Turn Your Own Wheels

This is (basically) the last post about this trip.

We had to stop back by our future home of Freiburg. Unfortunately, our favorite hotel was full for the night when we showed up in the evening. We were forced to stay in some kind pseudo medieval death trap that we barely escaped alive. I was absolutely sure that if I went to sleep I would wake up facing a German serial killer in a subterranian dungeon.

But anyway… On our last day in Germany, we hiked further up Schlossberg and caught an even more amazing view of the city than we had previously. We drank more delicious Ganter beer. We saw the ruins of the original fortification on the hill. We also sat on a very nice bench and (literally) got lost in the woods.

Thanks for sharing our vacation with us!

I like Freiburg. A lot. We stayed there for 4 of the 10 days of our trip. We spent two days there at the beginning and two days at the end, and it wasn’t just because the town is conveniently located. It’s because the place is kind of awesome. True to form, here some things that I found appealing about Freiburg in a list:

1. Ganter beer. Shad and I both tried a lot of beer in a lot of different places and 2 out of 2 experts agree that Ganter Weisbier is the most delicious.
2. Freiburg University is one of Europe’s most prestigious schools and the college atmosphere is right up my alley. I’m not talking about frat boys and bars, but I love being in the presence of academics. By this, I mean sitting in the proximity of students at cafes and bars, because they accept something like 15% of students from all around the world who compete for admission, and I, my friends, don’t have a snowballs chance in hell.
3. The vibrant altstadt (old city) is full of life and is basically closed off to vehicles.
4. Schlossberg (This roughly translates to “Castle Hill”) is forested mountain that’s right at the edge of town and easy to get lost in.

Freiburg also has some very cool and unique characteristics like:

• Bächle, a system of gutters that run water diverted from the Dreisam throughout the altstadt. They were once used to provide clean water to the city and  they were never used for sewage, as such usage could lead to harsh penalties, even in the Middle Ages. It is said that if you fall or step accidentally into a Bächle, you will marry a Freiburger, or ‘Bobbele’. I forgot to take a picture of one so see the picture below that I pilfered from Wikipedia:

Freiburg Bächle

• Cobblestone identifiers in front of all of the business in the altstadt. I know they’ve definitely been redone over the years but they go back to some medieval trend and they’re pretty neat. An optician will have glasses in a circular cobblestone pattern, a baker will have pretzel in the stones, a jeweler will have a diamond…

In front of a jewelry store

I talk too much… here are the rest of the pictures…