Swiss Bliss and German Wolfpacks.

Switzerland is one of the most naturally stunning places in the world. We lucked in with constant sunshine during our drive through the mountainous countryside, and were treated to scenery normally reserved for postcards. There were green slopes, vineyards and castles dotting all the way through. Words cannot adequately explain how blown away we were. Hopefully our photos do it some kind of justice.

After spending two days in the lush and beautiful terrain of Switzerland we emerged into Germany. We had very little expectation of this country, known for its bratwurst and beer. We weren’t going to go to the cultural city centres, and figured all we would see were overweight sausage-eating men anyway. How wrong could we have been!? We camped for a few days in the famous Black Forest, which runs along the far eastern border of France and Western border of Germany. 

It’s a tranquil place, full of dappled sunlight, which pours through towering pines. On our second morning we woke up at sunrise to walk through the forest. It felt great getting back to nature, drinking from small mountain streams, breathing in the cold morning air and generally soaking up the green light of the place.

This walk was topped off with a sighting of a bear and wolf sanctuary at the end of the trail. It’s similar to open range enclosure, which houses six bears and three wolves. Tara was jumping and pointing like a three year old, as we stood mere feet away from ex-circus bears who are now living the good life in the forest. 

Given that it was daytime there were no wolves to be seen. However, we started chatting to one of the park keepers, and he suggested we head back on dusk to see if we could spot them. At about 7pm, after a few tasty local wheat beers, we strolled back to the park. The keeper we had spoken with earlier was there with the park manager. They had closed up for the night, but were happy to sit with us, talk about the project while drinking a beer and watching the wolves. We were treated with a playful show of three wolves rolling around with each other as the moon peaked its head over the top of the forest pines. Absolute magic! Unfortunately we didn’t get any good photos, since the light wasn’t great and we didn’t want to scare the wolves by using the flash. However, the memory is burned into both of our minds.

The next morning we awoke to pouring rain, so decided to pack up camp and make the six-hour drive to the home of all that is sinful in the world, Amsterdam.