Holiday Photo Sunday: Kaysersberg (Alsace/France) and Heidelberg (Germany)

On the first day of our little 4 day trip to Germany, we drove through the beautiful Alsace region and stopped at the picturesque town of Kaysersberg, with its beautiful old and colourful half-timbered houses. There is a castle too, but with temperatures around 40 degrees, it was far too hot to climb up the hill. We had a lovely lunch there, and of course an ice cream, before we climbed back into the, by now blazing hot, car to continue our journey.

The following day, N. and me went to the old university town of Heidelberg. Again, it was a very hot day, but here, there is a cable car going up to the Köngistuhl, a little mountain overlooking the town. Halfway up lies the impressive ruin of the castle, with a beautiful view over the town.

 

 

Sweet treats

When going on holiday, one simply can't do without trying the culinary specialities, at least some of them, of the place one's staying. Even better when one's traveling around a bit, as this means that one get's to try different things. And if one's visiting two areas such as the Black Forest and the Alsace, one's really in for a treat. Well, more than one, really :)

One simply can't pay a visit to the Black Forest without trying a slice of the famous Black Forest gateau.

 The slices are huge...

...but tend to vanish rather quickly :)

The Alsace region is famous for many culinary specialities. One of them are blueberries. I love blueberries. And this blueberry cake tasted as delicious as it looks :)

Honestly, I could have spent all day in that café!

 This bakery, unfortunately, was closed. Tourists or no tourists, most shops still close for lunch, usually for a good two hours. And right they are in doing so! Even if it means that I don't get any délice myrtille.

Another speciality is the tarte flambée, or flammekueche. But I'm afraid it looked, and tasted, so well, that I completely forgot to take a picture...

And yes, I did do other things beside eat during my holiday! ;)

{Day 17} ~ Stark Raving Magnificent

Prompt for Day 17 for Picture Winter: "Stark Raving Magnificent"

Today's assignment was to "capture some kind of starkness today", to "think minimal beauty", to "think simple".

Firstly: I didn't take this shot today but on Boxing Day, which was a perfect winter wonderland day spent with the family.

Secondly: I just can't think minimal and simple enough to do without using textures at the moment.

Thirdly: but I think I captured at least some minimal simple beauty with this winter road shot and as to starkness, well I must admit I had to look it up in hte dictionary to figure out what exactly that meant (and I'm afraid I've already forgotten it again...).

And finally. I just like how this shot turned out :-)

{Day 1} ~ Looking Out / A Breath of Fresh Air

Prompt for Picture Winter, Day 2: Looking Out / A Breath of Fresh Air

It was perfect weather for a walk in the snowy winter wonderland on Boxing Day and I walked for ages, long after the others had gone back home to coffee and cake, taking pictures. I so enjoyed walking in this area, close to where my cousin lives, on the this little dam along the river, the flat landscape, the huge sky, how far you can see. You don't really get such views anywhere in Switzerland. The place is close to the French border and if I had followed that path, I would have reached Strasbourg, which is only a few kilometers away :-). The sky was turning from bright blue sunny sky to a wonderful mid-afternoon sunset with long shadows, when I was walking back. No idea how long I had been out, but there was still enough cake left when I finally returned :-)

I absolutely love adding grungy frames to basically every image at the moment and I really had to restrain myself not to do it here well. But I think the beautiful landscape there doesn't really need anything :-).