Food, Freddy, Forest, and Fun!

So it has been about a week since my last post and I thought an update might be nice. I'm taking one german language class and then another about german culture. Its really been great exposure to the language.

Other than classes, this weekend I played tourist and went to a restaurant known for its local specialties and then on Saturday to Schwarzwald - the black forest. Friday night I went with a group of other international students to Ihringer Strauβe - and no I don't mean ostrich. Ihringer is a small town outside of Frieburg and this is where we had our typisches essen. You know how they say its all about the journey not the destination? Well, although the food was excellent as was the wine from the local vineyard, the most interesting part was getting there. We had to walk to this restaurant from the trains station, which is perfectly reasonable, but about halfway through our walk we turned onto a road with no street lamps and only vineyards on either side. So it was a dusky journey to the restaurant and a very, very dark trip back. I think I can speak for everyone in the group when I say we were all on the look out for Freddy Krueger and Jason. As far as I know everyone made it back...

This is Flammkuchen from the restaurant and though it may just look like a pizza, it is sooo much better!

Schwarzwald was absolutely beautiful. Rolling hills with patches of evergreen forest, there really is no better place to be on a sunny day.

After a visit to St. Peters church, we took a leisurely hike to a local restaurant for schnitzel and black forest cake. Did I mention this was a very tourist-y trip? Well, if you haven't thought so yet I'm getting there. After lunch we went to a cuckoo clock workshop, where they have been hand making cuckoo clocks for five generations. Though I wouldn't say that cuckoo clocks are my style, the work they put into them is amazing. Every detail on each clock is hand carved and each craftsman only works on their own clocks to show off their unique style.

 OK now for the piece de resistance. I know you all have been wondering. Before heading back to Freiburg we visited: the worlds largest cuckoo clock. Its basically this little house this guy built that looks like a cuckoo clock on the outside. The slightly more interesting thing about it is that it does actually work. It is run exactly the same as a regular cuckoo clock, except all the gears are about 500 times the regular size. Though it was slightly underwhelming, I'm glad I can say I've seen it. 

Heres the cuckoo clock house in all its glory.

All in all a lovely weekend. Who knows what I'll be seeing next!