Our first stop was in the small city of Freiburg, the "Gateway to the Black Forest" in south-western Germany. We took a train from Lyon to Geneva and from there to Freiburg, about 6 hours in total, arriving in mid-afternoon. This was one of only 2 train rides we had to buy a reservation for (2€) on our whole trip. The official name of the city is Frieburg-im-Breisgau, in the Baden-Würtemburg state. It can be a bit confusing when booking train tickets since there is another Freiburg (an der Elbe) in Germany and a Fribourg in Switzerland (same pronunciation in French). This is also the case with Frankfurt (am Main) - the big Frankfurt - and Frankfurt (an der Oder) on the Polish border.
Although it has long been known as one of the old university towns in Germany (University of Freiburg is one of the top-ranked universities in the country), today its other claim to fame is as one of the most environmentally friendly cities in Germany. What I loved about this city that it's a perfect mix of beautiful old medieval buildings in the town centre and environmentalism, with solar panels everywhere on newer constructions. For the past 20 years, every new construction in the city has been built according to low-energy specifications. Bikes and the tram system are used by most people to get around, and much of the town centre is pedestrianized. I think this would be a great place to study - not too big, easy to get around, great architecture and historical depth, and easy access to outdoor activities in the Black Forest. The city was pretty quiet, and the residents really seem to care about preserving the history of their city and the environment.
Bikes everywhere! This was across the street from the soccer stadium during a German premier league game.
Our first day in Freiburg, we took the tram to the edge of the Forest and checked into our hostel. We walked by the soccer stadium to get there - over 10 000 fans can make a lot of noise! We spent the rest of the afternoon walking about the old town centre, which was rebuilt after the bombings in WWII to look just as it was. I love how the names of the buildings are often painted on the front wall, along with the date of construction (many in the Middle Ages!).
The 13th century, gothic Münster Cathedral (Left) and the main square (Münsterplaz) of Freiburg.
Münster cathedral. Cool gargoyles! Not sure why the sky has a pinkish tinge in these photos, but I was shooting at sundown so that may have something to do with it.
Beautiful medieval buildings in Münsterplatz.
One cool feature unique to Freiburg are the bächle, fast-flowing shallow canals that run through the cobblestone roads, that were installed in the middle ages to help extinguish fires. They are very clean - no garbage in them at all, and we saw little children playing in them with paper boats they made.
Bächle (on the left).
For dinner we bought a fresh loaf of bread at a bakery - my first taste of the wonderful thing that is German bread! Swiss / German / Austrian bread is of my favorite foods ever. They're masters at making healthy, whole grain beads, often covered in seeds. Incredibly soft on the inside and tasty, especially when they've just come out of the oven. For our entire trip, we lugged around our "food bag": a fluorescent green one of those reusable shopping bags that fold up into a tiny ball, which we would fill with bread, nutella, cucumber, humus, carrots, yogurt, apples, clementines, and cheese. It's a great way to save money on food (especially in Slovakia and Hungary - cheapest groceries ever!), and we had lots of lovely picnics in town squares and on trains. Our first dinner of the trip was in a beautiful square in the medieval part of Freiburg, people watching on a park bench, with the sun setting and the church bells ringing for a good 30 minutes.
Our second day in Freiburg, we went for a good 3 hours hike through the part of the Black Forest that cradles the city. You can even see the wooded hills from the Münsterplatz. The Schwarzwald, as it's called in Germany, is densely covered in firs and spruces, and is Germany's most famous forest. The forest path behind was very quiet, with lovely views of the hills beyond. We passed a few locals out for a run, quite a challenge seeing how where we were was a pretty steep area - we were sweating just from walking. I think this would be a lovely place to visit in the summer, when the deciduous trees have their leaves.
View of the Black Forest.
Jocelyn, on the forest path.
House on the edge of the forest.
On the edge of the forest, view of the soccer stadium.
This heron was only about 200m from the soccer stadium.
Hydroelectricity production on the river.
Wind energy production on the edge of the Forest.
Check out the date on the wall!
This baroque building is part of the University of Freiburg. Many of the departments have their buildings in the city centre area.
For lunch, we had the local delicacy Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte - what we know as Black Forest Cake (Swarz = black, wald = forest, kirsch = cherry, torte = cake). In Germany, the Black Forest is known for this cake, clocks and schnaps. We decided to go to Café Schmidt, which has been making this cake in this building since 1460. It was recommended in a BBC Travel article on the region - a great source of ideas. I also really like wikitravel.com - in the morning I look it up on my phone while I have wifi (it even has articles on the smallest villages), and I can look at it throughout the day for tips on what to see, where to eat and historical information.
The Black Forest cake here - this is the most famous café that sells it - is quite different from the bastardization we buy at the grocery store back home. The original is very soft, and every ingredient is made with cherry liquor, then the whole thing gets doused in it. The cherries are fabulous.
The original Black Forest cake.
