Cuckoo Clocks and the Black Forest

When Zev and I first found out we were coming to Germany, about two years ago, one of the first things that came to my mind was the Black Forest (Schwarzwald), which is famous for cuckoo clocks and Black Forest cake (both wonderful German creations).

So today Zev and I took a lovely drive down to the Black Forest, only about 1 hour and 45 minutes from our house. We stopped for lunch in a quaint little gasthof that used to be a bank vault (it still had the original bank vault doors and windows!)

We brought "Flat Stanley" along, who is visiting us all the way from Shreveport, Louisiana! We wanted to show Stanley some of the famous sights of Germany, including the House of 1000 Clocks in the Schwarzwald town of Triberg.

We even took a picture of Stanley with some "girl" dolls dressed in the traditional Schwarzwald costume called the "Bollenhut."

You can see from the picture below, that this traditional dress involves a special hat with 14 "pompoms" on the top. They are meant to symbolize cherries, which are very prevalent in the Black Forest (hence the awesome Black Forest cake or "Cherry Cake" as it is known in Germany.) Only unmarried women wear the hats with the red pompoms. Married women wear black pompoms.

 Stanley in downtown Triberg:

After lunch, we headed to a little cuckoo clock factory to pick out a special cuckoo clock. This cuckoo clock is extra special because it is actually my 30th birthday present from Zev.

As cheesy as this is going to sound, and I KNOW that some of you will groan, but I've got to say this: I love Zev more now than when I first met him, 8 years ago. He is my best friend and he loves me to bits, he looks after me and cares for me and makes me laugh. We laughed so hard about the silliest things in the car today. I thank God for our marriage. I tell you, having faith in Christ has helped Zev and I really build the foundations of our marriage and approach life with the right perspective. Our lives are not perfect, but we thank God for everything, even the little things like a sunny day or waking up refreshed and being able to enjoy a cup of coffee today on our balcony.

The greeting on this wall is used a lot in this part of Germany. "Gruess Gott" translates to "Greet God."

Although there were lots of cuckoo clock shops in downtown Triberg to choose from, we actually went with this little shop, which was a little ways out from town, on top of a hill, next to a sweet old church. The man who owns the shop was very sweet and gentle and didn't speak any English so I translated for Zev. The man's father started making clocks and then passed the business to his son, who continues to make the clocks in the factory next door.

Zev was as amazed as I was at the selection of beautiful wooden cuckoo clocks. The sound from the cuckoo clocks all "cuckooing" (not sure if that is the proper name for it but I hope you know what I mean) was incredible. I wonder if it would get old after a while- hearing those clocks cuckoo every half hour? I guess we'll soon find out! Ha! The cuckoo clock in the middle here is the one that we picked. It even has little people that dance during the "cuckoo" times and depicts a little German village scene below. We love it!

I couldn't wait to come home to get the clock set up and hung on a wall. However someone is taking a nap (at 5.55pm) on the couch next to me.....ah, maybe tomorrow. Have a great weekend, all!

Love, Fifi xoxoxo