Easter Storks and Fairytale Towns

We spent the Easter break in Germany this year, specifically in the Black Forest region. On Friday morning we flew into Basel, Switzerland, before jumping on a train and heading across the border into Germany.

I also found it amusing to be mistaken for a Swiss person in Switzerland as well as German in Germany. I suppose it's the blonde hair, but whenever I am in Germany, everyone thinks I am German. Even after hearing my accent and my horrendous German!

The Black Forest is located in the South-West of Germany, and borders Switzerland (obviously) and France. We were staying in the town of Schiltach which is deep in the heart of the Black Forest, and a good two hour train ride from Basel.

To break up that trip we decided to do a little exploring of one of the prettiest towns in the area, Gengenbach.

The town is full of half-timbered houses as seen in the above photos we took from the town square. Gengenbach is famous for turning its Town Hall into the world's biggest Advent Calendar over Christmas.

Stopping to smell the flowers...

There were Easter decorations everywhere! It seemed every house had a wreath on the door, and a lot of the houses hung coloured eggs off the branches of little trees. The Osterbaum (Easter Trees) are decorated just like Christmas Trees, and are usually cut from the branches of the pussy willow.

Another tradition we discovered was the Easter Stork. Instead of the Bunny we are used to, eggs are delivered by a Stork. Apparently there also used to be an Easter Fox and an Easter Rooster! However, for most of the world, the Easter Bunny has come out on top.

This was another... unusual landmark we found. Still not exactly sure what the deal is, but we think it's tied in to the Spring Carnival. The creepy guy below is der Schalk (The Fool), and I don't want to know what he's doing to that lady.

We found these waiting for us when we finally got to our hotel in Schiltach! I think it was just a happy accident but it was much appreciated.

The Hotel we ended up choosing (Gasthof zum weyßen Rößle zu Schiltach) was a small family run hotel, and after initially being a bit hesitant since it only had a couple of reviews on Trip Advisor, we were pleased to see it was lovely and clean and everyone was so friendly!

We dropped off our bags and headed down to dinner in the Hotel's restaurant. We actually ate at the Hotel all three nights! The food was so delicious, there wasn't a single thing we had that we didn't like. Also, being Easter, pretty much the entire town was shut when we were there. 

The decor was all traditionally German, and was run by the same couple who manage the hotel. The menu was entirely in German, luckily though I can recognise Weiner Schnitzel in any language...

Wiener Schnitzel! And yummy fries!

After some umming and ahhing (and a little help from our hostess) Bradley decided on pork and pom frites. Both our meals were huge, and delicious. 

The entire menu was in German, and we had forgotten our German phrase book, so while we could figure out a fair few dishes, we did have to ask the owner to translate a few things for us during our stay.

The restaurant was packed all three nights, and we had our own table booked for us without having to ask.

After dinner we went for a walk around the almost entirely deserted town. It was still early since we had dinner at like 6.00 p.m.

It was lovely walking around Schiltach when the sun was setting and no one else was around.. but it also felt a bit like The Town that Dreaded Sundown.

The Town Square

The town was literally in the middle of The Black Forest, as you can see from this photo. You can see the forest creeping in behind the buildings..

I loved that Schiltach has an Apothecary Museum. Pity it was closed the whole time.

Seriously. Where are all the people?