The Black Forest (Schwarz Wald)

Today we ventured into Germany's fabled Black Forest. It's only 5 minutes to cross the border and you're in the rich heritage of cuckoo clocks, black forest cake, and age old traditions. We started our adventure in Schonach (75 miles north of Basel), the cradle of the cuckoo clock industry AND the world's largest cuckoo clock. Afterwards we ventured into Triberg (less than a mile down the road) to visit Germany's highest waterfall and the great Black Forest Museum. It had a lot of great exhibits about wood carving, straw thatching, traditional dress including the red-ball hat, the Black Forest Railway and the largest collection of barrel organs (street calliopes) in Europe. After lunch we each tried a piece of traditional black forest cake which was laden with whipped cream and lots of cherry liquor in the bottom layer (YUMMY!). Off to Furtwangen to experience the German Clock Museum and the headstream of the Danube River (which ends 1795 miles away in Romania into the Black Sea!). We ended our trip in Titisee, a traditional village set on a beautiful lake. It's hard to believe we've been here over a year and this is our first Black Forest experience - we'll be back!

See all of Robert's great photos here!