Hexenlochmüle and Titisee
11 September 2017
We woke to the sound of the pouring rain on the windows. To be fair, we have done a great deal of traveling without encountering much in the way of bad weather, even going through Ireland without having too much rain. Sooner or later, that luck was going to run out, and this trip was that time. But what is rain but a bit of water? No way that is stopping us from enjoying our time here! Everywhere we looked in the Black Forest we saw tall trees and green fields, and none of that beautiful scenery would be possible without the rain.
Another morning in Europe, and that means another continental breakfast. This one was just spectacular! Croissants, hams and cheeses (including the famous Black Forest Ham), eggs made fresh to our order, cappuccino made to order as well, fruit juices, yogurt and muesli, smoked salmon… I couldn’t tell which of the bunch was my favorite part! If you’ve read the other posts, you know I love these breakfasts. I really, really can’t get enough!
We sat in the breakfast room enjoying our meal with a few other travelers staying in Brend as well. We were sitting with a couple of English bikers (no, not those English bikers!) who were talking about their motorcycle trips through Europe, the politics of our respective countries (always a topic among travelers we’ve found), and the differences between our countries and mainland Europe. One of the real pleasures of travel is the chance to meet people like this, to see and experience parts the world beyond just your destinations, but with the interactions with other travelers as well. We parted ways after breakfast, and while we were going to make the best of our day despite the rain, we couldn’t help but feel for the guys riding the motorcycles.
I wanted to stop at a small place called Hexenlochmüle, which is a little shop that sells schnapps and smoked meats, and best of all it is fully powered by a working water wheel! It was buried way in the woods though, and to get there from the hotel meant a lot of windy roads through the forest. That had to have been one of my favorite drives ever! Twisting and turning through the dense forest, getting peeks at amazing scenery and woodland houses through the trees. That was just fantastic, we need to get on this road again!
Hexenlochmüle was a beautiful building along the side of a windy road. The small stream powered the huge wheel, and the very woodlands-looking building with the green forest beyond made for a stunning sight. These are the little things that are definitely worth going out of the way to see. We went inside the shop to find shelves lined with honey and schnapps, sausages hanging from the ceiling, and a large display case full of fresh Black Forest ham. I’ve had ham called Black Forest Ham before, but it was from the US and more like a flavored regular deli-sliced ham. This Black Forest ham is the real deal, and it’s more like Parma Ham or even prosciutto. It is so very good! We took our samples and went down the stairs, where you can see the inside of the water wheel at work. It was good to see how it actually worked, and that it was more than just a decoration, pretty as it may have been. We headed back up to the shop, and got ourselves a packet of the Black Forest ham and a bottle of berry wine they had on sale. Great stop in the middle of the woods!
Heading back to Rt. 500 meant taking more winding roads through the woods. I absolutely love roads like those, I could just drive them forever! Before long we merged onto 500, which was a main road, but still had that 'through the woods' feel to it. The whole drive was just incredibly scenic through the hills and farms and forest.
Titisee is one of the most popular tourist stops in the Black Forest, and that usually sends up a warning flag for us. Still, we've heard the lake is very nice, and it was worth dropping in for a look. We parked on the outskirts of the town and walked in, past small crowds and the expected tourist shops. It wasn't incredibly crowded, but it also was not the kind of day to spend next to a lake. The rain was still coming down in spurts, and there was a cutting chill in the air. That still did not stop us from going down to the waterfront! There was a long line of small boats along the shore, waiting for the sunny days when they could be rented and taken out on the water. The lake was beautiful, even in the cold, dreary gray day. You could imagine this place in the nicer weather! We followed the path up by the shops, stopped into a couple, but mostly just wandered around looking at everything. There were a lot of tourists here, pushing through the shops, crowding around for selfies, and one guy was walking the path flying a drone. I imagined this would be worse in the summer as well, but it is expected here. We found a shop with a nice selection of gummis and another that had samples of honey, and then we just walked back to the water. We are drawn to be by the water- rivers, lakes, seas, doesn't usually matter. Sometimes I do like the overcast, misty lakes as much as any beach in the summer. It was nice to stand there and just look out. Titisee was a beatufiul lake, with an interesting name too. I joked that maybe it was a topless beach, and that we came all the way to Titisee but didn't get to see any. Actually, as one story goes it was named for the Roman emperor Titus, who apparently was here and loved the scenery so much he named it after himself. Verdict is out on that apparently. I let Beth know she was going to need to keep her top on after all... but I think the cold air beat me to it!
So, this time of year is apparently the season for chanterelle mushrooms, or pfiffinglinge as they are known here. All the restaurants were running special menus featuring chanterelles, and we always think it best to have the local flavors in season. We found one restaurant called Bistro zum See that was using them to make mushroom soup, perfect for the cold damp day! We stopped in and started with an epic strong cup of coffee. Seriously, a couple cups of that and we could run the rest of the way to Alsace! We also had a potato soup with sliced Vienna sausages. Perfect, as today was definitely a soup day! As usual, we shared our lunches... and also as usual, we got odd looks from the other patrons when we passed the bowls back and forth every couple of minutes.
Aww, we're so cute!
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