Continuing on in the vein of our self-professed 'cabin fever,' Kristin and I decided we absolutely MUST get out of the house and "go do something in Germany" (BESIDES visit doctors, that is!) :) I even exclaimed that weather, barring tornadoes, typhoons, hurricanes, or earthquakes would not keep us from doing something.
I had to say that, didn't I? Well, the weather wasn't great, but Kristin and I headed out to a little town called Triberg, in the middle of the Black Forest (Germans call it the "Schwarzwald"). It's not known for much, other than the spectacular waterfalls and natural beauty, but it has both those by the truckload, especially how pretty everthing was. Kristin commented that it felt like we were in the middle of one of the Disney animated movies set in a forest. We half expected Bambi to come bounding through the woods, or some squint-eyed witch clutching a ruby red apple to pass to us.
It rained off and on, but it was mostly "off," and when it did, it was mostly a "heavy misting" kind of rain. Kristin had her umbrella and I had a semi-ridiculous traditional German wool hat I bought when I had visited Germany for business when I lived in Greece. Lucy accompanied us on our trip, and loved every minute of it. We took the easiest and most picturesque path, but we didn't read the map right, and ended up making it harder by hiking all the way up to the other side of the park encompassing the waterfall! The views were spectacular, though, and we took tons of breaks to take pictures, as well as to not make anything too strenuous. Lucy never seemed to run out of energy, straining at the leash the entire time, even while on a steep grade uphill. The whole experience reminded me of some of the picnics my family had in the Redwood National Forest in California, and Kristin was reminded of some of the waterfalls in Malaysia.
Kristin packed us a picnic lunch and we ate chicken salad sandwiches on her homemade bread. What a great meal! Kristin is a great cook on every level. One thing we made sure NOT to pack was dessert, though- We wanted to try some German Black Forest cake and were rewarded with a light and fluffy layered choclate cake and light frosting and just a dash of cherry flavor mixed in. Black Forest cake in the Black Forest- CHECK. Next up- A Hamburger in Hamburg?
Lucy finally did wear out after we got in the car to leave. She slept the entire 2 and half hours back. We had a "real autobahn experience" on the way back, too- when we merged to get on the highway, it was VERY clear cars were not travelling at the same rate of speed that they were that morning. We topped 100 mph briefly, but didn't feel comfortable with it, so we backed down, and remained at around 80-90 mph all the way home. (Getting passed the entire time by people going 100-130 mph) Poor Lucy was a mess after running around in a damp forest, so we gave her a bath when we got home. She was completely done after that, as were we. It was a good day.
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