Day 49 - The Black Forest

Woke up starving, so did my best to rectify the situation at breakfast. We had a plate of meat & cheese, several rolls mainly with delicious pâté & followed it with fruit. After checking out, we drove into Freiburg im Breisgau & parked up in an underground car park. We then commenced a mad dash around the city centre must-sees.

First was Martin’s Gate, an iconic medieval gate tower with a clock (and a McDonalds). After a photo from either side, we galloped to the other side of town to Freiburger Munster, a grand cathedral with a unique Gothic tower. Freiburger Munster was started to be built in 1200 in a romanesque style, but construction continued in 1230 in a Gothic style, which accounts for the architecture.

Around the outside of the cathedral were market stalls preventing me getting a decent photo of it in it’s entirety. We entered & were able to wander around admiring the ornate interior, but they wanted to charge us to tour the choir seats & alter. Surely god’s houses should be free. Jesus would be turning in his grave if he only knew!

We continued to wander around the town getting our money’s worth of the car park, then with minutes to spare we returned to our car & paid for just one hour. Next stop was The Schlossbergturm which was a 10 minute drive up a steep wooded hill. We abandoned our car at the top end of a Funicular railway, then climbed up on foot a further half a mile to the Schlossbergturm.

The Schlossbergturm or Castle Hill Tower is a 35 m high observation tower on Castle Hill Schlossberg on the edge of the historic Altstadt of Freiburg im Breisgau. It has 153 steps, its top is located 463 m above sea level and thus 185 m above the average altitude of the city (278 m). The tower which was built in 2002 stands out for its unusual design consisting of twisted tree trunks around a staircase made of steel. It has three platforms on the top is reached by a small spiral staircase.

Despite being scared of heights, I decided to climb the Schlossbergturm, whilst Jackie couldn’t be bothered or so she said. Throughout the climb I could see the floor shrinking below me & I was clinging on for dear life. By the time I reached the top I was walking like Mrs Overall. The top of the tower gives stunning views of the town & surrounding countryside below apparently. I hung my camera over the railing & clicked away. I was aware I was making a spectacle of myself because people were looking at me, so I creeped back down the spiral staircase to the bottom. Apparently, Jackie didn’t see me at the top waving to her!

Returning to the car, we were relieved to see that it had been clamped or towed. We then set the SatNav for Lake Titisee (I’m not making it up!) which was about 20 miles away. We parked up & followed the elderly crowds into Titisee, which is THE home of cuckoo clock making. We were bombarded with cuckoo shops & other tourist tat shops. Jacqueline couldn’t resist looking & soon established that there were some bargains to be had.

I dragged her away to the glacier lake, which didn’t look as spectacular as others we had seen, but it was fighting against black clouds looming overhead. At 12.55pm, we located the world’s largest cuckoo clock (it wasn’t) & waited for it’s 1.00pm performance, which turned out to be a total anticlimax.

We consoled ourselves with a beer in the sun, secured a bed for the night, then we had a Bratwurst in a bun for lunch. Jackie apparently was in the mood for shopping & she bought some mementos/alcohol. If that wasn’t enough, we (she) then went clothes shopping. Despite us nearly buying a pair of boots & a German fighter pilot leather jacket, we eventually walked away with 2 scarfs & a felt hat, all for Jackie.

We decided to head straight to our hotel to plan our final days of the trip on our room balcony. We bought a couple of bottles of German white wine & checked ourselves into our ski chalet hotel in Schonwald im Schwarzwald, just 4 miles south of Triberg. In front of our balcony are 2 huge fir trees that blocked out our view of anything else, but were the home for 2 red squirrels.

On our balcony we drank our two bottles of too sweet wine, then headed downtown for something to eat. In the whole town, there was just one restaurant open, Pizzeria Holzfällerstube, which was chock a block. We waited until a table became available with a couple of large beers.

I stupidly ordered the house pizza & Jackie ordered a chilli pasta. When it eventually arrived Jackie’s pasta was not a patch on what she can make & my pizza was so overloaded that it became soggy. We ate about a half of our respective disappointing meals then ordered.the bill. It was at this point that we were informed that we had to pay the bill of €30 by cash.

We only had a €10 note, so I went off in search of the only ATM in town. Eventually I found it, but it didn’t like our Caxton card, so that was that. I returned to the restaurant with the news & after much umming & aahing the waiter told us we could bring them the cash tomorrow. Of course we will.

We celebrated our good fortune, sorry embarrassing incident, with a nightcap of cherry schnapps.

Song of the Day : A Forest by The Cure

Bonus Song of the Day : The Staircase (Mystery) by Siouxsie & the Banshees.Read more