The Black Forest to Hannover - Part 1 Great Continental Railway Journeys

'I'm embarking on a new railway adventure

'that will take me to the heart of Europe.'

I'll be using this, my Bradshaw's Continental Railway Guide,

dated 1913, which opened up an exotic world

of foreign travel for the British tourist.

'It told travellers where to go,

'what to see and how to navigate

'the thousands of miles of tracks crisscrossing the Continent.

'Now, a century later,

'I'm using my copy to reveal an era of great optimism and energy.

'Where technology, industry, science and the arts were flourishing.'

I want to rediscover that lost Europe that, in 1913,

couldn't know that its way of life

would shortly be swept aside by the advent of war.

'I'm travelling through a country

'with which tourists from the United Kingdom

'felt a strong connection.

'Not least because the British King George V's first cousin

'was the German Kaiser.'

In 1913, British tourists still flocked here to Germany,

despite the fact that their government felt threatened

by a large, industrialised,

militaristic and expansionist power

ruled over by an autocratic and unpredictable monarch,

Kaiser Wilhelm II.

Merely 50 years before, Germany had not existed.

I want to discover how, from a galaxy of states and principalities,

there emerged a powerfully self-confident nation.

Its people bound together by their language, legends and literature.

The united Germany of 1913

was a collection of 25 previously-independent territories,

the most powerful of which was Prussia.

Since becoming one nation in 1871,

the empire had striven to rival the industrial and economic might

of Britain and France.

My route begins on the edge of the lovely Black Forest

in Germany's southern city of Freiburg.

From there, I'll travel north via Heidelberg

to the financial powerhouse of Frankfurt.

Then I'll continue on to Goettingen,

before finishing my journey in the northern city of Hanover.

'On my travels, I'll hear how Black Forest fairytales

'unified the Germans.'

The forests came to stand for German-ness.

So they were really, really important

in building up this common heritage.

CUCKOO!

'I'll try for a place amongst Germany's master carvers.'

Oops! Not quite as clean as yours, but...

Yeah, but not too bad for the first one.

CUCKOO-CUCKOO-CUCKOO!

'And I'll taste an intoxicating local treat.'

I can't believe that in the English translation, Black Forest gateaux,

we leave out the most important thing - the kirsch liqueur.

This is the ultimate tipsy cake.

Mm.

'By 1913, Germany was a great European power

'with an overseas empire.

'Yet many Germans identified more with their home state

'than with their new nation.

'What did it mean to be German?

'For travellers following my guidebook,

'the different states offered a rich array of culture,

'cuisine and landscape.

'Many seeking a healthy summer getaway would head south.'

My journey begins here in Freiburg, which my Bradshaw's tells me is

"a most picturesque city situated amidst beautiful surroundings

"of wooded mountain and fertile plain".

I'm here because it is the gateway to the Black Forest.

'Freiburg is one of Germany's leading tourist spots.

'The attractive city threaded by a network of fresh waterways

'is the perfect place to begin an excursion into the Forest.

'Tourists would come here for the fresh air,

'or to experience some of the latest fads,

'such as all-weather gymnastics.'

Freiburg is Germany's warmest and sunniest city

and a place of tradition.

There's been a market in the Munsterplatz since 1514.

Year after year, day after day,

come shine or come rain.

Guten Morgen.

Buongiorno.

MAN SPEAKS ITALIAN

Grazie!

Italian cheese.

'The route to the edge of the Black Forest hasn't changed

'since the time of my guidebook - this tram line was opened in 1901.'

-Guten Morgen.

-Guten Morgen.

-Einfache Fahrt, bitte.

-Einfache Fahrt, ja.

-Danke.

-Vielen Dank.

'But the climb up to the mountains is simpler

'and quicker than it was 100 years ago,

'thanks to the Schauinsland cable car, which was opened in 1930.'

Bradshaw's is enthusiastic.

"The Black Forest is the most extensive

"and the most beautiful of the wooded districts of Germany

"and offers a tranquillity hardly to be found elsewhere.

"The inhabitants have been content to remain

"within inherited dispositions.

"Their manners are simple and have changed little for many generations.

"Such is the charm of the Black Forest."

I can see why, before the ease of the modern cable car,

a trip up here would have been worth the uphill walk.

BIRDSONG

I think there's something unmistakably Germanic

about this landscape and, as the high clouds scud about, you can see

how it would give rise to mystery and intrigue and superstition.

In the century before my guide was published,

breathtaking vistas like these provided the nation with a landscape

that was physical and cultural, after two famous brothers

found inspiration for their writing in forests.

I'm meeting literary historian Sandra Schwab

for a walk in the woods.

Sandra, why do you think forests

are so important to people like the Brothers Grimm?

Well, during the Romantic Age there was a new appreciation

for nature and also for forests

and this is also reflected in the fairy tales.

In the fairy tales, the forest is always the opposite of the town.

It's the place where the fairy-tale hero goes to have adventures.

On the other hand, the forest is also a place of danger.

It is the place where Little Red Riding Hood meets the talking wolf,

it's also the place where Hansel and Gretel get lost

and stumble across the witch's house.

'Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm

'published their collection of Children's and Household Tales

'in the early years of the 19th century,

'when Germany territories were emerging

'from occupation by the French.

'New interest and pride in all things German

'were sweeping the different states.'

Do you think that the Brothers Grimm were consciously

looking for German material?

Yes, they were.

They regarded fairy tales as preservers

of an old German mythology,

of old truths.

They took a lot of tales from old literary sources,

they went through old books,

and more importantly they also asked their acquaintances

to help them collect fairy tales.

'Assembled from various sources,

'these folk stories drew together the nation's diverse oral histories,

'although today we wouldn't classify all of those stories

'as children's fairy tales.'

I've brought you to this place because it always reminds me

of the tower in Rapunzel.

Yeah, the overgrown fortification in the forest is

sort of a romantic cliche, isn't it?

Oh, absolutely.

Were the Grimm brothers an instant success?

No, they were not, really.

On the one hand it was intended as children's literature

but on the other hand, a lot of people complained

that many tales were not really suitable for children

because they contained many sexual allusions.

'It wasn't until the stories were refocused for children

'by English translator Edgar Taylor

'and illustrated by George Cruikshank in 1823

'that they became a hit.

'Today, Children's and Household Tales are again

'Germany's most popular book after the Bible.'

Sandra, what is the legacy of the Grimm fairy tales,

not so much for generations of children as for Germany?

For the people in Germany they came to represent middle-class values,

family values.

There was also an idealisation of the forests going on.

The forests came to stand for German-ness,

so they were really, really important

in building up this common heritage,

in making people think that they had

a common German heritage to look back,

which was important in leading up to the unification of Germany in 1871.

While I'm in the Black Forest, there's another cultural icon

that I have to experience, so I'm making a stop at the Waldrestaurant.

Here, sir, the Black Forest cake for you, I hope you will enjoy it.

-Thank you. Would you mind taking a seat a second?

-Yeah, sure.

I just want to ask you about this.

Look at that! Isn't that amazing?

What is the German for it?

Schwarzwalder Kirschtorte.

-Schwarzwalder means Black Forest...

-Exactly.

..and Torte means gateau. What's the Kirsch bit?

It has to consist of cherries from the Black Forest.

It's an alcoholic liqueur?

-Yes, it is.

-Wow.

Have you any idea why that's so popular in the Black Forest?

-Why did it come to be made here?

-Because it's so yummy!

I know it's popular with tourists, every tourist orders

the Black Forest Gateau, but do German people like it as well?

Yes, of course, we all like it.

Thank you very much, and it will go very well with my coffee.

Yeah, I hope so.

I can't believe that in the English translation,

Black Forest Gateau,

we leave out the most important thing, the kirsch liqueur.

This is the ultimate tipsy cake.

Mmm!

As the lady says, yummy.

Before I end my first day in Germany,

my guidebook steers me to another part of the Black Forest.

Here in the Black Forest, according to my guidebook,

"Occupations are chiefly with timber,

"either with huge rafts that later

"float down the Rhine or with the smaller ways of wooden clocks."

And indeed, it's nearly three centuries

since the first "cuckoo!" was heard in these valleys.

Triberg, in the heart of the forest,

is a picture-perfect southern German town.

Tourists began to visit here in large numbers

once the Black Forest Railway opened a station in 1873.

One of the most popular souvenirs of the time

remains top of the wish list today.

CHIMES AND CUCKOO NOISES

Hello, I see you admiring clocks.

-Are you thinking of making a purchase today?

-I am, yes.

What takes your fancy?

Definitely the one with the stags. I like the darker wood.

And when you came to the Black Forest,

were you THINKING of buying a cuckoo clock?

-Yeah, I've come especially to get one for my sister.

-Have you really?

-Yeah!

-You've come to the Black Forest to get a cuckoo clock?

-Yeah.

-Yeah, we were travelling down the Rhine

and we thought we had to come up and get ourselves a cuckoo clock.

This is the cuckoo capital, is it?

-It is, yeah.

-Seems to be, anyway!

CHIMES AND CUCKOO NOISES

MUSIC-BOX TUNE PLAYS

'These clocks are made on site by master carver Oli Zinapold.

'He's been making cuckoo clocks for almost 30 years.'

-Hello, Oli!

-Hello, Michael. How are you?

Very, very good to see you.

I wanted to start by asking you, how does a cuckoo clock work?

A cuckoo clock works by a mechanical movement.

So you see...

-CHIMES AND CUCKOO NOISES

-..to the full hour you see now the weights are moving

because it works with the gravity of the weights, you know.

One weight operates the cuckoo system

and one operates the clock.

At the beginning they have been from plan to put a rooster sound.

-Really?

-Yeah, really, but that was quite too complicated

because it's much many different notes,

so they searched for something which is easy, and that was the cuckoo.

-Now you see the bellows get lifted up.

-CUCKOO NOISES

Here you see then also the hammer working

and that blows then the air and that makes the two notes.

It's basically a very easy system,

but invented a long time ago.

'The clocks, richly ornamented with carvings inspired by the forest,

'helped to shape Germany's reputation for quality

'and reliability in manufacturing.

'And as railways began to take hold here in the 19th century,

'they too inspired the clocks.'

And this design, this little house that we have here,

what's the origin of that?

It is a very old-style railway-roadhouse cuckoo clock.

The name comes basically from...

Here in the Black Forest we have all the very famous railways

a long time, and the houses along the railway are a little

bit different builded, and so the typical Black Forest roof style.

'New houses for railway workers lined the Black Forest Railway

'and their distinctive roofline inspired a winning design

'in a clock-making competition in 1850.

'It remains the most popular shape today.'

How do you know what you're doing there?

-This is just experience, is it?

-That is experience, yes, right.

First we go with that chisel...

along the middle.

So. Hold it with your right hand tight, be careful.

-The fingers not that close.

-OK.

Because it's very sharp. OK. Good.

-One time more?

-One time more, a little deeper.

A little deeper.

It's so far OK, I think.

Oops.

Not quite as clean as yours, but...

-Yeah, but not too bad for the first one.

-Not TOO bad.

This is tricky.

Yeah, the wood does have grains

-and that is the difficulty by the carving.

-Hmm.

Mm, I'm not so happy with that now.

-You're not so happy with that now?

-Not so happy with that now.

My veins have gone badly wrong, I think my leaf...

Yes, that's a leaf in fall.

But you haven't done bad for the first time. Congratulations.

Thank you, Oli.

-And you can keep that as a souvenir.

-MICHAEL CHUCKLES

CHIMES AND CUCKOO NOISES

'On the next part of my journey

'I'll be travelling along the Rhine Valley railway line

'that tourists have been using since 1840.

'I'm heading over 100 miles north towards Heidelberg.

'The city, with its castle and university

'in a stunning setting, inspired writers and artists

'of the early 19th-century Romantic movement.

'The Romantics celebrated nature's untamed might

'and were attracted by all that's irrational in human experience.

'By the early 20th century,

'tourists were coming to visit the places immortalised in their work.'

Heidelberg, says Bradshaw's, "is one of the most beautifully situated

"as well as most historically interesting towns of Germany,

"almost surrounded by wooded hills,

"whence the views are very fine."

It was a magnet for travellers

and the advent of the First World War took them by surprise.

Days after the conflict had begun,

Eastern Railways were still advertising trips to Germany

and 6,000 British holiday-makers found themselves stranded behind

what had become, overnight, enemy lines.

For tourists coming here 100 years ago

there was one main place to head to, the imposing Schloss.

During the 1800s, the ruins of this 12th-century castle came to embody

German Romanticism and were a key feature on the tourist trail.

King Edward VII visited as Prince of Wales in 1861.

He and his future wife, Alexandra, exchanged signed photographs here,

beginning their courtship.

'I'm heading over to the so-called Philosopher's Way,

'where I'm meeting local historian Jonas Hock.'

-Hello, Jonas.

-Hello, Michael.

-Good to see you.

-Nice to see you.

Why was Heidelberg

so appealing to Romantic writers, particularly poets?

Just take a look at it, it's gorgeous.

It has a river, it has nature, with the hills, the forests,

then there's also that ruin, that all-important mysterious ruin.

That was on the one hand very attractive because ruins were

generally very fashionable,

but it's also reminiscent of German history,

that it really became an object for the longings of these poets.

The ruined grandeur came to symbolise the glorious past,

as Germany looked to a united future.

Artists like JMW Turner,

composers such as Johannes Brahms and many writers

used Heidelberg in emotionally charged, dramatic works.

Who are the poets who most distinguished themselves

by writing about the city?

There's Friedrich Holderlin, who wrote an ode to Heidelberg.

I'll give you a taste.

My German's not very good but I think I picked up some words

like, er, fatherland, bridge, castle.

-Erm, yes, yes!

-These sound like rather familiar German themes.

True, true!

Erm, there is this notion of the fatherland,

though without all the unfortunate implications that it later acquired.

But the Romantics were very much interested in that.

They wanted to create a sense of German identity,

but also this notion of German history as something that

unified all the disparate little German mini-states.

That was very important for the Romantics.

In the second half of the 19th century,

Romanticism inspired a student population

that was politicised and liberal to push for unification.

Now, in the century after the World Wars,

the legacy of Romanticism still resonates.

What is German-ness?

Oh, my God, that is one of the most difficult things

you could probably ask a present-day German!

I would say that German-ness... has to do with history of course,

but definitely, thinking about the Romantic poets here in Heidelberg,

expressing...thoughts about the beauty of nature,

about the beauty of architecture in such very poetic language.

It's not JUST something that Germans do but it's something a lot of Germans have done really well,

so that would definitely be something that I would like to consider German-ness.

I'm leaving the relative tranquillity of Heidelberg.

I'm bound for Frankfurt, 55 miles north.

I do love double-deckers.

When I travel by bus I always go on the top storey, and one

of my regrets about Britain is that we have only single-storey trains.

Of my next destination, Bradshaw's says

"Frankfurt has always been a town of great commercial importance

"and it is a centre of European financial influence."

Bradshaw's told me to expect a fine station

in the southwestern part of the town.

Well, now it's surrounded by the skyscrapers

of the modern city of Frankfurt.

This station was built in the 1880s.

There were three stations before that, they were consolidated here

and they're represented now by three enormous canopies,

and it really is a grand design.

Today, this is the German railway network's busiest station,

with connections all over the country and to the rest of Europe.

I'm heading straight to my hotel,

as I'll be exploring the city in the morning.

Next time, I'll visit the Frankfurt home of Goethe -

Germany's equivalent of Shakespeare.

Throughout the whole 19th century he became something of an

identification mark of German-ness for the Germans.

I'll get wind of how early-20th century innovation

shaped German transport today.

Whoa! Blow me down!

Three, two, one.

I can't wait to be a passenger on that thing.

And I test-drive a state-of-the-art tram.

Move over, Hanover.

BEEPING

Sorry. Whoa, sorry, Frank. Sorry, everybody.