Pre-Departure Impressions: Der Schwarzwald

To any German readers of this blog, I apologise, once and for all, for all the stereotypes that I associate with your country. But it's impossible for a Hong Kong girl like myself to fantasise about the Schwarzwald (The Black Forest). The sight of thick, endless forests, of misty mountains and of quaint little villages, the sweet taste of gateaux, the sound of water flowing and the smell of wood and of dampness in the air. In other words, all things that are the opposite of the urban concrete city I grew up in.

For the Techies: Die Schwarzwaldbahn (The Black Forest Railway)

Running from Offenberg to Singen, this twin-tracked railway was build between 1866 and 1873 and is known to be one of the most scenic rides in Germany. It is 149 km long and passes through no further than 39 tunnels because the motto of its engineer, Robert Gedwig, is "Wenige Brücken - viele Tunnel" (Less bridges - more tunnels) The railway itself is a fine piece of engineering. The most technically challenging part also happens to be the most beautiful part: between Hornberg-Triberg-St Georgen.

The problem: it has to run between Hornberg and Sommersau. The shortest distance between the two places is 11km, but there's a 483m height difference between the two places. The train would have to climb one hell of a slope.

Robert Gedwig's solution: Using a double hair pin loop (its first use in world history) and 36 tunnels. Although this extended the distance to 26 km, the maximum gradient of the railway is kept under 20 per mile.

(It doesn't really look like this. This is a special version only)

For the Foodies: Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte (Black Forest Cherry Cake)

Many happy childhood memories of mine involved a Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte. In the 90s this was one of the most popular cakes being sold by Hong Kong bakeries. However, it's not the real thing because of the lack of Kirschewasser, an essential ingredient, which is a clear, cherry liquor and a specialty of Schwarzwald. Hmm...I cannot wait to try the real thing...

For the Treehuggers: Triberg and the Countryside

Triberg was not my initial choice. I wanted to go to Gutach but the Schwarzwaldbahn doesn't stop there and there's no youth hostel there. So far, Triberg sounds pretty nice. It has a Black Forest Museum. But what I am more interested in is walking in the surrounding forest! Apparently there's a series of lovely, tall waterfalls which is quite accessible.

For the Arty-Farties: Cuckoo Clocks

I have good reason to be so fond of cuckoo clocks: my family owns one! It's quite a rare (read: odd) thing to find in a Chinese home, and we bought ours somewhere in Switzerland circa 1999 and handcarried the beauty back to London and then to Hong Kong. It has a special spot on our wall and plays two songs: Edelweiss and Der fröhliche Wanderer (The Happy Wanderer). The bird pops out and tells the time every half hour, once at half past, and the number of hours at full hour, with the little figures in traditional dresses doing a little dance.

(So 12 midnight meant 12 "cuckoo"s which had roused the entire flat on many occasions when we forgot to switch the sound off before bed. "Damn clock!!" we cursed. But we love it to bits really, even though now it doesn't tell the correct time and the bird sings at random times.)

Triberg also has one of those house-sized cuckoo clocks that contends to be the biggest cuckoo clock in the world. There're several of these, according to Deutsche Welle. As I explained this with some enthusiasm to my father, he mused, "Would the resident of such clock house have to step out onto his balcony every 30 minutes, and do a little dance at every full hour?"