From Liz –

Waking up to the sounds of the farm – roosters, cow bells, and goat sounds, we were ready for another day in the Black Forest. We drove to the village of Gutach and found a small bakery for some morning treats. Katie, who isn’t much into breads, found a “Fleischerei” (Butcher’s Shop) where she devoured some ham and salami – YUM! The lovely lady at the shop gave Katie a sample of another meat, and then with wide eyes realized how many children we have! I think we got our money’s worth 😊. We then found another bakery where we ate Black Forest Cake – yes for breakfast!

It was delicious! After filling our bellies we headed for the Freilichtmuseum Vogstbauernhof – an open air museum. This museum was amazing! It was a collection of houses from all over the Black Forest. There was one home in particular that they found in the North Black Forest and transported it to the museum. The foundation of the home dated to the 11^th century but the last inhabitants were from 1972. It was outfitted in 1970s décor! The contrast was intriguing! We continued our tour and came upon a group of kids chopping wood with an axe, sawing logs, and whittling. We thought it was part of the interactive museum until one of the kids explained it was a field trip. It was amazing what they allowed the children to do without supervision! It was time for lunch so we decided to eat at the café. This is where we learned that “Rahm” does not mean sandwich but rather some kind of pizza! It is an adventure eating food in Germany! We are all learning that sometimes you just eat what is in front of you whether it is familiar or not! After a filling lunch we headed to the woodworkers house. Here they had projects for the children. They each picked a cuckoo whistle and the woodworking expert taught the kids how to assemble their projects. (As a side note – don’t allow your children to pick out a whistle when you will be traveling in close quarters for weeks!). It was a fun family project and doubles as a souvenir! The day was getting warm and we had another activity we wanted to experience so we hustled through the rest of the museum. We all agreed we could have spent more time here and would love to go back again!

After the museum we headed to a much anticipated activity – the Rodelbahn! When researching the Black Forest this activity was a must do! This is bobsled on a track down the mountain side. You can sit with one person or two. The older girls were excited to find out they could ride alone or with their sister or brother. We bought 6 rides for each person and then had fun creating different combinations of people to ride together. There was a sensor to record how fast each sled goes – Erik was convinced it was broken because Charlie and I had the fastest time!

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We had worked up quite an appetite so we headed to the grocery store to pick up some items. We found a store called “Norma” which appeared to be a grocery store but we were wrong! Still not sure what kind of store Norma is as it had quite an eclectic array of items. This was not going to work for us so we got back in the car to find an “Edeka” which was a little more familiar. The kids were craving some more familiar foods and Erik and I were tired of trying to make people eat so we let everyone search for groceries. We ended up with peanut butter, jelly, “American style” bread, BBQ chips, yogurt, black forest ham, cheese, and ice cream! I’ve never seen kids eat PBJ sandwiches so fast!

June 5^th

We had only one more day in the Southern Black Forest and wanted to see as much as possible so we got an early start. Before we headed out we had the chance to see how our host family makes cheese. They use all of their cow’s milk for cheese and it is quite an undertaking. They were very nice to share their process with us, even though I’m sure our questions kept them from getting the work done quickly! I was amazed at how much work went into it! It was fascinating to see the various steps, from separating the curd from whey (inset Little Miss Muffett joke here), packing it into small containers, and then drying out in the back room. Each wheel then must be rubbed with a salt solution every day for 2 weeks. The family sells their cheese at the local supermarket, out of their shop, and at the Farmer’s Market on the weekend.  After a quick breakfast we packed a picnic lunch and headed to Triberg’s waterfall. This is the highest waterfall in Germany (at least according to the sign!). We found a parking place and headed up the mountain. The kids did a great job hiking and made great observations along the way. We tried to invoke our mindfulness and took breaks to listen to the falls, touch the moss, look for birds, and smell the pines. Erik kept teasing he would find things for the kids to taste but I wouldn’t let them! Once we took the kids on an awful hike at Mahoney Park as preparation for this trip (long story but it wasn’t a pleasant experience!). I am happy to report this hike was much better and the we all enjoyed our time!

Following the hike we found a picnic table and enjoyed a lovely picnic lunch. This was a great option as everyone liked the food and saved us a lot of time! Plus we let them drink an entire bottle of MezzoMix – Charlie especially enjoyed this! After lunch we headed to the world’s largest Cuckoo Clock. After a small payment of 2 Euro we went inside to see how the clock works! Although Erik and I were impressed with the mechanism the kids were not that intrigued.

Side Note: The running family joke is “You can ____________, IF you pay for it!” In other words it seems that everything in Germany has a small fee – the bathroom, looking at the clock, parking your car, etc).

After the clock we headed to the city of Freiberg. We didn’t have much of a plan and it showed! We entered the city quite surprised at the number of cyclists and we were lucky to not kill a few! They were everywhere! We found the world’s most compact parking garage – you will pay for it – and after some vehicle gymnastics, Erik miraculously parked our car! Seriously the guy deserves a gold medal! We headed out into the city and found – shopping – and lots of it! We kept walking and found the Munster Unserer Lieben Frau (Cathedral of Our Dear Lady) – a church which took 3 centuries to build, from around 1200 to 1515. It has 11,000 pipes for its organ! It was absolutely stunning and a respite from the pouring rain outside! We spent a few minutes taking in the reverence of the church and then headed back out to the city. The city center is vehicle free so we were able to explore the winding streets. One of the most intriguing things I found was a few solperstones. These are gold stones set into the cobblestone sidewalk which pay tribute to a victim of the Holocaust. The stones are usually in front of where they lived but could also be where they worked or went to school. They serve as a reminder to pause and reflect on the individual historical impact of Holocaust. Another unique feature of Freiberg are the canals (Bachle) running along the streets. Originally designed to bring fresh water into town there is now a quaint idea that if you accidentally step in the water you will one day marry a resident of Freiberg. Juliette loved that idea and kept “accidentally” stepping in the water. I guess she loves Germany so much she wants to return someday! 😊 We found a quiet Italian restaurant and enjoyed spaghetti, pizza, and tortellini for dinner before returning to our farm home.