Gengenbach

After the hike in the Black Forest (see previous post) on Sunday a week ago, we drove the short distance from the parking lot at the bottom of the woods to Gengenbach, a town of about 11.000, famous for its picturesque old town centre. And picturesque it was - see for yourself:

We stopped for coffee and some cake here (picture below). Actually, the café is just where the bit of red umbrella is visible. I did not want to take a photo of all the people sitting at the tables, but the building is similar to the one with the blue awning.

I particularly liked this tiny house, tucked between the town hall and a row of other houses:

Market Square:

Town Hall:

The fish in the city's crest is what actually gives Gengenbach its name. Bach means beck or creek, and the "Gangfisch" (Coregonus macrophthalmus), a member of the salmon family, must have once been common enough in the region to give the small river and the monastery founded at its banks the name.

O.K. told me that the windows of the town hall are lit up and used as a big Advent calendar every December. I really want to see that! You can read a bit more about Gengenbach (in English) here on wikipedia, if you like.

We left the small alleyways with their well preserved and restored timber-framed houses and climbed up between vineyards and orchards to the chapel on the hill:

The sun was well and truly out now, and it was nice to rest on a bench in the sun on top of the hill, enjoying the view across Gengenbach on one side and the Kinzigtal (Kinzig valley, Kinzig being the river you can see in the second picture below):

It was nearly the end of this beautiful Sunday and I did not like to think of having to take the train back home in a few hours. But I did, and for a change, everything went well with both my trains being bang on time. I arrived home at a quarter past 11 pm - and slept like a log that night, hardly surprising after having spent the whole day out in the fresh air, walking up and down hills and in the woods. The best kind of tired, I think!