Triberg Water Fall: A Perfect Sunday Retreat

When we travel, we usually make sure to go to church in each area we visit. Because the weekend we spent in Black Forest coincided with LDS General Conference, we wouldn't get the chance to attend church, and without WiFi at our hotel, we also wouldn't get to watch conference live. So instead, we decided to enjoy the natural beauty of the Black Forest and have a Sunday devotional as a family. The location: the Triberg Waterfalls

It was an absolutely beautiful area, so beautiful that no one complained about the steep hikes. 

 

 

After getting some photos by the waterfalls, we hiked above the falls and found a place to stop, read the scriptures, and enjoy the atmosphere. 

We focused on Alma 30:44, where the prophet Alma says that "the Earth and all thins that are upon the face of it" are proof there is a God. Triberg was a nice backdrop to discuss that scripture. 

 

Racing through the Black Forest

For all its charm in cuckoo clocks and fairy tales, the Black Forest Germany also won us over with its many toboggan rides. After the hullabaloo of trying to find a new place to stay on the fly after our confirmed location nixed the confirmed reservation, we spent the remainder of the day speeding down the beautiful German hill side. 

One thing was clear when we first got on, these things are fast--faster than anything that we're used to in the US (in fact, I doubt these would pass the strict ride regulations in the US). Careening down the hills at a dizzying speed was an absolute blast. The blurriness of our pictures should attest to how fast these things went. 

The littlest of the crew was quite apprehensive when we first got on, and it was a bit hard to get him to get on. But it only took one race down the hill to get him begging to go again, and again, and again. Just look at that smile on his face:

The Black Forest toboggan rides...just another reason we love Germany!

Reservations: A lesson in flexibility

Sometimes your best laid plans don't work out, regardless of how firm you think they are. Last weekend, we booked our weekend trip for the LDS Switzerland Temple in Bern (which we'll cover in a future post) and the Black Forest in Germany (Schwarzwald). The Black Forest Tourism site has a section for booking rooms in large homes throughout the region (Traveling with a family of 6, space can be hard to find, so staying in a large place is often a must).

Before we left for our trip, we found a place that was centrally located, booked it, and received our online confirmation (note the obvious foreshadowing). After a 3 hour drive through windy, yet scenic hills, we arrived at our location. When we knocked on the door, an old woman who spoke in only German met us, and through her flustered expressions, we gathered that 1) she had no idea why we were there and 2) we would not be staying there, as planned. After showing her the email (which was in German) she simply shook her head and pointed down the hill, signaling to us to find another room. Now, this would not be too big of a deal if 1) it wasn't a holiday weekend in Germany and 2) we didn't have 6 people to find a room for.

Driving up and down the main road and into the various towns, the places we found said they had no room for us. After an hour, we were able to find a new place to stay where the owner was able to put us in two adjoining rooms. The place we found was in a nice quiet town, next to a quite idyllic Black Forest setting.

In the end, we paid more than we planned on, but we also learned that sometimes things work out, even if they're not the way you thought they would.