On Sunday morning Norm, Mary, Al and I headed south towards Baden Baden and the Black Forest. Our mission was to drive the Schwarzwalderhochstrasse (Black Forest High Road). We were getting hungry when we drove into Steinbach. We parked and then heard music. We headed that way. It was a wine festival. We saw a large tent where the music was coming from. The tent was filled with long picnic tables with a lot of people eating. We found a table that we shared with a German couple. Their daughter was playing in the band which was very good! We had very authentic, delicious German food and enjoyed the music. Next we wandered through the town full of people, tents with things for sale. We bought some fresh strawberries. Loved it all. Then headed on towards the road. We drove through Baden Baden which looked really nice. We’re saving that for another day. The road began to climb.
The Black Forest High Road is literally that. It curls along the tops of ridges where we were stopping for pictures of incredible views every ten minutes. Along the ridge we came to a sudden cluster of cars, people, a large hotel, a chapel in the woods and shops. We parked and discovered that a high mountain lake called the Mummelsee was there. People were rowing and paddling in boats. The chapel had beautiful stained glass windows. We wandered around and had coffee. Then drove on.
Our next stop was for an afternoon snack in a lovely town, Freudenstadt. It has the largest town square in Germany. We had fabulous apfel strudel with ice cream! Then moved on again.
The drive was incredibly beautiful. Our goal was to get to Schiltach. From our guide book it looked perfect and it was. You’ll see from the pictures how picture perfect it is. It’s small and rather off the beaten track. It’s so authentic. We found a Gasthaus. The rooms had names. Norm and Mary Ritter got the Ritterzimmer. (Ritter room.). The hotel had been built in 1580. Amazing! Al and I got the Schwarzwaldzimmer. The town is built where two small rivers meet and they were just finishing up a rafting festival. More good food and lots of happy people. We went back to the hotel and in a corner of the hall were some comfy chairs. We had our fresh strawberries, chocolate that Ritters had brought from Paris and a bottle of red wine. We spent the rest of the evening there rehashing old times.
Living and Coaching in Germany 
What an unbelievably wonderful day in Germany! How can it be possible for us to be home in North Carolina already? First the ride through Baden Baden area, the German band while we ate at the wine festival in Steinbach, the gorgeous view from the Scharzvaldhochstrasse, the delicious apple streudal in Freudenstradt, the Mummelsee, wine along the rumbling river in Schiltach and the Gasthaus Sonne with the Rittersellar and Rittersimmer, made just for us! You captured it all so well! A memorable day!
It really was a day I’ll always treasure!!
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