This morning we said "goodbye" to Lausanne, the topless beach and Switzerland, heading northeast, crossing into southwestern Germany. By the way-- Every time we crossed a European border, most of us wanted to get our passports stamped. Unfortunately, the border guards just noted that we were Americans and waved us on through-- Drat, that was no fun! Around about this time, I injected an element of danger into our trip:
I used to be a pretty damn good chessplayer. As a matter of fact, I won the high school chess championship of the state of Washington, but that was 23 years before this trip. Anyway-- it was getting boring and I decided to liven things up by playing a game of "blindfold chess" while driving!
Let me explain; no blindfold was involved. Rob, who had the chess set, volunteered to be my opponent. He was what we call a "duffer". So it was an uneven match, except for the fact that he saw the chessboard and chess pieces and I didn't. He and I called out our moves; I had to remember all the different positions as we went along, while Rob made the moves for both of us on the chessboard. This I did while driving. For safety reasons, I doubt I will ever try this again. Fortunately, the game was short-- I won-- and we did not get into any accidents. Anyway-- back to the regular narrative...
We stopped for lunch at the Titisee, a lake in the German "Schwarzwald" (Black Forest). Naturally, I had the fish-- A whole fish, including the head. Well no, I didn't eat the head! I don't remember much beyond what the photos show. One recollection-- Running low on gas, our caravan had a "Keystone Cops" moment, seemingly running in circles for a half hour somewhere south of Heidelberg before stumbling on a "Benzin" station.
We arrived at our hostel in Heidelberg, a large city in the southwestern part of the country, between Stuttgart and Frankfurt; we settled into our rooms and had dinner. Dave tried to hit on a chick while eating, but I don't think she spoke English; it was worth a try, though.
It proved to still be hot and humid here in Germany, so many of us chose to head for the nearest "Biergarten", where Tammy (the model of consistency) insisted on continuing to drink wine! The photos and captions speak for themselves. I think we had gotten the really hardcore boozing out of our systems in Munich; I'm not sure about Sam!
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