Day 383: The Black Forest - Triberg, Germany

We got up a bit late this morning.  We really have to stop going to bed late.  More for my husband than for me because I can sleep in! Something I have not been able to do for years.   Ted went to get some milk for our shake before we leave for Triberg, the largest town in The Black Forest.

It took us approximately 1 1/2 hours to get there.  We didn't really know where we were going so we parked the car on a street and decided to stop and have our first piece of Black Forest Cake.  Contrary to popular belief, the Black Forest Cake that we know in the U.S. is different from the real Black Forest Cake.  And in the Black Forest there are different variations, that is, different restaurants (and families) make it differently.

We thought this restaurant had the best Black Forest Cake.  It was more like a pie than a cake and it was terrific.

Sitting in the Restaurant we saw these people in costume.  We think they were part of the symphony at the convention center below us. 

We passed this church on our way to the waterfalls.  the sign that you see in the foreground is the sign leading the way to the waterfalls.














The waterfall is 163 meters (534 feet) high and is the highest in Germany.  Below are some shots of it.  There are two bridges going over the falls.  Ted chose to go to the first one but didn't go as far up on the second one.  It is a rope bridge and I don't think he was up to it.  Ah, to be young again!

The bottom of the waterfall.

View of the waterfalls from the bottom.

After walking around near the falls, we decided we wanted to see a Cuckoo Clock store.  There are so many of them!  We chose this one because that's all it carried  was handmade Cuckoo Clocks.  It was awesome!  We bought one.  It was not inexpensive but neither was it as expensive as some.  Some of them were in the thousands!  That's euros, not dollars!

The cuckoo clocks were unbelievable!

There was a wonderful store that had a HUGE cuckoo clock on the outside  of the store.  And the cuckoo clock chimes every hour!













There's a small museum that we decided to see before dinner.  It was well worth it, at least I thought so.
It had the history of Triberg, a collection of crystals (from their mines), a working miniature train that traces the route through the Black Forest.  For a half euro, we were able to see the trains go.  (We were like a pair of kids! )  The costumes of the local people were fun to look at too as were the antique kaliopes.

The traditional dress of the Black Forest area were unbelievable.  The women's hats were outrageous!  Some of them even had fruit on them.

The museum had a wonderful collection of barrel organs.  There were antiques in phenomenal condition!

There was a LOT of wonderfully carved wood.  This armoire was beautiful and the picture does not do it justice!















For dinner, Ted decided to have his favorite:  wildebeest (Venison).  I wasn't as courageous and had the schnitzel.  While I was not thrilled with having schnitzel, the alternative (pigs knuckles) was out of the question!  The schnitzel was quite good actually!

The Black Forest gets its name because the trees are so dense that there's little if any sunlight that gets through them, hence the Black Forest.  I'm sure that at dusk (or beyond) the trees almost look black!

The last photo of the Black Forest before we left Triberg.










Now it's time to go home. All in all it was a great day!

Saturday  4/10/2010