Thursday 30th June Dettenheim to Schonach
Today we did nothing except shop for a new bathroom suite, as you do in Germany when you are from the other side of the world.
After yesterdays fiasco we decided to plan our route to Triberg in the Black Forest more carefully so that we saw more of small town Germany and less of roads that make Germans good race car drivers. It took a while and was well worth the trip through lovely villages, who took pride in their wee towns by planting window boxes on houses and flower boxes on bridges, with beautiful coloured flowers. The streets were lined with pretty little flower garden beds and the shops looked more inviting.
We pulled into a supermarket car park to fix an annoying rattle that had been plaguing us since day one and noticed how environmentally friendly they are. The whole roof was solar panels so they obviously generate a lot of their own power, they provide recycling bins outside for paper, glass, tins and inside for plastic bottles, bulbs and batteries. The car park is concrete block and much more maintenance friendly than potholed asphalt. They provide bike stands, charging stations for electric cars and have a bus stop right by the entrance, therefore encouraging people not to use cars. They have trolleys that require you to make a coin deposit that way you are encouraged to return them and not dump them around the car park. They also don’t do free plastic bags and therefore people tend to bring their own reusable bags. Germany appears to be a green, tidy country keen to do their bit for the environment.
However Germany does have one annoying fault for the motorist. You can be travelling down the motorway and there are signs for cities you know are miles away in the complete opposite direction than you are travelling. They are merely indicators for exits to go to another motor way to get there, however it is very confusing for tourists, especially because there is nothing on them to say which direction that city is or the distance in kilometres. Just as confusing is when you get on a roundabout and all exits take you to highway 36, you just have to keep going around until you find the town you want. Simple if the town is in the same language as the website you got it off, but unfortunately we get most of our information from English websites and the towns are in German. We wanted to go to Hornburg, but in German it is Hornberg, there are 3 towns all with the name Dettenheim, and apparently lots of countries have a Triberg.
Anyway we had a nice lunch in Freudenstadt, which was preparing for a major event in the town square. The Lonely Planet guide sent us to Hornburg to see a 12 metre high toilet; we went to Hornberg and walked into the building without noticing the 12m toilet 'installed' into the front of the building. The receptionist of the design centre was delighted to tell us in her best English that there were 5 floors of the centre to see, feel free to look around. I was slightly unsure why the centre was free until we realised we were in a bathroom showroom and not a tourist attraction.
By time we got to Triberg, the Cuckoo Clock shops were shut, the Black Forest Cake probably wasn’t fresh and I wasn’t about to visit a high waterfall at 6.00pm. We tried to find a suitable free camp of which there were 3 to chose from but they had no facilities. Missing the comforts of our trusty motor home back in NZ and not being unable to cope without technology and just the basics of power we drove 7 minutes out of Triberg and got ourselves a lovely little spot with facilities for 10 Euro. The price also includes a Black Forest visitor's card, like a pensioners gold card, but for tourists; it gets us lots of discounts and freebies. Our camping spot could have been described as perfect right up until the chief supporters in the next paddock started to dine. The mother sheep here have bells around their neck that ring every time they eat. Sheep eat a lot.
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Supermarket Shelves
12m high toilet (why would you?)
Exclusive Schonach Ski Club
Schonach Skifield
