Crumbs of Germany

We saw a few crumbs of the immense country that is Germany during a fairly thorough car visit in Alsace. First of all, just to keep ourselves in training on the cheerful front, we devoted an entire day to Europapark, one of the many German amusement parks, located near a little village called Rust, very close to the Rhine a bit south of Strasbourg. It is a theme park divided into many areas representing different European countries and fantasy lands, with rides suitable for all ages and tastes, although it seemed to us that roller coasters dominated a bit. Europapark, which runs entirely on solar energy (!), is unknown in Italy but has nothing to envy the best-known amusement parks....in fact, I'd say it even beats some that are far more heavily advertised! Another crumb of bread was Freiburg, a lively and very very pretty city.

We pottered around there for a morning, buying delicious and cheap berries in the market square in front of the cathedral and tasting the famous salty biscuits (pretzel) famous not only in this city. Lunch in a brasserie was a must and I must say the food and beer were very good and decidedly cheaper than in France. Bicycles are easy to rent and we opted for the Rhine riverside... under a tedious rain, but in the company only of swans. On the way back to Rome we took a little stroll in Konstanz on the Bodensee and then stayed overnight in Lindau, built on a little peninsula south of the lake, definitely charming and also very very lively. I must say: it was a most pleasant surprise.

The next day the weather was bad, so we decided to go home, and only some time later a German friend told me that in the middle of the lake there is a little island hosting a botanical garden worth visiting....maybe for the next trip...