As we were planning for this trip we knew we wanted to visit the Black Forest Region of Germany. So with a host like Rochelle, she made that happen! We drove about two hours to the Schwarzwald district to the town of Triberg, which is right in the middle of the Black Forest area. This area is home to the cuckoo bird and is known for the rich forests and all the wood working. We were excited to explore this region as we were excited to buy an authentic cuckoo clock! A shop owner reminded me that they have been making these clocks longer than America has been in existence. I had to think about that for a minute. Haha! We walked around and went in all the shops and even went back to a few shops to look at the clocks again. Rochelle and Liza were so patient with us as we spent nearly 4 hours learning about them and picking out the perfect one. It was nice to be inside the shops though because it was cold outside!!
Triberg, Germany
Nick loved this clock because of the hunting riffles and the dead animals hanging down. This clock was almost $30,000 US dollars!!! It goes without saying that we didn't buy that clock. :)
Instead we bought the clock that Nick is pointing to, and even then I couldn't believe how expensive they were. We got one that is hand carved and has an enamel face time piece. I was happy to finally agree on this one because it was testing my patience. Being that it takes 6 weeks to deliver, we still haven't received it but I'm excited to get it soon.
Here is a close up of the clock we bought.
This is the store where we bought our clock. Nick and the owner talked clocks FOREVER. He wanted this photo to remember the store.
Every shop we went in to had clocks and more clocks. By the end of the end I was able to start seeing the difference in workmanship.
How's this for an outdoor clock?
And more clocks!
Triberg has a series of waterfalls in the town that are the tallest in Germany. You can ride up to the top, but it was way too cold for that outside.
The waterfalls our into the river that run through the town.
I like how all the homes look as though they are stacked up the hill.
One of the MANY ornate shops
I think this building was a hotel, but I loved how the vines were growing up the building.
It's no secret that I have a sweet tooth so I wanted to try authentic black forest cake made in the black forest. One word, DISGUSTING! Wow, maybe it is true that we use a lot of sugar in the USA. This was not sweet at all and it tasted like they soaked the cake layers in liquor. I think I will stick to only pastries in Europe from now on.
This is my "I'm acting like this tastes good" face. haha
Despite it being cold, it was still beautiful and very green. Such a cute town.
We couldn't visit the cuckoo capital of the world an not see the biggest cuckoo clock in existence!! We were lucky to arrive a few minutes before the hour so were anxiously awaiting what we thought would be this awesome chime and display, but...
This is all the happened. It was so lame. Haha, I'm laughing just writing this. It was so underwhelming. The little cuckoo bird popped out and a chime was rang and then 10 seconds later it was gone. No way would I wait an hour to see that again! We just looked at each other and thought, really?!
Despite the weak "cuckoo and chime" the actual clock itself was beautiful. You can pay to go inside to see the back of the clock with all the working parts, but we decided it wasn't worth it.
The drive back was through the German countryside. It was breathtaking!!! I could not believe how green everything was, the softly rolling his, the blue sky--just beautiful. We had to pull over to take a few photos, and I'm so glad we did.
Thank you Germany for a beautiful day
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