What's with the Pom-Pom hats?

Fun Fact : The Bollenhut, traditional in the Black Forest,
can weigh up to 2 kg (4.4 lbs)!

A couple of weekends ago we took a trip to the Black Forest with our neighbors, Beth and Sean, and their son, Tad. We drove for about 1.5 hours to a town called Triburg, south of Stuttgart. The town is famous for its waterfall and handmade cuckoo clocks. Beth and Sean wanted to go both to show us the town and to buy one of the beautiful cuckoo clocks as a gift to themselves for their 15th wedding anniversary.

Although we had originally planned to hike the waterfall *before* looking at cuckoo clocks, Tad insisted that the cuckoo clocks were much too important to delay. So, we went The House of 1000 Clocks right away. :) And man, they're not kidding about the 1000 clocks -- there were a lot!

Inside the cuckoo clock store

Although it was a tough decision, Beth and Sean successfully picked out the perfect clock. When the hour strikes, the cuckoo bird cuckoos, after which the clock plays Edelweiss while pairs of dancers rotate and twirl, a water wheel spins, and Bavarian men tap their beer glasses on the table in rhythm. Cooooool.

Beth and Sean's Clock

Tad doing his impression of a Hummel figurine
while modeling a grey cap from the store's gift shop

After the cuckoo clock selection was complete, we headed for the waterfall. Since there was some ice and snow on the trails, we were only allowed to hike up to the base. It was still really pretty though. Maybe in the spring we can go back and hike all the way to the top. We also drove over to a bell tower we saw in the distance and hiked up to it. That was nice because there were some pretty views of the town below.

At the base of the waterfall in Triburg

Bell Tower

View of the town below

Finally, after our busy day we headed to a local restaurant for their famous Black Forest cake...yum. The decor was that of a hunting lodge with stuffed deer, ferrets, you name it adorning the walls. By far the funniest decoration was the group of stuffed squirrels playing poker. Those crazy Germans.