When I’m summering in southwest Germany, my routine is very simple and very satisfying.
Summering In Germany: My Daily Routine
I’ve written about this before, but every summer I return to Germany feels better than the last and this trip to Lörrach in the German state of Baden-Württemberg was such a pleasure…Germany is one of the only places I can really relax. My days look something like this:
- 8:00 am – wake-up and have a cup of coffee and fresh-squeezed orange juice at home
- 8:30 am – blog (well ahead of the traffic rush which begins at 7:00 am ET)
- 11:30 am – go on a 5-kilometer jog with Heidi through the rolling hills of the Tüllingen
- 1:00 pm – lunch
- 1:30 pm – work
- 3:00 pm – walk into the city for coffee and ice cream
- 5:00 pm – finish work
- 7:00 pm – dinner
- 9:00 pm – deal with any West Coast clients
- 10:00 pm – walk with Heidi
- 11:00 pm – bed
If it’s Sunday, I’ll bike to Basel for coffee and then an evening service at Anglican Church Basel, which meets in the Niklauskapelle at the Basel Münster.
That may not seem like rest or vacation, but it is for me…I love my work but working on Central European Time is so much easier for me than being in California working on Pacific Time.
I usually take my son Augustine into town with me for coffee, giving us a chance to chat about anything on his mind, then meet up with Heidi and Claire Marie for ice cream…I don’t workout in Germany like I do when home, but I hope the run each day “cancels out” the ice cream.
We generally eat at home (my father-in-law is a wonderful cook), but no trip would be complete without a visit to Höllsteiner Hof, a hotel/restaurant that offers the best steaks in the region.
The evening walks with Heidi are my favorite part of the day. My wife is a deep thinker and I’m grateful that after a decade of marriage, our conversations are becoming richer, not stale.
When we do return, we stock up on items that are either difficult to procure or far more expensive in the US. Dishwasher soap, protein bars, toothpaste…
We didn’t spend our entire time here…we went to Stuttgart to visit relatives…but it was such a relaxing time that always makes me thankful. As fun as it is to explore new places, returning to a place that you love is joy on an even higher level.
Spaghettieis! Welcome to my childhood in Austria!
Your children will definitely benefit from summer in Germany every year. Different language, different culture and different people – it’s a valuable education and experience.
Are you Anglican (since you mentioned the church)? I was raised in the Episcopal Church but moved over to the Anglican Church a few years ago. Much better fit for me, personally.
I do not regularly attend an Anglican or Episcopal Church in LA, but have a deep attraction to the Church of England and its blend of liturgy with Protestantism. Whenver I travel wherever I am in the world, I make it a point to attend an Anglican service if there is one.
Do you carry your passport when biking to and from Basel? And have you ever been checked when biking across that border?
For a while when driving across it, the Germans really liked to look for cash coming in from Switzerland and when asking for ID that was sometimes the main reason why.
I do not, but probably should.
I do see the passport checks on the S-Bahn, but typically only dark-skinned people are asked to show their passports…
I was once staying in Perpignan and took a day trip to Narbonne. I was asked for ID and scolded for only having my US drivers license. They were checking everyone, and I assume they were doing so because that TGV started in Spain and its first stop in France was Perpignan. I always wondered if things would have gone differently if I hadn’t been a 55 y-o guy with physical features cobsistent with his Nordic heritage.
Still today, if I’m on a day trip within France, I only have my passport card as ID. I’m not going to carry the book around unless I’m crossing borders (and yes, peanut gallery, I know he is crossing a border).
For a long time it seemed like every time I went on vacation I was bombarded with more work (I’m an attorney on the east coast). I was writing briefs in Hawaii, doing pre-trial reports in Napa valley, reviewing quarterly billing in Ireland, and (most regrettably) drafting a motion while on vacation in San Diego and when I got a call that my grandmother died no one back on the east coast offered to help (only “thoughts and prayers”). I hung up the phone and had to go right back to work. Good on you for finding balance! Took me a long time and I’m still a work in progress.
Don’t forget to collect Payback points at dm for subsequent conversion to Miles and More. Before June they might even be worth something. Dm frequently has 20x point vouchers.
Fresh OJ in summer? Usually Spanish orange season is over in Spring.
I’m not sure where it is sourced, but Edeka has fresh OJ (you squeeze it yourself) year around.
I didn’t realize Basel is on the border of Germany. You learn something new everyday. My upcoming trip to Switzerland I have a daily excursion to Bern and another to Lichtenstein.
Basel’s airport is the Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg airport. The Basel airport is in France, is jointly operated by France and Switzerland, and serves Switzerland, France and Germany — thus the three places mentioned in the airport name. Basel is about as border city as it gets.
Have you taken the kids to the Black Forest? A bit of a day trip, but worth the time and effort.
Went thru there on a driving tour in ’18. Very impressed.
Many times. Love the Black Forest.
Always ice cream, and not a bite of cake!
Unless Heidi makes Linzer torte.
But darn, those look like American-sized portions.
That’s why we like going to that particular Eiscafe! 😉
You beat me to the portion observation!
I have very fond memories of visiting relatives in Germany when I was young. Matthew – thanks for bringing those to mind again. Will you send the children alone for summers when they are older?
@Heather: 100% yes
Ask Heidi if she will share her linzer torte recipe with us?
Reminds me of my childhood, I lived in a village outside Freiburg just north of you for a couple of years. Great pics!
Matthew:
Brings back fond memories of “going home” when going back each year to visit adopted family in Neuburg an der Donau..a charming Bavarian town.
Enjoy all of your posts.
Are the kids bilingual?
Fully.
Good on you. I have friends in France, A Brit and a Pole have two kids natively fluent in English, French, and Polish. A mutual friend is South American with a French partner. Despite having English, French, and Spanish fluency amongst the parents, the child only speaks French and grade-school level English.
Do they have the same German accent in German as your wife? And do the siblings have the same accent in German as each other?
Matthew, I know (or at least it seems) that you and the family like to eat out/get coffee out/get treats for the kids quite a bit. Considering how much it costs these days to do that unless it is a Hyatt Global Breakfast, I was curious how you all manage that. Do you have a set budget for this, get whatever you want, view it as an entertainment cost??
A lot of pics of the kids here mate – might consider reeling those back, just for their sake so they can decide when they’re older if it’s something we all need to be looking at.