On the previous post on my blog, I was updating the stories on Day 1 until Day 8. Then, I would like to continue on Day 9 on 06 December 2019 (Friday). This day we started our day after breakfast at the hotel around 07:00 am. This day we've to check-out from the hotel around 08:30 am but we've to standby at the lobby hotel area, around 08:00 am. On Day 9, we're going to Titisee, Germany for a half-day tour around the Titisee Lake before we're going to Zurich, Switzerland.

The journey from Frankfurt to Titisee, Germany is taken around 2 hours 50 minutes by bus, but it's depended on traffic too. The view from the bus along the journey to Titisee, Germany is beautiful. I can see a few places have snow. 

The Titisee is a lake in the southern Black Forest in Baden-Württemberg. It covers an area of 1.3 km2 (320 acres) and is an average of 20 m (66 ft) deep. It owes its formation to the Feldberg glacier, the moraines of which were formed in the Pleistocene epoch and nowadays form the shores of the lake. The lake's outflow, at 840 m (2,760 ft) above sea level, is the River Gutach, which merges with the Haslach stream below Kappel to form the Wutach). The waters of the Titisee thus drain eventually into the Upper Rhine between Tiengen and Waldshut. On the north shore lies the spa town of the same name, today a part of the municipality of Titisee-Neustadt.

The Titisee takes a long time to freeze over in the winter owing to the winds, which keep the surface of the water moving almost all continuously. For the frozen lake to be opened for use, it must have a solid ice thickness of at least 16 cm (6.3 in) (solid ice or compacted ice has virtually no air pockets). When conditions appear favorable for the opening of the lake, daily ice measurements are taken by the Titisee-Neustadt municipal authorities at three or four places. If opening the ice to public use is possible, and those responsible give it their blessing, specific, demarcated areas of the lake are opened, but never the whole lake.

The Black Forest is beside the Bavarian forest the largest low mountain range of Germany. It is particularly famous for its expanded forests, valleys, and nature-left rivers. Almost every village is an air health resort.

The Black Forest ranks among the oldest holidays' areas. 13000 miles of paths available for hiking correspond almost to the half earth scope. The "Titisee" is the most beautiful lake in the black forest and frequently visited. Additionally, here the traditional handcraft – particularly the carving – is maintained until today. North of the black forest is Heidelberg, the romantic city at the river Neckar. The highest mountain of the black forest is the "Feldberg". It is frequently visited by holiday-makers and guests, not because of its HEIGHT of 1493 meters, but for its great tree-free position amid low-green forests.

It was a fun experience going to the Drubba Clock & Gifts while staying at the Black Forest. They have a fantastic collection and I must appreciate their fine craftsmanship. I liked the part where they demonstrate how it is made as it was pretty interesting to know how the concept of cuckoo clocks came into being. Now, I know how the famous cuckoo clocks make-off but the price of the cuckoo clocks is expensive to me so we're deciding just looking around the shop. This Drubba Clock & Gifts is one of free duty stops in this place so as a tourist you're entitled to get the Tax-Refund from the total receipt.  

TIP 24 – Mostly the Titisee Lake of Black Forest is open space, so for can't handle cold weather like us – better prepare yourself with a thick jacket. 

TIP 25 – As Muslim Tourist, this place doesn't provide the prayer room and also Halal foods restaurant, except the seafood restaurant that you can try on. 

We're hangout around this place is almost 3 hours for shopping and take some pictures. Then we're moving to Zurich, Switzerland. The journey from Titisee, Germany to Zurich, Switzerland is taken around 1 hour by bus, but it's depended on traffic too. The view from the bus along the journey to Titisee, Germany is beautiful. 

But before we're cross the border between Germany and Switzerland; we have to go Germany's Immigration for taking chop off all the Tax-Refund Form and Receipt that we're already fill-in up before this. We just follow our Tour Leader – Ms. Rozana for doing this process and it's not taken time at all. Just who has to claim the Tax Refund is allow to go Germany's Immigration. This chop just for the claim of Tax Refund and make sure double-check all the receipt is have been chop, if not you're can't get the claim of the Tax Refund. We just show all the receipts of Tax Refund to the officer, then they're chopped for us. The final Tax Refund process will be at the Zurich Airport, Switzerland before we're back in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The first destination, we're visited the Rhine Falls once we arrive in Switzerland.  The Rhine Falls is a waterfall located in Switzerland and the most powerful waterfall in Europe. The falls are located on the High Rhine on the border between the cantons of Schaffhausen (SH) and Zürich (ZH), between the municipalities of Neuhausen, am Rheinfall (SH) and Laufen-Uhwiesen/Dachsen (ZH), next to the town of Schaffhausen in northern Switzerland.

They are 150 meters (490 ft) wide and 23 meters (75 ft) high. In the winter months, the average water flow is 250 m3/s (8,800 cu ft/s), while in the summer, the average water flow is 600 m3/s (21,000 cu ft/s). The highest flow ever measured was 1,250 cubic meters per second (44,000 cu ft/s) in 1965; and the lowest, 95 cubic meters per second (3,400 cu ft/s) in 1921. The falls cannot be climbed by fish, except by eels that can worm their way up over the rocks.

Luckily, we arrived at the Rhine Falls just in time before dark, so we still have a few minutes to take some pictures around there. We're just hanging out there for 30 minutes. 

Before we're going to the dinner and our menu of today is Indian Cuisine at the Taj Palace Indian Cuisine Restaurant. The menu is not bad and delicious too. Just the place is quite small but cozy for us. We're will take dinner in the same restaurant while we're traveling in Switzerland.

After dinner, we're check-in in the hotel at the Holiday Inn Express Affoltern Am Albis. Again, the check-in process takes a long time for us to wait at the lobby hotel and this hotel the strictest of rules in this hotel. It has so many rules that we have to follow, if not we have to pay fine. The Triple Standard Room is small for us, and it's given challenges for us to open our luggage inside the room. In this room, they did not provide the kettle and the complimentary tea and coffee, but we're allowed to take hot water at the lobby hotel. To be honest, I would not stay in the same hotel next time my trip to Switzerland. Since we're so tired so we're takes bath and sleeps for the next day tour in Switzerland. 

That is all my stories on day 9 of this trip. Just for your information, I have been writing the extra note tip about Dream Trip to Western Europe in November 2019 based on my experience during this trip. Feel free to read it. Here, the link to the continued stories about the Dream Trip to Western Europe in November 2019 – Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, Day 7, Day 8, Day 10, Day 11, and Day 12.