A tiny chapel along the way:
The yellow hut with the smoking chimney is not someone's home, but belongs to an association for the protection of nature, wildlife and the environment.
Schlüchtsee ("lake Schlücht", not to be mistaken for nearby Schluchsee, which is much larger):
This is a typical Black Forest house. It is a museum and was closed when we walked by, as it was a Monday:
We then walked briefly back by the lake, but at its other side.
Along a nature reserve and fields...
...to Grafenhausen, the nearest village/small town, where we stopped for food and drink at a café.
Town hall:
School and church:
A few miles up the road is Rothaus ("Red House"), part of Grafenhausen. Rothaus is the seat of a popular German brewery. Rothaus beer has been around for 225 years or so, and the brewery offers group tours (which we did not book) or allow you to explore the grounds and a museum on your own (which is what we did).
There is a large shop where you can find anything imaginable sporting the Rothaus label, from bed sheets to sports clothes to ash trays and even - surprise, surprise - beer glasses. Oh, and cuckoo clocks!
At one end of the shop is a beer bar where you have a choice of all the various types of beers the brewery produces. I am not really a beer drinker, but even I found one that I liked, and we had a small bottle each.
Before going back to the hotel, we met this friendly ginger cat:
As you can see from the last pictures, daylight was beginning to fade, and we really were not keen on having to find our way back to the hotel in the dark (there are of course no streetlights in the woods).
It had been a good first day, with still almost the entire week ahead.
Beautiful landscapes. I'm beginning to believe all of Germany is simply gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteI love the clocks in that one picture.
It is a beautiful country, Jennifer, but of course we have our share of really ugly bits, too - only that I usually do not show them on my blog :-)
DeleteThe clocks looked good on the wall in the shop, but I wouldn't want them all at home!
As a child I had a (probably mock German) cuckoo clock with weights in my bedroom. I suffered from insomnia as a child (I have never needed much sleep until my later life when I like a good 6 hours) and used to watch the weights go down.
ReplyDeleteI do so enjoy the Black Forest and it's towns. I recall Baden-Baden and Freiburg in particular.
We used to have a cuckoo clock in the dining room when I was little, and its weights were exactly like the sculpture in front of the brewery. I wonder what became of the clock, must ask my Mum.
DeleteEvery time I travel to and from O.K., my train goes through Baden-Baden. Freiburg is about 30 km further south from the village.
The nature could be Sweden, but from the style of the buildings it is obvious that it is not! :) Love the clocks... Seeing them brings up a memory that we used to have a "false" cuckoo clock in my childhood home (i.e. it looked like one in style, but it didn't actually have any cuckoo in it!). I wonder what became of it. My memories of it are from the house where I grew up, not the one where my parents lived in their retirement years. I guess they must have got rid of it in the move. (Just a little surprised now that I come to think of it, because they rarely got rid of anything!)
ReplyDeleteMaybe it broke and could not be repaired. Funny to learn from your and my other readers' comments how many of us have or had at some stage a cuckoo clock in their homes!
DeleteBeautiful photos! I remember how my brother in law used to laugh at Paul and me because we bought a cuckoo clock. But we liked it very much and it still hangs in my family room.
ReplyDeleteI would love to see it, Kristi - you could post about it :-)
DeleteChristopher would love to go there just for the beer!
ReplyDeleteAs for me, I would love to live in that little yellow house, sounds perfect to me!
(I know you said it is for an environmental group, but I can dream that I could live there!)
Kay in the little yellow house, that sounds like a story book, I like it!
DeleteWhat a charming small town! I have always imagined the Black Forest itself to be something like a fairy tale, but it looks very welcoming and inviting from your photos. (Just take care if you should find a house made of gingerbread....! LOL )
ReplyDeleteThere are parts where the Black Forest is much more forbidding, especially on a grey day. No gingerbread houses this time, but we had our fair share of Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte (Black Forest gâteau) ;-)
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