Well, our three nights in Alsace had flown by and it was now time to head east across the border to the Black Forest.  On our way out of Alsace, we stopped off in Colmar.  Colmar has a few interesting places of tourist interest, with La Petite Venice, a beautiful, picturesque district around the River Ill.  But on this visit, we were more interested in the shopping.  Dodging the rain storms, we did several hours at various shops for Kelley and Victoria, before we decided to call it a day when Victoria got a tummy ache.

The drive across into Germany was quiet and uneventful.  We made excellent time up the Autobahn to Baden-Baden where we started up into the Black Forest.  We decided (okay, I made an executive decision!) to take the less direct, but more picturesque drive into the heart of the Black Forest.  It was worth the effort - talk about a gorgeous drive (see the picture of the Murg Valley and the town of Forbach to the left!). 

By the time we got to Forbach (a town fairly close to Vera's house), it was dinnertime, so we found a local restaurant and stopped in to grab a bite to eat.

The only problem with this course of action was that by the time we finished dinner, it was well past sundown and we still had to actually FIND Vera's house up in the mountains.  The ironic thing is that when we were still at home in the States, Vera's constant instructions on how to find her house had started to get tiresome, but now that I needed it, gods, was I glad she did (mea culpa, Vera!)!  We did all right for the first 20 minutes up into the mountain.  The problems started when we got well off the main road and needed to find Vera's road.  The way we read the directions just didn't seem right, as I wasn't seeing any of the landmarks Vera had mentioned.  So after about 10 minutes we turned around and tried a different route.  Lo and behold, it worked!

Vera's house is a small and very simple cottage.  But it was clean, comfortable, and Lord did it have a beautiful view of the Black Forest (especially off the back deck where we had lunch some days)!  Apparently, her husband, Timm, didn't even look at the house, but rather the view before deciding they must have this house!  Regardless, it was perfect for our needs!

Tomorrow: Freundestadt!