Black Forest

Our trip to the Black Forest (Schwarzwald) was a little disappointing for me. Call me a travel snob if you want but I really expected more. It really reminded me of Western NY because there were lots of rolling hills and lots of trees so I didn't dislike it but expected something more.

Our first stop was in Baden Baden. It is a cute town famous for its spas and casino. We didn't spend much time here because the main part of town is pedestrian only but I would like to visit there again and be a tourist. If I was much thinner I would love to visit the Roman-Irish bath for a relaxing 3 hours to myself. Unfortunately we ended stuck in a Stau (traffic jam) for nearly an hour as we left the town. We stopped at the House of 1000 Clocks to take a look at some of the famous Black Forest Cuckcoo clocks. After that we were off to our hotel (Hotel Silberkonig). We had a cozy room and a fantastic dinner at the restaurant downstairs. I had venison in a gravy with mushrooms and sour cherries. Along with that it had a appley purple cabbage and a side of a pasta or potato type noodle. I was in heaven. James had trout and Aubrey had some black forest ham. We shared a sundae with sour cherries and chocolate sauce for dessert and then we all went to bed stuffed and happy!

View from our hotel room

On Sunday we drove through Freiburg (FRY-burg), a busy college city, on our way to Staufen. Staufen is an adorable town. This town had a pedestrian only section as well and we strolled through. Aubrey was fascinated with all the dogs she saw while James and I enjoyed the view of castle ruins on a hill over looking the town.

Staufen Castle Ruins

After we left town we drove around and ended up at Burg Hohenzollern. This is an impressive structure that we could see from many miles away. It stands alone on top of a hill overlooking a valley. We toured this castle and no pictures were allowed of the inside. It was a short tour and we missed the english version so went along on the German tour with a little book describing all the rooms in english. This castle, just as with Neuschwanstein, is relatively new. It was rebuilt on top of castle ruins in the 1860's.

Burg Hohenzoller

We made home in one piece minus an incident with Aubrey in the car. Lets just say, I think Aubrey is most definitely, for sure, one little girl who will need some Dramine in the future. Lesson learned to open a window and pack more than 1 set of extra clothing.