Just to get it out of the way, yes, you do say it that way, and no you can’t do it there.

The Black Forest is well known for its tourism. One of the more popular places near Freiburg to visit is Lake Titisee. We had absolutely gorgeous weather that day, and the region has had a lot of rain this year so everything was green, lush, and beautiful. You could hardly take a picture without it being good enough to appear on a postcard. On the north shore of the lake, there are many tourist attractions such as restaurants, hotels, gift shops (without a kitchy t-shirt in sight), a cuckoo clock shop, and ice cream stands.

The highlight of the day was taking the kids swimming. We did most of our swimming in a swimming pool and the kids had a great time there. After about an hour they got bored of the pool and wanted to get out. After they got out, they wanted to get back in. Instead of going back to the pool, we headed down to the lake which was about 4 degrees colder than the pool. The kids had more fun there because there were more “toys” in the lake. Sophia found a stick and we went “fishing”. I had her give her fish call “Neeemoooo!” and sure enough, we saw some pretty good sized fish swim by (man she’s good!). When the fish were close enough, Sophia would smack the water with her stick. We didn’t catch anything though. Liam picked up just about every rock he could get his hands on. He would throw them to make the biggest splashes he could make and giggle maniacally every time and do it again.

Since our kids are young and Asian, they have what is called Mongolian Spots, which are deposits of extra pigment along their backs. However, if you don’t know what they are, look like bruises and are visible when wearing swimsuits. Usually, we carry around descriptions of what they are in English and German but about halfway through our swim, we realized we forgot to bring them with us. Thankfully, the kids looked like they were having a good time and were loved, so no one reported us for child abuse.

After cleaning up from swimming, we had some Gelato which is everywhere (Heidelberen or blueberry for me), and met back up with Horst, Baerbel, Gramma, and Pop Pop. We took a boat ride around the lake and the kids promptly passed out. On the far side of the lake is another scenic hotel and a huge camping area that was filled up with vacationers.

If you’re ever vacationing in the Black Forest, definitely make sure that you visit Lake Titisee and bring your bathing suit.

As usual, you can see pictures in my Flickr photostream. Let me know if you need access to the friends and family pictures.

Next post, more family, more food (kinda like here).