Triberg, Schonach im Schwarzwald

Ok folks we’re going bush for a day.  Hermann will take us about 45kms west into the Black Forest.  We’re going to see if the Black Forest is actually black!  But first we’ll walk off the bacon & eggs, cold cuts & cheese, OJ & coffee etc.  The day looks to be a pearler. Maybe summer is here. Doh!  risking the mocker.  It’s only a walk of one block to the main drag, and another to Hauptstrasse.  The market folk have gone, and we’ve got a nice view down to Black Gate.
More trivia  on Rottweil:  (pronounced ‘Rott-vile’. Now roll your tongue up tight and say it again!).  The history of this former Imperial town on the Neckar River goes back to the time of the makers of band ceramics in 2000BC (but we all knew that!).  🙂  In AD73 the Romans built a military base here. Rottweil is the oldest town in province of Baden-Württemberg, and apparently its appearance has changed very little since the 16^th century.

Kath finds the Rottweiler dog on Hauptstrasse and gives it a pat.  Quite friendly these dogs (if they’re yours!).

Upper Hauptstrasse.

Early morning at the Black Gate.  More details in my last post.

Up high on Schwarzes Tor I see a ….. ??  Well what the hell is this?  A 13th century Kermit.

Photographers building art.

Hermann took us down to the Neckar River and this old covered bridge.  Details unknown.

Crusty old bridge art. Spiders have broken through the seal.

Coming back from the old bridge Kath snaps another ‘entry to Rottweil’ photo.

Ok, so it’s time to head west.  Our GPS takes us 50kms through a few umm, interesting towns.  Once again we have this repetitive driving experience that goes something like this.  50kmph through a town, 70kmph, 100kmph (for 300metres), down to 50kmph (but no road sign to indicate the speed difference), 30kmph if streets are narrow or complex (yup, signals appear for these), 50kmph, 70kmph, 100kmph (for 500metres if we’re lucky), 80kmph, 50kmph etc etc repeat above. And watch for those speed cameras.
We spot this honey in a small town called Horgen.  She waves.

JB… you were interested in the local vege gardens. This kind gentleman was more than happy to show us a sample of what he’s been growing. Hope this helps.

The Schwarzwald (Black Forest) is a wooded mountain area of 12,000 square kms in southwestern Germany, so named because the dense growth of conifers in the forest block out most of the light inside the forest.  We can confirm that the Black Forest is NOT black!  🙂

Near Triberg.

First stop was at Schonachbach 27,  Schonach im Schwarzwald to see the world’s biggest cuckoo clock, complete with a monstrous pendulum and a real cuckoo!  This IS cuckoo clock country. Generations of clock makers have been making them here for yonks.  More pictures later.

We always like to snare a reasonable souvenir from each trip and this time it’ll be a cuckoo clock.  We just need to find the right one.  They are big, they are small, they are quartz, they are traditional mechanical, they cost big, they cost small, they have sooo much variation.  We decide we don’t want quartz operated.  The mechanical options do more, sound better, and have more to them, including the traditional long chain as opposed to the short decorative one.  Unfortunately the price is higher as well. Never mind, let’s do this properly.  We looked over them all and liked the one in this photo (bottom row, second from right). But first we’d drive 2kms down the road into Triberg to see what else was on offer.

The ‘pine cones’ in these clocks are quite heavy. Not so in the quartz clocks, they’re light weight, decorative and serve no purpose. The clocks above have 3 pine cones. One for the cuckoo, one for the melodies, and one for the time.  Here’s a closer look at the clock we would eventually buy.  €368 and at the limit of what we’d want to pay, but then price depends on size, features, and whether it’s mechanical or quartz.  Usual story, you get what you pay for.

Just before we left the monstrous cuckoo appeared.

Into Triberg.   This is the home town of the cuckoo clock!  Black Forest clock makers are renowned for making precision clocks. They’ve been made here since the early 18th century.  Here’s the Rathaus.

Building art on the main street (Haupststrasse).

And again.

Pretty.

Also on Hauptstrasse.

The infamous House of 1000 clocks. Really?  We took a look in here. Saw a nice quartz clock, but it was just too fake compared to the mechanical clocks (eg lightweight cones, decorative chain, recorded cuckoo sound etc etc. ).  It looked ok, but…  yeah nah.
Is that Dan Bridge outside???

It certainly has luring building art.

Unfazed, we walked out, then checked out another clock shop next door, and again it was yeah nah.  Our original choice remained at no.1. We continued up the road towards the waterfall for which Triberg is also famous.

Here is the entrance to the Triberger Wasserfälle.  The Triberg Waterfalls, a series of waterfalls in the Gutach River, are among the tallest in Germany with a total vertical drop of 151m (496 feet).  I’d seen photos of them and, they don’t compare with what we have at home, so we flagged a look (and the €8ea for the pleasure!).  On another day it might be a nice hike up the hill beside them, but they’re just a tad more than a trickle so we bailed out.

Instead we headed right across the road to Hotel Pfaff, which apparently has the best Black Forest cake in the business.   Table for two please!  We sat outside. It’s a beautiful day! This is the #2 ‘must do’ in Triberg.  🙂

Here she is.  Contrary to popular belief ,the Black Forest Cake isn’t named after the Black Forest. It’s named from the liquor called Schwarzwalder Kirsch(wasser) which is the regional specialty (distilled from tart cherries) and this gives the cake its flavor. The layers of cake, cherries, and cream work together to create this dessert. A dieter’s nightmare. Bring it on!!  Although I really enjoyed it, Kath was sort of so-so. Don’t expect a chocolate gateau and you’ll be fine!

Does beer go with cake?  Stupid question.  Beer goes with everything.  Two please!

Our view towards the Waterfalls.  We wonder what the lady with many chins thought of the cake.

It’s humming at the entrance to the falls.

Let’s walk this off.  Dahhh another pig.  Life size this time!

Looking back at the picturesque Hotel Pfaff.

Shops near by.

Closer.

Closer.

Back down the main street.






Orange building art.

Hauptstrasse looking towards the falls.

We head back to see how Hermann’s doing.  He’s cookin’ in the sun.  Open the doors, let the air in. Close the doors, and put the air cond on pronto!  We drive up the road further in to Schonach im Schwarzwald.  Someone here has built a cuckoo clock house!  Kidding!  Nope.  Head to Weltgrößte Kuckcucksuhr, Untertalstrasse 28 and see it!

View from the road. Go inside and pay €2 to get out the back for a view of it.  Quite impressive.
We go inside. The workings of the clock (mostly wooden) are moving nicely.  The women shows us the inside of a very small clock (you can see it in this photo – sitting on the next rail up from the floor rail at far right).  She explains that the man who lives next door replicated each part of that clock but 50 times the size!  And here is the result.

Close up.

Out the door we all went for a look at ‘the’ clock.

The half hour strikes and out comes the bird.

Ok… visit complete.  Time to head back to Eble Uhren-Park at Schonachbach 27, Schonach im Schwarzwald to see if that clock is still there.

Yup it is.  We make the purchase. Now we have to lug it around.  The plan is to carry it onto each flight.  Posting it was an option but at €72 plus the NZ GST cost, we decided to take it with us.  We’d spent enough already !!  We’ll also get a rebate on the German tax (€36) at Frankfurt airport.  One last photo while Kath and Hermann wait patiently.

On the way back to base we stopped at a supermarket and scored a few beers, some nibbles, and also salad style food for tonight’s scoff. We’ll crack open the 2nd of our three bottles of Kessler bubbles.  It doesn’t disappoint but we both agree the first bottle had the edge.

Blog done early. Settling back for a few drinks.   Auf Wiedersehen!!