From Lindau, Germany, to...?

I thought the castle at Sigmaringen was interesting. If you haven't already seen it, the train ride down the river from Triberg to Hausach is scenic, and the Open Air Museum outside of Hausach could be a good place to stop. From there, go up the Kinzig to Freudenstadt, then down the Nagold to Pforzheim, stopping in Calw on the way. Calw was the home of Herman Hesse (Steppenwolf) and has a lot of Fachwerk houses.

There's a lot of great towns "on the way". Konstanz near Lindau also on the Bodensee has an interesting old town and is lovely right on the lake, is also home to a famous flower island, Mainau. A little further up,Tuebingen and Esslingen Am Neckar are both fantastic. Herrenberg is another quaint town. Lee's recommendations are good, too. I found Weil der Stadt a little more interesting than Calw, but they're both close to each other and small enough that you could check out both. The Neckar River Valley (Where Tuebingen, Esslingen, and Stuttgart are all located) is a wine region, although one that doesn't get much international press. I like most of the whites here, you're likely to find some good dry white wines. Esslingen is especially famous regionally as a wine town, because it was the first place sparkling wine was produced in Germany. Theirs is quite good, too. And it's great to hike in the vineyards overlooking town. Stuttgart often gets overlooked, but might be a nice change of pace if you want something a little more cosmpolitan for a day or two. It's home to two big car museums, the Porsche and Mercedes-Benz museums (both companies were founded here, still HQed here too). The very historic old palace here houses a good regional history museum. In nearby Ludwigsburg you can take a tour of what's considered by many to be Germany's best baroque palace. The Swabish (regional) food here is also good. It's nice to have some alternatives to wurst and schnitzel!

If you've seen only Freiburg, you haven't seen the Black Forest. Lee (hope you're enjoying yourself, Lee) writes, "the train ride down the river from Triberg to Hausach is scenic, and the Open Air Museum outside of Hausach could be a good place to stop." Lee's referring to the Black Forest Railway or Schwarzwaldbahn which travels between Offenburg and Donaueschingen - it's line #4 on this map, and Triberg, Hausach, Villingen (shown on map), Haslach, and Gengenbach are additional towns on this very scenic route that you might want to investigate: http://www.schwarzwald.com/karte/bahnlinien.html http://www.black-forest-travel.com/places-of-interest/black-forest-railway.html http://www.stadt-gengenbach.de/en/tourism/ Open-air museum near Hausach: http://en.vogtsbauernhof.org/ A very good advantage of staying in the BF is that all your train travel on all the train lines within the BF area will be free after you check in with your hosts (if you stay in one of the 130 or so villages there that participate in the KONUS program.) Request the Konus card when you arrive: http://www.blackforest-tourism.com/konus Schiltach, on line #10 (see rail map above) to Freudenstadt, which Lee mentions, is also a great little place - a very nice collection of half-timbered homes there.

Trier for the history (oldest city in Germany), Mosel River for the wine etc, Burg Eltz for history and scenery

Thank you all... I have my map out and am sorting through all your recommendations. Really appreciate it!

Also forgot to mention Castle Lichtenstein, made famous by a Romantic novel. While the existing castle is a "modern" romantic fantasy creation (like a scaled-down Neuschwanstein) the ruins of the original castle are a short walk through a beautiful forest with stunning views. Biking along the Bodensee is idyllic as well. I just got back from my first visit to Lindau and man is it a wonderful place! Enjoy!