What's new

My trip through the Black Forest

First off, I apologize for the iPhone pictures. I have a nice Cannon at home that I mostly use for product pictures, but I did not take it with me. Hopefully you can enjoy the pictures anyway :tongue_sm

I took a trip to Frankfurt, Germany in May because my grandmother was sick. Some good did come out of the trip, as I found myself with the opportunity to drive through the Black Forest. I was born in Germany and through living there, visiting, and studying abroad, I have probably spent about a fourth of my life there, but I have never once been to the Black Forest. It was definitely worth the trip.

I decided to rent a vehicle. I booked a BMW 3 Series because I felt like the sportiness would make the drive through the windy roads even more fun. When I got the car, I noticed that it was a station wagon (BMW 330d Touring) and was pretty bummed out. Station wagons are boring and belong in the 70s, right? Wrong. This was one of the most exciting vehicles that I have ever driven.

The cool things about EU license plates is that they tell you which country the vehicle is registered in. The "D" in the lower-left corner is for Deutschland ("Germany"). German license plates also tell you which city the vehicle is registered in. The "M" is for München ("Munich").

proxy.php


proxy.php


Unfortunately, if you go by the GPS, it will take you on he A5 Autobahn, and you will not see any part (at least not any interesting part) of the Black Forest. There are a few scenic routes, but the best, at least according to what I found on Google is the Schwarzwaldhochstrasse, or the Black Forest highway. To get there, I took the A5 from Frankfurt to Baden-Baden. The A5 has numerous unrestricted zones and goes straight for long stretches. Sorry, Texas, your 80 MPH speed limits are not that cool :tongue_sm

At 200 KPH / ~124 MPH, some guy passed me. I managed to get the "boring old station wagon" up to 245 KPH / ~152 MPH. I was not even the fastest vehicle on the road. In Germany, you are required by federal law to yield to anyone who wishes to go faster (even if you are already going the speed limit), and passing on the right is illegal (unless there is a traffic jam or something like that).

I only had a day for this trip, otherwise I would have stopped in Baden-Baden, but I ended up driving through it and got on the Schwarzwaldhochstrasse, making my way from Baden-Baden to the Mummelsee. The nice thing about the Black Forest is that they have numerous shoulder areas to pull over in case you wish to take pictures. The area was pretty foggy from the Mummelsee.

I stopped at a parking lot later on and started walking through part of the black forest.

You should not need a translation to be able to read the sign below :lol:

proxy.php


"Conservation area":

proxy.php


Freudenstadt is where the Schwarzwaldhochstrasse ends before starting up again further south. Karlsruhe is where the German Supreme Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht) is located. It was purposely put in a different city than the other federal government buildings located in Berlin.

proxy.php


proxy.php


proxy.php


proxy.php


proxy.php


proxy.php



This is a ski lift that is only used during the winter:

proxy.php


proxy.php


proxy.php


proxy.php


proxy.php


proxy.php


proxy.php


proxy.php


proxy.php


proxy.php


proxy.php


proxy.php


proxy.php


proxy.php


proxy.php


Many/most (depending on who you ask) Germans are in favor of unrestricted speed limits. The ADAC, the German version of AAA, is a powerful lobbying group (some call it "the NRA of Germany") that lobbies to keep speed limits high. Contrary to what many American think, most of the Autobahn, and in some areas all of the Autobahn, has speed limits. Granted, they usually are the equivalent of 75 to 80 MPH. Several years ago, studies were done to show the effect that unrestricted speed limits have on the Black Forest. In Germany, we love our unrestricted speed limits, but we love our forests even more. That resulted in speed limits being put in most of the Black Forest. Notice how some of the trees in the picture below, mostly the ones in the back, are no longer green, but rather black:

proxy.php


I circled around and got back on the A5 back to Frankfurt. If you are ever in Germany, please consider paying a visit to the black forest. And make sure to bring a camera :tongue_sm
 
Last edited:
Top Bottom