Ins Blaue (Into the blue) kind of

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  Loerrach, Germany
Wednesday, November 2, 2005

The reason why I called this entry 'Ins Blaue kind of' is because it was not recommended or even mentioned in either of my two trusty travel books. I just looked at my map of Germany which I have conveniently hanging in my rez room, picked out a destination which was written in a bolder font (meaning it contained more than a baker and a handful of people to eat his goods) and googled it to make sure it contained something of interest. It did. Castle ruins. What I didn't note, however, was the considerable distance of the ruins from the city. Lets just say that I had earned my Kuchen (cake) once Anne and I got back to the city.

When we arrived in Loerrach on Oct. 19 it was raining, really hard (umm, ya. This entry is a little bit late - that's what not having Internet does to punctuality, I'm afraid). We went to the tourist office to see what the town offered and to acquire a map, but they basically said that when it is raining, you would be better off leaving Loerrach and going to Basel, Switzerland (about a ten minute train ride away) because Loerrach's main attraction was the castle ruins and it would be a waste of time to visit them in the rain. Besides, Basel actually had museums which opened earlier than 2 pm, unlike Loerrach. I wasn't too keen on the idea, and besides, I didn't have my passport with me so we ended up eating our packed lunches under a store's overhanging, and quietly contemplating our limited options. However, our luck changed as the rain slowed to a steady drip and we were able to venture out a bit to explore without getting soaked. As we walked, I noticed the castle ruins in the far distance and convinced Anne (my travelling companion for the day) that I wouldn't make her walk all the way to them, but just close enough for me to get a picture. Well, we ended up getting quite close and by that point, I had talked Anne into walking up the small mountain (since we were that close anyway) to check out the sites. It was well worth the effort (both convincing Anne and hiking up the small mountain) because the view was pretty good and the ruins were really cool, as you will see in the photos (if downloading them works this time). We walked along the castle wall and then paid just a Euro each to enter the grounds, climb the towers and explore the ruins. Because we were there on a weekday in the fall, the place was basically empty so we had the castle all to our ourselves. And that is quite the opposite from yesterday, when Josh and I went to Heidelberg where I had never heard so much American English as I walked down a street in Germany. But more on that later.

Alles Gute,
Danielle

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Entrance to the ruins	From a distance...	Looking down at the 'front yard'	Resting on the Ruins
Ruins of Roettler Schloss

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