The Black Forest Germany Thursday, May 25th-Sunday, May 28th
I owe this trip to Katelynn and Gordon. In the week we had been in Maastricht I had been pestering Pearce to rent a car for the long weekend we had coming up, but he was unsure. We didn't know where we were going, we didn't know the European driving rules, and we didn't have our typical cell phone navigation we had at home. Luckily, when we were in Bruges, K&G helped me peer pressure him into agreeing to do it and it was my favorite part of the trip!
The Black Forest in Germany, otherwise known as Schwarzwald, is a "mountainous" region in Southwestern Germany bordering France and Switzerland. It got its name from the dense forests that used to cover it, keeping light from reaching even a few feet in from tree line. In fact, the spooky aura of the forest is what inspired the Grimm's Brother's to write their famous fables like Hanzel and Gretel, Rumplestilskin, and Little Red Riding Hood. On a lighter note, this area is also know for its charming German Villages, decorated in gingerbread style, one of which I REALLY wanted to visit.
Booking the Enterprise-Rent-A-Car was a hoot. They ended up dropping off the car and car seats at the hotel the day before we actually needed it because they were closed for the holiday. I came back to the hotel that evening to discover the had left us a BRAND NEW MERCEDES BENZ (we had reserved a small sedan). Be still my heart. It took us awhile to figure out car seat installation since their seat belts don't work the same way. By the luck of the travel gods, I randomly asked another hotel guest for help and he just happened to be a technician at Mercedes Benz. You can't make this stuff up people. So he showed Pearce how to install them and we didn't have to cancel the trip!
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| Oh Lord Won't you Buy Me a Mercedes Benz |
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| Luckily it also came with a sweet navigation system which pretty much saved the day |
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| Lucille also wants a Mercedes Benz |
We set off for Germany early Thursday morning. It took us 15 minutes to cross the border and had a lovely welcome. It wasn't much longer after that that I pulled onto our first Autobahn, one of the famous German highways known for unlimited speeds. Driving fast in a performance machine was an amazing experience.
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| Typical warm German welcome |
It took about four hours to get to our first stop, the small city of Baden-Baden. Baden-Baden is best known for its hot mineral springs and gambling, sadly we did neither. Instead, we focused all our energy into finding diapers as Hendryx was wearing the last one we had. This actually became quite a problem. We thought we would be able to pick some up in a gas station, but they didn't carry them and every other store, shop, or pharmacy were all closed due to the holiday. I finally got so desperate that I hopped out of the car when I saw a woman pushing a stroller and chased her down. I explained that we had run out of diapers and couldn't find any shops open and could she please please please spare some. Thankfully, she took pity on us and gave us four diapers. I didn't care one bit that they were two sizes down from the ones he regularly wore! Once we got the diaper situation handled we headed up to an old castle over looking the town.
Hohenbaden castle, is one of three castles that look over the city of Baden-Baden. It was owned by the Margrave family and dates back to the 12th century. Both Pearce and I were surprised with how beautiful the castle ruins were, especially because entrance was free. You can choose to hike up the side of a small mountain to the castle, or take the lazy route, like we did, and drive your car to the top and find a spot in the small parking lot. It was nice to get out and stretch our legs and Lucille loved exploring the ruins. She was quite amazed that we were visiting a "real" castle, unlike the ones she had recently seen at Disney World and Disneyland. She even found a room she was sure that a princes slept in. After exploring, we ate a picnic lunch just out front of the castle.
Baden- Baden - Altes Schloss (Old Castle)
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| Looking at front of the castle |
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| Walking up to the main section |
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| Inside the castle |
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| The largest wind harp in Germany located in the old hall |
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| Looking out over Baden-Baden |
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| Adventure Girl (Pearce note: I would have never allowed this picture) |
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| At the top |
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| Picnic Lunch at some picnic tables out in front of the castle. |
Black Forest Lodge
Since we booked our trip to the Black Forest so late there were slim pickings on places to stay. I ended up booking a room at the Zuflucht Naturund Sporthotel in the middle of the Black Forest just off the famous scenic highway 500. While the room accommodations were better suited to a youth summer camp, the place overall ended up being a great find, mostly because the resort had its very own beer garden. This outdoor patio looked out over a beautiful field with the black forest just in the distance. When we walked up, there was an older German man playing a symphonion disc music box- basically a large wooden box with a hand crank which played beautiful German music for locals enjoyment. There also was an outdoor cafe serving up yummy brats, kraut and ice cold beer. While we sat back and drank, the kids ran through the fields and made fairy forts in the forest. Basically, we were in heaven.
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| Zuflucht Lodge |
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| Running Wild and Free (and now Three) |
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| Ein Prosit |
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| So HAPPY! |
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| My fairy girl |
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| HDK shooting some pics |
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| Frolicking in the fields (Pearce note: Didn't I see this on "Little House on the Prairie"?) |
Pilgrimage to Traditional German Beer - Rothaus Brewery
Throughout our stay in Europe we were interested in tasting beer from the local places. Belgium had certainly impressed, but we were both excited to try traditional German beer after so many Oktoberfests in Helen, Georgia. So our first full day we hopped in the car and headed to the southern most part of the Black Forest, enjoying the scenery and with one important stop along the way.
For the first part of our drive we followed highway 500. This road is considered one of the prettiest in Germany, a high elevation (for Germany) road that cuts through a mixture of dark dense pine forests, open fields, and farmland. There was so much green everywhere! The road ends at the small city of Freundenstadt where we were hoping to find diapers for HDK who was wearing the equivalent of a diaper g-string due to its small size. After a few stops, we finally found an Aldi open and I bought them out of diapers and wipes for good measure.
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| In addition to forest, this area has lots of hilly grasslands that are unbelievably green |
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| Farmland |
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| Small Churches like this accompanied many of the small towns we went through |
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| Riding along a ridge |
We got caught up in some road construction for about 30 minutes before Pearce navigated us to highway 294, a smaller road that was thankfully traffic-free. It turned out we had stumbled onto a scenic drive through the Kinzig River Valley which is known for its lush landscape and half timbered villages. We stopped briefly in Alpirsbach an adorable little town founded in the Middle Ages. It is known to produce some of the best beer in the area and has been for two centuries (first starting with Monks). Sadly, it was closed so I guess we will have to go back to do a tour of the museum, hike the nearby waterfall, and maybe catch a concert in the 900 year old Cloister that also resides in the town.
We hopped back in the car and continued along 294 passing by the small towns of Shiltach and Wolfach, both adorable small towns full of colorful half timbered houses. We then headed south on highway 33 and passed by the Schwarswalder Freilichtmuseum, an open air museum depicting life in the Black Forest. If we had more time we would have definitely checked this out because it gets great reviews- especially if you are looking to try traditional German food.
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| Shiltach Houses are all colorful like this |
We hopped back onto 500 and passed through the town of Triberg, the closest thing to Helen we saw on our whole trip due to the overwhelming number of tourist shops selling the famous cuckoo clocks the city's known for. At the top of each hour it is apparently deafening to be in town when all the cuckoo clocks go off in unison. Passing out of town, we passed by the entrance to the highest waterfall in all of Germany. After about 15 minutes we reached our first real destination of the day- Furtwangen. It is a small University town which is home to the German Clock Museum. I had read if you wanted a real German-made cuckoo clock (most are made in China) this was the place to be. I had grown up with a cuckoo clock and had always wanted one, so with the help of Lucille, I checked another item off my life experience list- buy a cuckoo clock in the Black Forest. For around $150 we bought an authentic German Made cuckoo clock and it makes me so happy. In this town we also grabbed a delicious German lunch of schnitzel and spaetzel.
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| Our new clock |
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| Spatzel and Schnitzel |
After lunch we had just a short jaunt to our ultimate destination for the day- Rothaus Brewery. This is a small state-owned brewery thats has grown steadily over the past decade due to their pursuit of making great, traditional, German beer. In fact, their beers are highly sought after across Germany because their customers appreciate their unwilling to sell out to large corporations.
After a quick tour through their brewery, we headed outside and began sampling these famous beers. It was the perfect day to enjoy the sunshine with some crisp beer. I had their oldest beer, the pils, which they have been making for 65 years. Pearce tried the Radler, a half beer, half lemonade mixture, although he didn't know it when he ordered it at the time. The kids loved it too, as the whole outside is dedicated to their fun! A parent's and child's dream really.
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| We finally made it! |
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| Labels of all their Beer |
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| First playground |
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| Prost! |
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| 2nd Playground |
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| H found some water |
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| L experimenting with the dam |
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| She explores the whole playground while plays with just the water |
On the drive home we stopped at one of the lakes in the area, the water was pretty chilly and we were pretty far from our hotel so we only played briefly much to H's dismay. We picked up some pizza on the way back to the hotel and cracked up when we saw the picture on our pizza box. We took the backroad back up to our hotel and got some great evening light over the mountains.
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| Lake Titisee |
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| Look familiar? |
We started the next day eating another amazing German breakfast and then set out to have a uber Black Forest day. This started by driving West on L92, and then North on a Allerhelligenstrase, a small road through the Black Forest. About 15 minutes on that road we found the Allerhelligen Waterfall. The waterfall was a pleasant hike along a stream in the forest.
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It didn't take long and we reached a small, but pretty waterfall which H loved, yelling "water, water". Since we weren't tired yet we kept walking up the path and discovered an old cloister tucked away in the mountains. It turns out the "All Saints Abbey" dates back to 1192 where it first started as an old wooden chapel. It grew in power and wealth over time and was the religious, cultural, and political center for a few centuries. It's collapse came in 1657 when a ruling Margrave (from the other castle we visited) dissolved it and took all of its possessions.
In the cloister we first met a beautiful series of pools of water which you know who freaked over. We somehow wrangled him away and made him happy again when he got to drink from a spring-fed water fountain.
The ruins themselves we still pretty impressive despite having endured multiple fires and pillaging by locals. Both kids really enjoyed wandering around the ruins. There was a small restaurant/cafe you could eat in but we grabbed a quick ice cream before heading back down the trail.
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| Cloister |
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| Inside |
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| Exploring |
Having seen the Black Forest up close and in person we next wanted to visit one of the beautiful small towns that you find through out it. We headed to Gengenbach, what many people believe to be the most quintessential example of a Black Forest town. On the way down we took small roads that took us past rolling green hills, hiker's huts, and out of the way guest houses.
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| I want to stay here one day- it's got its own microbrewery |
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| One of the huts along the trails through the Black Forest |
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Great view down into the valley
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As we drove to the Western side of the region, the landscape started becoming drier and more of the hills were covered with grape vines. We passed through more adorable towns and did a drive by to get the seasonal fruit, "air bears". The shop worked off a trust system. We also stopped at a locals flea market where P and I picked up a carved wooden set of Don Quioxte and Sancho Panza and L found a German Ducktales comic book (a show she started watching in Europe).
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| Vines |
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| German Strawberries, or "air bears" |
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| Ducktale's Woo oo |
We finally arrived in Gengenbach, and although charming, we were probably too hungry to appreciate it. We got a little playtime in at the local park and then headed to go get some food and drink at an traditional German pub. We also made sure to get the REAL Black Forest Cake. On the way back to the car i accidentally dumped H onto his face when I was pushing the stroller down a curb (he started leaning forward and wasn't strapped in). It was the crack heard around the world, but thankfully he only got a huge egg on his head and nothing more serious.
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| Gegenbach Town Hall |
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| May pole, each town had their own stylized version |
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| A little bit of fun |
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| Weeee |
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| Our lunch locale |
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| The inside was just what we hoped for |
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| My little love |
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The real deal
We headed back to our Hotel to grab some more bratwurst and beer. I got to sneak away on a short hike while P watched the kids and drank.
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| Look at that bump! |
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| The ski hill by the hotel |
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| The actual Black Forest |
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| L exploring with me |
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| My traveling girl |
This was an amazing weekend excursion and we really only scratched the surface. It ended up being my favorite part of the trip and I so happy P changed his mind about renting a car! I highly recommend a visit (and maybe a beer or two!)
PROST!
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