Titisee

Several of the recent posts have mentioned the village of Titisee. Quite honestly, Titisee is a toursit trap. But as tourist traps go, it's not so bad. The village is situated on a picturesque mountain lake in the southern region of the Black Forest. On summer days, people flock their to swim in or boat upon or just look at the lake. In the winter, people come there for skiing or ski jumping in the hills around the lake. All the year, there are tons of restaurants and hotels and trinket shops to part the people from their money.

In a way, Titisee is like a miniature version of Luzerne. Everything - mountains, lake, city - is scaled down.

On the day we went, the town was thick with German motorcyclists. The picture below is of Theresa taking a picture of a group that was visiting the lake.Not the best picture, but it is a set-up for harp a bit on the German motorcycle culture. First, a significant fraction of the German population seems to love motorcycles. The roads in France are thick with them in summer, especially in the Vosges. (Someone told me that Germany banned groups of more than 6 motorcyclists so now the larger groups come into Alsace to clog the roads.) Second, the motorcyclists seem to be solid middle-class types and not your Hells Angels from the fringes of society. Third, they love to dress up in black leather motorcycle gear with the knee-high riding boots. If you look real hard at the picture, you can just make out the road-warrior fashions.

Finally, the signs in Titisee proudly announced that the village would be hosting the world cup of ski jumping in February, 2007. The photo below is the jumping ramp where the championships will be held. Perhaps, in February, we will get a chance to see some highlights of the jumping from Titisee on ESPN.