The Black Forest

While not battling the mud at the Southside Festival, we spent the weekend driving through Germany's Black Forest region and visiting a number of small towns. The forest itself lived up to its name, which apparently dates back to Roman times and stems from its densly populated trees that virtually black out the sunlight from the forest interior.

Our first stop was Schiltach, a small town of roughly 4,000 that was once home to a number of saw mills. We walked around for a bit and I particularly liked the style of the buildings, with their angular designs. We also briefly toured a former saw mill that was converted into a museum.

Next, we visited Gengenbach, a slightly larger town that is known for its medieval center (Altstadt). The central area was indeed very nice, as were the narrow cobblestone streets that surrounded it. Each of the main gates passed through the bottom of a large tower, a pictured below.

 

During the drive we stopped briefly in Triberg, a city known for its handmade Cuckoo clocks and the nearby waterfall.

While leaving, the Baywatch theme song came on the radio and I thought this was pretty funny given that I'd always heard that David Hasselhoff was a huge star in Germany. As a side note... according to Emilie, Baywatch was a big hit in France, where it was known as Alerte a Malibu.

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For dinner we stopped in a town that had a similar feel to Gengenbach, but whose name I've unfortunately forgotten. The picture below shows the main gate that you pass through to enter the medieval city center.

Here are some pictures from the drive through the Black Forest on the way back to the hotel. A brief rain storm passed over before clearing way for some late-afternoon sun.