By the way--Bamberg, Freiburg, Achern, Kaiserslautern, Freiburg, Kaiserslautern...

I got out of the habit of posting, but, as the title suggests, we were traveling again. We decided to travel a bit more thriftily and took the slower regional trains. However, because they are slower, we realized we couldn't make it down to Freiburg in one day (to meet F's brother, B, visiting from Canada).

We therefore left a few days early and traveled first to Bamberg, F's birth town. There we couchsurfed with a wonderful host who showed us around the beautiful medieval city. Among other things, he also invited us to participate in a nice local tradition of bringing a picnic "aufm Keller" (literally 'on the cellar') that we enjoyed in a picturesque beer garden. We didn't drink beer of course :) but we enjoyed the picnic he brought (the only requirement is that you buy the drinks there--you can bring your own food!) and had some nice sparkling lemonade.

 Hooray for cool slides!

And, as we went off for the next leg of our journey, our host helped us back to the train station and, when he realized time was getting short, he picked up our huge suitcase and ran with us to make sure we made our train--we did!--just barely and only because he helped :). Fun adventures in Bamberg.

Then in Freiburg we visited Opa and other family. B arrived on Monday and we traveled with him, first to Achern to visit his girlfriend, and then on to Kaiserslautern to visit family there :)

We had a grand time, especially visiting the Landesgartenschau (State Garden Show). There was this amazing chapel made out of willows--just my style :)

 We found some berries--yum!

 And more cool playgrounds.. :)

Then we met B's girlfriend on the way back and drove back to Freiburg. We went hiking on the Feldberg and had lovely adventures. 

 

We played cards with Opa (braille cards for him, and man! He has an amazing memory!) and got to ride on his tandem bike!! Way cool :)

 

Then, on the way back to Kiel, we stopped in Kaiserslautern again, because family is awesome and it gave us a nice first leg of our trip.

I am so grateful for the wonderful family that I have gained here in Germany!