Charlottenhohle (18 September 2010)

In order to make up for Nick having to go the the Steiff Museum I found that in the same area they had a cave named, in English, Charlotte's Cave. It is one of the most famous show caves due to it being one of the longest accessible caves in Southern Germany. It is 587 metres and was formed around two and a half to three million years ago by a great underground river. They even found bones from the Ice-Age.

It was a cold, dark, and dank place that was absolutely beautiful. I had never been in a cave myself so I made sure to really take it all in. There were winding paths and narrow corridors to walk through, and as our German speaking tour guide made a note, "don't be like fat Americans." If you are of any large size, this may not be a place to go, that and if you are chlosterphobic! Of course I did not understand anything the tour guide was saying because it was all in German but I didn't care; I mean I was in a cave, that is awesome! Much of the things in the cave looked like poop, thanks to Nick's translation of the tour guide; you can see that in our pictures.

Nick even managed to scare a little boy by making that whistling sound of a cold and breezy night. Considering I do not know German, I knew the boy was referring to Nick when he turned around to his mother freaking out and her turning back to us. Poor kid. It was not intentional, but very funny.

Steiff Museum (18 September 2010)

Yes, I had to go to the Steiff Museum to see where all those cute Teddy Bears were made and of course to buy some. I knew Nick really did not want to go but he did anyway and to tell you the truth, he didn't think it was bad at all. We had a blast, even though we probably looked ridiculous being as we had not children with us or have any ourselves, but what the heck, you have to have fun in life even if it means going back to childhood.

We had quite an interesting tour. It started out with us watching a replica of Margarete Steiff's room where she sewed. We learned that she began designing elephants that were sold as pincushions to her friends. Her brother took them to market and sold them to other children as toys and following its popularity, Maragrete made dogs, cats and pigs.

After that, we were guided into the old workshop where we met teddy. Her nephew Richard joined her and gave an enormous boost in popularity by creating teddy. During a Leipzig Toy Fair in 1903, 3,000 bears were exported to the United States, creating the Roosevelt Bear craze. All due to Theodore Roosevelt's nick name of "Teddy" and the incident on a bear-hunting trip in Mississippi of 1902. This is where he refused to shoot a cub, as it did not have a chance to defend itself.

Our tour then took us up, in the skies where dreams come true, to the world of Steiff. We got to see their big stuffed animals, ones that we could sit on and almost look as if we were riding or that they were real. It was truly amazing.

"Only the best is good enough for children," is the Steiff motto, as the products are subject to meticulous testing and inspection. For example they are required to be highly flame resistant and among other things, smaller pieces such as eyes must be able to resist considerable tension, wear and tear. Not to mention the steep prices. I still love them despite that fact and despite the fact that Nick thinks the old classic style is creepy with its moveable appendages and rotating head. I say a doll is much worse!

Triberg (11 September 2010)

Triberg, Germany is located in the Black Forest. Foaming and thundering; the water masses of the Gutach river take a headlong plunge into a depth of 163 meters at Germany's highest waterfall in the country. Following the river there is a lovely display of nature. You can even smell how green and earthy it truly is. It truly reminded me of Washington State.

This tiny village is nestled in the middle of the mountains so on our cruise there we were descending down a long and steady hill. I can only imagine what it would be like in the winter. What is truly interesting about this place is that it has a vast amount of cuckoo clocks, as it has the two largest cuckoo clocks in the world. You can imagine that every store you walk into has cuckoos. And on the outside of one particular store there is a cuckoo clock that goes off on the hour. It is very entertaining!

A very traditional village in the impenetrable forest of wild beasts and barbarians as the Romans put it, is one of the greatest attractions. I told Nick that maybe when we are much older we could retire at the top of the mountain there because I did notice that Triberg was full of elderly people.