In the Footsteps of Hansel and Gretel; a Blackforest, Germany Itinerary

Sold our cows and got our magic beans.
Managed to get our peasant hands on two business class tickets on SQ to Frankfurt during their KrisFlyer Spontaneous Escapes promo.

Which left us 2 weeks to hastily plan for our Blackforest and Bernese Alps vacation.
I imagined it to be a free and easy, spontaneous trip, with no definite plan in mind.
But my controlling self would not allow it.

Browsing accomodation options and attractions in between patients.
Wondering why you have to wait 15 minutes to see a doctor in an empty clinic?
Wonder no more.

The day arrived and we went 3 hours early for our flight.
Because business class lounge. SQ business class lounge.

Her eyes are closed because it's a surprise!

You can tell from my gleeful face this is our first business class experience.
The SAF chartered flight from Ex Wallaby on Air New Zealand doesn't count.

When your seatmate's a bit loud

More space than I know what to do with

I think a nuclear family could fit into a business class seat.

fancy

Arrived at Frankfurt Airport close to 10 pm and took their local rail to the city centre for about 4 Euro per person.

Apparently all trains lead to Frankfurt because the platforms aren't properly labelled

Met an overly friendly guy on the train who warned us that the train station would be shady.
Ok...
As we alighted he asked us which hotel we were staying and he could point us in the right direction. 
Riiiiiight...

Who knows maybe I'm cynical, maybe he was trying to help.
Better safe than sorry, eh? Anyway I've got Google Maps.

Made it to InterCity Hotel Frankfurt unscathed. Conveniently located by the train station. Small room but whatever, we leave in less than 12 hours.

Day 1

Wandered around looking for breakfast in the morning.

huh?

I guess that's why it's shady at night

a train diorama

Took their Intercity train, ICE 71 to Freiburg in the Scharzwald (Black Forest) region. We arrived at 12.40, about 20 minutes later than expected.
German efficiency isn't what it used to be.

Why Freiburg and not Offenburg or Baden-Baden?
We decided we were going to stay in one of the small towns deep in the Black Forest instead of the bigger city/ towns and Freiburg was the closest city with a car rental.

Not a connoisseur of medieval towns, and they all kinda look the same to me.
What I wanted was the Forest, the kind where the big bad wolf roams, and little children get lost.

Trails are well marked though, really not that easy for little children to get lost.

Still it's got its charms. Really crowded with tourists though.

Does he not remind you of a white walker?

One of these isn't Freiburg, can you tell? Does it matter?

Had lunch in a pub, Gaststätte Zum Schwabentörle, got some pork chops with this spatzle pasta.
Not a fan of the spatzle. It's like tasteless kueh.

between the pork chop and tenderloin, get the tenderloin.

Food in the Black Forest in general, really not much to write home about.

Ein Kolsch, and my pregnany wife looking longingly

Drove off for Hausern after lunch.

No Autobahn here, just the rural roads, with a paltry top speed of 130km/h.
Practically crawling by German standards.

True fact: there aren't any turn signals in the BMW

Checked in to the beautiful Hotel Adler.

Originally looked at a cheaper room, but the price difference was pretty negligible, so we looked at an upgrade, which was not that much cheaper from the next upgrade, ended up with their deluxe design room; 
and that is how you boil a frog.

Hotel Adler

the living room

the bedroom

You sleep on the same bed but the duvet comes separately. A European thing.

Things close early round here, and in Summer it's easy to lose track of time with their 14 hour day light.

Got to a brewery, the Badische Staatsbrauerei Rothaus,  some 15 mins away by car, for dinner.

They seem to favour the pilsner in the Black Forest, no Kolsch for me here.

Schweinshaxe was soggy skinned, surely this can't be a local preference.
Surely this can't be the best schweinshaxe the region has to offer!

 a travesty

Sadly I never got the chance at another schweinshaxe in the Black Forest. 

Should have ordered more sausage. 

But you really can't be too mad when the views' like that and it's a cool 18 degrees.

Day 2


First "hike"

Drove north to Triberg for its waterfall.

Parking is paid street parking. Moderate difficulty getting a lot.

You pay an entrance fee (5 euro) to see the falls, squeezing with the other hundred tourists, not quite the quiet connection with Nature that I envisioned.

Tourists expertly cropped out
Also it's a long exposure, can you tell?

Tourist

Apparently your entrance fee also gives you access to Triberg Land.
It's a tourist attraction with no business being an attraction.
It's a terrible collection of half working train models.
I'm not even sure what the whole point was. Was it there to sell model trains? I spent 20 minutes trying to find parking, walked in the hot sun, only to be greeted by that sorry sight.
Total waste of time. Not even worth a picture.

So angry I needed an ice cream to cool off

Had lunch at Café Bergseestüble, food was average. In Triberg, so wife insisted we had to try the blackforest cake.

Berries and alcohol, not really my favourite

Needed a swimsuit for my wife for the jacuzzi at the hotel but the closest H&M was in another town.

Splashed around in the pool in the afternoon!
Hiding the baby bump.

Dinner was in the hotel's restaurant, supposedly a 1 Michellin star establishment.
The same way soy chicken in Singapore can be 1 star.
Reminiscent of a Wolfgang Puck
We had a 24 euro ravioli dish that had one (1) ravioli
Food is just not bad, unexceptional.

Maybe the star was for plating.

Day 3

Cold and rainy.
Not the best day to be wandering in the forest.
So we didn't.

Also this is exactly how I imagined the Blackforest to look like, blacker.

misty mountain road

Drove on the autobahn at 180km/hr for a couple of seconds then pussied out and stayed on the not-so-slow slow lane.
Took a wrong turn and ended up in France!

feeding my shopping addiction

Ha, no, but we did go to Roppenheim, France for some outlet shopping for our twins!
Car pleasantly not smashed in this time.

Put my 3rd language skills to good use.

- Pardonnez-moi, parlez-vous l'anglaise
~ Non. Deutsche?
- Nein... Shit.

3 days in we've had enough of pork and sausages and beers.
What we really craved was good ol fried chicken.
There is no KFC south of Freiburg, driving back from Roppenheim was the only time we could enjoy this truly rare delicacy. They still have the hot wings!

Sometime before dinner, so we took a little walk in the backyard.

set off with a map
No, not this map.
Google Maps

Starting point

huffing and puffing; but alas no house made of straw

The warning makes me want to touch the wires more.

stretching because of the additional weights

End

Day 4

Post breakfast;
food/baby

Best day ever!

Spent the morning on Lake Schluchsee.

Parked by the highway near the dam.

Rented a motorboat and took off exploring the lake!

So excited I wanted to break out in song.

I'm so happy!

Lonely Island's I'm on a Boat comes to mind

F*** land, I'm on a boat mother f***er

Lunched by the lake, another meal of sausages and beer.

Went back to the hotel and had tea, the hotel serves complimentary blackforest cake from 2 to 4. 

Wandered off on another hike alone towards the Windbergwasserfall.

Explorer exploring

Not as majestic as the one in Triberg, but this one is free.

My trusty timbs

Started raining rather heavily halfway through, but it's ok, I had my trusty jungle hat on and was under canopy.

Was more afraid of my wife worrying because reception was terrible and I couldn't let her know I hadn't fallen off a cliff.

Tried running the way back to minimise her worrying. 
Failed of course, ran a 100 m and was winded.

Saw a small family of deer on my way back but they got startled and ran away before I got a photo.

Had dinner in what looked like a family owned inn, Schöpperle, in Hausern, with a very creepy looking doll on the floor. Don't have a picture, if you're really curious I guess you'll just have to visit.

Day 5

Well, that's it.

Next stop Grindelwald.



Nitty Gritty 

Accomodation
I booked Hotel Adler Hausern for the Michellin starred restaurant to be honest, but was pretty disappointed, mainly because I felt there was a gap between the food and the pricing.

But I would still recommend Adler for its incredible rooms and view.

Its breakfast is good, with their blackforest ham and the crispiest, thinnest bacon I've ever had.


Average price per night was about 285 euro. Using the Citibank Prestige card, I got one night off as well.

Dining hall in the morning

I never understood sunbathing, but if you're into it...

An occasionally heated pool

Transportation 
If you paid the visitor tax at your hotel, they actually give you a regional travel pass. However if you are visiting the smaller towns, then I would advise you just get a car. 
Honestly don't know where the bus stops are, nor have I seen the buses that go in between towns.

I rented from Europcar from Freiburg station, seems to be the cheapest company. If you get it straight from the station there is a premium of about 20 euros. 
If you do rent from Europcar, the counter is in the DB office.

Another reason to rent the car is to experience the Autobahn.
Also if you can't afford a German car back home, it might be the only time you get to drive one.

A 4 day rental of a BMW 1 series is about 135 euro.

Lake Schluchsee



Park at the staumauer (dam) parkplatz, a free open air carpark next to the highway.

Rented a boat from Mullers an der Staumauer.
I think the price is really reasonable, 20 euro for an hour. Compared with 65 CHF for an hour in Luzern, Switzerland.
From the dam to the other end of the lake takes about 45 mins. 

Highly recommended, great way to spend the morning.

Food

Honestly didn't try anything that was so outstanding that I would highly recommend. The places I tried were rated >4 stars on google reviews, but they didn't really leave much of an impression in terms of gustatory experience.


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