04-05-2023 Briesach and the Black Forest of Germany

The Black Forest from the window of a bus

The mythical Black Forest of Germany was another location that Deborah was especially excited to see.  I have never actually asked her why, but for me, it is the background of all the fairy tales of dark forests and knights and princesses and scary beings that reside in the shadows.  

We had read enough about our cruise to understand that our time in the actual forest would be limited. We knew that much of the tour we had scheduled for the afternoon would be on a bus, looking out the windows toward this magically beautiful part of Germany.

Another bus window shot of what could have easily been the foothills of the Cascades

Before I continue, though, let me just say that the hills and mountains of the Black Forest in Germany were very nearly indistinguishable from the hills and mountains of parts of Oregon. When I talked to Mo's SIL Chere about it, she told me that her grandparents settled in Oregon because it reminded them so much of their home in the Black Forest. But before I begin the tale of our day, I need to return to the previous afternoon after we boarded Gersemi once again to travel up the Rhine toward Briesach.

This was the day that Viking chose to celebrate our cruise with a specialty dinner.  Even though our day was spent in France, the majority of the trip was in Germany, so a French dinner wasn't in the cards.  Taste of Germany was held in the dining room a bit later than our usual dinner.  I would imagine that was to allow plenty of time for some pre-dinner entertainment in the lounge.  

Nancy dressed up in her traditional Bavarian costume, making many jokes about how it no longer fits quite like it did when she first purchased the dirndl skirt and apron.  We saw a side of Nancy that until now wasn't apparent:  she had a great sense of humor and was really good at delivering her stories with perfect timing.  

After some fun and silliness, Nancy settled down to business, first telling us about the day to come, and then giving the "disembarkation talk", with instructions as to how we would exit the ship as the cruise came to a close.  Instructions were a bit different for those of us who planned to continue with the Viking cruise extension to Switzerland.  The week had flown by, and I was grateful that our time wasn't coming to an end so quickly.  

The German dinner was enjoyable.  The tables were decorated with many types of mustard and pretzels, and the mood was festive.  I did enjoy a good German beer to begin my meal before we walked to the long lines around the buffet tables to be served. I wish I had made a list of everything that was offered.  There was more than one kind of schnitzel and sauerbraten, two dishes that I am familiar with.  Warm German potato salad was alongside many kinds of cheese and sausages.  

The company at our table was festive and happy, and we all laughed a lot.  Maybe that is why the meal didn't seem all that memorable, or maybe I am just not a fan of German food.  I do remember really loving the beer and truly loving all the many kinds of cheese, especially the traditional muenster that was creamy and delicious.

The dessert table was huge, and I don't remember labels on any of the items lined up on the trays so beautifully.  I took a bit of this and a bit of that and don't remember any of it. 

We were still finishing our dinner when we entered another set of locks, with the walls visible through the dining room windows.

Then, suddenly there was another riverboat beside us in the locks.  I can't express just how strange the lock experience is on the river.  It was nothing at all like going through the Panama Canal on a huge ship. Deb and I lingered a bit after supper, with some drinks and conversation before we went down to our stateroom.  However, it was impossible to sleep because the ship was going through several locks as the elevation of the river was rising and more locks were necessary.

Around 9, Deb and I decided to go up to the top deck to watch the ship travel through the locks.  The night was magical, not as cold as it had been, and with a full moon rising in the east. There are ten locks between Amsterdam and Basel on the Rhine, but most of them are on the upper portion of the river.  This makes perfect sense since the elevation of the landscape begins rising more dramatically as the river approaches Switzerland.

The lady on the stairs is on our ship and the lady in red is on our neighbor ship

We got a big kick out of this particular lock transit since we passed another Viking ship in the lock. We could visit with the folks on the other ship and there was a lot of joking and camaraderie between us.  Several people invited us to join them on their ship as they cruised north toward Amsterdam.

Looking down between the two ships, separated by less than a foot. Kudos to our captain.

When Deb and I went back downstairs, we opened to slider and stepped out on the veranda.  We could touch the cold cement walls of the lock.  The slimy feeling was a bit spooky, something like a Steven King novel nightmare.  I was glad that we could close our windows. We adjusted to the sounds of the locks as the night wore on and I remember sleeping well, looking forward to our last day in Germany that would dawn in the morning.

We woke the next morning to discover that we were docked directly adjacent to the charming little town of Briesach, Germany.  Set on a steep cliff above town, St Stephen's Cathedral is a 12th-century Romanesque church that was expanded in the 15th century in the Gothic Style.  Like most of Breisach, (85 percent of the city was bombed in the world wars) the landmark cathedral was almost completely destroyed during World War II but has been beautifully restored.  The church is known for the quality of its interior decoration, but we weren't able to visit the interior of the church due to our timed tour of the Black Forest later in the day.

The lovely town square was quiet at this time of the morning when we first started walking

The sunshine was beautiful as we walked off the boat to explore the town on our own.  Briesach is bigger than it seems but the outer parts of town weren't visible to us until later in the day when we did our bus tour.  At this time of day, the town was quiet, and Deb fell in love with the sweet little German city that felt much like a fairy tale.

The charming streets invited us to explore and we walked one way and then the next.  Our goal was to walk as far up the hill toward the cathedral as we could manage.  I should say as far as I could manage.  

Both of us were impressed with the little red walker's ability to bump along those cobblestones without any trouble for me.  

Onward!  I know I can do it!!

Made it!!

The magnificent view from the top of the walls toward the Black Forest to the south was definitely worth the walk.

Toward the west, we could see Gersemi docked below us on the river.  If you look closely you can see that there are two Viking River ships docked side by side.  Nancy made sure to announce that there were two ships at the dock and that it was easy to get confused and get on the wrong ship, so she warned us to be sure to check that we got on the right one when we returned. Our stateroom was riverside, but the staterooms that were portside had a very intimate view of their neighbor's cabin if the blinds were open.

We enjoyed walking the courtyard below the cathedral and attempting to read the many interpretive signs provided by the city about the history and architecture.  The only problem was that the signs were all in German.  Instead, we needed to do a bit of research on our own about the town of Briesach.

Often the focus of German and European politics, the history of what was called the "mother city of Breisgau" goes back over 4,000 years.  As early as the Neolithic Age, people settled on the plateau along the Rhine, and in Celtic times there was a princely seat here that maintained trade relations as far as the Mediterranean region.

The Romans also recognized the strategic importance of the location and built a fort here, where Emperor Valentinian I issued an edict on August 30, year 369.  The year 369 is also considered the founding date of the town of Breisach.  The name Breisach comes from the celti word "brisn-ac", which means "water breaker", the rocky mountain where water breaks.  Even in the early Middle Ages, the waves of the untamed Rhine often crashed against the basalt slopes of the hill where the cathedral is now located.

In the 11th century, the Staufer dynasty founded Briesach as a city, but there was already a settlement with a church before that time.  The Staufer Dynasty was a noble family of unclear origin that rose to rule in 1138 and continued ruling under the Holy Roman Empire until 1254.  The history of this dynasty meanders toward Italy and peters out in the late Middle Ages.

Notice, German and French and a very tiny bit of English at the lower left of the photo

In the early 13th century, construction began on the St. Stephansmunster, the cathedral at Breisach.  By the early 16th century, Breisach was a significant stronghold of the Holy Roman Empire.  It was conquered by the French and integrated into the French state, returned again to the Holy Roman Empire, and reconquered again in 1703.  Eventually, Briesach became part of Austria, and then later again a part of France, and finally Germany. During World War II, 85 percent of Breisach was destroyed by Allied artillery as the Allies crossed the Rhine, and the Cathedral was also heavily damaged.  

As Deb and I walked through this delightful German riverside town, we had no idea of this incredibly complex history.  We saw neat shops lining clean streets.  We found a small tourist souvenir shop and decided to take the time to visit and purchase a few goodies rather than wait for our time in the Black Forest later in the afternoon.  It was a good thing we did since our Black Forest tour didn't allow any time for small-item shopping.  

On our way back to the ship, we stopped at a charming little ice cream shop we had passed as we walked into town.  The menu was a bit overwhelming, but we finally made a choice and we could only eat some of it.

By the time we returned to the ship, it was time for our afternoon excursion to the Black Forest, departing at 2PM.  We knew that the trip would include a considerable amount of time on the bus, but we knew it was worth it to travel into the fairytale world of the famous Black Forest.  Our destination was the Black Forest Village, in Breitnau, Germany, in the heart of the Black Forest.

The mountains of the Black Forest rising toward the south of Briesach as we travel the freeway

I think the most frustrating aspect of the bus trip for me was the lack of a map, and I didn't think to download the local Google map for offline viewing before we boarded the bus.  The route led south from the port where we were docked toward the distant mountains.

Deb and I took this photo of a huge German RV park to share with Mo

The second most frustrating aspect for me was that the bus never stopped, not even once, so that we could get any photos of the beautiful landscape through which we traveled. Deb and I managed to get a front-row seat in the bus, but that didn't keep me from constantly fighting reflections on the windows and those huge bus mirrors from getting in the way of most of my photos of the gorgeous drive.  

It was about two hours to the village, and along the way, we saw several small villages, extensive agricultural landscapes in the lower elevations giving way to lumber mills, and steep tree-covered slopes at the higher elevations. 

 

It looked ever so much like our home in Oregon, especially the northern part of the Willamette Valley.  As I mentioned earlier, when we talked to relatives who had ancestors who had emigrated from Germany, they told us they picked Oregon because it reminded them so much of home.

The Black Forest is somehow the region that seems to be at the heart of all the fairy tales you have ever read.  Houses that seem to be made of gingerbread, dark mist-filled woods, romantic castles, and farmhouses that haven't changed in centuries contribute to the atmosphere.  The region has long been associated with the fairy tales that we know best, Hansel and Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood, Rumpelstiltskin, and Snow White came to us courtesy of the brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm.  

Their goal was to collect and preserve the folklore that resonated with a romantic vision of German national culture.  While many of these tales were part of the Black Forest oral tradition, they were told all over Germany and their origins are largely unknown. 

The Brothers Grimm never actually lived in the Black Forest, but the official Fairytale Road that traces their work stretches nearly 400 miles from Hanau to Bremen in the north.  No matter the tale's source or location, traveling into the dark and beautiful forest can rekindle childhood wonder and a sense of magic.

Above is a photo of the highest point of our drive into the Black Forest

We arrived at the village in the late afternoon, with about 30 minutes allotted to us to explore the famous cuckoo clock shop and to see the demonstration showing how the famous clocks are made.  I thought I might like to have a clock as a keepsake of the trip to Germany, but the prices were overwhelming.  

What we learned is that the size of the pulls on the clock indicates how many days a clock will operate before needing to be rewound by pulling the weights down.  The cheapest clocks run on a battery, but what good is that for a keepsake of a "real" cuckoo clock?  The better clocks, with pulls that only needed to be pulled down every 24 hours started at around 400 euros, and the better clocks, with pulls that allowed them to work for 8 days were in the thousands.  Deb and I looked all around and drooled, but neither of us cared to spend such a large amount of money on a cuckoo clock.

As we looked at so many items in the shop we were especially glad that we had purchased carved wooden Christmas ornaments at the little shop in Briesach instead of waiting until we arrived at the official Black Forest Village.  I was tempted by the beautifully carved Christmas pyramid with the candle-driven rotating top but managed to refrain.  

Mo has one that we put out every Christmas that her brother Don and his wife Wynn gave to Mo when he was stationed in Germany, so I had no need to add another one.  Deb and I both managed to wander the shop and ooh and ahh without buying a single gift or keepsake.

I did enjoy the cuckoo clock-making demonstration, especially the little whistles that make up the traditional coo-coo sound and how they operate in the clocks.  It was fascinating.  The carving on some of the more expensive clocks was a wonder.

We didn't have time to go into the glass-blowing shop which had some truly gorgeous pieces in the windows.  It was getting late in the afternoon and another highlight of our day awaited us at the restaurant in the village.  Once again, as we entered the restaurant, our trusty friends had found a table and saved space for us right in front of the demonstration table.

The cake-making demonstration was interesting, and after watching how Black Forest Cake was made traditionally, and having a piece of it, Deb and I both decided that my American version of Black Forest Cake was much tastier.  The chocolate sponge used in Germany is like angel food, without much flavor.  The kirsch that is used to drench the cake before spreading on layers of whipped cream was good, but was lost in the mounds of unsweetened cream that covered the cake.  

I was happy to see my daughter so delighted at the completion of the demonstration.  This was one of the parts of the excursion that she was especially looking forward to.

The demonstration was beautifully done but wasn't nearly as flavorful as expected.  I know that German desserts are not nearly as sweet as American treats, and I enjoy that most of the time, but a bit of sugar in that whipped cream would have been nice!

The journey back to Briesach was beautiful in the late afternoon light.  Deb asked me yesterday if we had a photo of the stag sculpture perched along the edge of a cliff along the route in the narrowest part of the canyon.  We had fun searching the photos and she found the shot.  

Once more, it is a shot from a fast-moving bus on a busy mountain road through the window, but I am including it here for the fun of it.  I have included a web photo of the same stag from the air I found online. I have also included a Wikipedia link just to show how complex all this German history and culture can be if one chooses to dig into it more deeply. 

Photo by Joachim Haller - Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15288763

The deep gorge along the "Hell Pass" section of the highway was dramatic, but with many curves and the darkness of the canyon, it was hard to see much of it. With my tendency to motion sickness I certainly wasn't able to take notes as our guide spoke to us about what we were passing so quickly on each side of the highway.

As we left the mountains, traffic was getting heavier and the driver decided to skip the freeway traffic jam and took us through several small villages along the way.  Again, without a map, it was impossible to remember the names of all the little villages that we saw.  

The day had been a very long one, with so much to fill our eyes and our minds.  It was delightful to board the ship once again and walk upstairs to the lounge to be served a cocktail before dinner by one of our favorite waiters, Enrico.

This was our last full day on the Rhine River, our last day in Germany, and our last day on Viking Gersemi.  As we listened to the instructions for people who were departing the ship in Basel and going immediately to the airport in Zurich, Deb and I were especially happy that we would be continuing on from Basel to spend 3 extra nights in Lucerne, Switzerland.  We were especially delighted that our new friends Rosemarie and Rick would be doing so as well.  

Our memories of this last day in Germany were marvelous and we were exhausted by the time we fell into bed that night with thoughts of the wonderful glockenspiel at the Black Forest Village.

Touted as the largest cuckoo clock in the world, we were delighted to watch the spinning figures as the clock chimed and the dancing figures emerged from the doorways.