Germany's Route 66

Today I read an article in my favorite newspaper about the Bundesstraße (Federal road) 500 that runs along the heights of the Black Forest. The B 500 was planned eighty years ago as Schwarzwaldhochstraße to make the high villages accessible to tourists. It runs from Waldshut in the south to Baden-Baden in the north, although with a gap that has never been closed between Triberg and the Kniebis mountain. If you take this high road passing along the Titisee instead of Loch Lomond and I take the low road through the Rhine valley, I'll be in Baden-Baden before you.

Known well for its panoramic views and breathtaking scenery, the B 500 has earned a new denomination among British motorbike tourists. They call it Germany's Route 66. 

Since the days of Nat King Cole, who got his kicks on Route 66, it has always been a dream of mine and many others to drive on it from Chicago to LA. In England, motorbikers question their colleagues returning from the continent: Did you take the B 500?

The British love the Rhine valley taking home a bottle of that sweet wine we produce for export only called Liebfrauenmilch, and they love the Black Forest. However, they do not import the cake of the same name, but they bake it in the UK with typically somewhat more chocolate than we use in Freiburg.

Forêt Noire in Caffé Concerto on Regent Street in London during my recent trip to England.

*