Schwartzwalder Kirschetorte - whipped cream, cherries, and chocolate cake soaked in cherry schnapps! What's not to like!?
Sehr schmeckt gut!!
Sehr schmeckt gut!!
Tour Day 4: Black Forest Open Air Museum and Arrival in Murren
Die SchwartzwaldAfter a scenic drive through the Black Forest we arrived at our morning activity, the Black Forest Open Air Museum, on our way to Switzerland. Frau Schmidt guided us through several buildings and was an absolute delight! She was sweet, charming, and obviously very proud of the museum, which was so interesting! The houses were amazingly unique, unlike anything I had ever seen before, and well designed for their landscape and uses. The huge equipment storage rooms were on the top level of the house! Which, when you see that the hill the house is built into provides the ramp to easily get up there, makes sense. Don't miss exploring multiple house interiors, the mill, or stopping by the schnapps maker!!
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Schwartzwalder Kirschetorte!We got back to the shops area associated with the Open Air Museum after our tour and had a little lunch - a plate of German specialties like sauerkraut and German potato salad. It was so good and reminded me of my grandmother's cooking! Brett also found a wonderful hat that looked fantastic on him and which he wore the rest of the trip. We also took a turn through the little market they had. The produce and Black Forest Ham looked amazing! Andrea then brought out a whole Schwartzwalder Kirschtorte for our group to share along with some schnapps! It was a gorgeous piece of edible art and was delicious!! Prost!
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Out of Germany and Into Switzerland!
After a morning and lunch spent in the Black Forest of Germany we headed south and made our way into Switzerland, the second country on our tour. We needed to have a mandatory rest for Jeff so we stopped at quite a large wayside with restaurants and shops where we all drew out some cash for Switzerland, which is Francs vs Euros for Germany and Austria. We drew out 100 Francs for 2 which was the least you could withdraw. It was more than we needed but we used up the extra on some wine. Never a bad thing! And, Swiss wine is pretty good! You will be amazed at the prices in Switzerland. We browsed the shops while we waited and found a giant Toblerone and gaped at the price of a whopper. You'll see its' about 20 Francs for a meal = $20. YIKES! Andrea explained that the Swiss are paid quite well and have a high standard of living, so while this seems expensive to us, it is quite normal for them. My recommendation - buy your Swiss Chocolate in Germany. We purchased ours at the grocery store in Baden-Baden.
Kelman's CatalogueAccomodation - Hotel Jungfrau for 3 glorious nights! Our room had a closet we could dry our clothes in after laundering, a bathroom with a window we could open to help with steam, and a balcony that had fabulous views!
Meals - Hotel Jungfrau's restaurant for some Rosti and Fondue, and Restaurant Stagerstubli for Fondue. Would We Stay Here Again? - YES! The Swiss Alps were so amazing to have right outside the hotel everywhere you looked! The only thing I would change would be to come slightly later in the season so we could do some of the longer, higher hikes that were still under snow while we were there. |
Hotel Jungfrau, our room and bathroom, beautiful views and the lobby.
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Practicalities ~ the BusOur coach bus was very comfy and you could really spread out if you wanted to. Jeff was our fearless driver from Belgium who did an excellent job navigating the winding roads through the Black Forest and the Swiss Alps, and always looked dapper. Andrea used bus time to share treats and let us know about what we would be seeing next. For this tour we were only allowed to have the front panorama seat once, and since I get bus sick on windy roads I sat in the seat above the steps with Jeff when we had particularly curvy stretches through the Black Forest or Swiss Alps.
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