5 Jun 11 – Day 3 (Black Forest & Schaffhausen)

We went for breakfast about 7am and took about one hour to finish. Brought our luggage down about 8:30am to load into the coach, took some photos before setting off at 9am on a four hours journey to the Black Forest. Along the way, I saw quite a number of people either cycling or walking with hiking sticks along the countryside. Also saw bikers on the road and interestingly, they all wore full biker gears. Had a toilet break around 11:40am and paid 0.50 Euro to use the toilet.

Reached Titisee at 1:10pm and headed straight for lunch at 1:30pm where we paid 5 Euro to upgrade our lunch to pork knuckles and black forest cake, specialties of Germany. The pork knuckle was big but fortunately was tender enough to cut and eat. The black forest cake was different from our local ones, this one had more cream but fortunately again the cream was quite light coz they used fresh cream. Some of the waitresses in the restaurant wore traditional Bavarian costumes. After eating, we were given a small cup of ice wine to try and we could place order if we like it but I found it too expensive so didn’t buy any.

My lunch :

Went to the shop next door (belongs to the restaurant owner) called Drubba Shopping to look around while waiting for the cuckoo clock making demonstration which was held at the basement of the shop at 2:45pm. Mag commented that my face was very red and I explained to her that it happens every time I drink and that is why I never like to drink. The demonstration ended about 3pm and we were given only half an hour to walk the street. Bought some souvenirs, took some photos of the flower clock and the Titisee Lake and reached the coach at 3:30pm. Two middle-age couples were late for 15 minutes which caused us having the time for the next stop cut back by 15 minutes.

The cuckoo clock workshop

A cuckoo clock maker at work

Cuckoo Clock Making Demostration (P1) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CSbVYpL6yM

Cuckoo Clock Making Demostration (P2) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qu99f3hMFMA

 Some photos of Titisee Lake and its town :

Titisee Lake - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v98aiQqB3ug

Got to the Switzerland border at 4:30pm, reached Neuhausen am Rheinfall to see the Schaffhausen Rhine Falls (Europe’s largest waterfall) after 5pm and was told to report back by 6pm. So walked briskly to check out some shops and found out that almost all shops sell Swiss Army knives of various functions and prices were quite standard. Found the Swiss Railway watches too but almost all comes in leather straps only and things looked expensive so didn’t get anything. Saw the Wörth Castle (Schloss Wörth) but didn’t go in.

We walked quite far, almost a full circle to take photos and looked around. Saw some tourists taking boat rides to view the Rhine Falls from the downstream of the fall, some were even seen walking down the steps on the Rheinfallfelsen, a large rock.  Returned to the coach and headed to the airport hotel in Zurich for the night. Cecilia said it was difficult to get hotel rooms during the summer period and so we had to stay in Zurich instead.

Some photos of the Rhine Falls and its surroundings :

Rhine Fall with Laufen castle on the right

Wörth castle from afar

Got to the hotel, checked in and then went out to walk around the area as well as to look for food. As it was Sunday, shops were closed. Found a pizza take-away place and placed our orders for a Hawaiian pizza (32cm) and an eight-piece chicken nuggets. Bumped into our coach driver and he told us about another dine-in place for pizza. Walked the direction he had given and saw a convenient store next to the railway station and so we stopped there to get some snacks. Didn’t continue to the dine-in pizza place and we headed back to collect our food.

The food should have cost us CHF34.50 but we were charged only CHF32.50 and they even threw in a bottle of red wine. Carried our food back and passed by Cecilia and the driver, they were surprised with the free wine. Got back to the room, I went to take my shower, followed by Kim and Mag was having gastric attack. Finally settled down to eat and then headed for bed closed to 11pm.

Our dinner :

Thoughts: It looked kind of fun to cycle or trek around the countryside. The bikes in Germany were big and some had two wheels in front and one wheel at the back. The bikers looked so cool in their full biker gears.