It is said that the forest is called black one due to the color of the tree bark. It didn’t seem so black to us, but it smelled amazingly of mushrooms that we literally stumbled over, and there were loads of blueberries everywhere, so Dominik had a blue-violet mouth after each trip. We walked along a gnome path (about two hours in the forest), where we were looking for a capercaillie Anton together with two gnomes. Gradually, we learned more about him, sometimes with additional tasks like climbing a tree and looking through a binocular. It was the first hiking where the children chased us to go further, curious about what would come next. Great idea with a nice playground at the end.
In each restaurant, beside other dishes there were some specialties made with chanterelles or black forest ham (Schwarzwaldschinken). One floor (of eleven) in the observation tower on the hill below Feldberg peak was also dedicated to this ham. Olivia enjoyed smelling all the herbs and smell of the smokehouse there. The view from the tower was nice. We also saw a small round lake Feldsee below the hill. We went there too, it was very clear and full of fish.
We made a boat trip on Schluchsee. I was surprised that only small part of the lake was inhabited, everywhere around were trees.
Our last trip led us to the waterfalls in Todtnau. From the car park below Hasenhorn hill, we walked through the forest for about an hour to the waterfall and then back. Dominik discovered that, similar as in the lake, the water here was cold as well. Then we went up to Hasenhorn hill by cable car, had lunch at the cottage there and then we drove down the rollercoaster (2.9km). Olivia kept telling me all the time to slow down, Dominik would manage to drive a few more kilometers.
In the afternoon we always spent around an hour in the hall with trampolines and rope park (this one only with Olivia, because it was up to 5 years). When I saw it from the bottom (from trampoline side) with a bunch of people with shaking legs and tears in eyes, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go there with Olivia. But she was so adamant that we went there. Olivia was doing great. First at the sixth track she began to understand the fear of others and reached her limits. From eight tracks, we finally went through 7 (the seventh was already marked as black). Children could also ride ponies or spend their energy on the playground near the hotel. It was a very pleasant week.
Some videos from our rope park activity (part of sixth and seventh track)