle exist these days, but the park is still called after it, A White Castle.

The streets in the area were steep indeed. We can only wonder what the residents of the neighborhood would do if the street ever get icy as there is no winter maintenance.

A historic ballroom Marmorsaal (a marble hall).

On top of these stairs there was a tea house that unfortunately was closed for off-season.

A bust of the painter and graphic artist Reinhold Nägele (1884-1972) at the sightseeing site near the tea house. He was one the founders of the young artists' association in 1929.

We had had quite a bit of descent to the park, and now we had to climb back to the forest. The sun came briefly out when we returned from our run, but when we headed out again, it was cloudy with a brutally cold wind.

We took a metro to Killesberg, and started a scenic walk 'Panoramaweg Nord' towards the city center and the main railway station. These strange constructs were habitats for wall lizards.

A view down to Stuttgart from Bismarck Tower.

On our way to the city we visited this small and cute Chinese garden.

When about to finish our walk we found a small and super busy Vietnamese restaurant Viet Wok next to the university. The location obviously explained its popularity but the food was also very good, full of authentic flavors. We had Pho Curry and Noodle Wok, both with chicken.

We were not quite done with the day yet, and returned to the Christmas market. It was getting dark, and I guess it was raining a little bit too, but still we decided to visit the Staatsgalerie art museum.

Getting to the art museum was tricky since the railway station's construction work had messed up the whole neighborhood quite badly.

The "artwork" in the middle of the Eckensee lake in the Schlossgarten is actually the copper roof of the Stuttgart State Opera that was blown away by the storm Nasim in 2022. It was supposed to be there just few months to remind people of the climate change, but there it still was after a year and a half.

We decided to check only the Staatgalerie's permanent collection, which, to our surprise, was free on Wednesdays. We skipped the older art, and concentrated in modern and contemporary works. We had already gone half way through the exhibits, and past several security guards, when we were told by one that we shouldn't have any sort of bags, not even a handbag, with us, but needed to take them to the cloakroom. There I was given a small transparent plastic bag into which I emptied the contents of my handbag.

The next day was a travel day. We were going to take a train to the small, idyllic town of Villingen (-Schwenningen). While having breakfast we watched farmers' tractor demonstration: "No farmers, no food, no future." There were literally hundreds of them driving by and honking loudly at least for an hour. When we reached the main railway station, they were in the city center.

We could not resist these "Finnish" sandwiches, although they looked better than they tasted. We cold not really figure out why the name (in French) --- maybe because of the type of bread used?

It rained the whole time we stayed in Villingen. The town would have been much nicer in the sunshine, but it still looked pretty in the rain. We took so many photos; it was really hard to choose which ones to remove and which ones to retain for this journal.

German small towns were all about different and mostly bright colors, unlike the French where houses range from hues of beige to light grey, the only colors to be found in window shutters.

Again we chose an Asian inspired restaurant for lunch --- Yoake, the Finest Asia(sic) Kitchen.

We had Curry Shrimp and Lemongrass chicken. The food was tasty, but the restaurant was really noisy. For some reason they wanted to seat customers in tables next to each other, so everyone was yelling as they could not hear each other or themselves. We had to ask to be moved to a quieter (and emptier) section of the dining hall, but still they seated other customers right next to us.

We decided to have the post-meal coffees in a tranquil patisserie across the street. Here's Tomi with his Latte Macchiato. In hindsight, we should have had lunch there too.

We continued our town stroll a little bit after lunch, but as the rain grew heavier we decided to return to our apartment.

Next day was a travel day again, and again the train ride to Freiburg went really smoothly. We started our first day with a run up to the nearby hill.

Germany still collects clear, green, and brown glass separately. In Finland we also used to separate colored and clear glass, but I don't remember when that ended.

After post-run late breakfast we headed downtown, taking a shortcut through an old cemetery.

Again, we took a lot of beautiful pictures, but had little to say about most of them.

Swabian Gate.

Historical Merchants' Hall.

Münster (cathedral).

As it was Sunday and Christmas Eve, most places were closed. However, we found the Historical Merchants' Hall open.

It was packed with people eating and drinking, and generally being loud.

Some stalls selling things out were also open. We got ourselves some nice Turkish olive oil.

Martin's Gate.

Then we spotted Pin's Kitchen, a whole-in-the-wall kind of Chinese eatery. Tei had crispy duck and Tomi king oyster mushrooms with pork belly.

The university library. During the lunch it had started raining heavily, so we walked straight to our apartment.

Rathausplatz (Town Hall Square).

A door of the town hall.

The next day started beautiful and sunny, but the wind was still strong and chilly. We headed out for a longer hike in the nearby forest. We started it with a considerable climb that made us sweat.

It was nice to enjoy some lovely, warm sunshine for a change.

On the other hand, the strong chilly wind made us shiver.

The Romans gave The Black Forest (Schwarzwald) its name because of the very dark green conifer trees growing in the area.

The new Ludwigskirche, constructed between 1952 and 1954, after the old Ludwigskirche was completely destroyed in the bombings of November 27, 1944. The new church was built on the different site from the old one.

A posh building in the neighborhood where we stayed.

On our last day in Freiburg, we planned a hike in Glottertal valley. After a 5-minute train ride to Denzlingen, 30-minute wait for a bus, and 15-minute bus ride we were in a touristy little village of Glottertal.

More conifer trees.

The hike traveled mostly in a forest, but occasionally we had nice views to the valley below and the vineyards on the opposite slope.

On our last morning we had another hilly run; this time we headed to Stadtgarten in town and then up to Schlossberg.

Unlike we usually do --- especially in new places --- we did not plan the route carefully ahead of time, so we got a bit lost in the web of trails.

It was time to move on again, this time to Offenburg. Another smooth train ride took us there.

We had already chosen the lunch place during the train ride: an Indian restaurant called The Saffron Elephant.

We had a tandoori mix and palak paneer. Delicious and just right level of spiciness/heat.

We made a short tour in the old city center, and visited the tourist office before checking in at the apartment.

Heilig-Kreutzkirche.

This apartment was absolutely the best on this trip and it wasn't even the most expensive: 4th and uppermost floor, plenty of space in bedroom, bathroom, living room, and kitchen/dining area, and it had both the dishwasher and washing machine. Yay!

An old spinning mill. Now serving as a restaurant and event venue.

View from our apartment to the gigantic DIY store at sunset.

The next morning didn't come with a clear sky, but it was not raining and it was also a lot warmer than the previous day. We headed out for a morning run to Gifiz lake. We followed the small river Mühlback there and a larger river Kinzig back.

The paved and unpaved paths by the rivers were smooth and practically flat, making it a very nice run.

By the time we were ready to explore the town, it was raining again. Bummer!

We did a very quick tour in the old center, since the rain grew heavier and heavier.

Even in the most miserable and cold weather the Germans enjoyed their ice cream.

In our later hike we actually passed by the studio where these figures were created.

For a lunch place we chose this time a restaurant specializing in Arabic kitchen, Shami Haus. Even if it was lunch time, it was mostly empty.

We had a shawarma plate, and

a mixed grill plate for the mains.

We finished the lunch with Syrian coffee. It was flavored with cardamom.

Our last day in Offenburg started again grey. We headed for a hike in Zell-Weierbach vineyards directly from the town. We climbed up and down the vineyards on very walkable trails; they were nowhere near as steep as the ones in the vineyards of Savoie or Rhône river valley.

This was quite an educational hike since there were several information boards about local grape varieties on our route. We learned, for instance, that white wine grape Ruländer (Grauburgunder) is known as Pinot Grigio in Italy and Pinot Gris in France, or Scheurebe, a cross of Riesling with an unknown wild vine, together with Müller-Thurgau is one of the oldest white wine grapes in Germany.

Every now and then the sun came out, but it had little warming effect since the wind was again very cold.

Jonathan Borofsky's (1942-) Freedom --- Male/Female in the Square of Friends of Constitution.

Culture Forum and Municipal gallery of Offenburg at the Square of Friends of Constitution.

Our two-week vacation was winding down; there was one more destination to visit, Weil-am-Rhein, which we picked up quite haphazardly. Before leaving Offenburg we enjoyed one more morning run around the lake Gifiz.

Upon arrival in Weil-am-Rhein our hotel room was not ready for check-in yet, so we spent the time waiting at the shopping mall next door.

There was nothing much to do, so we started looking for a dinner place. When we learned that the hotel restaurant (Ott´s Leopoldshöhe) was not going to be open the next day (the New Year's Eve), we decided to dine there.

We had rabbit with spätzle,

and veal liver. Food was ok, but clearly overprized, and the presentation could have been more appetizing.

The last day of the year promised some sunshine, but it got cloudy soon.

We walked to the Three Countries Bridge that crosses the Rhine river between Huningue in France and Weil-am-Rhein in Germany, within Basel Metropolitan area in Switzerland.

We walked back to the town looking for places for lunch and dinner. The town was not particularly attractive, and soon rainstorm drove us back to the hotel.

When the lunch time was nearing the end, we headed out again to find a place to eat. We ended up in China Restaurant Hong Kong.

We ordered sweet and sour pork and Sichuan style duck.

The vacation really was coming to an end. For the last dinner we booked a table at Pizzeria Alberto, and being still quite full from the lunch, shared just one pizza (Italien) and a bottle of Nero d'Avola.

By the time we walked back to the hotel the sky had cleared and it was getting really cold.

We close this journal with a summary of things we learned about Germany: 1. The variety and quality of bread is just awesome --- for the French to envy. 2. Food in supermarkets is inexpensive: our groceries for the extended Christmas weekend (4 days) cost about one third of what we would have spent in France (food + wine). 3. Dog poop is meticulously picked up. 4. Just like in France, people greet each other on the streets, running paths, hiking trails, etc. 5. People are loud in trains and in restaurants, unlike in France. 6. One still can't order tap water at restaurants, but have to buy a ridiculously expensive bottled water. 7. Gas is cheap, but public transportation is very expensive. 8. Movies and TV series are still dubbed, and there is no option to view them in the original language.