Today was a long day.
Of course it didn’t help that, after only a couple hours of sleep, I tuned in the Canuck game in the wee hours of the morning here in Germany.
It was on at 4am. Sadly we didn’t win. Even sadder I’d only get 3 more hours sleep after the game ended.
So, I was running on 5 hours sleep today.
Not ideal when you’re traveling.
But on we went…
Triberg Waterfalls
Shawn had woken up a couple hours before me and had already found a place for breakfast so we headed back there so I could have some too.
It was a little café attached to a museum but they had omelettes and that was enough for me.
After a late start and a quick breakfast, it was already noon by the time we walked over to the nearby Triberg Waterfalls.
The waterfalls, the tallest in Germany, are one of the main attractions the little town has to offer.
They are located right off the main street only a few minutes walk from everything.
Entry to the falls in €8 ($12) but it’s free if you have a KONUS card.
And, we just happened to have KONUS cards.
For most hostels and hotels in most cities in the Black Forest, you receive a KONUS card upon checkin that is good for free travel on all local buses and trains as well as free entry into some attractions like the waterfalls.
It took about a half hour to get to the top of falls. Yes, it was more hiking on an inclined path, but it was way better than yesterday, that’s for sure.
We also stopped to take a few photos so that took us some extra time too.
By 1pm we were back onto the main street heading to the train station.
Let us off!
About 18km north of Triberg are a couple of attractions nestled nearby each other and an hourly train will take you there in about a half hour.
We took the 1:15 train and arrived at 1:45.
The train stopped but the doors didn’t open.
Even after pressing every button that was available, they still didn’t open.
A group of 6 of us had now gathered at the door desperately wanting to get off.
Nope.
We heard people getting on at a door down the car so we quickly raced over to that door only to arrive as the door had closed.
A tap of the emergency phone to alert them did nothing and soon the train was off to the next station.
Well, sonofabitch!
So, we went to the next station, waiting for 20 minutes for the next train going back that way and finally go to where we wanted to go a half hour later than we wanted.
That half hour would prove to be important.
Open Air Museum
Anyway, we finally arrived at the Open Air Museum at 2:15.
It is a grouping of a bunch of old wooden houses scattered on a few acres. The insides of the homes are all dressed from many years ago.
It was just kind of a cool way to see how life was back in simpler times.
Entry to the museum was €12 ($18).
For whatever reason, I just assumed the museum would be a quick in and out but because of it being so vastly spread out, we actually spent almost an hour here.
It also didn’t help that internet was not available in the area because of the nearby mountains so when I lost Shawn I couldn’t message him to figure out where to meet.
It was 3pm and we had a decision to make.
There is a tobogganing park about a 10 minute walk away but there was also a bus leaving soon that would take us to the world’s largest cuckoo clock.
The bus to the cuckoo clock would be the last one for a couple of hours.
Because of the burned half hour not being able to get off at our stop along with taking longer in the museum than we anticipated, we couldn’t do both.
Hmmm, the world’s biggest cuckoo clock or tobogganing.
How could we possibly choose?
We ended up going with tobogganing with a plan to, hopefully, go to the cuckoo clock tomorrow morning before we checkout.
Tobogganing
Today was May 1st by the way which is a national holiday in Germany.
So, yeah, there were alot of people at the tobogganing park when we arrived.
In fact, we would have to wait in a 30 minute line to do the 5 minute ride.
We went around the corner to buy our €4 ($6) tickets and I turned back to go to the line I had seen as we entered the area.
On the way, I stopped at a vending machine to grab some much needed water.
And then I went in line and waited.
But where was Shawn?
How had I lost him?
Did he go to the washroom?
Why isn’t he in the line with me?
Well, turns out that the long line I was in was for the food and beer and the real line was all the way around the backside of the entrance area.
After waiting in the wrong line for 10 minutes, I finally made my way to the correct line.
And there was Shawn about 50 people ahead of me.
He motioned for me to cut the line and come join him but there was just no way I was gonna be that guy that cuts the line to be with his friend.
Ah, waiting in line on a hot sunny day. What fun!
Eventually we made it to the front and onto the toboggan.
What a ride!
Definitely worth it!
Cuckoo plans go cuckoo
By 4pm we were on a train back into Triberg.
Along the way I was looking at my DB train app for ways to get to the cuckoo clock tomorrow and I found something interesting.
There was a bus 530 that left about 10 minutes after we’d arrive at the train station taking us there and another one coming back about a half hour later.
Sweet! We were gonna see the cuckoo clock this afternoon after all!
Hahahahahaha! How silly of me to think this would actually be a thing…
We walked from the train station down the stairs and along the roadway to find the bus stop for the 530 bus.
Sure enough, the time schedule on the bus stop pole confirmed there was, indeed, a bus at 5:18.
Well, 5:18 came and went and no bus.
Dammit!
And the next bus into town wasn’t for awhile which meant we had to do the 20 minute walk of shame.
In the heat.
Without water.
And hungry.
And tired.
Yeah, I was not a happy camper!
Food solves all
We arrived into the main part of town around 6pm and just went into the first restaurant we saw.
As we sat down I ordered a bottled of water right away.
Thank God he brought me a large one because I guzzled 1/2 a liter so fast the waiter was shocked it was gone when he came back to take our order.
For diner I had one of the few things on the menu I could have – a mix of meats with fries.
To show you how hungry I was, I totally forgot to take a photo of my dinner (a traveling sin in my book) before I bit into it.
Along with a nice big glass of wine, it did the trick.
I was not as annoyed. Not as grumpy. Not as tired and not as hungry.
Oh, and we stopped by the ice cream shop again for some ice cream cause, hey, why not?
At 7pm we were back at the hostel.
It had been a long day, that’s for sure. Much longer and exhausting than I had anticipated.
But, we made it and after a nice, long shower, I was snug in my bed nice and early at 9pm.
Tomorrow, we take the Hell Valley train from Triberg to Freiberg and then a later train onto Stuttgart.
The home stretch of this trip is coming up and I, for one, intend to finish it up strong.
