Gremma's Travels: Freiburg

The majority of the drive Freiburg was in torrential rain. It was pretty crazy being on the open roads with cars flying past at goodness knows what speed, while not being able to see much more than the tail lights of the car in front. I still managed to get up to some good speeds in our awesome car - it drives so smoothly!

On the way we stopped at Titisee (hehe), which is a little town on a beautiful lake, and it even looked pretty gorgeous in the rain. We could imagine how nice it would be in the sunshine. After seeing Lindau and Titisee, we've decided that on our next summer Europe trip we will have to spend some time relaxing on a lake.

Paddle boats in the rain at Titisee

Bachle

The rain finally stopped as we arrived in Freiburg, and after I managed to drive into the old town on the pedestrian only streets (oops - was just following the GPS!), and do a gazillion point turn to get us out of there, we went for a stroll. Another pretty town, though a lot bigger than Lindau. The have cute little Bachle (streams) flowing through the towns in little runnels. Apparently the story is that if you accidentally step into one you will marry a Freiburger. Luckily Greg didn't, as I wouldn't want to have to share him!

We stopped for a drink at the local brewery (smack in the middle of the old town), then found a cool bar over next to the university for another drink or two. Dinner was back at the hotel (Kreuzblume), and was... interesting... The wines were great, but some of the flavours in the food weren't quite matched. It's a shame as the hotel is fabulous. It's run by two brothers who are trying really hard to make it work, and for the most part it did. The main guy was so helpful, and as promised, the next morning at breakfast, he had a list of wineries for us to visit. Well, more than that - he'd done a whole Google mappity map map for us, complete with the names and addresses of places he recommended. So nice! Separate post on the wine trail here...

Before heading off on our wine trip, we went back into the town to check out the local markets which happen every morning. Such good looking produce, including loads of meats and cheese. We refrained from buying any this time (not sure how!), but had a lovely time looking around. The markets are held in the plaza next to the monster of a Munster (church). It is so massive! The stained glass inside is incredible. No idea how they manage to make it so impressive!

Stained glass

Stained glass windows in the Munster

After our wine exploration, we went for a walk into the forest behind the town. Our first excursion into the black forest! Just up the hill was a lovely beer garden with awesome views, so of course we had to have a beer (well, I had wine). Then we continued wandering through the trails, and ended up climbing over 300 stairs to this crazy tower on the top of the mountain. And then another 100+ stairs to get up the tower! Let's just say our legs were pretty tired after, but the views were well worth it. It felt like the entire countryside was laid at our feet.

Freiburg - spot the Monster Munster on the right

Back down in the town, we stumbled across an awesome wine bar next to the good ole Munster which was getting the last rays of sunshine. Then on to dinner. As I was feeling as though I was beginning to get sick, I wanted something super easy and comforting for dinner. There's something strange about having Chinese in another country where the language isn't English. Don't get me wrong, the food was good, it's just that it's hard enough to understand when they speak mostly Chinese. When they speak mostly German it's even harder! There was an English menu, but it had true translation from German on it, which was missing the commonly understood Chinese names of the dishes! We managed though, and it was exactly what I felt like eating!

An early night - Europa Park in the morning!!!! Wheee!!