Black Forest: More than Cake

The Black Forest region of Germany is close to my heart. Not only do many of my family relatives come from this area, but it is also an unspoiled and beautiful part of the world. On our Rhine River Cruise from Basel to Amsterdam, our first stop was the Black Forest region. My niece, Sarah, looked forward to the Black Forest cake. I prefer a different type of German chocolate cake that my grandmother used to make. It is made with dark cocoa and chocolate pudding layered in the middle. It also had coffee in the icing. It was not as sweet as Black Forest cake, but it did have nuts on top. Too bad I don’t have the recipe, but nobody could make it like my Grandmother Luh anyway, so maybe it is just as well I don’t try. Miss you, Grandma, and not mostly for the cake.

My niece Sarah on the left

We felt the difference when entering the Black Forest region. It was less populated, the country roads meandered, and I could hear bird song and waterfalls. Leaves crunched under our feet as we walked along the creek bed and took photos.

We also enjoyed the giant cuckoo clocks found in the Black Forest. It was quite amusing to see one of the river cruisers, Peter, a travel writer from Australia – purchasing cuckoo clocks for his family down under. More information on these wonderful clocks can be found here.

Houses of the Black Forest region

Black Forest farm

The Black Forest region is like stepping back in time, from the houses made of local Black Forest timbers to the traditional costumes and food. And as usual, my favorite thing on any trip is to see the local animals. We went to an outdoor museum that was replicas of times past. I found it a bit dull but the site of the cow cheered me up!

My favorite Black Forest cow