Day 9 - Triburg, Germany (The Black Forrest!)
After breakfast at our hotel (which had the most amazing, fresh fruit salad of kiwifruit, grapes and raspberries) we boarded a tram and then multiple trains to make it to Triburg, the German town reknown for Cuckoo and on the edge of the Black forest!
Due to having to change multiple trains, we didn’t arrive to Triburg until midday. However, travelling during daylight hours meant we could glimpse the most quaint little towns, countryside and parts of the black forrest as they passed by. German countryside is so delightful and utterly picturesque – multiple field of a range of green shades, which contrasted to towns of white buildings (and tall church and bell towers) that all had red roof tiles, every few kilometers.
Our first point of call in Triburg was purchasing my Dad a Cuckoo clock. After visiting a few stores, he chose a traditional (and rather beautiful) clock that had a stag, hunting rifles and the cutest little bird to greet the hour. The history behind these ‘traditional’ motifs are that during winter when they were not hunting, the town hunters would carved their hunting rifles and game for these cuckoo clocks.
After that, we climbed (a very steep and windy 400m) to Germany’s highest waterfall, aptly named ‘Triburg waterfall’. On our way up, we passed the Triburg Christmas/New Years markets, that were still under construction. There was a tree that was being decorated in lights, and the top half was entirely red – FROM RED BAUBLES!!!! (Now decorating that is utter dedication – I guessed there was already about 1000 red baubles on the half covered tree!) The waterfall was magnificent and looked so magical and slightly mysterious amongst the black forest.
We then enjoyed Blackforrest Cake and it had to be the best we have all ever tasted! We went to this café, which in German translated to “Eagle Café”. They had the most amazing chocolates on sale at the front, with a café area beyond that (we bought a chocolate Cuckoo clock). I had a raspberry cheesecake, Mum had the Blackforrest cake, Dad had some raspberry + meringue delicacy and Evan had a homemade apple tart, with apple slices decorated on top. Needless to say, we shared our cakes and then quickly began defending our own, which we claimed was the best of all four!
We had the most amazing dinner in a little restaurant and then caught the 6:17pm train from Triburg back to Stuttgart, which arrived at 9:05pm. All four of us were stunned at how German public transport literally arrives to the second and is totally efficient. For example, we caught the bus (whose timetables coincide with train times) from the centre of Triburg to the train station, which is about 2km by road. The bus was due at 6pm – at 5:59pm the bus was 300m away from us and at the precise moment my phone clock changed to “6:00pm”, the bus stopped at the bus stop. It was a very precise bus ride to the train station and we alighted that vehicle at exactly 6:05pm, with an entire 12 minutes to wait for our on-time train.
It was another great return to Stuttgart and we played 500 amongst the four of us. However, we were playing with cards that Evan had bought in Belgium, decorated with Australian WW1 propeganda and ensription posters...on an incredibly packed German train. Needless to say, were discreetly shielded our cards to minimize any possibility of causing offence!!!!
So Ya, it has been an amazing day and I’m utterly stoked to have been to the forest that has inspired so many folk and fairy tales of magic, goblins, witches, Cuckoo clocks…and Blackforrest cake!!
