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| Black Forest from the tower |
We woke up late on our fifth day in Germany to a cold, drizzle-y day in the Black Forest. A little hung over, and a little sad that this was our last day in Kaltenbach, we had a quiet morning together.
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| map on top of the tower showing all the towns |
After lunch, Oma said that she'd like to take us to "hike the
Blauen"; specifically, a tower on top of the Blauen mountain in the Black Forest. At first, I didn't climb up the observation tower - I preferred to keep my feet planted firmly on the ground. Sure, it doesn't look like it's that high up, but it was. And the observation tower was built in 1895 - I didn't really trust it, to be honest.
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| dirty shoes and a looooong way down |
Eventually, with a lot of encouragement from my family, and some literal hand-holding from Hubby, I made it to the top. I still couldn't go right up to the edge, or even stand up, but I was able to sit on the bench at the top and enjoy the beautiful 360 degree view of the Black Forest; a place that I'd dreamt of visiting since I was a little girl.
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| mamma and me |
When were were all back on the ground again, we all piled back in the car and headed to a nearby castle to check it out before we had to be back at the pub for afternoon coffee and cake.
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| the stone detailing on the ground was amazing |
We didn't have enough time for a guided tour inside the castle, but we were able to enjoy the beautiful grounds and the amazing views.
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| gardens |
We enjoyed strolling around the gardens, in the grey skies and September showers, but we eventually we had to make our way back to the pub to meet up with family, and to say goodbye to those that we would not see again.
When we arrive back at the pub, my mom's cousin had made a special cake for us. It's a version of the traditional
Gugelhupf cake; this version contained bacon. I kid you not, as soon as it was mentioned that this was a "bacon cake" Hubby's eyes went wide and he exclaimed "I LOVE GERMANY". He had found his perfect country.
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| bacon cake |
We spent the rest of our last evening in Kaltenbach playing games, getting to know my family, and soaking up the coziness of the pub and the amazing hospitality of my great aunt. Just writing about Kaltenbach makes me miss it so much; I can't wait to go back - for our future children to know this part of their heritage.
The next morning we were up bright and early to depart for Munich. The family piled into two cars and hit the autobahn. We stopped for lunch at Lake Constance and took a quick visit into the beautiful
Brinau Pilgrimage Church. This church was breathtaking. The amount or ornate detail inside was stunning; unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take any pictures though. I loved the pink outside too - it made it feel like a princess church.
Soon after our lunch stop, we arrived in Munich. After we checked-in to our hotel and freshened up a bit, we met up with the rest of the family in the lobby and headed out to check out the city. We took the U-Bahn into the city centre and stood in awe of the
Neues Rathaus (New Town Hall) and its famous glockenspiel.
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| Neues Rathaus and the glockenspiel |
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| statue in front of the Neues Rathaus |
Once we started to get hungry, we made our way towards the
Hofbrauhaus, one of the oldest beer halls in Munich. It's a good thing that we were good and hungry because we ordered an insane amount of food (and beer) and even amazingly finished it all. We tried two different types of sausages, potato dumplings, potato salad, an assortment of bread and pretzels. It. Was. Delicious. So delicious that I'm craving some good German food right now. Maybe I can convince Hubby to fly me to Munich for dinner tonight? I'm sure that won't be a problem.
After dinner we were all full and a little buzzed from all the beer, so we made our way back to the hotel for a good night's sleep.
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