Lake Titisee was beautiful this morning. I ate way too much for breakfast but it was so so good. Fresh smoked salmon and cream cheese, horseradish, rolls, pancakes, an array of cold cuts, including my absolute favorite, the mortadella like bologna one....mmmm!! We checked out and even though some of us were a little tired, we were in good spirits from the massive discount we got on the room.
We drove deeper into the Schwartzwald. The scenery is so wonderful. Thick, lush dark forests and rolling fields dotted with huge houses with giant roofs. Every shade of green imaginable is represented. We stopped at our hotel in Triburg to drop off our luggage then headed to the Dorotheenhuette. The Dorotheenheutte is a working glass factory. They hand blow, shape, color and cut all sorts of glass. From wine goblets to Christmas orniments and jewelry. For five euros we got to tour the place they actually are blowing the glass. One of the glass blowers took a liking to me. I could tell because he kept whistling at me and saying Ciao, Bella! Italian men are not shy. I was allowed to go up to the glass blowing p,at form and take a ball of glass on a stick. I chose what colors I liked and the man dipped my glass ball in some color chips. He heated the ball in the furnace kiln thing and handed it back to me. I blew on the stick and he put it back in the fire. I took it out and blew again and it started to look like a vase. The man pressed a bottom on the vase and snapped it off of the stick. We let it cool for fifteen minutes and another man polished up the cut end for me. I walked away with a beautiful red and yellow glass vase I made myself. It was so exciting and fun.
From there we drove to Gutach and did a little shopping. There is an outdoor museum there where you can walk around and see what life used to be like in olden days. We chose to just visit the gift shop though. Driving back to Triburg we passed a really cute building on the side of the road. Everything in this area is carved wood and cuckoo clocks and this building looked a guant cuckoo clock. We pulled over and mom and I walked over to it. I put a euro in the slot and the entire building lit up. Wooden people were dancing, a dog was chasing a clockmaker man, deer were jumping, and a water wheel was moving actual water. I loved it! Got it all on video.
We checked into our room in Triburg and walked up the main street to a park. Our hotel, the Park hotel Wehrle, gave us free coupons to visit the waterfall in the park. We used our passes and hiked up the falls. They claim to be the highest falls in Germany. It was pretty warm out but the hike was shady. The falls were a pretty multi step falls. We hiked up to the second bridge. We could have bought peanuts to feed the squirrels but we never saw any of the famous squirrels. We also could have hiked into the forest but I was getting hot and the band aids on my feet were falling off so we headed back towards town.
In town we used another coupon from our hotel to visit the Schwartzwalder Museum. This place was huge. It took you on a journey through the history, culture and geology of the Black Forest. There were all these rooms you could go into. One showed all the traditional clothing, one showed a hat maker, one showed the clock maker, one room was all music boxes, one was the whole history of the cuckoo clock, there was a bob sledding room and you got to go through a pretend underground mine that displayed all the minerals of the region. Beautiful crystals, rocks and minerals. By the time we got to the end I was exhausted. I felt dehydrated and was getting cranky so we walked down the street to a cafe. I had a giant bubble water and a huge slice of Schartzwalder Torte. I felt like a million bucks after that. The cake was a light brown then a layer of sweet, Kirsch soaked cherries, then a layer of fluffy cream, then a Kirsch soaked layer of chocolate cake then more cream. I was in heaven.
With my new found energy mom and I were able to go shopping. I bought a little hand carved nativity scene. Most of the stores had all their walls comp,etely covered I. Clocks. Everything was ticking and clucking, cucukooing, and bonging. I already own two cuckoo clocks and I have no room in any bags to buy anything else but there was one I really liked. It was a small clock, about eight inches high. It looked like the traditional house and in front sat a little fox. The fox looked like my dog. I didn't buy it but I kept thinking about it. We bought a cute clock for my brother and went back to the hotel. I drank a whole bottle of the complimentary bubble water in my room. I took a rest on my balcony. I looked out onto the forest and half timber houses. I wore my long shirt like a dress and sunned my legs.
Feeling refreshed I dressed for the dinner we were having at the hotel and met my parents in the bar. The bar has a modern elegant decor. There is a giant chandelier in the middle lit up in red. There are black leather club chairs and bench seats. We chose a corner of the bar and read the extensive drink menu. This place makes anything from Mai Tais to Alabama Slammers. We had a coupon for a free drink each. Dad got an Americano, mom got an Aperol sour and I got a Campari Soda. The bartender put a lot of care and work into making the drinks. They were HUGE and delicious. In the bar, there was a couple who had just gotten married. We had seen them at the waterfall earlier that day taking their wedding photos. They had also taken up o e of the three dinner rooms for their wedding party. It looked beautiful.
The restaurant was really cool. There were two rooms for us to eat in. They were both white walled roms with dark, massivr beamed ceilings but the back room had a table I just HAD to sit at. It is an antique bed that they took the middle out and put a table in the middle. I felt lime I was in a tavern in 1549. The windows were made of the bottoms of wine bottles. There was an old fireplace and the beams in the ceiling look like they are 400 years old. The bed had to be just as old. You could tell because it was only long enough for a person no taller than five feet. It was pretty warm where we sat but it was worth it to be so cute in the wooden covered bed.
Our waitress, or should I say serving wench, no, I will say waitress, was dressed in a traditional dress with the white blouse and corset with long skirt. Dad had the menu which was spargle with fried goat cheese and prawns to start, mom started with capraccio (or kar-pace-io, as some Americans led it I. Lauterbrunnen) of tongue with scallops, which was devine. I started with a wild garlic soup with yummy croutons. We all shared a couple bottles of local wines. As a main course dad got a giltfisch with a salmon tartare, mom had lamb two ways and I got a saddlesteak of veal with an awesome crust of herbs and breadcrumbs. It came with an oxtail ragout. I also had a giant serving of spargle. Mom is the only one who likes asparagus so she had a lot spargle that night. The service was such that we got to spend a lot of time enjoying the meal which I like. It was all we were doing that night so why not?
For dessert dad had ice cream with strawberries and a mousse. We all shared it. It was a beautiful evening and the fanciest meal of the trip. I spent the remainder of the evening on my balcony watching the light fade over the Black Forest. I talked to the bf and told him about the cuckoo clock I liked. He said he wanted to buy it for me. I am so happy. The next day I went straight after breakfast and bought it. So cute. It has a cuckoo that first sounds like birds then has the coo-coo coo-coo coo-coo sound. Love it love it love it!!