Europe Christmas 2009: Day Five (Guten tag from Triberg!)
January 2, 2010
Today Chris and I went to Triberg, located in the magical Black Forest in Germany. Having a predilection for fairy tales and magic, I was particularly excited about today.
We arose in Strasburg and, after double-checking, were happy to discover that our hotel came with free breakfast! And, it turns out that breakfast was better than the ridiculously expensive one in Paris. Chris was a big fan of this yummy cinnamon-bun-esque cake thingie and I, trying to save room for as much choucroute (sauerkraut with bratwursts) as possible, tried to minimize my eating to some cereal and a few licks of precious nutella. Oh and their coffee… because for some reason the coffee over here is, on average, seriously better than that in “the states.”
After a leisurely breakfast and a bit of blogging, we headed over to the train station. We didn’t buy our train tickets to Triberg ahead of time because, unlike the SNCF (the French train system), Deutsche Bahn (the German train system) didn’t allow us to print out e-tickets. After having some issues with the machines, we decided it easiest to get in the very short line for some help.
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Turns out that was the best decision ever. We told the girl (in French, which probably helped) that we wanted tickets to Offenburg and then Triberg (two different lines [the local OSB train and Deutsche Bahn, respectively]) and she let us know that we would save a lot of money if we just bought tickets to Offenburg now and only buy tickets to Triberg once in Offenburg. It would have cost us 172 euros if we bought everything up front but, with her help, we did the whole thing for 53! That’s a LOT of money! So basically buying Deutsche Bahn tickets from the SNCF is a huge ripoff. If in the future you find yourself in a similar situation, I recommend first talking to one of the tellers and second, figuring out if you can just buy different legs as you go along.
The train rides (both legs) were really great. It’s fun to just sit next to a window and look out and see the different landscapes and ways of life… though I have to say, we did see our fair share of poverty out the window. Very near the train tracks there are these shacks that are so small we weren’t even convinced they were homes at first. But, after seeing some with laundry airing out, we figured it out. Seeing how everything is so expensive for Americans in Europe, at first it’s easy to think that everyone over here must be making loads more money than us, but that’s very obviously not true.
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Eventually we made our way to Triberg, with the last bit of the train ride particularly fun as we climbed higher and higher into the mountains, riding through countless tunnels and seeing ever increasingly beautiful snow-covered forests.
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Once we got off the train we had to figure out which way to walk to get to the city center. To help out those of you who go to Triberg in the future, here’s what you do: Get off the train, walk out the station and make a right down the road. Just past the overpass there are stairs on the left side that go down to the road below (so the road that goes under the overpass), take those stairs down. At the bottom of the stairs make a left and keep walking up! Eventually you’ll hit “the real” Triberg!
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The walk was exciting save for the raining bit. We only brought one small umbrella (and a temperamental one at that) so we got a bit wet and, worst of all, my poor little feet got wet through my three layers of socks! Ick!
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But nothing could diminish my positive mood! Triberg is so gorgeous! I only wish I were there in the summer with some good hiking boots – I bet it would be amazing out there!
After a bit of walking we stumbled upon a little bakery-café called Adler’s. In the window I saw these little pigs (probably because of the whole black forest ham thing) that were made of marzipan.) You might not know this but I LOVE marzipan, especially marzipan in cute shapes! So, naturally, we went inside and I got myself one.
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With the piggie in my belly, we made out way up the road a bit more and decided to stop in at a little shop filled with woodcarvings. The woman there was super friendly and on our way out Chris asked her if she had a recommendation for the best place in town for my choucroute (isn’t he sweet?!) and she recommended both the Tick Tack and Tresor.
So we ended up going to Tresor, with it being a few euro cheaper than Tick Tack and having a few more options that appealed to us.
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Interesting tidbit about the place – when we went in we were fortunate to get one of only two tables left. Now, you’d think when other people came in after us the woman would write their name down or give them some sort of time estimate on the wait. Nope. She just turns them away, letting them know that she’s just full. The reason is (I think) two-fold. First, in Europe people tend to sit down to eat for much longer than they do in the US. And so, it would probably be difficult to estimate when a table would realistically open up. The second reason is that the window of time a restaurant over here is open for lunch is, on average, much more limited. In the Bay Area, I can basically go to a restaurant anytime between 11:30AM and their closing time (so at least 9 or 10ish) and get food. In Europe, at a lot of places at least, there is a window for lunch – and then they close for a while – and then a window for dinner, much like some fancier places are in the US. And with this in mind, she might just expect to have one seating for lunch and that’s it.
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This doesn’t hold for every place in Europe but it’s something to keep in mind when you’re hungry! While you can always get a crepe and whatnot from a street vendor, a sit down place might be a bit different.
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Anyway, our lunch was quite delicious and I’m happy we got a seat! And, unlike much of France, the portion sizes were much more, shall we say, “American sized,” which, where my hot chocolate was concerned, was a welcome surprise!
After a satisfying German lunch we made our way further up the hill and saw the much more touristy Triberg. In some ways it’s great to take the train because as you walk up to that area, you can see the main drag where more of the locals eat and hang out.
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Once we got up there, cuckoo clocks were in plentiful supply. We went into quite a few shops and had the opportunity to see lots of different looking ones and have all the cuckoo clock mechanisms explained.
Eventually I saw, across the street, the Triberg museum and we settled on going there. But first, we thought it made sense to finish our walk up to the very top of the street - and good thing we did!
Near the top of the street (the “top” being where all the shops ends and it’s just road again) there’s a clock place that, right when we entered, we thought had much nicer clocks. It’s hard to say exactly why but basically the carvings seemed more detailed, the wood richer, and the place a bit less touristy (this one not having the 10% discount cards everywhere) and a little more special. I instantly had a flashback to the marionette shop Leslie and I found in Prague.
While the shop was mostly clocks and a few woodcarvings, they had one small display of exceptionally beautiful (and exceptionally pricey) steins. Chris instantly fell in love with one of them. After gazing at it for a bit, we walked through to look at the rest of the clocks.
Before we even came to Triberg I knew I wanted a clock and I imagined I wanted a medium sized clock with a few little people carvings on it doing something cute when the hour hit. You know, something like this. But, as we got to the very last room, I came across a very simple clock that just, for whatever reason, really stuck out to me.
As I was staring at it Chris whispered “oh my god, look at this!” and I turned around to see the absolutely most awesome and unique gnome clocks! They were so amazingly awesome and magical! And so, I looked back and forth between my small dark traditional clock on one wall and a collection of not very “cuckoo clock” gnome cuckoo clocks on the other.
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Not wanting to buy anything yet, we decided to head to the museum. It was fantastic! When we first walked in we thought it was just this first room but it turned out to be pretty big! And, thanks to some English pamphlets, we learned a lot about the clock and automated musical instrument traditions that run deep in Triberg.
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Speaking of the musical side of things, here is a video that Chris and I have watched about a million times. I’m not sure if it’s just hysterical to us or not but you’ve got to check out my face and body movements about 2/3 of the way through (~35 seconds). All I can say is, let your true colors shine through my friends.
After our mini education at the museum, we made our way to the Christmas market area. Triberg is different from the other places we went because you have to pay to get into that area. But, also unlike the other markets we’d been to, admission also included watching all the locals do little performances and access to the waterfall and a little light show they were doing over by it.
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The market here was totally adorable and much more like what I hoped for! Instead of a zillion cheapy things for sale, there were little stands spread out up the trail and each one was super cute and lovely. And, with all the lights and the gorgeous waterfall, it was perfect.
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Down near the base of it they had a log fire going and a sign that for one euro you could get a stick and, I thought, roast some marshmellows. Thinking that sounded like the perfect thing to do, we went over. Well, right as they got me my stick, opened a tub and pulled out a white substance that didn’t seem very marshmellow-y, I realized that something got lost in translation. Upon inspection we realized it wasn’t marshmellow but pretzel bread! You got to roast up your own little pretzel tube!
Lacking the correct skills and required patience, my pretzel tube ended up being an interesting combination of burnt (having caught on fire more than a few times) and chewy-gooey (I don’t think the catching on fire bit is particularly conducive to a thorough cooking) but I split it with Chris and we were happy nonetheless!
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After that we speedily made our way back up the hill to our favorite cuckoo clock shop and at the final hour, too – they were just about to close for the night!
The owner, Oli, happened to be around and he spent a bunch of time talking about both the stein Chris was really interested in and then even more time talking about cuckoo clocks in Triberg and how his were made – even a few stories about the gnome ones!
After much internal debate I settled on the smaller, and much much cheaper (though still pricey) cuckoo clock I originally liked. While the gnome ones were seriously awesome (and I’d still love one!) the price was just way out of my league and, when I thought about it, am I really going to potentially pack up a clock that big and nail it to my dorm at law school? The smaller one would be much easier to transport and much more dorm-room sized. And, all in all, much more cuckoo clock-y.
Chris also ended up getting his beloved stein and I’m happy he did – the thing is gorgeous and I look forward to stealing it and filling it with hot chocolate with whipped cream in the morning and Lambacs at night! Perhaps after I pass out from the sugar overload he’ll get a chance to use it himself.
On our way out Chris asked Oli for his recommendation on the best place to get black forest cake in Triberg and, who would have guessed, he recommended the very place from which I got my lovely piggie that same day.
In a merry mood, Chris and I quickly made our way back down there only to find that the place had closed! I was upset (also upset I wouldn’t be able to buy another marzipan pig!) but decided to go back up the hill to the more touristy place with black forest cake. So, for dinner we had dessert (black forest cake and an apple stredel with ice cream) and beer. Well, I got ½ beer ½ sprite and Chris experimented with Radler, which he discovered, is way way way too sweet for his liking. In reality it practically tastes like sprite and beer before you add the sprite in!
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After our perfect dinner we made our way back to the train and smoothly back to Strasburg. All in all a great day and everything I could have hoped for from Triberg!
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Germany, I miss you and your food already! We will be back! (Perhaps just not in winter…)
Oh and here are our purchases!
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2 Responses to “Europe Christmas 2009: Day Five (Guten tag from Triberg!)”
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Your cuckoo clock —> gorgeous! I’m so glad you found one. Also, am glad to discover you like marzipan… I hate the taste of it, but sometimes the cuteness of it overwhelms me and I buy it anyway.
We visited Triberg a couple of times (from East Tennessee) and may go back in late April. Before, we were there in mid-March and late May. We usually stay at the Best Western on the other side of town and get a cab, but I really like how you can walk around and see most everything. Tresor is our favorite eating place by far. The folks are super nice, and the food is all good. I just learned today that Tresor means safe or vault in German. It is amazing what you can learn via Google. Your blog was fun, and I was wondering what all happened in Triberg at Christmas. Now I know. Thanks!