River Cruise Sept 30/14

On Sept 30, we had a bus tour of part of the Black Forest.  What beautiful scenery!  We enjoyed a lunch of venison, spatzla, red cabbage, etc, typical of the area - delicious!  While there, I managed to hit my head, causing a very large goose-egg to pop up, but some ice soon had it back down, and I never even got a black eye.  :-)  We went on to a cuckoo clock store  that claims to have the world's largest cuckoo clock.  We then went to an outdoor museum, which I found quite interesting (lots of pics!), and then on to Baden-Baden, where we stayed in a beautiful hotel in the town centre for 3 nights.

A view from the bus window.  So beautiful!

 


This is a VERY German cow!  (Flag colours)

I didn't think these looked quite like our mallards.

Sorry, couldn't resist!

While stopping for a washroom break, we walked through a cemetery - I was so impressed with how neat and well-kept it was, and how interesting the tombstones!

Apparently, clock-makers used to carry their wares on their backs in wooden "caskets" like the statue on the left and go around the countryside trying to sell them.

This little church was at quite a distance, but I thought it was so quaint, I just had to try.

 
Strange looking statue of a horse, to say the least!

This is the wall surrounding the cemetery.  So pretty.

We did get to stop and get out of the bus for this view.

And here is the "world's largest cuckoo clock".  All of the figures moved on the quarter hour.

The wood-carver/owner of the store was at work in the store.

This is just a small portion of the clocks in the store.  The thing that was tempting me was the collection of nut-crackers (I have a few - all bought at auctions).  I did buy a table runner with nut-crackers on it, but just couldn't bring myself to spend the money on the real thing.

 
Then it was on to the outdoor museum.  This house/barn is standing where it was built.  Most of the buildings had been moved there.

This was the farm mill, where they ground their own grain.  There is a water-wheel at the back which can be turned on to operate it.

The guide turned on the wheel which ran the machinery, and ground some grain for us.  What memories it brought back, having spent a lot of time as a kid in the Baltimore mill of my uncle/grand-father.

The thatched roof on the house was about a foot thick, but over the doorway (in the house and the barn at the back), there was slate.  So if the thatch catches fire and starts to fall off the roof, the family and animals can get out safely without the thatch falling on them.

An unusual flower that I have never seen before.

Just because.....

Did you ever see a "turtle-necked" pigeon?

This building - again, house in front, barn in back - was moved here from somewhere high in the hills, where thatch was not readily available, hence the slate roof.

"You's not fat, you's fluffy!"

It sure was cool to see this fellow!  So pretty!

We were treated to Black Forest Cake and coffee at the museum.  Yummy!

Another of the MANY tunnels we went through.  Our other bus is ahead.

Another view from the bus.  The flag on top indicates it is being used, probably as a museum or hotel.