The Black Forest

When I was a child my grandparents on my father's side had a cuckoo clock.  On my mother's side, my grandmother's speciality just happen to be the Black Forest cake.  Add in Black Forest ham, one of the best wine regions in Germany, and the autobahn and this weekend was a no-brainer on my must-do list.

Enhanced by the fall colours in the trees, pretzels, micro-breweries and what could have possibly been the best surprise view out of my hotel in the morning (see photo of market in the square), this trip certainly lived up to my hopes.

Planned for a weekend trip, we got ridiculously cheap airfare to Stuttgard, Germany where we picked up our cute little Mercedes and were on out way down the autobahn on to the "Schwarzwaldhochstrabe" a.k.a. the Black Forest Mountain Road.  (Now that I look at it in writing, the German translation is not all that more complex than the English!)

c/o Ms. Fin.

The Fall colours were stunning, and as we wove our way up the winding roads in altitude we passed in and out of dense patches of fog, laced with the aphrodisiac of smoked ham.  I read about the wine region there, but I did not expect it to be as stunning as it was.  High hills, stratified with rows of plateaus supporting the vines, stained with their bright red autumnal leaves.  Wow.  The pictures I have do not do it justice.

And the village Freiburg, where we decided to stay, was great.  Smack dab on the main square around the stunning Gothic cathedral, it was cobblestoned streets laced with hanging vines supporting "bierstubes" and "weinstubes" with a particularly delicious micro-brewery.  On the first night I had a delicious cordon bleu pork and on the second night fresh trout (which had I had less to drink may have been a bit more freaked out by the presentation).

Throughout the days we visited Triberg, known for the origin of the cuckoo clock and its picturesque waterfall, of which the hike to in the fresh air was invigorating and provided for some fine practice with the camera (isn't that pic amazing??)

We concluded the journey with an authentic (and gigantic) slice of Black Forest cake, liberally laced with Kirsch (the cherry liquor the region is known for) in a VERY local cafe on a Sunday afternoon (avg. age 66, no English).

From there we "flew" back to the airport on the Autobahn.  180 km/hr is our official max.  Swear that rental had us restricted!

Loved it.  Loved it.

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