Hiking in the Black Forest

October 4-5, 2021

After saying goodbye to Sarah and Ave, they went back to Frankfurt and I traveled south, taking two trains and a bus to get me to Triberg, in the heart of the fabled Black Forest. My plans included two days of hiking while I was there.

It was pretty magical the next morning. All different shades of green, with mist hanging around in the trees. It was raining pretty good, but that's what raincoats are for.

I started my day headed to the Triberg waterfall, which claims to be the tallest waterfall in Germany. The area was pretty, with walking paths through the forest. The trees were teeming with birds and pointy-eared red squirrels.

The waterfall was very nice. There were several boardwalk view points arranged for you to enjoy the best parts of the waterfall.

While I have seen taller falls in my life, it was still beautiful. Also the area was largely deserted, probably due to it being October (aka not tourist season) and rainy.

Up the long path past the waterfalls and out the top of the park was the start of my hiking for the day. Although I couldn't figure out which way to go for the trail that I had planned (the next day I realized I was just looking at the wrong part of the sign) I figured I'd just follow the signs for 4km to Schönwald, the next town over, and see what happened.

The trail took me along logging roads through the forest. It was signed pretty well, with little diamond trail markers on trees every so often, and the big sign posts at crossroads. While the hike was different than my brain had imagined, it was beautiful and varied scenery, and a pretty flat walk, and I enjoyed myself very much.

The Black Forest actually has much more green...

I continued through Schönwald and went another 6.5km to Furtwangen, where I found a much needed bathroom and a bratwurst for lunch.

The descent down into Furtwangen started in the trees high above the town, and went down the little winding path all the way there.

I successfully managed to find a bus back to Triberg, so luckily I didn't need to walk the whole thing in reverse. I put my feet up on the couch in my room for a little bit, then found some dinner, and went to bed tired.

The next day I repeated the experiment, but went in a different direction. The waterfall was still lovely, and the sun was out which had a nice effect through the trees.

At the signpost I selected a northward trail, headed towards Shonach instead. The hike was shorter, about 4 km, and took me on some actual trails through the woods rather than all logging roads, as well as across the tops of meadows and across hills.

The meadows often times contained cows.

The sky was feeling extra dramatic that day.

At one point I went right under one of the wind turbines that dot the landscape. It's the closest I've been to one, and was tickled to hear the 'woosh, woosh, woosh' as the blades went around.

The approach to Schonach was picturesque, as per usual, and once again I managed to find a bus back to Triberg. It felt good to get some exercise, fresh air, and sunshine.

Triberg itself is a cute little town nestled into the trees.

Other than the waterfalls, it's got a cultural museum with a bewildering variety of displays, ranging from traditional clothing and hats, to grass weaving, to self-playing musical instruments, to the radio invented in the area, to bobsledding and luge.

There's a bunch of souvenir shops, and every one of them had a dedicated section for the cuckoo clocks the Black Forest is known for. While expensive and not my taste, they all had undeniably beautiful wood carving and decoration. I was glad I was never in one of the shops at the top of the hour. 

Triberg is also known for it's pom-pom hats, which are traditional for the women to wear. They are piled with giant red or black puffballs (signifying single or married) and are all over signs and souvenirs in the area. My favorite thing was the line of giant Easter Island statues along the river in town that got pom-pom hats too.

I was sad to leave the Black Forest after just a couple of days. It really is just a beautiful area, and somehow it's different than other forests I've seen and hiked in before. Maybe it's the colors, maybe it's the fact that there's both trees and fields hanging out together. Either way, 5 stars, I'd totally go back again and explore more of it.

Heidelburg - Another Castle on a River

October 3, 2021

Our time in Heidelburg was not long, but very enjoyable I thought.

The town is right on the Neckar River, and even though it's not totally medieval like Rothenburg was, it still had plenty of picturesque going on.

We got in after dark on Saturday, checked into the hotel and had dinner at the attached bar downstairs. Sunday after breakfast we walked along the river to visit the castle perched on the hill.

A quick 2 minute ride up the hill on the funicular, and we were ready to explore the grounds.

As with other castles so far, it's got beautiful sandstone construction and lots of ornamentation.

In a cellar we saw a giant wine barrel. There were no interpretive signs saying anything about why it was there or what it's purpose was, but it was definitely big.

Sarah and Avery for scale.

Also on the grounds was an apothecary museum, which had some rooms talking about old apothecary shops, and the history of medicine and laboratories. Apparently Robert Bunsen of the Bunsen Burner was working at the university in Heidelburg when he invented it. My favorite part was all the old time medicine jars and containers.

 

The gardens gave a good view of a ruined tower, and of the river below. The reverse of the view we had seen before.

After lunch Sarah and Avery hopped a train back to Frankfurt, and I went south to the Black Forest for a couple days of hiking. We all agreed that Heidelburg was a good stop to make.

Rothenburg ob der Tauber

October 1-2, 2021

To my delight, Sarah and Avery were able to take a long weekend and come adventuring with me. (And also translate stuff for me along the way) Our first day was in Rothenburg (Rote-en-burg). It's name translates to the red town above the Tauber (river) and it has a wonderfully preserved medieval old town section, still walled off from the more modern parts of the city.

Going through the entrance gate into the old town.

It's small streets are filled with real half-timbered houses (not modern ones with the timbers painted on) dating back to the 1800s. After dropping our bags at our 100+ year old guesthouse, we wandered around town.

The gothic church had a small fee to go in, and was totally worth it. The 50 meter tall inside was stunning, and parts of it's construction date back to the 1300s. I especially enjoyed the organ pipes in the back.

We headed next to the castle gardens which had a lovely park area, as well as a view down into the Tauber valley and back to another part of the walled city.

From there we got up onto the walls themselves. You can walk several kilometers around the perimeter of the town, looking down at the red tile roofs below.

We got an afternoon snack of flammkuchen (flame cake) which is basically a thin crust pizza. This one was the traditional cheese, bacon and onion. I also tried an aperol spritz, the popular drink around here which has orangy aperol, champagne, and some other fruit juice.

Another meander around town during golden hour brought more beautiful views of the valley and buildings lit up as the sun started dipping down.

For dinner I got my Oktoberfest beer and had a yummy chicken dish. I got the 'small' beer at half a liter, and I have no idea how anyone goes through multiples of the full liter steins. That's just so much liquid.

After dinner we caught the start of the night watchman's tour. Each night two guys, (one for the German tour, one for English) dress in historical night watchmen outfits, grab their halberds and horns, and lead a group of tourists Pied Piper style through the streets talking about the medieval history of the town. There was a lot of people watching value when everyone gathered in the square to begin.

The next morning at breakfast, we asked our host Norry about his 'Norryphone' the guidebooks mentioned. He has created a cross between a baritone sax and a trombone, and we persuaded him to play for us.

The keys on the sax were replaced with the three valves of the trombone, and that whole section slid up and down to get the changes in pitch like a trombone, but it had a bari sax bell to help give it that rich sound.

Sarah made the mistake of telling him she played the french horn, so he brought out a flugelhorn for her to play, and we had breakfast duets. Truly the best way to start the day.

Our morning plan before train time was to the Torture Museum, which had extensive collections talking about medieval torture and punishment, as well as laws, legal proceedings, money, and other administrative type things since ancient times. Let me just say I'm glad our justice system has evolved a little since then.

A variety of tools to clamp around neck and wrists for public humiliation.

The afternoon was complete with a schneeball pastry from the cafe, as I heard they had the best in town. Basically strips of really light pie crust wrapped in a ball, fried, and coated with powdered sugar. More delicious than it sounds, actually, and just right for a second breakfast snack.

Then we grabbed our bags and headed to the train station to catch a train. Next stop- Heidelburg.