Into the Black Forest of Germany

Our first stop on our Viking Rhine Getaway was Breisach. We hopped on a bus and drove through the beautiful country-side of Schwarzwald, the mountainous region in south-eastern Germany with dense forests, rolling green hills dotted with cows. It easy to see why this is the setting for many of the Grimms’ fairy tales. One of the interesting things our guide talked about was Stork webcams it seems the locals are very attached to these birds.

Our stop in Hofgut Sternen with its giant cuckoo building was quite the spectacle. The little tourist stop was overrun with busloads visitors (too many if you asked me).

The cuckoo clock demonstration was interesting and it was nice to know that the hand-carved pieces were done by local farmers during the winter months. The Black Forest region of cuckoo clock makers dates back to the lat 1600’s. The clocks came in all sizes and styles. Sadly Mr. B. didn’t think we needed one to grace our home.

While the men are busy carving wood for the cuckoo clocks, the women are busy baking the perfect black forest cake with includes loads of layers of cream and cherry schnapps. The chef doing the demonstration was a character – for every question he had the perfect sarcastic answer. We couldn’t leave without a slice of Black Forest Cake (or Schwarzwalder Kirschtorte) and it was delicious.