A three country kind of weekend

One problem with hopping around Europe on brief weekend trips is that all you get to see is city after city. Airports tend to be located, well, in cities, and the only way to get out of them is to take a train or a bus, which costs even more money, and that is not even counting finding a cheap place to stay in the countryside, which is pretty difficult. This is the reason I love having friends who live in Europe--so I can see more than just the city and from a non-touristy perspective.

Last Friday, Alicia and I flew into the Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg Airport, technically located on French soil, to visit our friend Rachel Nicholson who graduated from Grove City last year and is now working as a 2nd grade teacher at Black Forest Academy, a missionary school in the very south of Germany, about 45 minutes outside of Freiburg.

Rachel lives in the village of Kandern, and it is the picture of a tiny, idyllic German country town, resting against the stunning backdrop of Germany's Schwarzwald, or Black Forest.

On Saturday, the three of us set off from Rachel's backyard and hiked into the woods. I cannot even begin to describe how amazing it was to get back into nature and away from the hustle and bustle of the city. I hadn't even realized how much I missed GREEN.

The best part about this hike was not just that we were hiking in nature, but that we hiked to a 12th century CASTLE. You know, just chilling there in the woods. Because Europe.

 

We climbed to the top of the tower, and the view from above was absolutely breathtaking. You could see for miles in every direction, including into France and Switzerland.

Simba, do you see that dark land over there? That is France. You must never go there.

Alicia, Rachel, and I at the top of the tower.

The beauty was absolutely breathtaking. It was so difficult to wrap my brain around the fact that this was something real I was looking at, not a picture. I could have stayed up there for hours, just taking it all in, but, unfortunately, we got cold and hiked back to Kandern.

Sunday morning we attended Rachel's church, which was a German speaking church. It was so incredible singing songs like "Mighty to Save," except in German ("Du Allein Rettest Mich"). Luckily, the pastor who preached was Canadian, so his German was pretty easy to understand.

Sunday afternoon, we took the bus to Basel, Switzerland and spent the afternoon exploring the city.

The southern German holiday Fasching (essentially Mardi Gras), was getting into full swing. Our bus got stuck behind this strange float for 15 minutes on the way to Basel. It was blasting music really loudly. Definitely a new cultural experience.

 Basel rests right on the Rhein river. There was a break in the ever pervasive cloud cover as we were crossing the river.

Alicia and I on the bridge over the Rhein.

The Rathaus, or Town Hall

Münster Cathedral

 Over all, this weekend is going to go down as one of my absolute favorite weekends of the semester. It was a wonderful mixture of relaxation and fun, as well as spiritual rejuvenation. God has been truly good to me this past month, and I am so thankful for this opportunity to experience the world and the incredible beauty it holds.

And, as Alicia kept saying, "this weekend was a three country kind of weekend."