Almost to the Black Forest
Well, I didn't quite make it to the Black Forest. I ended up staying for a couple days in Mannheim which is on the Rhein with a Canadian friend, Brennan, who is studying there and also one day in Strasbourg, France, neither of which are technically in the Black Forest.
Right after I arrived we headed for the Rhein where a friend of his was waiting with a small boat. We both got to drive the boat and take turns jumping the wakes from the bigger commercial boats and barges. I got to see quite a bit of Mannheim this way including the massive BASF plant there. It's something like 15 miles long and is like a city itself; a city full of toxic chemicals, a maze of pipes carrying unknown liquids, and huge silos full of who knows what. They may make the products we know better, but they sure have made a scab out of that part of the earth. Relatively small price to pay in the big picture, I guess.
One of the other highlights from Mannheim was my tripping on a curb and falling on my face in front of the central station just as I repeated, "We're idiots." to Brennan who hadn't heard me the first time. The other two hundred people who saw it may still not have heard me say it the second time, but I'm pretty sure they got the idea.
On Saturday we started for Strasbourg, France, in the mid-afternoon and got there with about two hours of daylight to take in all this city had to offer which is home to the European Parliament as well as one of the most elaborate cathedrals in Europe and hundreds of kilometers of canals among other things. The first thing we saw however was disturbing and sad. A woman who was apparently homeless was squatting on the sidewalk urinating and defacating as everyone walked by.
Right after I arrived we headed for the Rhein where a friend of his was waiting with a small boat. We both got to drive the boat and take turns jumping the wakes from the bigger commercial boats and barges. I got to see quite a bit of Mannheim this way including the massive BASF plant there. It's something like 15 miles long and is like a city itself; a city full of toxic chemicals, a maze of pipes carrying unknown liquids, and huge silos full of who knows what. They may make the products we know better, but they sure have made a scab out of that part of the earth. Relatively small price to pay in the big picture, I guess.
One of the other highlights from Mannheim was my tripping on a curb and falling on my face in front of the central station just as I repeated, "We're idiots." to Brennan who hadn't heard me the first time. The other two hundred people who saw it may still not have heard me say it the second time, but I'm pretty sure they got the idea.
On Saturday we started for Strasbourg, France, in the mid-afternoon and got there with about two hours of daylight to take in all this city had to offer which is home to the European Parliament as well as one of the most elaborate cathedrals in Europe and hundreds of kilometers of canals among other things. The first thing we saw however was disturbing and sad. A woman who was apparently homeless was squatting on the sidewalk urinating and defacating as everyone walked by.
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4:05 PM
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