28. More On South Germany, Austria and Switzerland
Baden-Württemberg is the other state in the south and has many truly beautiful areas of Germany especially along the Rhine and Danube river valleys. The largest city is Stuttgart, and including its surrounding area, is indeed the 7th largest in Germany. Stuttgart has a proud cultural heritage based on its music, theatres and festivals. It is also the home of Mercedes and Porsche and the two car manufacturers' museums are very popular with tourists. Other important cities in the state include Ulm (birthplace of Albert Einstein), Heidelberg, Mannheim, Karlsruhe, Tübingen, Lindau and Freiburg.
Freiburg is effectively the 'capital' of the Schwarzwald (Black Forest), home of the Kuckucksuhr (cuckoo clock) and Scharzwälderkirschtorte (Black Forest cherry cake). The forest itself lives upto its name. A walk though its magnificent conifers and pine needle carpet is a 'dark' affair but at the same time a very serene and exhilarating experience. The 'mountainous' area is not very high by comparison with the Alps and the Feldberg summit at approx. 1500 metres is the highest peak in the area. If you get a chance to go to Titisee not far away, especially in winter, try 'bowling' a chunk of ice across the lake and find out just how far the 'frictionless' ice can travel - quite remarkable!
Austria and Switzerland probably demand a blog in themselves and to do them some sort of rough justice I could devote many pages to them individually but that is not my purpose here. I want to move onto the language itself fairly soon, so travellers can get a handle on the basics of communication in German speaking countries, so if that is your wish, you won't have long to wait.
It is fair to say that I love both Austria and Switzerland and each provides its own brand of touristic attractions. Austria has a wealth of relatively cheap and challenging skiing areas, my favourites being Wagrain/Flachau, Filzmoos, Kirchberg, Saalbach, Gaststein and Kaprun (Zell am See). There are many many ski resorts in Austria, far too many for me to have sampled in my time there but if you get the chance to spend time in the charming little villages of Kirchberg and Filzmoos, you will never regret it.
Switzerland, on the other hand, tends to be more expensive generally but nonetheless it is a remarkable country. The majesty of the mountains in Switzerland has to be seen to be believed. The trip by train from Visp to Zermatt (home of the Matterhorn) is quite overpowering. The Matterhorn itself is incredible. The peak rises up above the slopes around it like a giant snow capped pyramid standing sentinel over the town below where you cannot drive your car. You will find very few vehicles in the town and these are basically service cars. Horse drawn carriages are the order of the day for most of the tourists. My short time in Zermatt has been one of the highlights of my time 'on the road'.
A quick note about the language here. Switzerland has 4 main languages, German, French, Italian and Räto-Romanisch (derived form old spoken Latin). Swiss German is a very musical language and has a very special charm all its own. Austrian-German is generally much more like Bavarian than Hochdeutsch.
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