Shwarzwald, Deutscheland
Hmm… name itself sounds unfamiliar.. right?! If I say Black Forest, Germany then it sounds quite familiar… An interesting place with picturesque scenery and chirping bird sounds. This thick forest gives us false impression of Alps range. We too were deceived by this range of mountains. Believe me Alps is atleast around 130 km from south black forest.
It was a plan that just struck our mind two weeks before easter. We had not planned anything for long weekend of easter. Casually during our discussion about which places could be interesting for a 3 day drive/tour, we came up with places like black forest, Paris, Amsterdam etc. Most places that passed through our thoughts were the ones which we already visited. So we decided to drive to Black Forest, Germany. We began our hunt for so called “Low Cost” Hotels and found one that was apparently close to Stuttgart but in the outskirts. We hardly had one week time left and really no time to search and research for best rooms. But our dear friend Swetha (house-wife) spared all her time in the world to find us a better place in Black Forest. Swetha and Chaitanya were the other couple who accompanied us (me and my hubby Srikanth) on the entire trip.
Fortunately during her search through the websites and blogs she found a very interesting place in the south of black forest. This holiday home was in the middle of the forest. I mean it. It was in the interiors of the black forest. It was in a remote village where you can hardly find any buses. Car is the only means of reaching it. If you too have this comfort, then I bet you cant get any other best deal for stay. The cost was 40 euro per night for four people. We could use kitchen for preparing dishes too. The holiday home is run by Erika Rombach and her husband. It is located near Furtwangen.
As usual, we plan to leave early and end up little later than planned. We had planned to leave at around 8 and left at 8:30am from our new apartment in Brussels. We were joined by our usual companions whom I should say we get along very well with. Perhaps it is the age group and likes and dislikes that really matter. Anyways, Swetha had prepared lunch and packed it for the noon so that on our way we do not starve like in Luxembourg on Christmas weekend. How can I forget Christmas trip to Luxembourg huh!!?? The drive was about 8 hours and we were expected to arrive in Furtwangen-Neukirch at 4:30pm. We were there almost same time. We had a break on our way in a picnic spot. We had carried water and cola also with us. Co-incidentally we did not find many fuel pumps or parking places on our way to the black forest. So it was indeed good planning. The weather was cozy to drive too. Mrs. Erika Rombach was waiting for us as we had told her about our arrival in advance.
Erika Rombach is a very good lady who hosted us with a very warm welcome and guided us on what could be seen close by. If you are at any hotel/holiday home in Black Forest as a tourist, I suggest you to make the best out of it. As a tourist, we pay tourist taxes with which we can avail free local bus transport, free entry to certain listed museums and the Gutach waterfall.
So lodged in, parked our luggage; filled up forms for tourist discount coupons and we were set to explore. Chai seemed a bit more normal or perhaps he doesnt show off which only he can tell. But Swetha was so excited about the place and she was overwhelmingly happy for her find that it really paid her well. This was our second trip to natural scenery jointly after Petite Suisse and Luxembourg in December. To me, the drive itself was so good along the country side and the hilly region. The curves reminded me of Western Ghats in India. The road to Agumbe/Mangalore/Kukke Subrahmanya is mostly similar. Till now I was only a back seater who only slept most of the travel time. Now it was my turn to drive and was so enjoyable. I really did not know that it’s such a fun to drive in the curves. My husband though enjoying the nature was as usual skeptical about my drive. He is all time alert. He relaxes only when it is a highway or straight long drive without exits or turns. Let me emphasize that my drive is not pathetic but my parking in narrow space is :). When it comes to my parking even Chai volunteers to step out and guide like in India.
So we started off with the waterfall called as wasserfall in german. Gutach waterfall is supposed to be the highest waterfall in Germany. No wonder the water was as fresh and roaring as in the waterfalls in India. Its more safe here as nobody is allowed to get into water. Probably it is preserved. There are small wooden bridges that take you closer to the falls. Here you can feel the water sprayed onto your body. It was scintillating experience though these falls aren’t as big / huge as Jog Falls in Karnataka. It had been a long time since we ever saw a waterfall in Europe.
After the waterfall we thought of a bit of shopping as chai wanted to get a cuckoo clock for his best friend Nagesh (how can I forget this guy’s name as chai keeps referring to him many times). We were also waiting to try the schwarzwald-kirch-torte that’s the black forest cake. We wanted to try the authentic cake in its homeland and hometown. We were a bit hungry and the restaurants surrounding the waterfall were inviting enough. So we first went around the souvenir shops but could find nothing as the shops closed there by 5pm on Saturday. Then we went into the restaurant next to the falls and ordered for a black forest cake with cherry wine (that’s the authentic one). It was tasty enough for me though. My husband did not like the taste of it. Chai was ok eating it too. But Swetha who is against even 1ml of alcohol did not like it from the moment she gotta know that it has cherry wine. She somehow managed to eat some of it disliking the ingredients. We started kindling each other and it was so funny all the way until we drove back to have some rest in our holiday home.
It was not so tiring for me to drive all the way. But indeed I had to rest to be able to drive the next few days along the mountains through the curves amidst nature. We went back and made some dinner and happily slept.
The next morning we woke up late (by 7am) got ready, had some breakfast and were ready to go to the Lake Titisee. We went there by 10am. Had a stroll and it was so cold out there. We went into some of the shops looking for the cuckoo clock. The prices there were not inviting Chai to buy one. So we decided to have food and then go to Gutach waterfall again and buy one clock.
We went to one of the shops close to the museum there. The clock maker was the member of the carver’s association. He explained to us the difference between man made clock and machine made clock. The mechanical clocks and the whole concept was well explained. As he was explaining to us about it, Swetha felt he is trying to be smart and make us buy one. Without falling to his words she was wandering around looking for a clock for herself to gift her mother. Looked like she was irritated by his marketing tactics even more when chai bought one J
The clock that chai bought for his friend was too good in its looks. It was elegant beaming the antiquity in it. I am not sure if it was one of those that had to be manually reset every month. In the cuckoo clocks you have 2 weights. One of them sags and the other goes up every day when the cuckoo comes out each hour. You need to manually pull it back either daily/weekly/monthly. Based on the carving niche and this fact the cost of the clock is determined.
With that we concluded our shopping and went to a Chinese restaurant for a good dinner. The guys were not ready to have at home though we had plenty in store. We went to a Chinese buffet in I think Furtwangen. Can’t remember the exact location. I had head ache and could not eat anything. I only took hot water to drink. Rest of them had buffet which indeed had a lot of vegetarian options.
Later I also vomited the cake that we had during the day. According to chai it was the nauseating feeling from the long drive along the curves. I still did not want to eat anything. Then we left the restaurant to get back to our holiday home. Something happened here. Unforgettable experience. Chai was telling me that he can drive as I looked tired to him. I did not let him drive fearing the fact that he doesn’t have a valid driving permit. As we started, I did not realize that the headlights were not on. We drove by the city centre as we had parked in a neighboring street. I did not realize that there was a police van following me. I did not even notice a STOP on their van. I simply stopped thinking they are following me.
They verified our passports, residence cards, my driving permit, my company car papers and fortunately they told me that as the head lights were not on they were suspicious of us. After they verified the documents the lady police told me that I was not supposed to drive in that area whereas in Belgium I could. Then we told them that the gps did not show us the route to get out from there to where we stayed. The police guided us in getting out of the place to the main street. From their words it did not seem that they are going to fine me. Till now, I have not received any bills.
Anyways we got back to the holiday home driving through the dark curved streets. No lights on the streets; but just the reflectors to guide us through the curves. Had to be awake with eyes wide open. We reached our holiday home and rested. Next morning I was all fine to drive back to Brussels.
To add to our surprise, when we slept it was a clear night. When we woke up, we were in a pool of snow. It was all snow covered with Easter trees seeming like Christmas trees to me.
This morning the guys took the bath first. You know why? The ladies had emptied hot water the previous day and they did not take bath as it was ice cold water and not so hot weather out.
The guys prepared the breakfast and even ate it before we came to have breakfast. They could not wait so long after bath to have their breakfast. Pity them. So after having our breakfast, we checked out and headed back to Brussels via Karlsruhe. Karlsruhe palace is one of the tourist attractions around the black forest. So we went to Karlsruhe, parked our car close by and then went to the palace. It was huge indeed. It was picturesque. The palace has now been converted to a museum. Museums do not interest us much. But Chai and Swetha went in to see and came back in abt 20-30 min while we waited out having a pleasing sunny weather outside. With the passing clouds in between it did become cold sometimes.
Then we wanted to have lunch somewhere. We could nt locate a good Indian restaurant close by. So we found another Chinese restaurant in Karlsruhe. Remember, I told you about buffet dinner last night. They all wanted me to taste it. So we went in and all three of us had buffet except Srikanth. He wanted to have veggie fried rice which is his favorite Chinese food. So all done by 3pm, we started back to Belgium.
With a lot of traffic and sunset view from the car, we safely dropped them in Antwerp had food at their place, came home and slept. That is the end of our black forest trip. Worth mentioning is the fact that the nature is still preserved with not much human intervention. The drive along the hilly areas, beautiful valleys, waterfall all this seemed like a Heidi story to me (of course south of black forest is close to Switzerland).
Gute Reise. Geniessen sie schwarzwald!
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