After spending some time in Colmar, I continued my journey to Germany. My nest destination is Titisee-Neustadt, in the Black Forest region. From Colmar I crossed the famed Rhine which borders France and Germany at the border town of Breisach.
Titisee-Neustadt is about 1 and half hours drive from Colmar. Lots of open field along the way there. Once we climbed the mountain road, the scenery changed to snow covered terrain. Lake Titisee, is 850 metres above sea level and are famous for all year long vacation spot.
I was told that Titisee-Neustadt is the place to find authentic Black Forest cuckoo clock. That is if you are interested in such items. Me? Nah, I just want to travel and see places. And take lot of pictures.
The town is a okay for me. Lots of vacationers around with their ski and snow outfit. Lake Titisee was frozen solid. Wife and kids were extremely happy to find bargain stuff to buy.
We spent quite a lot of time exploring the town. Went inside every shop. Unlike shops in Colmar, here in Titisee, they opened on Sundays. I guess, Germans business owners are a little bit more profit orientate from their French counterpart, in that sense. Which is cool by the way. People were friendly and accommodating.
So did I find the famous cuckoo clock? Yes, a lot actually, in different sizes and designs. There were also grandfather clocks being sold. Now, this sparked my interest very much, since it reminds me of my grandfather's grandfather clock. It would be really cool to own one. The price range from EUR 1,500 to the most expensive about Eur 5,000.00. A little bit steep for my budget. Kena kumpul duit lagi kalau nak beli. Well, this particular shop do accepts installment and will shipped to your home once its paid in full, but I prefer to buy stuff in cash. Senang kepala otak takde hutang.The rest of the pics are as follows;
We had our lunch car boot picnic style. Thats another thing cool here, no one would pay attention to a bunch of Malaysians eating lunch at the back of their van. We were left in relative peace to enjoy our home made dishes.
Next we headed out to Triberg, in search of what I understand the biggest cuckoo clock in the world. Its about half and hour drive from Titisee-Neustadt, deep inside the heart of Southern Germany. As we went further in the country side, I noticed that the snows keep on getting thicker and thicker. The roads were deserted and farmhouses were few and far between. The deserted road with pine forests lining up on both side of the reminds me of scenes from a Combat TV series, and I was half expecting Sargeant Saunders and his band of soldiers (Little John included) emerged from behind the pine trees and hijacked our van to escape to the American lines, with German soldiers hot in pursuit yelling "Achtung! Achtung!".
Anyway, we arrive in Triberg and found the Clock Museum but the giant cuckoo clock proved to be elusive. The town of Triberg seems to be celebrating something since theres a lot of decorative multi coloured triangle flags hung all over the place, including a dummy. Either that or its their habit hanging things! Since its getting late and we still have a long way to go back to Geneva, we abandoned our search and headed back.Akula's rating of TITISEE-NEUSTADT : 5 out of 5. Triberg : 2 out of 5 (It would be a much higher rating if I manage to find the world biggest cuckoo clock. Will try again in spring.
Note :
Its a tiring one day journey, but well worth it. How often I covered 3 countries on a day trip? Heheh. Kids and the love one and the friend enjoyed the trips, although I have to forever adjusting my sore butt on the car seat since it has not properly healed yet. :)
Takziah
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