Traditional Towns and Cuckoo Clocks

After a large breakfast (courtesy of our hotel) we decided to visit the Black Forest Open Air Museum. We hopped on the train and headed to the nearest stop, Hausach.

Thanks to a tiny 80c charge per night at our hotel, we were given a Konus Card which gave us unlimited free travel inside the Black Forest! Trains, buses and trams were all covered. It's a great idea, and made getting around so easy.

Before heading to the museum, we had a wander around Hausach. There wasn't a lot to see, however it is always nice to see the beautiful old churches, and very different architecture. Even after all this time travelling, it's still really impressive seeing such historic buildings being used for everyday things. Nothing like it in NZ!

We'd been told it was an easy walk to the museum, so headed out from Hausach. The way wasn't as well sign-posted as we were expecting however. 

We walked along a long and winding path, through a light industrial area, and around a massive field (instead of through it), before finally backtracking along the railway, we finally made it to Schwarzwalder Freilichtmuseum Vogtsbauernhof.

The museum is made up of relocated original Black Forest houses brought together to recreate a traditional community. Each house represents a different part of the area, and is furnished to reflect this.

This was all pretty interesting, however the real stars of the show were the animals. The houses themselves all started to look the same after a while, and they had very low roofs and very steep stairs!

Oh goat, you are hilarious

After we had explored the whole farm/museum, we stopped at the cafe for some traditional German sweets. The Black Forest Gateau was a given, and the Apfel Streusel looked too delicious to pass up.

The Black Forest cake was definitely the best I have ever had, I can see why people come from all over the world just to try the original!

While waiting for the bus we partook of the touristy junk vendors... I actually really wanted to buy this hat. It was super warm, and it was freezing in Hausach.

We still had a lot to see so caught the bus back to Hausach via Wolfach. Wolfach was (another) cute little town, however there wan't enough there to warrant stopping off. The bus did give us a great tour of the town however, and there was a giant Easter Egg in the middle of the town square.

After getting caught in a literal sheep stampede in the back streets of Wolfach, we finally made it to the train station. 

Our next stop was Villingen, which was another recommendation, described as one of the prettier towns in the Black Forest. And while we enjoyed our short time there, it was hardly the picturesque village we were expecting. Especially comparing it to Gengenbach and Schiltach. It was more like a small city. But we did have some delicious bratwurst while there... and more people tried to speak to me in German. All the time, everywhere we went!

I'm not even kidding when I say I am literally horrendous at speaking German. I can speak and undersand basic phrases, but my pronunciation is awful. But even that didn't deter people from assuming I was from Germany.

After Villingen, we headed further into the Black Forest to Triberg, the home of the Cuckoo Clock. Triberg is mainly famous for its huge waterfall and Cuckoo Clocks.

The town itself was a 20 min uphill walk from the train station, and when we finally came across the small town centre we were struck by the abundance of Cuckoo Clock stores.

The town was only tiny, literally one street, but there was at least 10 different types of stores selling only clocks.

We continued walking up past the more touristy places, and stumbled across a small family run business full of wood carvings, and handmade Cuckoo Clocks.

While browsing we were approached by the owner, who explained to us the differences between the vast range of Clocks. We were confused why two clocks which looked virtually identical were so different in price, and he took the time to explain the craftsmanship that went into the more expensive clocks. 

After he pointed out the differences between the hand-carved, and the machine-carved clocks,  we could clearly see the difference in quality.

They had the most amazing Cuckoo Clocks. Our favourite was the 450 Euro Hunting Clock you can just see in the top right of the above picture. However, this was dwarfed by some of the others which were huge, and went for several thousands of Euros.

After spending far too long browsing in his shop, we ended up having to sprint back down to the train station, where we made it with literally seconds to spare. It was an interesting run, as the whole time was spent trying not to jostle our new clock. Downhill speed does not mix well with smooth movement...

Our Cuckoo Clock!

We arrived back in Schiltach in the late afternoon, and spent some time wandering around the town while it was still light. I'm unsure where all the locals were, perhaps they were all away for the Easter break?

We went for a walk along the riverside, and found a huge tree trunk that I had fun trying to balance on without falling off. Getting down at the end was another story. Bradley ended up having to lift me down to the amusement of German onlookers!

The official symbol of Schiltach is apparently a rake

We arrived back at the hotel to find that they had booked us a table at dinner without having to ask. It was such a nice gesture but also a good way of guaranteeing our return (although after the first night's dinner, there was little doubt we'd return).

Yummy Pork and Vege Kebab

Bradley had a huge meal of two kinds of Bratwurst, bacon, lentils and German pasta