Day 5 to Schiltach
Before I start today’s journey I need to add something that happened last night after I finished writing the blog. As Paula and I were discussing sleeping arrangements, I happened to think about the shape of our room and some changes we could make. The bed is one large wooden frame with 2 mattresses and sets of sheets, pillows and comforters. We decided that I could pull one mattress off the frame and put it on the floor in the little foyer area, close the sliding door and we would each have a private room for the night. It was a capital idea!!! So that’s what we did. I woke up several times hurting from all the walking, swimming and brutal waterfalls but it was a wonderful night’s sleep.
We had breakfast at the hotel this morning but I didn’t find as much fruit as I would have liked. It was okay but not as good as the place in Bacharach, in my opinion. Sue and I worked on choosing and loading photos but things kept going wrong. Several of you have told us that you are having problems getting to the photos, so we are going to fix that one way or the other. More on that later. It should be fixed so please let us know whether or not you can get it. Send me an email and let me know.
We gathered our stuff, paid our fill, finished with the internet – I hope Day 4 to Baden Baden really went out – and left the hotel. We were going to follow the directions we had printed out back in GA but we never saw even one street name that matched the directions!!!!! We got out of town, making decent time, and then decided we were going the wrong way. Not a problem for us, cause I know how to turn the van around!!!! We went back to Baden Baden and found the correct road, Highway 500, the scenic road. It was full of switchbacks, twists, turns, and beautiful vistas. We saw where the storm named Lothar went through in 1999 and it must have been a real humdinger of a storm. Look it up on Wikipedia. We got back to civilization in Frudenstadt and enjoyed riding through the city. We knew we needed to be on highway 294 so we found it and followed it. We detoured to go to a place named Klosterkirsche and it was a beautiful little village down in a valley. We went back to the road and continued on to a little town called Besenfeld where we had a wonderful lunch of potato soup, vegetebles, spaetzle, sausages, and sauerkraut. We continued on toward Schiltach and went into the Black Forest a little ways to stand in the forest. Sue saw fresh deer tracks and we enjoyed our time there. Back on the road again, we couldn’t find Schiltach on any road signs, so we stopped at a car dealership to ask directions. Turns out we had gone the wrong direction on 294 in Frudenstadt. The German road system does not indicate north, south, east or west on their highways and we had gone north. We turned around and went south. We soon returned to Frudenstadt and continued on south toward Freiburg.
We found Schiltach and drove around looking for our hotel and of course, we found it. Michael, the owner or cook or both helped us unload our belongings. The steps here are very steep. We have one room on the first floor, which means only up one flight of stairs and this is the queen room with separate bedrooms!!!! Paula and Linda got lucky for sure. The others of us are on the second floor and our rooms are average size with that same configuration of a wooden frame and two mattresses. We haven’t decided yet whether I will be dragging my mattress anywhere tonight but we’ll see.
We were going to shop for cuckoo clocks but this town does not have any. We wandered around town and found some shops but this is not a tourist town so they are not really set up for us. We went into one bakery and the lady was very impatient and not nice to us. Later we went to another bakery and the lady was very friendly. While in this bakery a lady asked where we were from and she was surprised when we said Georgia. She lives in Alpharetta and is only here visiting her parents. Small world. We then came back to the hotel, rested a little while, and then ate dinner in the hotel. It was wonderful. We had ham and cheese open-faced sandwich, vegetables and potatoes, and some real German dishes of noodles filled with spinach, onions, and cheese. Now we are back upstairs getting ready for the night.
We have changed our plans for tomorrow and added a trip to Frieburg which they say is only about 25 mintues away. We will shop there for cuckoo clocks and wood carvings and then take the autobahn to Rothenburg. It may be a long driving day but that’s okay. We are tired, but we are having a great time.
Today’s score: As I was driving through villages, I got two frowny faces (indicating that I was going to fast) and one happy face (indicating I was going the correct speed). No flashing lights, no walls jumping onto my bumper or anything like that.
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