Freiburg und Schwartzwald

On the weekend we hopped in the car and headed up to Freiburg to check out the Christmas markets there (Linda is a big fan of Christmas markets and where better to go than Germany to check them out).

From Vevey it is only 2.5h to Freiburg and despite a late start to our trip we still managed to see some of the town in the afternoon and check out the Christmas markets in Rathausplatz and Münsterplatz.

The markets themselves were really extensive, but although we did find some unique bits and pieces, and some interesting food, overall they were much like other markets we had already visited in Switzerland.

We wussed out on getting dinner in town (it was cold!), heading instead back to our excellent hotel (Hotel Sonne in Kirchzarten), which had a similarly excellent restaurant, eating some good German cuisine before calling it a night.

The next morning we decided to head East through the black forest (Schwartzwald) to Schiltach which is meant to be one of the most picturesque of the black forest towns. We drove through the forest, which was pretty much what you'd expect - dark fir trees covered in snow - although I don't think we went far enough off the beaten track to get a real feeling for the place.

We had some fun walking around the streets of Schiltach and taking photos of the ice that had formed around the fountains and ducking into a café to try some black forest cake (to eat in the black forest of course!) but settling for some apfelstrudel and a chocolate/cherry cake.

In the afternoon we returned to the area around Freiburg to catch the Schauinsland cable car into the forest - another scene of fir trees covered in snow. We watched the sun set, and finally found ourselves a slice of of black forest cake to eat, before heading back to our car and a speedy trip home in the car (I'm still waiting to see if any speeding tickets wind up in our mailbox).