Wow I'm so late in getting this post up...and now I have two exciting things to tell you all about! This post will be about Freiburg, and the next one will be about my weekend in Passau.
So last Sunday (already a week ago, oops!) I once again got up in the wee hours of the morning and boarded a train, this time for Freiburg! The weather in Zürich was disappointing - foggy and overcast with a sprinkling of rain - but as we rode further and further north, we seemed to be outrunning the clouds and by the time I arrived in Freiburg an hour and a half later, the sun was shining from a clear blue sky.
Why Freiburg, you ask?
1) Freiburg is a beautiful, history-rich city located next to the Schwarzwald (Black Forest) and offers much in the way of culture and other important things to see. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freiburg_im_Breisgau
2) Last weekend was Fasching/Karneval.
3) Most importantly, of course, I was meeting my friend Martin!
For those of you who don't know who this is, I'll provide some background knowledge: Once upon a time, when I was very small, my family moved to a town near Frankfurt am Main in Germany. Since my mom was working, my dad and I went on adventures of our own, despite not being able to speak the language or have any working knowledge of the transportation system. One day on a train, we missed our stop and got stuck riding to God-knows-where and I'm sure we would have gotten totally lost if it weren't for a little boy and his father on the train. The boy offered me a cookie and our fathers got to talking, and soon enough they had become lifelong friends. I don't remember much from our time in Germany, but I do remember going to their house for dinner and playing with their son and being afraid that I would fall through the stairs in their house because there was an open space between each step.
(TL;DR: German toddler offers toddler Effie a cookie, Parents become friends for life)
So anyways, we decided to meet in Freiburg on a Sunday, and the first thing I noticed when I came out of the Bahnhof (train station) was that the city looked really German. I'm not quite sure how to describe the difference between German and Swiss streets, because they all have cobblestones and colorful houses with tile roofs, and in the pictures they usually look pretty much the same. But there's a certain quality to the streets - maybe they're wider in Germany? or maybe the roofs are a different color and I just didn't notice it? - that makes them unquestionably German. I didn't realize how much I had missed that quality until I stepped out into the sun and recognized it.
We took a tour of all the historical sites in the Altstadt ("old city" - the inner part within the original walls) with a tour guide who was quite dramatic and kept telling us "Folgen Sie dem Licht" ("follow the light") which was a lantern she carried around everywhere.
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| "Bitte folgen Sie dem Licht" (photo by Martin) |
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| (photo by Martin) |
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| das Rathaus (town hall) |
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| During the summer, these carry the river through the city. Watch your step, though! They say if you fall into one of these you'll have to marry a Freiburgerin (woman from Freiburg). |
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| Amerigo Vespucci's original map of the world. |
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| Martinstor! (Martin's gate) The clock face showed Latin numerals that used "P" instead of "X," but that bit of history is offset by the McDonald's at its base... |
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| Freiburg University |
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| die Frauenmünster |
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| These statues are actually cleverly disguised spigots used to drain water from the cathedral's roof |
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| I have no idea what is going on here, but I'm sure there's a really good story behind it... |
After the tour, we went back to the main square and got Bratwurst, which was delicious and satisfied a craving I had had for a good German Bratwurst (no jokes please) since I heard I was going to Switzerland.
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| Bratwurst! Considerably less appetizing in the photo... |
Although the streets had been practically deserted in the morning, by early afternoon they were filled with musicians, snack stalls, and people in brightly colored costumes and/or wooden masks.
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| (photo by Martin) |
We saw the inside of the Münster (cathedral) and then stopped to watch a group of drummers from the surrounding towns come together and play a beat they had just worked up. Everyone was dancing in the square, and there were smiles on the faces of all the people gathered around.
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| (photo by Martin) |
When they had finished their performance, we hiked up the hill that overlooks the city. Unfortunately, the tower at the top was closed off, but we could still get a pretty good view from the top of the hill.
Finally, we came back down to get dinner and passed an amazing trio. They were playing jazz pieces and the man on the left (I can't remember the name of the instrument) was unbelievable - he only played with two mallets(?) but it sounded like four hands on a piano. We stayed to watch them for a few songs, and then he invited me to sing with them! But I didn't know the words to any of the songs so alas, I just watched with my mouth half open in amazement. [I have a video but Blogger is being a buttface and won't let me upload anything, so check back sometime once I've got it working!]
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| (photo by Martin) |
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Bonus points if you can name the instrument! (photo by Martin)
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We talked to them for awhile, and then got dinner in a restaurant next to people dressed in bright costumes, and finally it was time for me to go home.
On a final, happy note - it appears Spring is coming at last :)
