A Day in the Black Forest

September 30 from a visit on September 29 We traveled the other day from lakeside Meersburg to Hirschhorn on the Neckar River, passing on the way through the green heart of the Black Forest. We stopped for a walk along Germany’s Highest Waterfall at Triberg, had Black Forest cake (of course!) and a beer for […]

A Busy Day in the Black Forest

September 5 Genealogy enthusiast Ken Temple has researched his German ancestors back several centuries. One of his lines comes from ‘Baden,’ and he knows they lived in the ‘Weinland,’ but that is as far as his knowledge extends. Further research is possible but not really convenient. And so today, just to get the feel for […]

The Odenwald’s Silent Sentinal

September 10, 2012 Like a stone sentinal guarding the rolling hills of the Odenwald Forest, Auerbach Castle high above Bensheim-Auerbach has stood tall for more than 800 years. We visited this ruin on a warm September day while exploring ancestral Bensheim and Mannheim nearby. Auerbach Castle was built by Charlamagne and then rebuilt and enlarged […]

Is the Black Forest Really Black?

There are more than a few legends connected with Germany’s Black Forest. Several have to do with the name. ‘Schwarzwald’ in Germany, ‘Black Forest’ in English. Is it really black in color? Well, no, it is definitely very much green. From a distance though, the dense pine forest appears to be black or deep blue […]