on my journey: In the Clouds

Today when Emilee and I visited Triberg (pronounced Tree-burg), we were literally up in the clouds. Triburg is nestled in the middle of the Black Forest, about 3 hours from Kaiserslautern where Emilee lives. It was about 6 train stops away from Baden-Baden, the world-famous resort for the rich and famous because of its roman-style baths, spas, and casinos. While a lot of travel books mention Baden-Baden as the town to go to in the Black Forest, Emilee and I were more interested in seeing the "Wasserfall" than hobnobbing with the elite.

The "Wasserfall" at Triberg isn't really a waterfall, as I mentioned in my last posting, but rather an inclined stream. The water plunges 163 meters from the Gutach River. There are seven different cascades. Triberg is famous for having the highest waterfall in Germany, as well as for its Black Forest Railway that was finished in 1873.

Emilee and I got off the bus which took us from the bahnhof (train station)

to Markplatz, which was the center of the town. The entrance to the waterfall was not far from there. Supposedly the way up the mountain is a 5 degree incline. While it wasn't a "piece of cake" to walk up, I found the stairs at the Bell Tower in Brugge much harder. Maybe it was because there weren't stairs, or because Emilee and I would stop and take photos, giving us time to rest, that made it an easier climb...??? But it was beautiful, the air smelled so clean and fresh from the spruce trees, and it rained off an on while we were up there (in the clouds). But it was just a light rain, and there were little huts here and there to take refuge. Actually, all you had to do was stand under one of the really tall trees and it blocked a lot of the misty rain. (There was no lightning.)

We opted to take the "Culture Walk" which took us down a different way than we went up, and took us through town. Being somewhat cold, damp, and hungry, Emilee and I stopped in a cafe for lunch. Both of us had the roast pork with sauerkraut and dumplings. These dumplings were the tastiest I've had so far! Of course the roast pork and sauerkraut were very good, also. We decided to save our Black Forest Cake for another place after we'd walked and digested lunch.

Leaving the cafe, we walked through some shops, mainly looking at cuckoo clocks. Emilee saw several she liked, but said she could purchase one on Base and not pay taxes on it. The Base has a branch of one of the stores we were in today. The cuckoo clocks come in every size, theme, and design imaginable. But I h

ave to say that I saw one that was just downright bizarre and ugly. Get a load of the "White House Cuckoo Clock!

Once Emilee and I walked the main street and noticed that most all of the stores were closed, we just continued on to the Bahnhof. We played around with the idea of going somewhere else but didn't want to go to Baden-Baden, Freiburg was two hours south of where we were, and the other town that seemed to have a lot of traffic on our trip down listed only a haunted Bath as a drawing point. (The train station must've just been a major hub because we don't think everyone was getting off the train to see a haunted sight!) So we just decided to go on home, which was okay because it put us back in Kaiserslautern around 8:00 p.m. Not a bad day trip. Saw some interesting sights both on and off the train!