Freiburg, Triberg, and the Quest for the World's Largest Cuckoo Clock

Hello family and friends! I just returned from what is likely my last "excursion" in Europe as the semester is wrapping up and exams are beginning (they have exams here?). I traveled down through the Schwarzwald (Black Forest) for a weekend of hiking with 2 UNC friends, Jayson and Alex, and Jayson's Italian girlfriend, Benny.

We couchsurfed with a fun, young, hippie mom and her 18-month-old daughter in Freiburg for 2 days, before passing back through Triberg (literally means the "intersection of 3 mountains") which is deeper into the "real Black Forest."

Much like the descriptions, the Black Forest is dark, cold, and well...black. We spent our hikes on a constant search for Hansel and Gretel (or at least Little Red Riding Hood...come on, we can't be greedy), but to no avail. Instead, our hikes were filled with lunches in old castle ruins, the "baaaa-ing" and "moooo-ing" of many mountain animals, and many, many delicious red and black cherries which were growing wildly throughout the mountains.

As my last blog may have set a record for the world's longest blog ever, I'm keeping this one short.

Miss you and love you all. I'll be home in less than 4 weeks!

Lizzie

We climbed to the top of a tower on the highest peak in Freiburg, which gave a beautiful view of the city.

Our cool, vegan, hippie hostmom, Bente, and her 18-month-old daughter, Ayla. She was adorable (and a good long-distance walker). I just about lost it.

Hiking with the crew: Benny (Italy), Alex, and Jayson (both UNC).


We put our men to work in the black cherry trees. I'm surprised we didn't make ourselves sick given how many we ate.

Freiburg is also surrounded by gorgeous vineyards on the bases of the mountains.


Arrival in Triberg, an adorable "super-Schwarzwald" town.


We had Black Forest cake in the oldest confectionary in Triberg. We even met the owner and head chef. Great times.

True Schwarzwald. Unfortunately, my camera has this amazing "light-capturing ability" that makes everything look 100-times brighter than they were. This was actually quite dark.

Overlooking more Schwarzwald before we ran through the hills singing the Sound of Music soundtrack.

LARGEST CUCKOO CLOCK IN THE WORLD. Be jealous. This should have taken us about 20 minutes to find, but owing to a few sets of bad directions and some overall bad luck, it took us about 2 hours to find. If you're wondering, the feeling when you finally find the world's largest cuckoo clock is about as exciting as the first time you convinced your parents to finally stop at South of the Border on your way to Florida.

On another note, Ryan is a good boy and sent me flowers this week. They're pretty. :)

Love you all!