The Black Forest and Milan

This was one of my most anticipated yet least prepared trips in my whole european experience. Before I even decided to go to Austria, I had always wanted to backpack by myself in the Black Forest, one of the densest, most fabled forests on earth. It also contains dwarves, goblins and gingerbread houses. It inspired the famous fairy tales in “Brothers’ Grimm,” and is where Hansel and Gretel got lost. I mentioned this to a few people before leaving but it happened that I decided to take my first and only trip alone in Europe. It was really beneficial to get away by myself at this midpoint through the semester and just reflect and have some alone time, since almost all the other time, except for that time in the chapel, was being spent with others.

A four day break was approaching and I was trying to plan where I was going for the weekend on Thursday morning. I was running sort of short on time in the semester to make it to the four Italian cities I wanted to visit: Venice, Florence, Milan and Naples. I was considering how it would be possible to do a few of them in the one four day weekend but decided I liked Germany almost more than Italy, so I worked out a crazy plan. I stayed on Thursday night in the Kartause for a party which was fun because we had a bonfire and made some alcoholic concoction.

I woke up early around 5:30 am and walked to the train station and took the train system to Stuttgart which took me to Freudenstadt to Hausach. At this time it was around 22:00 and I was wondering whether I would make it to Triberg (my destination) before the last train would stop working for the night. I asked in broken German and he reassured me that I could still make it but I still had 4 or 5 train transfers. Apparently navigating the Schwartzwald (Black forest) train system was as difficult as navigating the Schwartzwald itself. I cracked open a beer as I waited to make it. I wasn’t worried because I had everything I needed to survive anywhere I would end up; my backpack, some food, a tent and sleeping bag. I finally got on the last train transfer to Triberg, where the only people on the train were these 17 or so year old girls who were heading home. They appeared scared at first but after talking a while they were comfortable. I asked them where the largest darkest part of the forest was and they had a difficult time understanding my English but said they would show me. Then we arrived at Triberg and they showed me the where I needed to go and I found the map. I walked out of the train station toward the center part of the villiage. On my way there I met a lady and said one of my few phrases in German “Ich mochte etwas essen order trinkin bitte. Wo ist das?” She told me to go up the street and find a place called the “Tresor” in the Rathaus area and tell the owner that Vittoria sent me. So I did just that and went inside.

It was basically a bar but I didn’t care because I was hungry and it was nearly 1am. I chatted with a few other people at the bar who were there just hanging out on the Friday night. There were pictures/paintings of naked women all over the walls so I kept focused on the important things… I made friends with the bartender and ordered Weisswurst and sauerkraut with a beer. I was terribly thirsty and it was very good beer. After he found out I was from America, he got excited and played a CD. It was Eddy Money’s “Two Tickets to Paradise”, apparently one of his favorite songs. After talking some politics, very gently, my food was ready and I scarfed down the German goodness at a table feeling very satisfied. I paid the bill which was about 15 Euro, though very much worth it. The bartender told me that if you find the Jungenherberage I could just stay there. I wanted to camp, so I hiked to the Herberage just to check it out and then hiked into the deepest part of the forest I could find during the dark. There I set up the tent and when everything was finally set I laid on the dewy grass gazing at the stars straight above, trying to take pictures but failing since they couldn’t capture the beauty. I can’t describe the smell, it was the freshest I’ve ever experienced–the black forest–land of gnomes. At this point I decided I should get to bed since I was going to wake up to start the day so after saying some prayers I did. I was planning to wake up around 8 but it ended up being around 10 or 11 because of the shade from the forest. But when I got out of my tent which I had not put a rain fly on there was frost all over it. I looked around and saw that my backpack had huge ice crystals on it and then in the same glance looked across the hills and through the forest in awe, large sections were cleared. As I would later learn, the forest is very much inhabited these days as opposed to the days of gloom when the fairy tales were written. I was still very much impressed with the beauty of this part of nature. I packed up my tent and everything and began hiking back toward the town.

When I got to the Jungenherberage again and stopped there to find a map and drop my stuff there in a secure place. When I went in there was no one around, not even at the front desk. I found a public computer which was one Euro for 15 minutes and so I began to use that to find my train schedule to Milan. I was planning to hit both places in one weekend. After finding the schedule and taking a picture on my camera, I went and looked at the more detailed maps of Triberg and the Black Forest in general, where I learned about it’s history as well as some things I could do that day. I went back outside after talking briefly to the lady at the front desk who gave me a map and let me leave my stuff, and there were a bunch of young boys about 12 years old learning how to rappel and operate the rope system in the driveway. I would assume they were in the German version of Boy scouts, I smiled at the adults and they smiled back and I walked out on the road to begin my day.

I could see down across the gaps between the hills/mountains looking at the village of Triberg–it was straight out of a fairy tale the way the houses were built. Gretal definitely could have lived there. I began walking down the road toward town constantly amazed at the fresh smell and I began to hear the running water off to the left of me so I took a trail or what started as a road off to the left which lead to the entrance to the Triberg wasserlauf (waterfall) and the (preserved) black forest. There was of course a fee to enter of a couple Euros but I went in and saw: “Deutschlands höchste Wasserfälle”in Triberg. Aus einer Höhe von 163 m stürztdas Wasser über 7 Stufen ins Tal!” as it was advertised everywhere. There were paths that lead up the sides of it and bridges that went across it and signs explaining its history. There were birds I had never seen before and very old trees. Ok I’m not going to describe everything….its a forest, leave it at that. I kept walking, crossed the waterfall kept going for about 15 minutes across the side of this mountain until I came across a high ropes course which I was interested in doing, but it was 15 Euro, and it wouldn’t be much fun to do alone, so I wished some people had come with me. I kept going and reached the Wallfahrtskirche and went down and inside it. It was stunning on the inside, especially for a Church that was just so tucked away and never heard of. Triberg isn’t much of a tourist spot, and to see this place, with no one even inside, I felt like I was way out of the way of things, this is why it was a blessing to take that trip by myself. There are pictures of it I took and I said a great many prayers there for about 45 minutes about various things in my life, then headed out again. On my way out the door there was a sign there describing the miracle that happened there and why the Church was built. I kept walking down the hill and started to look for a place to eat. Soon I came by an interesting building/shop because it was covered with carved stumps and it looked like it had a restaurant next to it. So I went in the left restaurant side. There were all sort of interesting trinkets in this place but no cooked food. I went into the room to the right and there I saw the largest collection of cookoo clocks I will ever see in my life, ranging from 50- 8000 euro for just one. I walked down further and found a front checkout desk where the man who owned the place was trying to sell his clocks. I decided I was interested in bier stein and he showed me his very impressive collection, but I decided I would wait to buy until after I looked at some other shops because I could always come back. I went and found some traditional crazy devil alcohol stuff that you light on fire in a shot glass and bought that from him. Then as I was leaving I made some small talk about the cookoo clocks and he went nuts trying to sell me one. I had asked the wrong question…”what’s the difference between a good and a bad one?” I listened to him for about five minutes and then I realized he was going into sales mode. I pulled out my camera and held it as he spoke so passionately, and I was very much entertained because he must not have realized that I was a college student with little much and who could hardly afford a 9000 Euro clock for my house. He showed me how he hand carves them and how its ridiculous to put a made in Germany sticker on the clock because the real ones…of course they are made in Germany. After that I calmly told him that I don’t have the money and thanked him for his interest and time. I headed off to a couple more shops looking for the perfect stein, then I decided saw the black forest museum and decided to go there after lunch. I looked in a couple restaurants like theHotel Restaurant Pfaff gmbh‎ and a few others but I ended up going to a nicer one: Landgasthof Zur Lilie‎. I had the Tour of Germany which was a plate of so many different kinds o meat…it was awesome, even though I know for sure at least two different types were raw. I had that with a big stein of beir which was really good. After this I went back to the Black Forest Museum but it was closing in 10 minutes and they recommend I have a couple hours. So I skipped it and took a couple free postcards and headed out to look in more shops, which I was starting to worry I was acting to girly shopping, but then I realized it was for a beir stein, how much more manly do you get than that. So I found some and I bought one, amongst many other beautiful steins (this one had high black forest written on it in german) and headed back to the Herberage to get my stuff. One the hike on the way back up the hill I saw a tree that was just like a slingshot and got a picture. I got myself cleaned up a little, got my stuff and started hiking back down the hill and made the right onto Haupstraße towards the train station and passed another huge cookoo clock house (Haus der 100 Clocks) which is the toursity crap the hand carver warned me about. I kept going and passed Tresor where I had stopped before. I kept going and realized that I was in the black forest and had not gotten any black forest cake and then right to my left I saw a pastry/dessert place next to the tick-tack stube restaurant where I went in and asked if they had the cake, they did and it was good. Life was good. I paid the lady and headed out back onto the street which, the outside was starting to darken a little, it was around 16 uhr. Then I went the rest of the way to the train station, hoping I could find a creek in the forest early to jump in before I left…it was one of the things we were doing when we went places, but no luck. So I got the train station and looked at the map and was bored until I met this random lady who could barely speak English and I was just as bad with German, but we made it work. I don’t remember her name but she said she grew up in Stuttgart and always lived in Germany but has been to New York. She was protestant and had 1 kid and recommended something now I don’t remember. By this time, darkness had fallen and I found the bathroom, almost ordered a beer but didn’t then just waited outside with a group of random Indian/Asian guys who seemed really out of place, but they were getting on the same train as me.

From here I was trying to get to Milan and my schedule I took a picture of, so I don’t have to explain each stop. I left on October 25 at 20:12. But one noteworthy stop was in Karlsruhe for a layover of about an three hours from 21:58 to 23:59. I remember getting off the train, still in Germany, and explored the large train station briefly but soon went outside. I knew I needed to charge my camera, which was unfortunately already dead from the Black Forest. I had lost the adaptor for the charger so I went around looking for a place to buy one, including one store where I was going to buy a Guinness. I gave up and went to McDonalds for a snack, and I had my Franzishaner beer and used my glass which I bought in the Black Forest withe a Los Whoochos big Mac. After this I went to the bookstore and asked the storekeeper who said she might have the converter. They didn’t so I went out of the train station and asked a random man if he might know how to solve my problem. He seemed very eager to help, introduced himself as _______ and told me to follow him. We went to the same store I had been in before and she gave me the same answer as before but suggested some store out away from the train station. The eager man was very kind and kept telling me to follow him and he told me that he was a student of engineering from Romania, I could tell anyways becuase of his thick accent and inability to speak German, though better than mine. Finally, out on the street in Karlsruhe and after a couple other places, we decided to try the 5 star hotel. We went in, very out of place and asked the front desk. They thankfully took the battery and charger and charged it behind the desk while they told us to wait in the corner. So we did and chatted for about and hour or so. He had apparently just arrived to see some family in Karlsruhe a said that he was not in a hurry to see his Mom. We talked about where we were in our lives and just about everything….I’ve never had the experience of sharing my so much with a complete stranger, but he did the same. He was an aerospace engineer and travelled a lot. He told me about how the King at the time destroyed Karlsruhe then built it again so he could see everything that was going on in the city from his castle. It was about 23: 45 when I decided and that I would have enough charge in my battery to get me through the rest of the trip so I shook his hand, he gave me his business card, which I am not sure if I have kept to this day, and then we said goodbye and I headed back to the train station and to the bahnsteig/gleist where my train would appear. I was wondering whether I should continue to Milan because I was starting to feel sick. After climbing up a strange elevator, only explainable by the video I got of it, I was choosing between Bahnsteig 1 or 2, one to Milan one to Wien. Milan here we come. I got on and pass out.

It was very exciting waking up around six thirty and looking at the window, the architecture ha quite obviously changed to Italian and as I hadn’t noticed last night, so were the trains….much less classy. Nevertheless, I arrived in Milan, my first time in Italy, on October 26, at 7:45 a.m. It was very exciting getting off the train and going into the station to go through the normal procedure I had gotten down at this point…time to find a map and pick where I want to wander to. I knew my main goal was to see what I knew as the Cathedral of Milan, really called Duomo de Milano. I hopped on the subway system and got off at Duomo, walked around and headed up the stairs, wondering if I would have to walk far to the Cathedral. Then just as I could see the early morning light overcast sky, I was shocked by the beauty and intricacy of this towering structure before me. I had never seen anything this beautiful as a testament to the faith in my life. The spires were countless. Unfortunately there were large ads on the sides of it. I went into the piazza towards the statue to get pictures and set up my camera to take them for me. There were a couple guys in the piazza handing out bracelets and he was getting closer to me. He tried to tie this tie die thing on my wrist without even asking and I immediately jerked my hand away and snapped it. He said what? Its free don’t worry! So I let him tie it on me, then he began asking me for money. I walked away and guarded my camera, I’m not stupid thank you. I was wondering if I could go to the Ambrosian Rite Mass at the Cathedral, since it is the only place in the world where that Rite is regularly done. So I went up to the entrance and found no opening yet. Apparently Mass started later so I wanted for the time being to ascend to the roof somehow. I walked around the left side of the Cathedral observing it’s beauty and was informed by someone that the roof opens in a half hour and costs 15 Euro. So I kept walking and exploring Milan away from the Cathedral’s Apse and found that no restaurants were open for breakfast since it was Sunday morning. I actually went inside one which seemed to be open but the manager informed me that they don’t open until 12:00 p.m. and laughed. I thought that was very nice of him laughing at a starving person. So I decided to just head back to the Cathedral, which I did and got line to go up the roof. And so after paying the money we had to go up a elevator to the top. The roof lead out so that you could see the city and be amongst the thousands of spires on the roof, which were so intricately carved and dos impressive for a pre-industrial age. There was sort of a tour path along the roof which we followed down the side of the roof nave which lead to some stairs at the front of the Cathedral at the top of which you were able to look out over the Piazza at the people who were ant-like. I took many pictures as you can see and at the top of the roof you could walk down the center of the roof back toward the altar side down the spine and could see all around amongst the excessive spires. It was one of the first experience where I sort of had the impression that I was walking on a cloud or heaven somehow, it was a surreal world. Then we went back the way we came and down. I was fairly late for the Mass that I wanted to attend but I figured I would be ok. I got down and went into the main entrance where a police man asked for anything I should give up. I gave him the knife I had with me. But I made friends with him and he put it in his breast pocket and told me to ask for it on my way out. So I went in and my breath was taken away by the ridiculousness of this gothic masterpiece, even though it seemed fairly dark inside. To get into Mass there was another security entrance where they said you could only enter if you were coming to Mass. I went in and sat down, hoping not to draw attention since it was during the Gospel, and since I had my full size backpack. I put it next to me on the simple bench and finished Mass. It was not done much differently except that they used more Gregorian Chant. Then after Mass I prayed a bit then got up to explore the Cathedral. In exploring and edification, I heard some serious chant going on and more people filling up the pews again. I went back in and realized that I had gone to the Italian Ambrosian Mass, and this starting now was the real stuff-Latin Ambrosian. It was very impressive the chant and the reverence of the priests, though not much different than that which I had experienced in the Tridentine Rite. I stayed for a while, prayed, took pictures and realized that it was getting close to my 12:55 train departure, which was one possibility, the other was a 1:30. I realized that if I missed the train to Gaming I would be spending the night outside of the Kartuase anyways, but I decided I should get back soon. I left the Church being very impressed and asked a security guard for my knife back since the original guard had been repositioned and she showed me where he went, over towards the mall next to the Cathedral. So I got my knife back, went into the mall to get some lunch before departing and I got some pizza which was relatively expensive. Then I went back underground to the subway where I came from…my trip was over, now I just had the homebound feeling. I was also starting to feel a little more sick at that point with a dry throat.

I boarded my train and after two hours at 14:14 I arrived in Verona, the city of Romeo and Juliet for a layover. So, naturally, I went out to explore for the half hour that I had and immediately found a Church right out of the train station and simply walked around it and couldn’t find anything particularly special about the city or relating to Romeo and Juliet, so soon I simply went back and boarded my train for Innsbruck at 12:59. This was a very nice ride to look at the looming alps coming through the Italian countryside. After a while of sitting I went into the restaurant car to see what they had to eat. It was all excessively expensive, but I was glad to see German menu’s again and food and the comforts of the German trains. It was the first time I really experienced the feeling of the German culture being like home as a result of LIVING in Gaming. I wasn’t feeling very well and After deciding carefully I ordered a Pizza which was somewhere around 6 Euro, but it wasn’t simply over charged that much, it was quality pizza. It was delivered to the place at which I had decided to sit and I cracked open a not ice cold backpack temperature Gosser to have with it. It was an excellent meal/dinner and I felt better. After this it didn’t take much longer before I arrived at Innisbruck at 18:33, near dark. I had an hour here to switch trains. I peddled around in the train station again. I don’t remember the look of this train station, they all start to look the same after a while. Soon I was on the train again at 19:30 and on my way to St. Polten. I reached the point where I could confirm that I had some sort of sickness because I was feeling hot then cold and starting to shiver. I slept a little bit on the train thankfully. When we arrived in St. Polten it was 23:33, and the train station was very empty considering it was Sunday night. I was getting very nervous because I could not find on the chart the train that goes into Gaming, and I knew the last one left somewhere around 10:00. I was stuck. I decided I would get as far to Gaming as I could this night and try to take the train in the next morning before class could start. I asked a few of the taxi drivers about fares and where they were heading hoping to get a ride, but nearly no one goes the direction of Gaming. They tried to help me out but it was around 80 euro. The large indoor area and hallway was empty and I decided to board the train to Amstetten at 00:30 on the 10/27/2008 and arrived feeling very very sick at 1:03 am. I stepped off the train into a very bitter cold Austrian wind. I was shaking had sinus and a terrible headache. After attempting to hitch hike it with the few passengers on that train that there were, none were going to that way, I knew what I had to do. I went in the small indoor part of the station that was open, with no one inside and I pulled out my sleeping bag and layed it out next to the waiting room which was next to the ticket office. I climbed in, said prayers and tried to sleep. I did anything but that, especially since once in a while random people would come in, opening the automatic door and it would be just me and them in the entire station. I had my knife next to me in the sleeping bag just in case. One man with no teeth came and asked me for some money and I told him I was in the same situation as him in broken German. ‘Ich habe das gleiche Problem.’ He hung out for a while and kept walking around setting off the automatic door, so of course I needed to stay conscious anyways. After about and hour he left and I passed out for about a half hour and then around 3 a.m., I aside from being sick, I felt someone kick my back gently and I look up and there are two police officers standing over me. They ask for my passport and tell me that I can’t stay here and that I should go knock on the door of a youth hostel. Now I know what the Mexicans feel like in America. I thanked them, but that was the last thing I wanted to do at that point, especially to pay for 2 hours of sleep since I found that my train was leaving at 5:45. I was starting to feel like throwing up from sickness so then I went back out into the cold and walked down the empty Amstetten street to see where I might be able to sleep. I’m thankful I had my sleeping bag and my backpack. I kept trying to open some doors, the youth hostel was locked anyways. Soon I came across a building under construction, opened it, went inside the hallways which was finished, went in the elevator which took me to the 2nd floor under construction and I went and slept on the plywood which I was grateful because at least there were walls to break the wind. I passed out very quickly and before I knew it it was 5:30, by my phone, time to walk to the station. I stood up and felt like a train had hit me and somehow I lived through it. My throat was in full soreness and headache full blast with shivering. I went to the train station and got on my train. All I could think about on the train ride to Gaming was “when will we get there, I feel so sick, I just want to sleep!” After what seemed like the longest ride of my life, we arrived at the familiar gaming station and thankfully without the man coming by to check my pass. I did the whole weekend only using two days on my Eurorail pass! Quite impressive for going to the black forest and Milan all in three days. I walked in the early morning sunlight, observing frost on the ground for the first time in Gaming and, it was one of the most beautiful mornings I had seen in a long time but it was slightly dimmed because of my condition. Soon I passed the three way intersection, then the Wurst stand, then the brook, then the Gaming sign then I entered the familiar Gaming and passed my local friendly Spar all while the town was in complete silence. I will never forget the sound of the brook against that silence. After the familiar walk from town to the Kartause, I triumphantly entered the Francishaus in anticipation of a shour and sleep and I was going to skip class that morning. Just as I was coming through the hallways people were filling up the classroom for Christian marriage and in my room JP and Brendan were waking up to go to class. They asked, where have you been? I said I would tell them after I sleep.