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On our way from Freiburg to Heidelberg, we stopped off in Triberg, located in the heart of Germany’s Black Forest.  In fact, Triberg claims to be the home of Black Forest cake.

Our first stop was to have a look at the Triberg Waterfalls which is one of the highest waterfalls in Germany.  The water here tumbles about 600 feet over seven naturally created steps.  There are numerous walkways and bridges that allow you to wander along most of the waterfall’s course.  The town of Triberg lies at the bottom of the falls.

Triberg’s Town Hall has a wood carved conference that is well worth a visit.  The wood carvings portray the spirit and life of the Black Forest, the natural environment, animals, the life of the people and their culture. It was carved from spruce wood in 1926 by Karl Josef Furtwaengler, a native Triberg artist.

Triberg has established itself as the home for cuckoo clocks.  It seems that as early as the 1730’s cuckoo clocks were being carved in the Black Forest and especially around Triberg.  In the town you will find the “House of 1000 Clocks” which has cuckoo clocks of every size and description.  It’s quite fun to browse and watch the action of the various clocks.  Many of them have very detailed scenes of life in the Black Forest with wood chopping, animals, dancing and beer drinking.

Just outside of town you will find the “world’s oldest largest cuckoo clock” which took local clockmaker Joseph Dodd three years to build by hand.