Lake Titisee

Dowtown Titisee

Picnic at the Lake

Restaurant on the lakefront

Quit laughing like 12-year-old boys. It's pronounced TEE-TEE-ZEE. Oh all right, laugh a little. Until my friend Jen tipped me off to the correct pronounciation, I was saying Titty-See and stifling my giggles. I can't help it. I should really learn to be a little more mature, right?


So. Remember that first longish drive that we took when we got to Germany? Black Forest, quaint little restaurant, cuckoo clock shop? On that drive, we took a random exit off the highway and found...Lake Titisee. The area looked stunning, but we didn't stop that day because we had already been into the Black Forest and had lunch. You guys remember that time--it was the one and only time the kids have completely behaved themselves in German public. Anyway, we took a very quick look at Lake Titisee, but it was enough to impress upon me that I would have to return for a closer inspection at some point.


Today was absolutely gorgeous, the most splendid day we've had here yet. Sunny and 70 degrees. I packed us a picnic lunch, fired up Dora the Navigator and we set off towards the Black Forest. Driving on the Autobahn is always an adventure. I have to say that it's a lot easier for me without Hans in the car. I don't feel the pressure to go 120 mph. I keep it to a sedate 95. Trust me, that's very sedate for the Autobahn. I was still passing people, but there were plenty of people who appeared out of nowhere the moment I pulled into the passing lane and zoomed past me, flying by at 150 or over.


Germany is turning very green. There are so many beautiful villages nestled among the hills of the Swabian Alps, along the Autobahn. Pretty little places where all the houses are white with red tiled roofs, and each village has a beautiful church with an enormous spire. I had some "Sound of Music" moments today, what with the sparkling green, the sunny skies, and the quaint German villages. I just wanted to pull over and go twirling around on the hills. I know that if any of you had been along, you probably would have wanted to as well. It was just that perfectly perfect.


So, the pictures are from Lake Titisee. We found a place to park the car just across the street from the lake and a nice little park. Josiah picked a nice bench right next to the water, complete with ducks. Believe it or not, we managed to have our lunch next to the water without anyone actually getting wet. After we had our peanut-butter sandwiches, we took a little walk around part of the lake and stopped in the village of Titisee. They cater to tourists, so their shops and restaurants were all open and filled with people. Josiah begged me to take a small boat out in the water, but I didn't think it would work well without Hans around to captain the ship. Someone would have ended up overboard for sure, and not in a cute Goldie Hawn/Kurt Russell sort of way.


I managed not to buy anything in Titisee except for two gummy snakes for the kids. They were some big snakes, too...Annika looked like a big baby bird who caught a worm.


Got back to Stuttgart, relaxed a little, cleaned up and went to have supper with our friend Jen M. Jen M. was our wonderful sponsor. I haven't gotten to see her for a couple of months, so we had some catching up to do, which was difficult because the kids were running around and making a lot of noise in the platz where we were eating. The change of clothes I had packed earlier in the day, anticipating a dip in Lake Titisee, came in handy when Josiah pushed Annika into a nearby fountain. A nice German woman plucked her from the (very shallow) fountain, but she ended up eating her supper, albeit cheerfully, almost completely soaked.

And that is our weekend, in a nutshell, complete with lake names to make you giggle, gummi worms and dips in the fountain!