Breakfast in Germany, Lunch in France, Dinner in Switzerland!
A fun thing to do in your spare time is to have breakfast in Germany, lunch in France, and dinner in Switzerland 😀 Especially if you happen to already be in the southwest side of Germany, and need get to the airport in Zurich (and if you have a car!) Read on for details of how we accomplished this on a recent trip 😀
Germany
Kirchzarten
Our adventure started off late morning in the little town of Kirchzarten in the Black Forest region of Germany. We were staying in this tiny spot to attend a family wedding. The town is adorable! One of the highlights was renting e-bikes with my son and riding all around the area. It felt like being in the Sound of Music!
The few hotels in town were pretty booked, so we stayed at a “hostel”, which was actually pretty much like a hotel. It’s called The Black Forest Bike Hostel. Very clean, about a 5 minute walk to the train station on one side and the town center the other side. Because there was a group of us we got a room with multiple beds. The was a teeny tiny shower in the room, but otherwise it was very comfortable!
Freiburg
After breakfast in Kirchzarten we drove about 15 minutes to reach the city of Freiburg. There is much to see in Freiburg, including its charming Old Town and gothic cathedral. This is known as the sunniest city in Germany!
One of the most interesting things I saw were the “Bächle“. These are small water filled canals going all along the streets in the Old Town. Apparently they were built in the 13th century as the water supply and to help fight fires. Nowadays, kids were having a ball in them, sailing little boats (which are sold everywhere). In the evening adults were having “apperativo” (is there a German word for that?), complete with little tables, for their drinks and snacks, which are made to fit the width of the Bächle. So fun!
Colmar, France
Though Colmar isn’t exactly “on the way” from Freiburg to Zurich, it was close enough and insanely adorable enough to drive the extra hour or so for the chance to see it, and achieve our “meals in 3 countries in one day” goal! We went to the “Petite Venice” area. It was seriously like stepping into a fairy tale. In fact Colmar was the inspiration for the Disney movie of Beauty and the Beast! Colorful flowers are everywhere, and half-timber pastel painted buildings line cobblestone streets along the Lauch River.
We ended up going to lunch at a restaurant called La Krutenau, mainly because it had the shortest wait time! It was right on the River. They serve Flammenkuchen. It’s very thin crispy crust with crème fraîche, onions and various toppings. Mine had smoked salmon and was delicious!
Zurich, Switzerland
From Colmar it was a 1.5 hour drive to Zurich. I must say that for me driving in Zurich’s Old Town was one of the most daunting tasks I’ve ever had! I’m not sure if they open/close streets often or what, but the online maps we were using were sending us down one way streets the wrong way, then telling us to go down streets that were pedestrian only! After we stopped relying on the app directions it became clear that some of the streets which looked like they were pedestrian only actually allowed cars. It was such a street that we needed to use to get to our hotel.
Tip from Sue: I really wish I’d dropped the rental car off at the airport, then used public transport to and from Old Town Zurich for sure! Don’t make my same mistake!
We stayed at The Hotel Adler Zurich. This was a very nice, clean hotel. Here is our room for 3. It had a little balcony overlooking a charming square:
Conveniently, one of Zurich’s highly rated fondue restaurants was at the ground floor of our hotel. So, we had dinner in Switzerland at Swiss Chuchi, followed by a stroll around the charming Old Town and the Limmat River banks.
All in all a super fun day during our trip! Let me know if you’ve done something like this, that you’d recommend! Thanks for reading!
