Uberwald

Germany, and Belgium through the Ardennes, is very pretty and picturesque. You can tell, I think, a lot about the national character of a country by what it dots around its landscape and in its little villages. In Germany and Austria, every hamlet has its bakerei, which not only explains the national emphasis on bread, but also kuche. In England, it's pubs. 

Germany also likes to litter schlosse around its countryside the way most countries do with derelict lager cans: on mountains, in rivers, in forests... up hill and down dale. 

And just when the Discworldly quaintness was getting too much, we crossed over the River Ahr near Koblenz, and I nearly lost the bike I was laughing so much. Sieze the day by its throat indeed.