Neuss After a sumptuous breakfast at Villa Aborea and chatting with Michael and Viktoria Dey, we headed out to our rental in the Black Forest. The stitching in Mike’s good walking shoes had failed and Michael Dey suggested we check a discount shoe store a few blocks away for another pair of Ecco shoes – but he cautioned Shoe and Mike to make us wait in the car. He also encouraged us all to come back for the Christmas Market.
buy canibus Lyrical law Our Volkswagon car in Germany
We stopped by the discount shoe store and, within 15 minutes, Mike had a new pair of black Eccos. The morning started out with a great deal of fog, Viktoria explained since Augsburg is between two rivers, it may not burn off until noon.
We set out in Saturday traffic with Shoe
Shoe and Carl happy to be in Zell am Hammerbach
behind the wheel  in the direction of Stuttgart to turn off and take the back roads west toward Zell am Harmersbach, where we had rented a house.  Around 11:30, either the fog lifted or we had driven through it!  We stopped in Freudenstadt for lunch, found a parking spot, and strolled the town until we found a sidewalk cafe where we could sit in the sun. We decided on a beer (each not to share) and a local Schwabische regional specialty Maultaschen,
Freudenstadt for lunch
a large ravioli filled with pork and spinach in either a clear broth, on sauerkraut, or on grilled onions. After eating what we could, we walked the town square, saw a flea market in progress and, then, we continued on our journey.
A local Schwabische regional specialty Maultaschen, a large ravioli filled with pork and spinach in either a clear broth, on sauerkraut, or on grilled onions.
From Freudenstadt, we ended up taking a beautiful road that took us through meadows and valleys, through pine-covered hills, to our destination. The road was narrow, full of switchbacks, hairpin turns, and motorcycles out for a Saturday ride through the Kinzig Valley (the heart of the Black Forest, where the speed limit dropped only for small logging and farming villages.) It was  nerve-wracking for both Shoe and Mike in the front seats, but Carol and I just looked out the side windows and avoided looking out the front windshield.
Around 4 PM, we found our rental and moved in. First stop was the grocery store, to provision the kitchen. Then a glass of wine on the terrace, followed by one of Mike’s dinners.
