Tag Archives: Burgbach Wasserfall

Baden-Württemberg, Schwarzwald, Sundays

From Wiesbaden to Horben: Walking among clouds and waterfalls…

The weather on Sunday morning was not quite as picture perfect as it had been on Saturday. The sun was out, but it was pretty hazy. My German friend, Susanne, said it was because of Saharan dust, which has to do with the warmer than usual temperatures in Europe right now. It didn’t block the sun, but it did kind of give it a weird looking glow.

Bill and I woke up slightly hungover on Sunday morning, which meant it was a good day for extra physical exertion. We decided to see if we could ride the Schauinsland Bahn, a cable car that takes people up an Alpine mountain, allowing them to walk around above the plains and get a view of the Feldberg, the Black Forest, and other points along the mountain chain. There is also an observation tower at the top of the mountain, although it is currently closed.

Before we did that, though, it was time for another innovative breakfast. We were treated to that by the same friendly waitress who had served us on Saturday morning. Below are some photos of yet another culinary adventure, morning style.

Excellent “smoothies”…
Ham, cheeses, and jams.
Juices
Quiche Lorraine bites, bread, coffee…
Scrambled eggs with curried pumpkin. It was delicious!
Fruit salad
Weiss Wurst with Senf (mustard)
Bread
Crepe with raspberry jam…

Again, these were all small plates. They may look bigger in the photos than they actually were. I ended up having two servings of the eggs. They were excellent.

After breakfast, we headed to Schauinsland to burn off the repast. The Schauinsland Bahn takes about twenty minutes to get from one point to the next. Those who’d rather drive to the top of the mountain can also do that; there is a parking area up there, as well as a mining museum. We didn’t go to the museum, although it would have been a good use of our time. One can also visit the Waldtraut, which is Germany’s tallest tree.

Instead, we walked around the steep summit and worked off some of that fabulous breakfast. I got lots of pictures, noticing people who were riding bikes, walking their dogs, or power hiking with their poles. I’ll confess, I was moving slower than most of them, but I still managed to see some magnificent views. We probably could have spent most of the day up there, although it’s important to remember than the last trip on the cable car is at 5:00 PM. I hope we can go back to Freiburg, because I would like to explore this area a lot more.

After we walked around for a couple of hours, my legs felt a bit like rubber. I noticed the time, and it was about 1:00 PM or so. I asked Bill if he wanted to stop for lunch. He demurred, saying he wasn’t very hungry. I wasn’t either, but I’ve also been in Germany long enough to know that it’s best not to wait too long to have lunch. A lot of places close after 2:00 PM.

We ended up having a delightful lunch at Die Bergstation, a little restaurant at the station on top of the mountain. They had a small menu that included small dishes, which was perfect for us. I had an open faced smoked salmon sandwich with a salad. Bill had potato soup with wurst. It appears this place is especially popular for breakfast. As I was linking the restaurant’s Web site, it indicated that they are fully booked on weekends and public holidays up until October! There are a few free spots available during the weekdays. Luckily, they weren’t booked for lunch last weekend. There’s also a little kiosk outdoors that offers food and drinks.

That sandwich was so good! It was served on toasted sourdough with creamy mustard. I liked Bill’s soup, too.

We made our way back down the mountain by way of the cable car. After a visit to the restroom, we decided our next stop would be at the Todtnauer Waterfall. I got the idea to do that after reading a Facebook post in the Schwarzwald group. There’s also a 450 meter “hanging bridge” at the waterfall. One can either climb up to it from the waterfall, or drive up.

We were a little confused about what to do at the waterfall. There were signs near the gate to the waterfall, as well as a broken ticket machine, indicating that it costs 2,50 euros to go to the falls, and another 12 euros to do the bridge. As we didn’t even know about the bridge before we arrived, we weren’t really prepared to visit it.

Frankly, we were kind of tired after our mountain visit, so we decided to skip the bridge. We did a similar one in Austria in 2015, which involved climbing up a steep mountain, walking across and back again, and then going back down the mountain. I wasn’t sure my muscles could take it. The waterfall ended up being free to visit, as there was no one there to take the money, and the ticket machine was broken. Many people were baffled about what to do and where to go. The guy running the cafe said he fields questions every day from flummoxed visitors.

A lot of people were visiting the Todtnauer Waterfall on Sunday, but I still managed to get plenty of pictures and some video. Here are the pictures for now. I may make a video later. The area around the waterfall is very beautiful, and like a lot of tourist areas in Germany, there’s a cafe where you can sit and enjoy it while enjoying a beverage or snack of your choice. The parking area is basically just off either side of a rather busy road with a lot of aggressive bikers. Be careful!

You can spend a good amount of time at the waterfall, if you want to. There’s a trail that leads down the creek, as well as one that leads up. And of course, you can climb up to the hanging bridge. I think the Burgbach Waterfall is prettier than this one, but mainly because there aren’t as many people hogging the scenery.

After about an hour at the waterfall, we went back to the cafe for a drink. Bill had a non-alcoholic beer, while I had a Hefeweizen.

Hazy skies!

By the time we visited the waterfall, it was getting later in the afternoon. We decided to head back to the hotel and get ready for dinner. I knew I was going to need a shower after all of the walking and sweating I did. So we went back, and I took some more photos, marveling at the beautiful scenery and realizing that we could come back and still have plenty to see and do. Better yet, maybe there wouldn’t be that cursed Saharan dust messing up the atmosphere. We had a quick drink before cleaning up. Bill tried a non-alcoholic cocktail called Luise’s Black Forest. I had my usual beer.

You never know what or who you’ll see on a Sunday drive…

I’ve already written about the unfortunate incident that happened at dinner on Sunday night on my main blog. I won’t get into that here, on my generally upbeat travel blog. Instead, I’ll share photos and some comments about some of the more positive aspects of yet another delightful dinner at Luisenhöhe. That night, we were introduced to a new waiter, a young man who was born in Texas, but is Slovakian and grew up in Slovakia. He was very good at his job, and I was impressed by how confident and skilled he was.

As you can see, I was intrigued enough by the second course that I took several shots of it. It was almost too pretty to eat! And everything was so interesting… I was amazed by how willing I was to try foods I would normally shun. I usually dislike beets, but I found myself trying and enjoying them on Sunday night. And everything was washed down with an excellent local Pinot Noir.

The menu.
I would normally shun goat yogurt, but this was very good…
Beetroot
Rainbow trout…
Underneath the Kohlrabi was the most tender, delicious pork, ever…
The salted caramels were so good…
Bill enjoys the blood orange digestive, which I ended up wearing.

If we had just been able to enjoy dinner and the views, this would have been a stellar day. But, as you know, some people have to rain on other people’s parades… or shit in their Easter baskets. Oh well. Overall, Sunday was a success. We had one last full day in the Freiburg area, which I’ll write about in the next post.

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anecdotes

Repost: Choucroute Garnie… one last tenuous connection with Anthony Bourdain…

Today is Easter, and we are going to be getting takeout from a favorite restaurant. I hope to write about that meal later today or tomorrow. But, for right now, I would like to repost this essay I wrote about the late Anthony Bourdain, just after he died in June 2018. It originally appeared on the Blogspot version of my Overeducated Housewife blog, when I was living in the Stuttgart area. I don’t have a specific reason for sharing this today, other than I think it’s a good post. Actually, it reminds me a bit of what we’ve lost since COVID-19 came along. I am so ready for another day trip somewhere… and new photos, especially for this blog. I miss travel and eating in restaurants.

Edited to add: Looking back at my original piece, I see it was preceded by another post I wrote just after Bourdain’s death (now reposted on my main blog). I had just discovered his show, Parts Unknown, about three weeks before he committed suicide. I had watched it because he visited Armenia, which is where I spent two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the 1990s. I was enthralled by Bourdain’s show and was looking forward to watching more episodes. But then, seemingly out of the blue, he killed himself. So did famed handbag designer Kate Spade. The post that preceded this one was about how depression really isn’t the “common cold” of mental illness. It can be very serious and even fatal.

A couple of weeks ago, Bill and I went to Ribeauville, France for Memorial Day weekend.  Since January 2017, Bill and I have visited Ribeauville, in Alsace, four times.  We’ve found a sympathetic apartment owner who doesn’t have a problem welcoming Zane and Arran.  Aside from that, Alsace is a very beautiful area that isn’t too far from where we live.  It makes for a convenient place to get a weekend away.

Last Friday, Anthony Bourdain killed himself in Alsace.  He was staying in Kaysersberg, a town Bill and I had been hoping to see during our last visit.  We never got around to going to Kaysersberg on our last trip, but it’s definitely a must see the next time we’re in Alsace.  Especially since last night, Bill showed me Anthony Bourdain’s final Instagram post…

This is a screenshot of Anthony Bourdain’s last Instagram post.  He put it up exactly one week ago.

I know a lot of people who read this blog regularly might not necessarily read my travel blog (although this is being reposted on my travel blog in 2021).  Those who haven’t read the travel blog probably missed my recent tale about the dish pictured above, Choucroute Garnie.  

Choucroute Garnie is a very popular dish in Alsace that includes Alsatian style sauerkraut, sausages, charcuterie, other salted meats, and potatoes.  Many restaurants in Alsace serve it, and my husband, Bill, happily enjoys it.  In fact, below is a picture of Choucroute Garnie he ate when we visited the quaint town of Eguisheim, France in February 2017.

Bill enjoyed Choucroute Garnie at Caveau Heuhaus in Eguisheim.

Although a lot of people like this particular dish, it’s not something I would voluntarily order.  I don’t like sauerkraut very much.  Actually, I don’t really like cabbage because it upsets my stomach and makes me fart a lot.  I will eat cabbage to be polite, but I don’t care for it and would avoid ordering it in a restaurant.  While I do like sausage and other pork products fine, I also wouldn’t necessarily order a big pile of them as pictured above.  One sausage is fine for me.  I don’t need to eat a big plate of pork.

On the first night of our most recent trip to Ribeauville, Bill and I decided to have dinner at a restaurant we had not yet tried.  Our experience at this establishment was disappointing from the get go and continued to get worse.  I had decided on an entrecôte (rib eye steak) for dinner, but our waiter somehow heard “choucroute” instead.  I was a bit suspicious when he didn’t ask me what sauce I wanted or how I preferred the steak cooked.  However, he took off before I’d had the chance to say anything and we didn’t see him again until his colleague tried to deliver the dish pictured below…

The Choucroute Garnie I didn’t order.  Bill says it wasn’t as good as the one he had in Eguisheim.

Unfortunately for our waiter, I was tired, hungry, and way over the bumbling service we had already experienced at that point.  He came over to argue with me about what I’d ordered and actually had the nerve to say, “You couldn’t have ordered entrecôte.  If you had, I would have asked you what sauce you wanted and the temperature.”

My acid reply was, “That’s right.  You didn’t ask and I wondered why.”

He scurried off with the choucroute, but then came back and tried to get me to take it, since cooking what I’d ordered would take time.  I really didn’t want the choucroute, but I was especially exasperated that the waiter had accused me of lying about my order and was trying to sell me something I didn’t want.  

Bill, prince of a man that he is, took the choucroute and I took his dish, which was potato pancakes with smoked salmon.  I had actually been eyeing the potato pancakes anyway, so it was initially no big deal.  But then I realized that one of the potato pancakes was very scorched.  I didn’t bother to complain because, at that point, I just wanted to get the hell out of there.  But I did turn the experience into a snarky blog post and a few people in my local food and wine group thought it was funny.  When I saw Bourdain’s final Instagram post last night, I was reminded of my own recent experience with Choucroute Garnie.  It was just something else, besides depression, I’ve had in common with the late chef.

People who read this blog and those who know me personally may know that I have suffered from depression for years.  It’s not nearly as bad now as it once was.  I no longer take medications for it and I don’t have the same distressing symptoms I used to have.  However, I do sometimes get very pessimistic and “down”.  I think about suicide often, although never to the point of making plans or carrying them out.  It’s more like fleeting thoughts of how life is kind of wasted on me, since I don’t really enjoy it much.  I see people with warm, loving families who are dealing with life threatening illnesses or injuries and they just want to live.  Here I am feeling kind of apathetic about my existence.  Although I do enjoy many aspects of living, I don’t necessarily have a zest for life.

A lot of people probably think I have a pretty charmed life.  If I were looking at me, I might think the same thing.  I have a wonderful, patient, indulgent husband; I’m basically healthy; and I get to travel a lot.  While I don’t really make money, I do have a vocation that I’m free to pursue with no hassles with editors or people paying me to create content.  I don’t know if anyone cares about my writing or music, particularly on this blog, which doesn’t bring the hits it used to.  However, writing it gives me something to do with my mind and a reason to get up in the morning.  It gives me reasons to read books so I can review them.  Believe me, although I’m frequently bored and sometimes depressed and anxious, it’s not lost on me that some people might envy my freedom and ability to see the world.  I agree, those are wonderful things.

I really don’t know why I have these deep seated feelings of shittiness.  I think there are probably a lot of factors, some of which are hereditary and some that are situational.  I usually feel worse when I express something negative and someone tries to be “helpful” by telling me how wonderful my life is.  I probably ought to keep my negativity to myself, but that’s not necessarily helpful, either.  Whenever someone, especially a person like Anthony Bourdain, takes his or her life, people are shocked and wonder why they never “reached out”.  I have found that reaching out often annoys other people, most of whom would prefer it if you’d just get over yourself and didn’t involve them in your problems. 

I do want to express one thing that I’ve recently realized.  Despite feeling insignificant most of the time, I know I have made a difference to a few folks.  When we moved here in 2014, I decided to promote my travel blog in the local community.  I’ve gotten some negative feedback from a few people, but for the most part, my posts are well tolerated or even outright appreciated.  I notice the ones I write about things to do locally and/or local restaurants are especially popular.  I recently wrote one post about places to go to “beat the heat” in Stuttgart.  That one has really taken off.  I’ve seen a number of people come back to it repeatedly, since it offers enough suggestions to last a good portion of the summer.  It makes me feel productive when I see that people are inspired by my experiences.

It occurred to me the other day that while I may never know who has been affected by my writing, in a way, I will have helped some people make priceless memories of their time in Europe.  The people who read my posts about obscure places like Ruine Mandelberg, Glaswaldsee, or the Burgbach Wasserfall, especially if they take the time to see them for themselves, will have memories that, in a small way, I helped them make.  

I know that may sound like an egotistical statement to some people, especially since I have also been affected by other people’s writing.  However, knowing that a few people are taking my suggestions and making memories of their own does give me another reason to keep writing and going to new places on the weekends.  It gives me a purpose for being here, other than just to wash Bill’s underwear and make him laugh.  I’m always looking for new things to see and write about.  In the process of visiting and writing about different places, my own experiences in Europe are also enhanced.  I’m never sorry after having explored somewhere, even when something goes wrong.

When I lived in Armenia in the mid 1990s, I often felt like I was wasting my time.  I got a lot of negative feedback from my Peace Corps bosses as well as my local counterpart, who felt I wasn’t doing enough.  I was in my early 20s, hampered by depression, and kind of overwhelmed by what I was supposed to be doing.  I didn’t feel assertive enough to start, say, an English club or hang out with the kids.  I remember the summer of 1997, as I was planning to finish my assignment, going through some rough times all around.  I couldn’t wait to leave Armenia, and yet the prospect of going home was very scary.  

When I did finally get home, the homecoming I had eagerly anticipated was pretty much ruined by my dad’s entrance into rehab.  As bad as I felt in Armenia, I felt even worse in the year after I returned home.  I felt like such a burden to my parents, especially since I wasn’t even sure my time in Armenia had been productive.  I started becoming very despondent and hopeless.  That was when I finally got treatment for depression.  

Things gradually got better.  I learned how to wait tables and about fine dining.  I studied voice and attended to my depression for the first time.  I made some friends.  Finally, I landed in graduate school at the University of South Carolina, which was fulfilling, although it didn’t lead where I thought it would.  I earned an MPH, an MSW, and ultimately an Mrs….  

Before I decided to go to USC, I remember interviewing at Western Illinois University and telling the director of a Peace Corps Fellows program that I knew that I’d made a difference simply by going to Armenia.  He visibly recoiled at that statement.  I think he thought it was an arrogant thing to say.  Actually, it was a statement of fact.  I was in Armenia at a time when there were few Americans there.  There were people I met there who had never seen an American in person before.  I know a lot of them still remember me and always will.  Even knowing that, though, didn’t erase my feelings that I hadn’t done enough and that my time in Armenia didn’t amount to much.

It wasn’t until almost twenty years after I left Armenia that I found out that– for real– I actually had made a difference.  Facebook put me in touch with my very first Armenian teacher, who still works for the Peace Corps, as well as one of my best former students, who is now a high ranking director in the Peace Corps Armenia office.  I didn’t have anything to do with his decision to work for the Peace Corps, but the fact that my former student remembered me and I didn’t permanently turn him off of Americans means that my time in Armenia was well spent.  Maybe I wasn’t the most hardworking or dedicated Volunteer, but I still made a difference.  And maybe people in Stuttgart think I’m annoying, obnoxious, and arrogant, but there are people who like what I do, and it’s affected their experience here in a good way.  So that keeps me going… at least for now.

If you’ve managed to read this whole post… which is a lot longer than I’d intended it to be… I want to thank you.  Thanks for giving me a reason to get up in the morning.  Thanks for reading about how Anthony Bourdain and I tenuously have a couple of things in common, even if it’s just being served Choucroute Garnie in Alsace and visiting a few of the same places, like Alsace and Armenia.  Knowing that even a few people like what I’m doing means a lot more to me than you’ll ever know.  And maybe someday, in Bourdain’s honor, I’ll order the Choucroute Garnie in Kaysersberg…  But I’ll be sure to take Gas-X, too.

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Germany, Stuttgart, Sundays

Ten Stuttgart area places we’re glad we visited…

A couple of nights ago, I was sitting in my living room talking to Bill about how glad I am we made an effort to see more of Baden-Württemberg during our second Stuttgart stint.  As our time in the Stuttgart area grows ever shorter, I thought I’d make a list of the places we managed to see this time that we didn’t know about the first time we lived here.  These are places we’re really glad we visited and would recommend to newcomers.  Maybe they won’t be “must see” places for everyone, but they made our time here better.  As usual, this list isn’t ranked in any particular order.

10.  Allerheiligen Wasserfällen (All Saints Waterfalls)

Hope you’re in shape!

 

We discovered the All Saints Waterfalls this past summer when I happened to read someone’s blog post about visiting there.  These falls are in the Black Forest, about an hour from where I live and probably about 90 minutes from Stuttgart.  I had never heard of them before 2018, but I’m so glad we visited.  We spent several hours enjoying the beautiful scenery and getting lots of exercise!  I liked them even more than the Triberg Falls, which everyone visits.  If you have a free Saturday or Sunday and don’t mind a drive through the Black Forest, I’d highly recommend a trip to these falls.  Admission is free!

9.  Rottweil

Super cute town with several things to do!

 

I don’t know how we missed Rottweil when we lived here the first time, but I really wish we’d discovered it sooner than we did.  This beautiful town not only has some gorgeous architecture, but it also has the distinction of being the place where Rottweiler dogs were first bred.  The area is scenic and you can get a great view of it when you visit the Thyssenkrupp Testturm, an elevator testing facility that currently has the highest observation deck in Germany.

8.  Blautopf

It’s true… I had never heard of this place when I lived here from 07-09.

 

Blautopf isn’t close to where I live.  It’s kind of on the way to Ulm.  However, though it only takes a few minutes to see this natural wonder, I think a trip to Blaubeuren to see this marvelous blue pond is well worth the effort.  Blaubeuren has a few other activities available to make your trip worthwhile, as well as some good restaurants.

7. Tiefenhöhle

One thing you can do before or after a visit to Blautopf is visit Germany’s deepest show cave!

 

Although we visited Tiefenhöhle and Blautopf separately, I would recommend combining these two activities.  Tiefenhöhle is Germany’s deepest show cave and visiting it will wear you out… but then, once you’ve journeyed deep beneath the Earth’s surface, you can come back to the surface and see where this cave system ends… at beautiful blue Blautopf!

6.  Wildpark Pforzheim

I love to visit animals… and the Wildpark Pforzheim is probably my favorite of all of the animal activities in the Stuttgart area.

Stuttgart and its environs is richly blessed with a lot of places where one can indulge their inner animal lover.  My favorite of all of the places I’ve visited animals is Wildpark Pforzheim.  There’s no admission fee to visit it, although parking isn’t free.  We spent several hours wandering around this park, feeding animals and watching them interact with each other.

5.  Nebelhöhle

Nebelhöhle is my favorite local cave…

 

Last summer, Bill and I visited several local caves.  My favorite one is Nebelhöhle, which is not only beautiful, but is much less taxing to visit than Tiefenhöhle is.  You can combine a visit there with a visit to Lichtenstein Castle or nearby Bärenhöhle, which is a much smaller and more kid friendly cave.

4.  Lichtenstein Castle

I don’t know how we missed this the first time we were here!

 

Although we did make it to Hohenzollern Castle the first time we lived near Stuttgart, we somehow missed out on Lichtenstein Castle.  I’ve now seen a lot of German castles and I think so far, Lichtenstein might be my favorite of all of them… and yes, that includes Neuschwanstein!

3.  Burgbach Wasserfall

The Burgbach Waterfall was yet another lucky find!

 

The same blogger who alerted me to the presence of the All Saints Waterfalls also clued me in on finding lovely Burgbach Waterfall.  It costs nothing to visit this pretty waterfall in the Black Forest, which also happens to be conveniently located near the Bear and Wolf Alternative Park.  It’s a great thing to do on a sunny spring or fall day!

2.  Der Schönbuchturm

Herrenberg’s tower!

 

In June 2018, the city of Herrenburg got its very own tower, overlooking the lovely countryside.  This tower costs nothing to visit and offers unobstructed views of the area.  There is another tower much like this one in Stuttgart at the Killesberg Park.

1.  Bad Wildbad

The “tree walk” is just one thing you can do when you visit Bad Wildbad.

 

A lot of newcomers to Stuttgart visit the spa town of Bad Wildbad to climb the famed “tree walk”, otherwise known as the Baumwipfelpfad Schwarzwald.  But there’s more to this town than just cool “tree walks”.  By the way, there are other tree walks in Germany and the Czech Republic.  Bad Wildbad also has the distinction of being the first place Bill and I ever experienced a nude spa.

I’m really going to miss living near the Black Forest, but I’m excited about the prospect of getting to live in another part of Germany for awhile.  I also plan to visit Stuttgart at least once next year, since we’re coming down to see Elton John in concert.  I have no doubt that we could also end up moving back here someday.  If we do, maybe we’ll live on the other side of Stuttgart for a change…  or maybe not.  We do like being near the Black Forest!

We visited Wiesbaden for the first time last weekend and I can now say for certain that this blog is not going to be neglected.  Wiesbaden and Mainz are extremely beautiful cities and there’s still so much to see and do.  But a piece of my heart will always stay here in Baden-Württemberg, where we’ve been so lucky to spend a total of six great years.

If you’re new here, I highly recommend getting out and seeing everything you can before you have to leave.  Time in Germany tends to fly by and not everyone will get the opportunity to return.  These last four years have really shown us what we missed when we were here the first time.  I feel so lucky that we got to come back and see more of what this area has.  And now, we have learned just how very much BW offers to its residents!  I hope today’s post will inspire a few intrepid souls to get out and enjoy this beautiful part of Germany!

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Baden-Württemberg, Schwarzwald, Sundays

Beautiful Burgbach Wasserfall, and lunch at the Klösterle Hof!

A few weeks ago, after Bill and I visited Glaswaldsee in Bad Rippoldsau, I read up on what else was in the area.  I learned that the tiny spa town, also home to the wolf and bear park, is also where there are splendid waterfalls and hiking trails.  In fact, Bad Rippoldsau is not only beautiful, but one could spend a whole weekend busy with things to do in nature.  And if it’s too rainy, there are spas to visit in nearby Bad Peterstal-Griesbach and a glass blowing factory in nearby Wolfach.  Once again, I am reminded of why I really like where we live, for Unterjettingen is just on the edge of the Black Forest, where there are plenty of cool things to do.

Today, while everybody else was watching Prince Harry and Meghan Markle getting married, I had tentative plans to visit two waterfalls.  We only made it to one, the Burgbach Wasserfall, which is very close to both Glaswaldsee and the wolf and bear park.  After reading up on the official info, which is in the first link in this paragraph, I read a more personal account of visiting the waterfall.  A very helpful guy who lives in The Netherlands wrote up his experience hiking around the falls.

Bill was a little worried there would be rain today, but we had perfect weather, at least while we were actually hiking.  There is a large, free parking lot on the side of the road, where there is a map showing where the falls are.  The waterfall can be accessed by two trails.  One is .8km, but a bit steep.  The longer one is about twice as long, but a bit more gradual.  We took the short hike to the falls and the longer trail back.  I think that’s the better way to do it, especially if you’re in crappy physical shape like I am.  The .8km trail is a bit steeper, but it’s shorter.  You still have to walk up hills on the longer trail.  The hills aren’t as intense, but they take longer to climb.  I do recommend taking the longer trail back, because it’s a very beautiful walk.  In fact, we even saw a family with their young boy riding his bike and the mom pushing a stroller.  That’s pretty hard core!

Below are some photos from today’s hike to the waterfall.  Afterwards, we had a marvelous lunch, on which I will report after the photos!

The helpful map.  There is also a picnic table near this map, though we also saw people eating lunch by the falls.  Bear in mind that it’s a wild area, so there are no trash cans or other facilities at the falls.  There are also no admissions fees!

 

The first glimpse of the creek…

 

We’re in the right place.  We took the road in the photo.  We could have also turned right onto another road which allows a longer hike to the falls.  The longer way appears to be easier, but it’s kind of deceptive.  The hills aren’t quite as steep, but they last longer.

The area is full of beautiful wildflowers.  I don’t think I quite did them justice with my camera.

 

Helpful signs show you where to go.

Peaceful creek…

 

In the distance, I spotted what appeared to be a burg on the mountain.  To get to the waterfall on the shortest route, you pass through a neighborhood.  It appeared that they had a trout farm there, though I can’t swear to it.

 

 

I stopped on the trail to take a photo.  There are some beautiful views.

 

Our first glimpse of the falls.  There were a few other people there and some who had braved a walk up to the burg we spotted on the way into the woods.

 

Near the base of the falls.

I think it was worth the trip… the falls are very photogenic and not too hard to get to, even if you’re not in great shape.

After a quick pit stop, Bill and I headed back down the long way.  

 

Der Burgbachfelsen…

Glad I had a zoom lens.

This is what the road looked like most of the way down.  However, we made the mistake of going all the way back to the highway.  I would not advise doing that, especially if you have children or are in any way mobility challenged.  There isn’t much of a walkway by the road and it gets very busy with scary bikers and speeding cars.  There is another, well-marked trail on the gravel road before you get to where the traffic is.  That’s probably the one you’d want to take, rather than trying to walk by the highway.  However, because we didn’t take that trail ourselves, I can’t swear to the accuracy of my advice.

Stop and enjoy the views!

 
That’s a wrap!

This was on the walk back, which was pretty scary due to no sidewalk or trail.  However, I did get a few shots of the wildflowers. 

The restaurant where we had lunch was at a hotel called the Klösterle Hof, which is the site of an old monastery.  Bill and I had noticed it the first time we visited the area, but didn’t happen to be there at a time when it was open.  Today, we had no problem getting a table, even though there was a wedding going on at the huge church next door.  There are a couple of other restaurants near this hotel, but I had read about the hotel restaurant and noticed the stellar reviews.  Having eaten there today, I can add my own stellar review.  We really enjoyed our lunch, even though we got caught by a rainstorm.

We sat outside at first, along with a large group of bikers and another couple.

A very kind waitress, who appeared to be working alone, brought us wine and water.  I loved the little wine barrel pitchers the wines came in.  I had a riesling and Bill had a gray burgundy.  Both were local and very good.  The riesling tasted of limes, while the gray burgundy had a honey essence.

We ordered our food and waited a bit, but the sky began to darken right after the church bells stopped ringing for the wedding.  Our waitress kindly opened a previously closed dining room for us, since all of the inside tables were taken.

It was very quaint and comfortable. 

Bill ordered the fresh trout, which probably came from a very local source.  It was grilled with lemon and served with a green salad and parsleyed potatoes.

I had Seeteufel medallions (a dense white fish– kind of like catfish without the dirt flavor) with white asparagus and Hollandaise sauce… as well as the aforementioned potatoes.

This sauce was the real deal.  No blender cheats with this one!

And a nice table full of digestives, of which we did not partake.  Our bill was about 62 euros and well worth the expense.  I felt great after lunch– not too stuffed and like I’d eaten really high quality food.

 

While we were eating, a group of gentlemen from the wedding showed up.  If I had to guess, I’d say they might have been part of a band.  They came in, had a round of beer, and headed to the church.  We saw them all waiting on the front stoop as we drove past on the way home.

The outside of the restaurant and hotel as it was pouring rain.  There was no rain once we got over the mountain toward Freudenstadt.  Had it not rained, we might have tried to visit the other waterfall I read about.  As it is, we’ll save that one for another day.  I would love to go back to the restaurant and try the Black Forest ham, which I noticed the lady sitting next to us having.  It smelled wonderful.

A trippy photo I took as we drove through the misty mountains.  I love visiting the Bad Rippoldsau area.  It feels like a mini vacation.

 Below are a few more photos of Burgbach Wasserfall I took with my digital camera.  I’m really glad we visited.  The falls are beautiful and, at least today, not nearly as crowded as some of the other waterfalls we’ve visited.  I would highly recommend a trip there, especially if you’re looking for something different and cheap to do.

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