The day started brightly with a lot of sun. We started off on time for the 2 hour drive towards Rhine falls in Schauffhausen canton of Switzerland. More of the beautiful scenery was outside, but everyone was tired from the high altitude stresses yesterday, so most of the trip there was slept off. When we arrived at the Rhine, the sun was shining so brightly that I did not get perturbed by the 0 degrees temperature and ventured outside with just a jacket. One thing about Europe in winter is to not be swayed away by the apparent brightness of the sun. The temperature and the wind by the falls made it bitterly cold to stay out without any gloves or cap. I thought Rhine falls was in Germany and so I put all my Swiss francs in my suitcase, which was a mistake as we lost out on a desperately needed hot cup of coffee. The Rhine falls is the largest falls in Europe, which pours 160000 liters of water per second from 23 meters up. The scenery around the Rhine was spectacular, with a castle, a wide river and some old factories lining up the shores. Even spotted a Siemens office there, so if anyone is working there and want to go onsite, you know what place to choose We took some photos and off we went again.
The drive from Rhineland to Titisee was one of the most beautiful drives we have had on this tour, with slippery and winding mountain roads with numerous hairpins. The drive also took us past the border into Germany. With heavy snowfall, the ride through the famous Black forest was irony very white. The landscape as far as the eye could see was filled with snow. I didn’t expect Germany to have more snow than Switzerland, but that’s the way it was here. I was surprised to hear that it takes 3 generations to harvest the fig trees that are abundant in this place. This temperate rainforest is one of the most beautiful places I have seen. The bus had to take detour a couple of times as the usual roads were too slippery for the driver’s comfort. When we finally reached Titisee, with a population of 30000, the guard there had already seen more than 30000 tourists today even in this cold wintry morning.
Lake Titisee is wide 2 sq km lake, which is 480m above sea level with a beautiful backdrop of the black forest. We walked along the brick road to the lake, which was frozen! This was the first time in my life that I had seen a frozen lake Titisee is famous for its marvelous cuckoo clocks, and we went for a short demonstration on the clock making. The clock parts are got from different villages and assembled together. We hurried for a special black forest lunch which contained the local specialties of pork knuckle and a lovely black forest cake. The vegetarian meal contained a very nice mashed vegetarian patty, looking similar to hash browns. The lunch was surprisingly very filling and very nice to taste. During the meal, I could sense the German obsession with timing. Every second of delay with us finishing an item made them really restless, as if the world would collapse the next moment. The German sophistication was also on display with the numerous beer glasses being dried using a centrifuge in a matter of a few seconds. Now, who would imagine that!
After lunch, we went to the frozen lake, where some ducks were trying their best to keep a small puddle of water from freezing by furiously flapping themselves. Some local kids tried to help by breaking the ice. The water was not very cold to touch, compared to the surrounding. The other thing about this place was the obsession with dogs. Almost everyone had dogs and some of the smaller ones were dressed in down jackets, which made them look very cute. Some of the bigger dogs were really BIG and scary. The snow in this place was rock hard and more like ice than the powdery ones that we found on top of Mt Titlis, which wasn’t to my liking. But it was nice to touch and feel the chill run up your hand and numb it in seconds.
The next part of the day was the long 4 hour drive from Titisee to Heidelberg. The snows disappeared from the landscapes and became more flat as we went along. Our photographic hearts sank along with the snow and we tried to sleep most of our way, except for a short break in between. When we reached Heidelberg, it was dark and cold. Heidelberg is a scenic small town on the banks of the river Neckar, famous for its centuries old bridge, castle fort and nice town square. We went to a Chinese restaurant in the town and took some pictures along the bridge. We also spotted a Taj Tandoori restaurant in this place. Wind usually blows over these rivers giving rise to the intense chill. With all our warm clothes on, it was still freezing. Chemical hand warmers are very useful in these places. Today was filled with travel, and marked the halfway point of our trip, which I am sure will be an unforgettable experience.
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