This week took us from the Rhine to the Black Forest and finally into Switzerland, with a brief and glorious apartment intermission along the way. The kids climbed, swam, hiked, made friends, fell asleep on bikes, and occasionally reminded us that family travel is still just parenting in prettier places.
Bacharach
We started Sunday with a big family bike excursion from our campsite, riding upriver to Bacharach. Before doing anything remotely cultural, we found a playground down by the water and stayed there for, honestly, a couple of hours. Nolan and Nina were delighted, and we once again confirmed that the key to exploring Europe with small children is to place a playground between every two historic landmarks.
Eventually we convinced everyone to leave and went to Cafe Noi for lunch. The kids shared spaghetti while Mom and Dad ordered different kinds of meat, and we may have received slightly friendlier treatment than some of the other customers based on the makeup of our party. It turns out traveling with Nolan and Nina has benefits beyond always knowing where the nearest playground is.
After lunch we hiked up to the postern for a beautiful view over Bacharach, the castle, and the Rhine below. Then we walked back down and got gelato, because we believe in rewarding strenuous uphill activity immediately. Mom and Dad tried the local riesling gelato, which felt both culturally responsible and like a very good excuse to consume wine in frozen form.
The kids decided we should take the ferry across the Rhine with our bikes, so we crossed over, rode back along the other side, and then took the ferry back into town. Nina fell asleep in her bike seat during the ride, which was Mom’s favorite part of the day. Nina later described her own favorite thing as, “My favorite part was going to sleep with my mommy,” so she was apparently experiencing a different but equally pleasant version of events.
Mom took sleeping Nina back to camp while Coons and Nolan returned to the same beach they had visited the day before. They skipped rocks, found some sea glass, and built a cairn before riding home.
We cooked dinner, the kids ate fish sticks, and Nolan entertained the neighbors with his routine again. Our neighbor resembled a German Danny Devito and was laughing so authenticity that he had to excuse himself multiple times to catch his breath. All four of us chose the bike ride as a favorite part of the day, making this one of the rare occasions when the family reached a unanimous decision.
Bruchsal
The next day was mostly about moving into our suite apartment in Bruchsal and enjoying the sort of luxuries that become very exciting after living in Lightning McQueen. For Dad, the highlight was unpacking, setting up shop, and listening to the kids discover all the toys. Nolan loved reaching the apartment, watching TV, and exploring everything, while Nina simply chose “going to the apartment.”
Mom’s favorite part was using a dryer for the laundry. Not a castle, not a bike ride along the Rhine, not riesling gelato—a dryer. Van life has a way of dramatically reshuffling your hierarchy of needs.
Steinach
After a slightly tough morning with the kids, we packed up the Airbnb and drove south. Coons’ ear was still bothering him, so we headed to another ENT specialist and managed to park at a grocery store nearby. Unfortunately, the office was not taking walk-ins and referred him to a hospital about 30 minutes away. We decided to give the ear a few more days and see whether it improved, which is the sort of relaxed medical strategy one develops while moving a family around Europe in a van.
We grocery shopped and continued to Camping Kinzigtal in Steinach, our home in the Black Forest for the next few nights. After checking in, we walked over to the nearby pool, and it was awesome! There was a big pool, multiple diving boards, a large slide, a kids’ section, swings, and a trampoline. Nolan and Nina happily spent three or four hours there, jumping and swimming together while attempting to shoot Daddy with a water gun.
Coons briefly interrupted the fun to bike into town and mail some documents for the IRS, because nothing complements a family pool day in the Black Forest quite like American tax administration. He returned for more swimming, and later we cooked dinner while Dad handled work calls and Mom did school with the kids.
The kids finished the evening at the campground playground, where both Nolan and Nina climbed the little rock wall without help. Nina also made her way across the balance beams on her own. She described her favorite part of the day as “climbing up in bed like a leopard,” but we were impressed by all of the climbing, feline or otherwise. A small thunderstorm rolled in as we went to bed, giving Lightning McQueen a proper Black Forest welcome.
Hausach
Nina woke up with a fever the next morning, so we divided and conquered. Coons and Nolan mounted up and biked about 45 minutes to Hausach, where they explored Abenteuerweg Hausach. The trail wound through the woods with natural obstacles and play structures along the way, eventually reaching an old chapel with a view over the valley.
Nolan pretended they were Hansel and Gretel as they crossed the log bridges, while Dad told him about “the little baby and the evil wizard who killed his parents.”
Just a light father-son discussion in the forest. They had lunch in town, where Nolan received free gummy bears, and then biked back to meet the girls.
Meanwhile, Nina stayed close to Mom for a lazy day of resting and snuggling. Once the boys returned, Dad took over with the kids so Mom could get her nails done. The salon was cash only, but another woman helped translate and gave Mom enough cash in exchange for a PayPal transfer. It was an incredibly kind gesture but apparently not enough good luck to protect Mom on the bike ride home, when she took a spill and scraped her knee and hand.
Back at camp, Dad cooked dinner and worked while Mom handled van school. The kids later returned to the playground and played with new friends. Nolan especially loved meeting another boy and brushing his teeth with him in the boys’ bathroom, which made his very detailed list of favorite things alongside the hike, log bridges, Harry Potter discussion, lunch, and gummy bears. Nina, still feeling under the weather, chose playing with Mommy.
Gengenbach
Nina was feeling better the following morning, so the whole family got back on the bikes for a leisurely hour-long ride through the Black Forest to Gengenbach. It was a beautiful day with a little wind, and both Mom and Dad picked the ride as their favorite part.
Once we arrived, the kids spent some time on a playground and stopped to pet a cat before we headed into town for lunch.
We ordered spätzle—cheesy egg noodles more or less—and drinks, followed by the inevitable gelato. Nina chose strawberry, Dad had mango, Nolan ordered citrone, and Mom went window shopping. Nolan’s favorite part of the entire day was the ice cream, proving that the Black Forest’s natural beauty had been carefully considered and decisively defeated by lemon-lime gelato.
We rode back to camp, where the kids immediately found more friends at the playground. One family had children who spoke English, German, and Spanish, which was impressive considering ours occasionally choose not to acknowledge even the one language they know.
Dad cooked and then worked while Mom attempted a little school with two somewhat unruly students. Afterward we packed everyone up for bed and prepared to leave Germany the next morning. Switzerland was next, with a grocery stop and the Rhine Falls standing between us and our campsite near Lake Lucerne.
Rhine Falls
Friday was a long driving day and, overall, a tough one. We left Camping Kinzigtal around 9:30 in the morning, made a stop at a huge grocery store in Germany, and then continued to Rhine Falls.
The waterfall was very cool, even if Nolan and Nina were not in their best moods.
We walked up to the viewing station, did a small hike, and spent a little time at the playground before returning to Lightning McQueen for lunch. Kourtney also finally found stickers in the gift shop, so the stop was a success on multiple fronts.
From there we had another long drive into Switzerland. Both kids fell asleep at some point, and we finally pulled into TCS Camping Buochs Vierwaldstättersee around 5 p.m.—roughly seven and a half hours after leaving Steinach. We cooked dinner at camp surrounded by mountains and the greenest hills imaginable. Dad took a couple of calls, and the kids went to the playground before bed. We had made it to Switzerland, eager for tomorrow, even if all four of us looked and felt like we had driven there.
Dad and Mom both chose Rhine Falls as the best part of the day. Nolan picked the little hike, and Nina called the day “going on an adventure,” which was a very generous review from someone who had spent much of it strapped into a moving vehicle.
Lake Lucerne
After the previous day’s drive, we stayed at the campground on Saturday and kept things very low-key. Mom may have thrown out her back, so she rested and got in a lot of reading while Dad took Nolan and Nina on a little adventure by Lake Lucerne.
The kids visited the playground a few times, and Nolan’s highlight was going to the lake and throwing a stick for a puppy. Nina’s favorite part was brushing her teeth. Switzerland gave us mountains, a beautiful lake, and a campsite surrounded by scenery from day one, but the toothbrush is just good hygiene. Don’t you agree?
We ate every meal at camp, read, rested, and gave Lightning McQueen a day off from hauling us around. It was not the bike day we had originally imagined, but after a fever, a scraped-up Mom, an angry ear, a sore back, and a long international driving day, hanging around camp was exactly the adventure we needed.
Leave a Reply