The streak of travel continues! Although we hadn't planned our Easter trip until the very last minute (just 2 weeks before), we managed to hook up with friends living in Lausanne to meet in the middle of the Black Forest, which was also right in the middle of our two cities. We booked a bauernhof urlaub - our second attempt at a farmstay holiday - just outside the town of Wolfach.
I would say the two best lessons learned were (1) book early for the best price on accommodation and food. We definitely overpaid due to late booking, and could have probably negotiated a better price on meals; and (2) have a backup plan for bad weather. We had a full rainy/gray day and could only find outdoor or open-air activities nearby. Luckily the other days were sunny and warm-ish, but alternate options would have been good. Oh yeah and (3) when hiking to a vesperstube, make sure they're open! We walked for over an hour up a steep hill to one, only to discover they were closed. We were starving, so it was an enormous disappointment - there wasn't even a 'closed' sign at the restaurant!
ANYway, focusing on the positives: we were walking distance to trails, had access to farm animals (the kids really loved feeding the cows and petting the donkeys. And man are donkeys loud!), and there was a lovely playground around the corner. The farmstay had also organized an Easter fire and an egg hunt on Easter Sunday, which was a nice way to spend the holiday. Because we had a kitchen (we rented the 2-bedroom apartment), I packed a bag and planned most of our meals, and (luckily) included shower stuff as well. Turns out that was wise, because that wasn't included (along with dishwasher tabs and extra trash bags). Good thing we came with the car, because we definitely filled up the trunk!
If I did it again, I'd try to stay closer to Gutach, where there were a few more activities and people around, including a few we enjoyed over our last 2 days there. There looked like endless options for holiday homes around there, as well as hotels. It was nice to really be 'away from it all' at our hof, though.
Day 1:
The first activity day, we went to the open air Black Forest museum. I would strongly recommend avoiding the restaurant - the food was adequate but the service was beyond atrocious. It was so slow that a lot of people just left money on the table rather than waiting to pay their bill!
Anyway, the upsides were many. There was too much to see in one day, so we picked the 'kid-friendly' huts and went exploring. Since it was Easter weekend, the kids painted wooden eggs and cuddled with baby chicks. Then, we wandered from hut to hut to explore how families lived, worked, played, and ate, before they had the luxuries we have today (you know, like electricity). It was all so well explained and organized - we felt like we all learned something new. And, the kids all took fantastic car naps so we definitely succeeded in wearing them out!The parents had booked the on-site sauna for the evening, so after the kids went to bed, we grabbed a chilled bottle of champagne and wound down in a very warm and relaxing sauna for 2 and a half hours. Definitely nice to have a bit of luxury in the forest.
Day 2:
We visited a Motorrad Museum in Oberwolfach - which turned out to be an overpriced showcase of a bunch of (beautiful, but old) motorcycles. There was no story, history, or educational component - just a literal stage for looking at motorcycles. At 3 euro per visitor, it's one to skip.We next went to the sommerrodelbahn in Gutach, which was a completely awesome tourist trap. The track is about 1 km and just the right amount of fun for us and the 4-year old (the 2 year old was too young to try it), the biergarten is right in the sun, and there's a (small, but passable) playground just behind. The line moved quickly, 'driving' was very intuitive, and it was just high and curvy enough to be fun, not scary.
Day 3: We packed up in the morning after breakfast and headed out to the Alternative Wolf and Bear park about 12 minutes down the road. Hungry, we stopped first at the snack bar for delicious veggie sandwiches and bratwursts. Good call, because the place filled up at 12 o'clock.
We skipped the playground and teepees in favor of the 'rundweg' - about a 2 km circuit that we weren't sure the kids would last on, but we went forward anyway. Turns out all that Olympic watching was for good - they raced in front of us to "win" gold or silver medals, and made it all the way through without needing to be carried. We got very close up to the wolves and bears - they were lounging in the sun and wandering about with no worries about people watching them. The kids even got to see some bear growling at a wolf pack action - nothing like nature in real life!
We got back to the car just in time for naptime / afternoon exhaustion, and headed back to Mainz. My phone / google maps lost the GPS connection (oops, we forgot to download the offline map! Rookie mistake), so I went up a mountain where I meant to go down. Downside: a much longer route. Upside: while the kids snoozed (for 3 hours!), I took in majestic views at the top, and even saw several feet of snow! Definitely glad we got lost, even though it was spooky to go many miles without seeing any other cars on the road. Three hours later, it was home sweet home to the real world. And it took coming home to realize how relaxed I was from the time 'away from it all'. Definitely a vacation well spent.
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