A few years back, Ashish, his son Suman, and wife Divya arrived in Mannheim, from Pune. Ashish was working in India with a top IT company, and he was sent on deputation to Germany as an SAP Consultant to a big pharma company in Germany, which had signed a Managed Services contract with his Firm.
One day the family decided to visit the picturesque Blackforest. The forest is possibly called a Black forest because of its being inhabited with countless pine trees, which are so dense, that the forest appears black or dark green, especially when the sky is overcast and the clouds are hovering above it. Its highlands, with striking hiking trails, cirque river valleys, stunning peaks which offer wide panoramic views, are a tourist’s paradise. It is a place, where everything comes to a standstill, where the striking beauty of nature could overwhelm anyone, where a painter could stand the whole day and capture the beautiful landscape on his canvas, and a musician would never stop to play his music, as a mark of tribute to it.
After 3 hours of tiresome ride and changing three trains, the family finally reached Triberg, famous for its waterfall, nestled in the Blackforest, far from the madding crowd of Mannheim, the hustle and bustle of the city. At the Triberg railway station, they took a taxi and went to their Hotel. As soon as they reached their room, Divya opened a window, and exclaimed with utter joy, “come over here Ashish and see , what a captivating landscape! Let’s get ready and go to the waterfall. we do not have much time. It is already 2 PM.” She gave a worried look at Suman and burst with anger, ” Suman, This is not the time to play. Keep all your toys back in bag and get ready” and then she hurried off to Suman, kept his toys back in the bag and then the three headed for the waterfall, the father, and mother with anticipation of joy while the little boy kept bawling for some time, for not being allowed to play with his toys.
After 10 minutes of stroll, they finally arrived at a point where they could ascend from, to the waterfall. They started hiking up the trail, which was quite steep and soon joined a throng of people who also wanted to view the waterfall. A gush of water was soon heard, which indicated that the waterfall was in close vicinity. A few steps more, and it came in their view – a breathtaking spot where the fall of water was happening in a big gush. It was splashing down off a rock shelf, which turned it into milky-white and finally merging into the plunge pool below. The stream of pool, while descending further down, albeit slowly, carried its milky-white color when it hit a big rock and remained colorless when there was no obstruction. There was a wooden platform across the waterfall, built over the pool, from where one could see the waterfall straight across, just a few meters away. As Divya inched closer to the waterfall from the platform, droplets of water, carried by the wind, fell on her face and the blowing cool breeze washed her weariness away. She felt rejuvenated and cried with happiness, ” Hey Suman, Ashish come over here. It is so relaxing here.”The father and the son ran over to her, and they all got stunned with the droplets of water sprinkling on them, the rustle of leaves caused by the wind, the splish-splash of the stream, and the overpowering roar of the waterfall. It was a jaw-dropping moment.
They took a lot of snaps posing at the platform while a blonde couple was busy making love and kissing each other closeby. They asked one of the tourists to take their family snap, and he readily captured them all together in the camera with the beautiful waterfall in the background.
After spending an hour at the waterfall, they headed back to Mannheim, happy, and satisfied with their trip. In the train, the little boy started playing with his toy cheerfully.
Short & sweet, I felt I was in Schwarzwald