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Year: 2014

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Leanimg Tower

It is only a 50 minute train ride from Florence to Pisa. Having heard so much about the Leaning Tower of Pisa we decided that it is worth going there. Actually the city has not too much to offer apart from the Field of Miracles. It is the name of the place where the Pisa Cathedral, the Pisa Baptistry, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and the Camposanto Monumentale are situated. But still it is worth going there to take a look at the tower. It was very funny to sit on the gras in front of the leaning tower and observe all the people who try to get a good picture.

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In the afternoon we arrived in Florence. We stayed at hotel B&B Repubblica. The hotel is situated in the city center and therefore a good place to explore the city.

We absolutely wanted to go to the place where all the famous photos of Florence where taken. So we asked the friendly staff at the hotel and they explained to us that we have to cross the river and then go up a hill to a car park. So we crossed the bridge which has some houses and stores on it, mostly jewellery is sold there and started to walk up the hill. It is really worth going up there, because the view of the city is just great! There were many many people and also some live music. When you are there it is worth to visit the garden with lots of different roses and also the garden with irises (they only bloom a few weeks a year and we were there during the time!). In the evening we enjoyed some good pasta.

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When the weather was said to be bad again for the weekend in Germany we decided to book the night train to Florence.

The train runs every night from Munich to Rome. It was another great night on the train, at 6 in the morning we arrived in Florence. After a short walk along the river Arno we took the next train to Vicchio. Apart from staying at the city we wanted to see a bit of the real Tuscany. During the train ride we saw the great landscape. For one night we booked a very nicely looking hotel called Villa Campestri Olive Oil Resort. It is about 5km away from the train station in Vicchio. Actually you can take a taxi to go up to the hotel, but it was such a nice day, therefore we decided to walk. After more than one hour we arrived at the hotel. The hotel is situated on a hill which gives you a beautiful view down to the valley. Moreover the hotel is surrounded by olive trees. Every autumn there is the olive harvest and oil is produced. During your stay you will have the opportunity to try the homemade olive oil. Also the food served in the enclosed restaurant can be recommended.

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PS: One nice blog entry regarding traveling: http://www.villacampestri.com/en/blog_en?p=4738#more-4738

Published on Leave a comment on One stage of Schwarzwald-Schwäbische-Alb-Allgäu-Weg HW 5 – Herrenberg to Unterjesingen

GPS GPS: gpx | google maps

Not far from our home is the HW5 hiking trail which goes form Pforzheim to the Allgäu. On this sunny Saturday we decided to hike one stage of this trail - from Herrenberg to Unterjesingen. This stage was supposed to be a "panorama" trail with great views into the Ammertal. Basically this is true - there are places from where we had a great view - however about 13km of the in total 21km long trail we just walked through the Nature Reserve Schönbuch forest without having a wide view. This part of the trail was quite boring compared to our regular trips through the Alps. Anyway, it was ok for a day trip which was just round the corner.

Not far from Herrenberg we arrived at the Herrenberg Waldseilgarten which is a kind of high rope course. Up to here it was a very nice path. The next kilometers were more or less in the forest. The last two kilometers before we arrived at Hohenentringen Castle were quite nice again. From here we had a very nice view down to the valley. The Hohenentringen Castle was a very nice place where we had something to drink and a piece of apple pie. After about 20km walking we really enjoyed sitting in the sun. After a long break we walked down to Unterjesingen from where we took the Ammertalbahn back to Herrenberg.

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Published on Leave a comment on Bouldering Frechen

We spent this weekend near Cologne. The weather was very cloudy, so it was a good day to spend some time bouldering in the climbing hall Chimpanzodrome in Frechen.

The climbing hall is very nice, it is not so crowded as the climbing halls in Stuttgart and has a good atmosphere.