Today we prioritized Coaster Bob over two beautiful castles: Eltz and Hohenzollern. Everyone thought it was the best choice (well, maybe not me, but my family's happiness is my best choice).
Blindly following the GPS - that we programmed back at home - is often unsettling. Driving through little towns in what feels like a direction to nowhere, on an empty road ... I keep my fingers crossed that it is right.
Finally a road sign has our destination on it: Mehliskopf
I am pretty sure one of the road signs we passed on the curvy mountain road was a warning: motorcycle race course. I was surprised when we actually made it to our destination: Mehliskopf "Natur, Sport und Freizeit". The coaster was sitting silent and there was no sign of anyone except construction workers so I was afraid it was closed. Nope.
Coaster Bob track at Mehliskopf
Coaster Bob is the big daddy of bobsleds with over 1000 meters of track. It is open rain or shine, but it didn't matter today - 78 degrees and no sign of rain!
Getting on the bobsleds
The bobsled was a lot of fun! It goes faster than you think is safe. We bought the family pass = 15 rides (41 euros). Careful who you get behind. A couple who showed up and were in front of us - the lady was pretty much crying from the beginning. Of course they braked the whole way down the hill so the rest of us had to as well. When we were done, Kate wanted to buy another round of 15 rides.
The ride is about 90 seconds
Jeremy's highlight was during our picnic lunch when a fly/bee was in Kate's face. The mental image of her hitting herself in the face repeatedly caused occasional outbursts of laughter the rest of the day.
Picnic lunch after our thrill ride
The drive down from the mountains through the Black Forest was absolutely fantastic! It was another gorgeous day and the scenery sparkled! "Black Forest" is a dark, ugly name for a beautiful place!
We drove through one cute town after another!
The Black Forest is beautiful!
Our next stop was originally supposed to be Strasbourg (very German but actually in France). It is a place I would like to see, however, it lost out to Triberg in the Black Forest - a quieter town.
Triberg, Black Forest
It was our last day for shopping in Germany, and Chris was feeling an urgent need to spend money on souvenirs to preserve his memories of his favorite country. Triberg is famous for its cuckoo clocks. He really wanted one but they are very expensive!
One of the cuckoo clock stores in Triberg - it is huge, with two floors!
Shopping in Triberg - there are about 8 touristy stores.
Next we walked to see Triberg waterfalls - the highest in Germany. They are pretty but when you have Yosemite in your backyard, you don't need to go out of your way to come here.
Triberg waterfalls - it has several levels of falls
It is an easy walk to see the falls
Dinner at La Cascata along the creek
We ended the day on our hotel balcony - the first time we have had a private connection to the outdoors on this trip!
View from our connecting hotel balconies
The church bell tower is across from us and echoes through the entire valley every 15 minutes - which is what I will miss the most when we return home. We are staying one night at Hotel Garni Central which is 500 meters from the entrance to the Triberg Waterfall.
Logistics:
- The only free parking in Triberg is behind our hotel. It barely holds 40 cars, and fills up early with the locals who work in town.
