Der Schwarzwald
Trip Start
May 18, 2008
1
39
51
Trip End
Jul 21, 2008
Triberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Thursday, July 3, 2008
We went into the ticket line because weren't sure about their machines. Turns out that was a good idea because we got a good deal on tickets. We took our first train to Offenburg. We got to Offenburg, and saw that the next train wasn't coming for 40 minutes, at 6, so I asked the information window when the next one was. I showed him that we had tickets, and he said the next one wasn't until 7. I was very proud to be able to talk to him because I was finally able to make use of may multiple years of studying German. We decided to get on the 6 train and just hope that we had the appropriate tickets and that no one would check.
Sure enough, a couple minutes after the train started moving, a woman came around checking our tickets. I showed her our tickets, and she looked at them for a while, but eventually punched them and went on her way. We soon began passing through very cute, little, mountainous, German towns. They were beautiful. I tried to get some pictures while we were moving. I then saw a castle on a hill that I wanted a picture of. We then stopped at a small train station, so I ran to the edge of the platform, snapped a picture, and jumped back on the train. We then got off the train in Triberg. The first thing we noticed was the fresh mountain air. It smelled so good.
We then checked what time we needed to be back to get the train (in 2 and a half hours), and headed toward town. We walked and followed the signs for the highest waterfall in Germany. The road forked, so I asked this young kid (around 13) where the waterfall was and if we could get black forest cherry cake there. He told us we were heading in the right direction, and we could get cake there. As we were walking up the steep road though, everything seemed closed.
We then saw a confectionary shop that was open and we got very excited. We went to walk in, but she stopped us because she had just mopped and seemed to be closing. But she waved us in and had us stand behind the counter. We asked her if we could have some black forest cherry cake. She then handed us the entire cake, and then a strawberry pie and raspberry pie. She asked if wanted our picture taken with the cake/pies, and so she did. As we were deciding what we wanted she threw some cherry tarts and a cinnamon croissant in a bag and handed them to us for our walk. We then decided to get a slice of each of the things she handed to us so we could try all of them because the all looked so good. We were ushered out onto her pretty patio to eat. We put our food on the table, and were about to take a picture of our desserts, and she brought over a flower to add to our table to make it even prettier. She then brough all of us a glass of water too. We devoured it so that we could hurry to the waterfall. We then asked her how much we owe her, and it was only 2.20 each. Alina then asked her what kind the chocolates were in her case. She then told me, in German, as she handed one to each of us that they were chocolate covered cherries with brandy, but to be carefull when we eat them so they don't get on our shirts and because there is a pit in them. Not really realizing that she said this in German, I didn't warn Alina that it was alcoholic (she doesn't do alcohol). She was then watching for us to try them, so we all ate them. The brandy in them was very strong, but they were yummy. I then asked her how much we owe her for the candy, and she said it was a free souvenir. She was the nicest lady ever. She also told us that the waterfall was only 5-10 minutes up the road.
We were walking and we stopped to look at the biggest cuckoo clock in the world. We saw lots of shops with neat cuckoo clocks and cool wood carvings, but they were all closed. We kept walking and taking pictures along the way. We finally reached the entrance to the waterfall.
We started our way up the mountain and saw the waterfall. It was beautiful. I had to stop every couple of feet to take some picture. Alina and Amber, however, didn't stop. I had to run to catch up with them every time. It was a great workout. We then continuted up the hill even further up to the top. When we reached the top, we climbed out onto the rocks in the waterfall (the waterfall was not that strong) to get our pictures taken. We then walked down the mountain back to the bottom. When we got to the bottom we saw a souvenir shop called black forest ham. We wanted some and wanted to shop, but it was closed. Boo. We decided to just go to the one restaurant that was open for dinner. We all had such an adrenaline rush from seeing something so cool, and having a good workout (since we haven't really had one in soooo long). If felt really good.
We looked at the menu for something with black forest ham in it, and so we got Goulasch soup. It was very very good. I was very happy. I burned my mouth though because I was eating it so fast in order to ensure that we make it back in time for the train. The water that we were given was bottled water from a well that collects the water from the black forest. Amber and Alina really like the bowls that we were eating out of, so they wanted me to ask the Hausfrau that served us (in her typical dress) in German. She was standing near us, and seemed to think this was rude, and informed us that she speaks English, as though she was insulted that we were going to try to communicate with her in her language. She then informed us that she can't sell them to us because she needs them to serve food. Two minutes later she came out with bowls from somewhere else that looked identical for 8 euro. She asked how many we wanted. Alina and Amber definitely wanted one, so I decided to get one too because they were really nice.
We then walked quickly back down the streets to the train station. We got there with 25 minutes to spare before the train was scheduled to come. The train, however decided not to come. While waiting we realized that this secluded train station in the mountains was the popular hang out spot for kids. There were about four cars full of kids just hanging out and doing nothing. It was funny. We checked the schedule to see when the other train was coming and there was another to come, but we were scared to catch it because we would only have four minutes to get to our connecting train. We had to try though because this train and our connecting train were our only option to get back to Strasbourg tonight. The train came five minutes late. We were hoping the train would make us some time, or we would arrive in Offenburg for our connection a minute after it left.
We got to Offenburg with a minute to spare. We didn't know which platform to go to, so we ran to the schedule, found our platform, then sprinted there. I almost got hit by a guy on a bike int he process. We jumped on the train in a flash, and then sat down. The train then didn't leave for two minutes. We were just excited to have made our necessary trains. We then had a stop in Kehl, and they kicked us off the train, even though the train said it was going to Strasbourg. We asked the driver how we were to get to Strasbourg, and he said we had to go out of the train station and take the train.
We hopped on the train, and got to Strasbourg at 11:45. We then ran to the train station to catch the tram to our hotel. As we were about to go downstairs, the lights turned off. We asked a security guard if the tram was coming, and he said it was done coming (even though we were told it'd make it's last one at 12). We then decided that we had to take a taxi back because there was no way we were walking to our hotel (which is off the map of the city I was given). It wasn't too expensive, but once we got back to the hotel, we heard a tram running. Not fair. We then got ready for bed, and for court tomorrow.
