Day 12, 17 May - Black Forest, Gutach, Wolfach

This morning we were greeted with the most dismal weather to date. The clouds were very low hanging, and we could tell there was a heavy mist in the air. Undeterred, after breakfast we set out on the D500 towards Freudenstadt and points south into the Black Forest.

Now, the D500 is known as the Schwarzwaldhochstrasse, or Black Forest High Road. As the driving goes, it is a very enjoyable road. At least I think it is, since the fog was so thick I could only see 50-75 meters or so in front of the car. The road struck me as something similar to the Blue Ridge Parkway, with rest areas and what I can only assume to be scenic overlooks dotted over the 75 or so km of its length. What really amazed me is how many people were camping or hiking in such dreadful weather. Today is a holiday (Ascension Day), so it’s possible that all those folks had already had these camping trips planned and weren’t going to let a little fog get them down.

As we descended down towards Freudenstadt, and got below the fog layer (at about 750m ASL), the driving got even better. At the end of the D500, we took a right (mainly because that’s what lane we were in) and took a shortcut to the back half of the Northern Black Forest tour. We found a busy guest house along the road and stopped in for lunch. Our plates of schnitzel were enormous, and delicious. We decided that, because of the weather, we would just finish out the tour and head back to Baden-Baden.

Passing through the small town of Gutach, we saw signs for the Vogtsbauernhoefe Freilichtmuseum. I had read in our “Best Drives” book about this open air museum that had authentic period farmhouses and sawmills from various locations and periods of Black Forest history. It would have been a much more pleasant experience were it not for the steady rain, but it was extremely educational nevertheless.

If there are shops, Angela will go shopping, and this was no different. She was able to find a nice little locally produced glass “mini-vase” at the museum shop. Outside the museum there was a small collection of shops selling all sorts of foodstuffs, cheap souvenirs, cuckoo clocks, etc. Angela came “this close” to getting a sample pack of different kinds of Black Forest honey, but just couldn’t pull the trigger. By the time we left Gutach, the rain had subsided to a spitting drizzle.

Speaking of glassware, on the road from Gutach to Offenburg, Angela spotted a sign for the glassworks in a town called Wolfach. By the time she noticed it, I had already blown past the exit, so we had to double back after emerging from a 1.5km long tunnel. It took us a while to find it (we drove right through Wolfach’s small “stadt mitte” and then out the other end before retracing our steps), but when we did, it was a real treat to see all of the handblown local glass in the shop. Since I was just along for the shopping ride, it was part humorous; part painful, to see Angela so conflicted about what to get. As they were starting to close out the registers, she finally decided on a piece described to us as a Fly Trap that uses sugar water in a corked vase with a hole in the bottom to attract and subsequently drown flies and other insects.

Satisfied with our purchase, we headed back onto the Black Forest tour towards Offenburg, then back up to Baden-Baden. By the time we got to Offenburg, we decided to just take the fast route back to the hotel; a nice jaunt up the A5 at about 110mph with bursts to 120mph. There’s no way I would ever feel safe driving that fast on a US Interstate, but with the quality of the road and of the drivers, it felt like I was just cruising along at 70 or so.

We had a nice chat with Heidi when we finally returned. When we told her of our day, she basically admitted that it was time wasted with such horrible weather. We asked her about a place to eat, and she recommended a place called the Rathausgloeckel (also recommended by Rick Steves). She was also very helpful in showing us the location of an art gallery where we might be able to pick up something done by a local artist of a local scene. We told her of our trouble in finding “street artists” during this trip, and she said that Strasbourg was the place for that. Angela and I had a little chuckle to ourselves at that, since we had been in Strasbourg for 4 days and never saw one street artist.

Our dinner at the Rathausgloeckel, while voluminous, was not spectacular. However, we did split a chunk of baked Camembert cheese on raspberry preserves that was exquisite. We had dessert at our favorite gelateria, La Scala, on the way back up the hill to the hotel. I’ve got to tell you, this ice cream was better than most anything we can find back home; the fruit flavors especially. We got sidetracked after locating the art gallery by a block party of sorts with tents erected by various local pubs and restaurants and a German band playing American “swing” type songs.

Tomorrow is our last full day in Europe. We have to make our way back to Munich, but there’s no rush since we’re not returning the car until Saturday morning. If we get back in time, I’d like to stop by the Niederlassung dealership in Munich to get a license plate holder.

Heroes is really starting to get good…