Deep in the Black Forest

In the first part of June, our friend's papa was getting married to his long-lost love in Frieburg, Germany.  This meant that our fantastic friends Emily & Tyler Dean and Vinay Kolluru were hopping across the pond!

Frieburg is in the Black Forest region of Germany -- a place renowned for its breathtaking natural beauty.

Before meeting up with the gang, we spent a couple days flying 'duo' (hehe) in the region around Freiburg.

Of course, we wanted to explore the Black Forest mountains, so we decided to day-hike part of the Zweitälersteig trail starting at a trail-head that was reportedly accessible by train/bus.  To our chagrin, we got off about 10 stops too soon, and ended up walking for several hours and for several kilometers in and around the itsy town of Simonswald (in the gorgeous ZweiTälerLand area) until we found the trail-head.  But, our mis-step was good luck -- that part of Germany just makes your eyes drool!  :-)

Even though it was Saturday, all the shops were closed!  So, our only grub for the whole hot day was a handful of dried fruits and a couple granola bars thrown in our daypack.

Needless to say, we were famished by the end!

It was worth it, though... the hike took us up to beautiful overlooks of the enormous valley and views of huge wind turbines.  The forest was so peaceful.  Then, as our final prize, we cooled off at the tumbling Zweribach waterfall!

Here's a slideshow of some of the sights!

For a full-screen HD slideshow, click here.