Have you ever seen a black forest?

The black forest in Germany.

This forest gets its name from its dark, slightly sinister canopy of evergreens: this is where Hansel and Gretel encountered the wicked witch. The vast expanse of hills, valleys, rivers and forests stretch from the swish spa town of Baden-Baden to the Swiss border, and from the Rhine almost to Lake Constance.

It occupies an area of 2,320 square miles (6,009 square km) and extends toward the northeast for about 100 miles (160 km) from Säckingen on the Upper Rhine river.(at the Swiss border) to Durlach (east of  Karlsruhe). Its width varies from  10 to 25 miles. Structurally and topographically, itwhich lies west of the Rhine valley. The Black Forest drops abruptly to the Rhine plain but slopes more gently toward the Neckar and Nagold valleys to the east.  The region is famous for its cuckoo clocks, watchmaking, skiing and tourism. There is a large high-tech light engineering industry in the region stemming from the gold-mining and watchmaking days. Almost all tourists are from Germany or Switzerland; the region's tourist industry is therefore not well equipped to deal with guests who   don't speak German