This post is for Tuesday, September 22, 2026.

I actually slept about 8 hours and wasn’t up until almost 6am. Ash had been up a couple of hours already.

We drank coffee in the lounge off the registration area to wake up a little bit before going out for a walk.

It was 48° when we went out this morning, so we made it a short walk. Breakfast was ready at 7:30 and we got there a little after that.

It was a pretty room with a simple buffet of breads, meats, fruits, cheese, etc.

We were both still so tired we went back to our room afterwards and took a nap. Who knew naps after breakfast could be a thing? But that’s the second time we’ve done that on this trip. We finally made our way out about 11 A.M.

The only real agenda item for the day was a hike. But let’s start with an overview of where we are.

The hotel is towards the north end of a region known as The Black Forest. It’s a region, a forest, and a mountain range all with that name. It’s about 100 miles long and 30 miles wide just east of the Rhine in southeast Germany. There are a lot of little towns within it as well as many, many hiking trails. It is called the Black Forest because the tree density is often so thick that sunlight doesn’t penetrate it.

It took us about an hour to get to our destination which was Mummelsee. This is an area near the summit which has a hotel, restaurant, shops, and lots of hiking.

We started with coffees, Black Forest cake, and a cherry salami to take home. The Black Forest is known for its cherries which, grown at a high altitude and cool mountain air, develop a unique sweet-tart flavor which doesn’t occur elsewhere.

There’s also a little lake there.

We chose a hike that would take us on a big loop. Paved roads to the top of the mountains and a rocky trail on the way down.

Sitting here putting this together, all these photos start to look alike. I’m leaving most of them out. You will just have to trust me that it was absolutely gorgeous in all directions. At the top we were at about 4500 feet.

From the paved portion. See Ash there on the right. We have a well established pattern on hikes with elevation: I am faster going up, he is faster going down.

There was a restaurant at the top. We stopped for drinks and a rest.

Cute, huh?

Our view while we sat.

The walk back was mostly in the forest.

With breaks for stunning views.

Much of the way back was very rocky and pretty steep.

I stole a shot of this couple just sitting and enjoying the view. And the quiet. It was surreal how quiet it was.

See Ash again on the right. Last one of this hike.

We got back to our car around 3:30pm after stopping at one of the shops to get some chocolate to take home.

Next stop: the Merkur Funicular in Baden-Baden.

Going up.

There was a tower at the top of the mountain, which of course we went up.

Views from the top, above and below.

There was a huge restaurant up there and we hadn’t had lunch so stopped for a snack.

Fries and drinks.

The funicular down.

We made it back to our room about 5:30. We showered and made our way over to the little town of Gernsbach.

It’s a cute place about 5 minutes away by car. We had our mouths set for Italian, but one of the 2 restaurants they had was closed and the other one full.

So we settled on Indian which was about the only thing left beyond pizza and bar food.

Gobi pakora to start. Think breaded and fried cauliflower with spicy sauces.

Chicken tikka masala, white rice, garlic naan, and a new dish for me: malai kofta. Sort of a potato dumpling in a wonderful sauce: if Indians made Alfredo, this would be it.

We went back to the hotel for dessert to get the Black Forest Sundae. Because we could 😎

So that’s it for this segment of the stay. As far as castles go this was underwhelming. Much of what we would want to see was closed off to visitors – because it didn’t appear to be in good condition. As a hotel it was fine and the location was pretty good.

Tomorrow’s castle we have great expectations about, so we will see how that pans out.