Driving Through the Black Forest

A more accurate title for today’s post would be eating our way through the Black Forest. First, why is it called the Black Forest? Well, when the Romans invaded the area, they noticed that the forest was very dense which made the green trees look black. So, there’s your trivia for the day. Just how have we lived without knowing that??

Just like yesterday (Monday), the day started very foggy and cold, only in the mid-40s. We started off for Baden Baden, about 45 minutes away from our flat. By the time we arrived the fog had burned off and, while still chilly, the sun was shining.

We stopped for coffee and hot chocolate but when we went into the café, we found some delicious looking ice cream creations. Since we didn’t want the chef to feel bad, we decided to try a couple.

There was nothing special we wanted to do in town, so we just walked around for a while looking at some of the beautiful buildings.

After about an hour in Baden Baden, we headed out through the Black Forest to Hornisgrinde, which at 3818 feet, is the highest mountain in the Northern Black Forest.

Even though we brought our sandwiches, we decided to save them for dinner and had lunch in the restaurant. Peter had bratwurst and I had what I thought was a tart. Turned out it was a giant flat bread.

Our plan was to have Black Forest Cherry Cake for dessert (I told you we ate our way through the area) but we were both full so we brought a piece home with us.

After a very leisurely lunch (service was incredibly slow) we headed back through the forest. Our ultimate destination was a winery that our host told us about, but on the way we passed so many adorable little towns and beautiful vistas. Most times there was no place to take pictures but we did stop in one of the villages for a few minutes. Here are some shots of Ottenhofen.

At the Oberkirch Winery, we tasted several wines. Peter wasn’t crazy about any of the dry whites, but did pick up a small bottle of Rose. I loved 2 out of the 3 sweet wines I tried, so now I have 3 bottles of wine in the car. That should last me the next couple of weeks until we fly to Amsterdam.

Then it was another 30 minutes home where we sat on the front patio chatting with Stephan, our host. What a delightful person! He’s a local police officer, one of 5 in a town of over 12,000 people. He said they’re spread pretty thin, especially when the French cross the border (only about 5 minutes away) and start causing trouble. He also told us that the house we’re living in was built in 1770….how cool is that!

While we were visiting, we broke into the Black Forest Cherry Cake, and yes, it was as good as it looks.

Tomorrow, we’re back in France. It’s primarily a driving day as we head west towards the Bordeaux region. It will take about 4 days, though, and we’re excited about seeing some cool things along the way.