Not so black, and not so foresty

Quick, what comes to mind when I say Black Forest? Cake, probably. But think again, what do you imagine the region of the Black Forest to look like? A forest... that's black? Dark, mossy, overhanging, intertwining trees gloomily lowering over impenetrable undergrowth, with here and there a man in lederhosen, axe in hand, angrily chasing after a fleeing German Mädchen? What a coincidence, me too! But, while I'll admit we only strayed through a tiny portion of the High Black Forest, it looked completely different from what I imagined.

I never realised it was so hilly. We got up to over 900 metres on our drive from Freiburg to Uberlingen on Lake Constance, and there was even still snow on the ground up there. (And, in fact, isolated flurries of snow in the air too on our way back home.) The weather on Friday was gorgeous, and it was a beautiful day for a drive.

I missed this photo off the last post, so had to add it here because it's so cute! (I know, if I say so myself)

Snowy blurry car action shot

We took a small detour to the Titisee, mostly because it's funny to say Titisee. I burst out laughing at Easter dinner at Jules's mum's because people said Titisee too many times for me to handle. Mature. We only stayed there for a total of about 20 minutes, enough to park, walk down to the lake, take a few photos, and walk back. It was buuuus-y! I don't know how it gets in summer, but it was already crowded and very touristy, with chalet-style buildings and cuckoo clocks as far as the eye can see in the small town centre. The lake is pretty though, and the town cute albeit cheesy.

I don't know how it is in other countries, but Germany is not really talked up as a tourist destination in my experience. At home it's all France and Italy, Eastern Europe if you're looking for a bit of exoticism or a stag weekend, Spain for sunshine, the UK for history, catching up with family or working in a bar for a couple of years, but Germany's not really on the radar. Berlin, of course, but you never really hear much about other parts of Germany, and it's only in the last year or so, when I've been living on its borders, that I've really started to explore a little bit. So far, it seems full of really cute picture-book towns, and this weekend was really a surprise with how lovely some of the scenery is. 

Titisee panorama - look how clear the water is

I'm wearing the same clothes in like all my blog posts. I suppose if something works for you (hopefully), why not stick with it? Plus this dress is super comfy

This says Titsee and Fart (almost). Schoolgirl giggling ensues and continues for the next 20 minutes. Signs saying 'fahrt' may be my very favourite thing about Germany

Titisee snowball fight!

After our brief detour, we continued on to Uberlingen, on the shores of Lake Constance, in time for a long stroll along the lake front, an icecream, and a beer slash wine on a terrace in the sun. Great day, and we got to make the most of the nice weather, which was good.

When I discovered we were staying in the Bad Hotel, I was all...

This is the other side of the Bad Hotel - it's secretly actually very nice! We had a lovely big room on the corner, not with a lake view unfortunately, but windows on two sides

Street in Uberlingen

Panorama of Lake Constance

On the Uberlingen lakefront

Two ships crossing in the night day

From snow at Titisee to daffodils in Uberlingen on the same day

The sculptor gives the unfortunate impression that Jesus is worshipping a pile of poo

We had a definitely not-Michelin-starred but tasty rösti dinner in a traditional(esque) German restaurant to finish our first evening in Uberlingen.

Jules is happy with his beer

While I'm not used to having wine glasses the size of my head after too many years in France!

Oh and the million-dollar question - did we have Black Forest gateau? < Whispers > I actually don't like it, so no!

Easter break: Three-star dining and charming Freiburg

So, first my birthday present from Jules was a digital camera. This was "sent back" in what everyone seems to think was a) rude and b) foolish, since my current digital camera is not that great. But, in my defence, I already have a digital camera. It just seems wasteful to replace one that works perfectly fine, if a little slowly. The second birthday present idea was a January trip to Lisbon, which sounded great, but in the end we couldn't find something that didn't work out as horrendously expensive for a quick weekend break.

And then, as we were discussing options for the Easter weekend, it somehow came up that we should visit the Auberge de l'Ill in Alsace, and that this should be my birthday present. Jules had waxed lyrical about this place a few times - visiting with his grandfather, who loved to pop by on the way to business trips in Switzerland, meeting the late chef Paul Haeberlin there, who first earned the restaurant its third Michelin star in 1967 (amazingly, it has retained them ever since), and raving about the fantastic foie gras. So, half of me listening to that is like, "aw, what nice memories" and I gotta be honest, the other half is all

Ain't no three-star restaurants in New Zealand! But haters are only going to hate until they themselves get invited to said three-star restaurant, and then enthusiastically leap at the chance. So on Thursday morning, we drove down to Alsace from Luxembourg, through pouring rain and roadworks the entire way, arriving about half an hour late but still lucky enough to be given the best table in the house, right in front of a bay window looking over the river and restaurant garden.

Panorama from our table

It was all quite fancy and I was a bit nervous - Jules, of course, is more at ease and generally helps me out, although I got quite flustered with the sommelier because I always feel like a dolt for not drinking white wine even if I have fish. The service, I must say, was impeccable. I spent quite a long time in the bathroom between courses - they had Japanese-style toilets which I had to play with (heated seats - bit weird, really - buttons that made the seat and the lid go up and down, and a bidet function that I was too scared to experiment with) and pictures of some of the famous guests in the corridor on the way to the loos. Queen Elizabeth and her Mum have eaten there, along with various European royals and statesmen, and French celebrities like Johnny Hallyday and Yannick Noah etc. And now me! But anyway, as I came back into the dining room I overheard a sotto voce "elle est là" from someone, and our meals arrived about 30 seconds later, so I'd probably been stressing the chef out with my extended ablutions.

Entrée - salmon soufflé, quite different from what I imagined, with basically a whole salmon steak in there

Pigeon stuffed with incredibly rich foie gras - I'm sorry my photo didn't capture how crazy long the pigeon leg was!

My favourite course, of course, an assortment of chocolate icecream, mousse, cake etc. presented so beautifully (I'd love to own that plate too)

Happy Jules has a coffee after our feast

One of the waiters took our photo in the garden (sheltering from the drizzle, that is)

Our ultimate holiday destination was the Bodensee/Lake Constance, but we stayed in nearby Freiburg, Germany, on Thursday night since our lunch took several hours and we had already driven all the way down to Alsace that day. Even though it rained torrentially and even hailed on our way in to the city (it cleared up later), I fell for Freiburg straight away. I can't put my finger on it, but it just seemed like one of those places that would be great to live in. The streets were super-cute and charming, it seemed to have some life to it without being too busy, the lady we asked for directions was probably the friendliest German I've ever encountered, and we grabbed provisions for a hotel-room picnic dinner in an awesome supermarket. (Seriously, I love exploring supermarkets in foreign countries, who's with me?)

Central Freiburg

Awesome building

Most of the streets in the centre were covered with intricate cobblestone designs. The streets also featured the water drains you can see on the right - although many were larger than this one and a bit of a hazard to be honest!

More cobblestone art - in front of a knife shop, appropriately enough (what happens if they close down though? Just a sinister knife left on the pavement for no reason. "Oh yeah, come visit my pet store, I totally don't stab any of the bunnies, ever.")

It was forecast to rain solidly for our whole trip, so it was a lovely surprise that Good Friday was actually a beautiful day. We woke up in Freibourg and had brunch at Café Extrablatt, a chain we also ate at in Aachen, which does a good-value buffet brunch in a trendy atmosphere (and this one is right next to the river, which is nice). It seems to be a popular hangout with students, probably due to the all-you-can-eat factor - we stuffed in so much breakfast food that we skipped lunch. The waiter even asked if we were Freiburg students, which made me feel like a young dickelchen (Luxembourgish for a young chick, as in both the poultry and female versions).

We then took the opportunity to work off breakfast with a gruelling trek up the 116-m spire of the Munster, some of it on a very narrow spiral staircase, in order to see the beautiful sunlit view of Freiburg from the top. It was tough, but worth it!

Freiburg Munster

Beautiful, bright statues in the portico

View over the towers of the (?) nave

Me and Jules at the top

Looking down at the square below

Peeping through the stonework

Amongst other things, you can see the lovely red Merchants' Hall in the foreground

The Munsterplatz from ground level

I'm sorry we didn't get more time to explore Freiburg's charms, but it was such a lovely day (with rain forecast again the next day) that we were eager to move on through the Black Forest to Lake Constance while the weather held... But that will have to wait for another post!