Freudenstadt, Black Forest, Germany
It may have been mostly the name that led me to the Black Forest - it just sounded a bit dark and mysterious. And reminded me of a nice cake.
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| The Black forest |
To get there from Stuttgart though was a real pain - finding somewhere to go that was nice, but also had a hostel and train station - eventually I settled on Freudenstadt; a small town right in the forest, and got the next train from Stuttgard. The hostel was another dull Hostel International place - the only affordable way to stay in the countryside though - and was with the exception of me; taken over by a rather annoying band camp! (Cue American Pie jokes...).
The next day I walked outside and had a bit of a shock - the temperature has been fairly comfortable for a few weeks, but here it was under 7º all day, and I must admit it, along with the lack of sleep due to those noisy band campers, it put me in a miserable mood all morning.
I've not had much bike in my life recently (addict), and decided it was the best way to explore the area, so hired a mountain bike from nearby and set off into the Black Forest (route). It was really mysty which only enhanced the beautiful area, which was full of lots of steep and deep tree covered valleys, with a few small villages in clearings by the rivers below. It wasn't the most testing or exciting biking I've ever done, but because of the scenery it didn't really matter, and the ride eventually lifted my spirits.
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Forty miles later at 5pm I got back to the hire shop, and to my dismay found it was shut and everyone had gone. Brilliant. The guy had clearly told me twice they shut at 6, but on reflection he probably meant to say 16:00. After a moment I decided to just take it back the next day, until I realised they'd be shut cause it was a Sunday. Great. I was leaving in the morning, and really didn't want to sit around another day just to wait for a shop to open. There was nowhere to put it, and my only real option seemed to be to leave it in the back room of the Kebab shop across the road. I decided to go back to the hostel and see if they had any ideas first though. Which was a good idea as the guy on duty was fortunately a really nice guy, and volunteered to take it back for me on Monday if I put some change in their charity pot (lets hope he does!). Sorted, phew.
This morning it was on again heading east, which was involved four train journeys, a cancellation, a long diversion, and some banter with a Columbian and Aussie girl here on exchange. Rather than totally waste the day to travelling, I stopped partway for an hour or so in the city of Ulm - Einstein's birthplace - and went for a wander, spotting a crazy statue of his head attached to a snail (long story), the tallest cathedral steeple in the world, and some nice old buildings. And now, Munich; a place I'm really looking forward to.
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| The Black forest |
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| Ulm |
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| Ulm, Birthplace of Einstein and home to this fairly kooky statue |
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