Sunday, July 19

We were permitted to sleep in this morning. I went for a walk around the centre of Freiburg, trying to find a few caches. I was not overly lucky but did find one near a waterfall which was particularly interesting. I also enjoyed looking at the different buildings and stores in the city. I was passing one store when I saw a toy that brought back some excellent memories of my father.



When I was quite young, maybe 6 or 7, my dad thought it would be nice for me to get a replica steam engine for Christmas. I am not entirely sure, but I think that might have been one of the few times that he actually became significantly involved in determining the gifts we children would receive.

Dad was very happy for me that Christmas and delighted in showing me how this steam engine worked. You had to fill the boiler with water, oil the piston, and light a little white brick of fuel on fire. After the water began to boil, it would start moving the piston which was attached to a flywheel. It even had a whistle.

Dad was concerned that I might not fully appreciate the safety required with such a gift and put it away for me when I would be older and responsible. It was not until I had three boys of my own, that I was finally responsible enough to take that steam engine home!

In this particular store window, was the same model of steam engine that I received on that Christmas morning. It was a very special moment for me.

We met back at the hotel at 12:00 and boarded a train for Titesee. This is a town along Titesee Lake which is a very picturesque lake in the Black Forest. The stores along the street were also very interested in selling their wares to any tourist who wanted to part with some of their money. We had lunch at the Romantik Restaurant. We were seated in a room with a beautiful view of the lake.



After lunch, we took a boat ride on the lake. All the boats on this lake were powered with electric engines. Apparently the water is so clean that it is almost drinkable without filtering.







Several group members tagged along as I did two geocaches. At the one cache, we found red currents. Most of the group members had never seen this fruit and were apprehensive about trying it, even after I told them they were perfectly safe berries.



We did some shopping; two members of the group bought cuckoo clocks. We then had black forest cake in the Black Forest. It was a very tasty treat!



The evening ended with a night snack at a outdoor beer garden up on one of the small mountains in the city. The view of the sunset over the mountains was spectacular. On the way back to the hotel, I joined Eric and William for a treat only available at European McDonalds. You order a fried apple pie, which is deep fried as opposed to the baked kind we get in North America, and a caramel sundae. You crumble the pie into the sundae. It was oh so good!!