Schwarzenwald (Black Forest) Adventure

Basel is located very close to the Black Forest in Germany.  However, rail/bus transportation is not quite as thorough in Germany as it is in Switzerland and there is less English overall both spoken and on websites. Google Translate is great, but there are some sites that aren't able to be translated and even those that are can still be difficult to make sense of.  I wasn't feeling very hopeful about planning a journey to see the Black Forest, and when I asked people here they all said you really need a car to make the journey.  

Well, I did some more digging and finally found a link to Black Forest Tours - To Go!.  Simone, who runs the business, is from the Black Forest but spent 15 years living in San Francisco.  She started her tour group to cater to English speaking travelers who face the same frustrations that I did in trying to plan such a journey.  We chose to purchase her one day tour of the southern Schwarzenwald, via the Hell's Valley Railroad.  While it would have been great to be able to actually tour with Simone, that option was out of our budget.  However, we had a great time making use of the documents she provided to us, including information on the train stations, tickets to purchase, stops along the way, and lots more.  If I hadn't found her site, we never would have made it into the forest, and that would have been a big disappointment. Thanks, Simone!

Conveniently, the German rail station in Switzerland, the Badischer Bahnhof, is just a 10 minute walk from our apartment.  That meant we were able to get a pretty early train to Freiburg and were on our way on the Hell's Valley Railroad by 9:10.  

Layla and Josh spy the train, and Layla's wildest dream finally comes true!

It's an "up and down train"!  

Our first stop on the trip was to Titisee to find the lake.  Titisee is super touristy but also really cute.  And sometimes you just have to embrace the role.  We are tourists, after all!

Lake Titisee (kind of redundant, I suppose!)

First task, rent a pedal boat for a fun trip around the lake.

Josh helps.

Layla drives. 

Our friend, the duck.  

Can you guess what the kids wanted to do next?

They would have to wait a bit longer for the ferris wheel, though.  Next stop, the beach!

Which also had a pool!

Layla has been LOVING the water lately (she chose pool this time, as the lake was too cold).  She could have stayed here all day!  The facility was amazing, and only cost a few Euro.  Back home, this would be some private club that no one else could visit without an extraordinary fee.  The States may have ice and air conditioning, but Europe knows how to do public places, for sure.  Josh was pretty tired and didn't want to swim at all, or we very well may have stayed here all day.  Instead, once he perked up a bit, it was off to the ferris wheel!

If you know me well, you know that this was not my preferred activity.
Definitely did it for the kids!

Next stop: popsicles, (ice cream) and Black Forest cake!

Then L and J stopped for a bite of ice cream.

Next we did some window shopping while we waited for the bus to Feldberg.

This region is known for its cake, cuckoo clocks, and wooden carvings. 

Having fun while waiting for the bus.  

Patient kids.

Next up: Feldberg's Haus der Natur (nature museum) and Feldberg Mountain

The museum was great for the kids, even though all of the displays were in German.  There were lots of interactive displays and the highlight, of course, was our "trip" in a hot air balloon.

Haus der Natur.

Up, up, and away!!!

 

On our way to the mountain gondola we spotted these horses and ponies as well as some chickens who had shade provided by a Malteser Weissbier umbrella!  My maiden name was Maltese and I was intrigued.  We didn't manage to try the Malteser on this trip, but perhaps in Heidelberg next weekend!

 We were a few minutes too late to actually ride the ponies (if you've been following the blog, you may notice a pattern here!), but the kids were able to pet them and get some horse kisses.

Finally, it was time to take the gondola up Feldberg Mountain (really, a hill, compared to last weekend's Alps!)

Going up!

Lake Feldberg

We could barely make out the Alps in the distance.
At first we saw some faint mountains and thought they were the Alps.
Then we looked up a bit more into the sky and could see a range of snowy peaks,
easily confused with cloud.  You can't see them here :(.

Our ride down the mountain. 

Finally....off to the bus to Titisee and then a train ride to Freiburg to find our hotel and some dinner.

Our hotel, Novotel, was located very close to the train station, so we wasted no time dropping off our bags (checking the tv for cartoons) and heading into the old city for dinner.  We were torn between wanting authentic and wanting picky-kid friendly.  It was already past 7:00 so we were all pretty hungry.  It was tough finding the right place in a new city.  Even when we stopped to check out some places, it was tricky to tell from the menu exactly what was offered.  During our search, we found the famed baechle, and Joshua even landed in one!  The baechle date to the Middle Ages and run throughout the old city.  Brilliant!  More on the baechle tomorrow!

Checking out the baechle.

During our hunt for dinner, we were passed by this pedal-powered bar on wheels.
The guys on board seemed to be having a blast!
The next day we saw a "party wagen" - one of the tram cars driving around with a party on board.
There is definitely a fun vibe in this university town!

Eventually we found a restaurant that was removed from the main street.  We were able to get our schnitzel fix, and also order ravioli for the kids.  The kids, however, were too intrigued by the courtyard next door to really sit and eat.  They had lots of fun playing Mike the Knight and building a castle while Chris and I ate our meal.

Courtyard next to the restaurant.  Seemed to be part of a university museum, maybe,
so there was no one around and nothing for them to bother.  It was great! 

Mike the Knight! (another BBC cartoon reference!)

Building a stick castle.  

Josh, 5 minutes after arriving at the hotel, demonstrating how we all felt!

There was a lot more to see in the Black Forest, but our little guys (and, truthfully, us big guys, too!) were only up for so much in one day.  We needed to save some energy for a day in Freiburg!