For our second weekend in Switzerland, we fled the city for nature. Not far from Basel sits the German border, roughly a 15 minute drive by car. Fortunately, that means the Black Forest isn't too far beyond that point, located in the southwestern part of the country, and easily accessible by train. It was there, in Deutschland, where we went exploring through the depths of the Schwarzwald.
We were excited to take the infamous rail lines of Europe for the very first time. From Basel's German station (Basel SBB Bahnhof) we took an ICE train to Freiburg, switched trains, and then hopped on an R to the small village of Feldberg, our stop Altglashutten-Falkau.
The trains were comfortable and fast, a perfect way to get around.
In just under 2 hours time, we were in the Black Forest. We stayed in the quiet village of Feldberg at an adorable inn called Hotel Waldeck. When we arrived at our stop we had about a 10 minute walk along this trail to our cozy abode.
Hotel Waldeck was perfectly quaint inside and out. Our room had a flower-rimmed balcony and lovely view of the setting sun. We settled in and then went in search of dinner.
The restaurant at Waldeck had just closed when we arrived, at 8:30pm, so we were advised to check out Gasthaus Zum Dorfkrug up the street. We were so glad we did!
To the delight of our wallets and our palates we happily engaged in a German feast! Having to carefully choose the least expensive item on the menu in Switzerland (reference: a Big Mac costs 11.50 Swiss franc and a small Starbucks coffee costs 5.90 Swiss franc and the exchange rate is very close to 1:1 = pricey!!!) we welcomed the Euro prices which were a third of what we'd been paying in Basel, we'll PROST to that!
The Dorfkrug has been in existence, in the same building, for over 360 years! As an American, it's kind of hard to fathom that kind of history......pretty old stuff here people!
The bartender was an absolute gem and we made conversation with a local as the three of us closed out the place. It was a good first night in Germany!
Saturday morning boomed in with a thunderstorm but soon cleared up to reveal deep blue skies and white puffy clouds, a perfect day for the outdoors! That's just what we had in mind after we explored our small village of Feldberg.
The village was so quaint, that even the fire hydrants had charm.
On our walk to the train station we came across a small herd of sheep; these natural lawnmowers paid us no attention. The sheepherder wasn't far off.
The train station.
The sheepherder.
We easily navigated public transport to Feldberg Mountain, the highest mountain in Germany, outside of the Alps.
We took a gondola to the top and skirted along the well-groomed paths, taking in the epic panoramas of the Black Forest.
It's said that the Black Forest was truly dark and without penetrable light up until the Middle Ages. Much of that changed when trees were felled for lumber. Today there are several hundred small villages that reside within the large forest.
I was in the presence of a true mountaineer...
Bismarck monument on the top of Feldberg.
Perhaps the altitude was getting to me but I kind of felt like singing...
Following a day in the mountains we were happy to get settled back to our inn at Hotel Waldeck. We enjoyed another hearty dinner, this time at our hotel, but couldn't resist a visit back to the Dorfkrug. The same bartender was there again that night as we enjoyed more conversation and some good German biers!
The next day we traveled to a nearby village, Titisee. Situated on Lake Titisee, it was bustling with tourists. We enjoyed some shopping and a peaceful self-guided boat ride along the lake.
Brian's German souvenirs consisted of meat, ham, sausage, beef sticks, and cheese and all at affordable Euro prices. Brian really likes Germany.
Cuckoo clocks were invented in the Schwarzwald in 1737.
We rented a little aqua-green electric boat for a one hour ride.
View of the train we would later take to Freiburg and then home to Basel.
Danka shein Germany! What a wonderful trip.
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