The Black Forest

On Thursday we explored the Black Forest. We drove the "Black Forest High Street" (Schwarzwaldhochstrasse), a scenic road that takes you through the forest and past various small villages and lookout points. At first we thought the rain was going to have an impact on things but it cleared up by mid-morning and it turned out to be a nice day.

Our first noteworthy stop was at the Mummelsee, a mountain pond at one of the highest points on the road. The views from here were amazing, looking down into the forest below. At the Mummelsee itself is a small group of shops and a paddle boat rental place. We decided to rent a boat, even though no one else was out there and went out onto the lake. It was a lot of fun on the lake and quite interesting when the fog came in and we could only see about 20m in any direction. We ate lunch here and for dessert tried a slice of the "Black Forrest Cherry Cake" (Schwarzwalder Kirschtorte). It was OK, the liqueur and also the cherry flavors were quite strong so the kids did not like much more than the cream itself.

From here, we completed the drive on the scenic road which ends at Freudenstadt. At this point, we headed for Triberg, the site of the largest waterfall in Germany. There were several nice souvenir shops in the main street, most of them selling cuckoo clocks and other wood products from the forest. After browsing these we headed for the waterfall. It was certainly worth the trip. There was a path up to the falls with various stopping points along the way for taking in the scenery. We walked up to the top of the falls, stopping to feed the squirrels along the way. Naomi almost had one take a peanut from her hand.