All Things Bright And Beautiful

We have come to the end of our Black Forest sojourn. And what a fabulous time it was.  We had visited here with the kids some 20 years ago, but on a bus tour, when if it was Wednesday, it was the Black Forest etc.  We had always said we would come back and we have!

Flowers everywhere

Our time here has been a kaleidoscope of colour- flowers everywhere, on walls, on bridges, on footpaths and shops.  We are thinking that as Europe has such a short time to celebrate summer and all things warm and cheerful, that they really enjoy emphasising colour.  The rest of the year here, as we all know, is pretty stark and very black & white.  As well as being very, very cold!  And certainly not colourful!

Yesterday, we got lost- again- but getting lost often means finding things that we would never have known existed and this was true of Hammersbach where we happened across a costume museum which had life size tableaux of all the costumes worn in the Black Forest area over the last 200 years.  Today, when we stopped at Mummelsee, I tried on one of the hats- very fetching- I didn't let Bill take a photo in case you were all jealous!  They are so heavy!  I can't imagine why women would wear them & they did, because we saw photos of them!  Here's some to prove it.

Bet you thought Davy Crockett was American.

Just don't ask me to smile.

 Can you imagine how fetching you'd look with these?  And how good you'd look going through the door sideways?  Because you certainly wouldn't have got through any other way!  Puts an end to the idea of the grand entrance!

The family ready for an outing.

We were trying to guess what these were.
Various suggestions included baskets or vases, but as they
were hollow, that didn't (or wouldn't) hold water. You're
right- they're hats!

This is interesting.  The pale item in front, that looks
like a Ry-Vita biscuit, is a stamp that was used for
printing the material behind it.  Clever! And this was  around the 17th C.

A case of kissing like a porcupine.
Very carefully! Or you'd be in danger of
knocking out the Beloved! Great
way to start a relationship.

Folk lore is a very big part of the Black Forest culture and the costume museum exhibited some of the more colourful characters from their literary heritage.

The retention of the old carnival traditions is very important in the Black Forest and Black Forest people seek to distinguish their own carnival traditions from the more recent Rhenish influenced carnival.

With Fasnacht (or Fasnet), on the 6th January, the Swabian-Alemannic carnival begins. The Häs, which are the traditional costumes of the carnival revellers, are dusted off on this day. The heyday of the Fasnet begins with the Schmutziger Donnerstag which means literally dirty Thursday, and consists of six days of crazy and mad activity on the streets of the Black Forest communities!

The whole spectacle ends, just as it does in the Rhine River area, on Aschermittwoch (Ash Wednesday), the first day of the season of Lenten. 
However, there are still some relics of the former carnival to be found in the Swabian-Alemannic carnival: The Buurefasnacht carnival in Weil am Rhein and Sulzburg lasts until the end of the first week of the Lenten season.

A cache of colourful characters from Black Forest folklore.

Tomorrow, we're of to Cologne, en route to Denmark by Sunday.  We met a very nice guy, Martin, at dinner tonight & he has given us some good things to do in Cologne.  He suggested a tour of the Lindt factory which includes a free tasting at the end, so you can imagine Bill's reaction to that!  I think that's one of the things we might find time for!  He also gave us suggestions of where to eat as he & his family often go to Cologne for the weekend. It's always fun to go where the locals go as it usually means a more "local" experience and that's what we're here for.  He also gave us some good leads for Copenhagen, so will keep you posted.