Bob:

The main thing I still wanted to do in the Black Forest was what I fondly called "Uncle Bob's Easy But Very Unofficial Black Forest Volksmarch". That is, talking with the proprietor of our pension we had found out that there was a 19 kilometer path all around the shoreline of the Schluchsee, and by judiciously taking the local train to two different villages along the lakeshore we could shave the walk down to 12 kilometers, which was right in the ballpark for us. For the generations of Volksmarchers who will follow in our footsteps and trip down the paths of Germany, I offer the following instructions in the simple, one-sentence German style of writing: "Take the train to Seebrugg and from the train station walk clockwise around the lake, keeping the lake on your right and ignoring all paths to the left, until you arrive at the village of Aha where you walk uphill to the train station to take the train back home." (I would also like to hereby apply for the "World's Shortest Volksmarch Directions" award, if such an award is ever given, from the International Volksport Verein, or the American Volksport Association.) Anyway, we followed these charmingly simple directions and had a wonderful walk around a very scenic lake. The ambient temperature had fallen to about 25 degrees Fahrenheit overnight, so we saw steam rising from the lake as we walked over to the Schluchsee train station, and for a while I was worried that we would be surrounded by fog for the whole walk and not really see anything.

But during the brief train ride to Seebrugg the fog had already started to lift, and as we got off the train and started our walk we could already see across the lake to the dam on the other side. We turned right at a large Jugendherberge (Youth Hostel) to walk on a sidewalk up to the dam, and along the way something really strange happened. From behind us we heard a curious deep-throated droning that sounded to me like several large, completely unmuffled engines. The sound got quickly louder and just as we turned around to look an antique airplane with either 2 or 3 radial engines roared over our heads no more than 500 feet Above Ground Level. As far as I could tell from the quick glance I got, it was the pre World War II Junkers aircraft that I had seen last seen sitting in the Deutsches Museum in Muenchen (see Wanderung 12). Now you have to realize that my seeing something that as far as I knew only existed in a museum suddenly come flying by, would be for you like suddenly a Tyrannosaurus Rex come thundering out of the woods at you. OK, maybe not that scary because the plane is not going to consider you as a meal, but still quite startling. Thus I fumbled getting the camera out, turned on, and focused on the Junkers as it retreated into the mist above the lake just as if it had never been.

Monika:

Bob:

Hoping the plane would make another pass so I could get a better picture (it didn't), we continued our walk across the damn and along the lakeshore on the other side. Walking along the shoreline path we had great views of Seebrugg and the town of Schluchsee across the lake on our right and the Black Forest looming on our left. The Black Forest was, however, lit by the occasional gleams of sunlight peeking through the clouds. The floor of the forest was always covered in thick layers of moss and ferns, but there was also often a middle layer of medium sized deciduous trees or shrubs that had turned into their beautiful golden fall colors, and that made it quite pretty.

About midway along the lake trail we came across an Imbiss or small restaurant that was literally miles from the nearest town or even house, for that matter. Although closed for the winter, that little Imbiss had to have enough customers walking by in the main season to make it economical, and that is a concrete testimony to the number of Germans who wander trails in the mountains and forests like we do. It is literally true that no matter where we walked in Germany and no matter how far away from the nearest town, street, or house we were, we always, and I mean always, met groups of people on the trail. That is in stark contrast to the U.S. where folks very seldom get more than about 1/2 mile from the nearest parking lot. Seriously, when we did walk some of the back country trails in Yellowstone National Park in the U.S., the people we did meet on the trail were largely visiting Germans! In any case, this idea of wandering is a very strong part of the culture in Germany. It is not of course, universal and we overheard one 12-year-old boy in a class group of some kind complain as he put his backpack down, "Wandering, wandering, I'm sick of wandering. I'm going to go on strike!"

Monika:

Bob:

As we curved around a bay to reach the far end of the lake, we saw the town of Aha come into view across the lake. There was a large creek feeding the lake at the upper end, and we crossed the creek using an old stone bridge before curling back along the lake shore to the town of Aha. We had to return to the road to cross one final creek and then we were finally in the town, where we turned uphill to find the train station. We failed, however, to find a cafe or Imbiss in Aha, or Ueber Aha or Unter Aha, for that matter (I kid you not, those towns really do exist according to the map). So we jumped the train going back to Schluchsee, jumped off at Schluchsee to have lunch in the train station Imbiss while the train continued on to Seebrugg and then returned a half an hour later to pick us up and carry us all the way down to Freiburg.

We had been so tired the previous day in Freiburg that we hadn't really enjoyed the Old City section as much as we should, so we thought we would take another, more leisurely, and less exhausted look at that. Plus, we wanted to get in some time at the Internet cafe we had found across from the train station and maybe do some more shopping. I, as usual, was looking for CDs of German folk songs, and I was fortunate enough to find four nice 2-CD sets at the Saturn store there: "Wandering Songs", "Sailor Songs", "Kitchen Songs", and "Diamonds of Volks Music", which was subtitled "The Most Beautiful Yodelers" and apparently emphasized yodeling songs.

We also bought some rolls and low-fat meat for our evening meal before returning to the train station to reboard the regional train for the trip back to Schluchsee. I would highly recommend that route, by the way, even if you just want to see the sights of the Black Forest. If you do take that train, make sure you get on the upper floor and then sit on the south side of the train because that is the side with the best views. Back at the Schluchsee we walked the final stretch back to the pension, had dinner, worked on the computer, solved acrostics, and watched TV for the rest of the evening.

Monika: