At the close of his career as an aerospace engineer, Julie's dad spent much of the year tending his roses and piddling around the house, saving for an annual trip to Germany.Julie had seen many pictures and heard stories about the Rhine River and regional white wines, which undoubtedly made an impact on her plans for this trip. 
The normal dynamics of a family trip were different with the inclusion of my good friend Bob and his wife Billie in the same car, and we didn't spend as much time discussing where we were at any given time. Perhaps that is a reason why my memories of the places we visited seem a little fuzzy and run together.
Bob said years later that he looks back on photos of that trip and realizes that he saw more sites in that week than he probably had on any vacation of his life, but he didn't remember any of it. I can't say that was my experience, as certainly Mad Ludwig's Castle, which we would visit later in our trip, made a strong impression, but I do remember other vacations much more clearly.
Julie, on the other hand, seems to remember it very well, and I think it is because she had it all ingrained in her mind so deeply from her conversations with her dad as well as planning our route.
Freiburg is the unofficial capital of the Black Forest, which is a lovely, bucolic region. The red sandstone Munster, or cathedral, highlights a city of colorful medieval and baroque architecture. I don't remember if we had lunch there or just stayed long enough to snap these photos.
I've come to prefer cruises, which give us relaxing time onboard to reflect on exactly what we did that day. 
