Bad Habits (pt 2)

 I am never gonna eat again.

I know I say that a lot while traveling, but today it’s especially true.  I’ll explain that in a bit, but first let me show you a picture.  You recall a couple of days ago when I posted a shot from our collective hotel room, showing a green hill looming off in the distance?

Well, this is what you see when you look back in the opposite direction–

The hotel from which I took the picture is the big white building in the middle, and you get a view like that when you climb a hill in Freiburg called the Schlossberg.  It can be quite the hike up there, but in the end you're rewarded with views not only like the one in that previous picture, but the one in this picture–

And this picture–

Early in the morning, before all the tourists and school kids show up, it’s a nice place to sit quietly and contemplate your place in the universe–

Thankfully, that’s the time we were there.  And it was such a hike that we figured we’d burned off enough calories to head over to the Muenster Markt and visit one of those wurst stands we were talking about yesterday–

These are actually Weiss Wurst (white brats); the bottom one (mine) has a very yummy curry ketchup on it.  They made for a nice light lunch, which would be a good thing, considering what was to come.

Our next stop was to see if the hybrid still remembered us with a short drive to Bad Krozingen.  Any town in Germany that starts with the word “Bad” is a spa town, a place where German (and, as you’ll soon learn, French) residents go to play, relax, and just generally unwind from the pressures of day-to-day life.  They have a little river running through the place–

And a park that runs alongside, where you can walk a path with a heavenly scent, listen to the babbling of the brook, and let your mind wander–

Or at least you can do that until a teenager on a bike with VERY squeaky brakes comes up beside you.  On another day it might have been fun to let our minds wander, but we had a mission there today–to meet our friends Oliver and Marie-Rose–

We met the Pernots way back in 2008, during one of our first trips over for Loraine’s WWII research.  Since then, we’ve kept in touch, although it’s been seven long years since seeing each other in person.  Last Christmas (and sorry for sticking the Wham! song in your head by typing that) Loraine wanted a charity coffee cup that French soccer superstar Antoine Griezmann was pushing for UNICEF.  Unfortunately, you could only buy it if you were in France.  Well, Oliver lives in France, so he generously bought one for her, and delivered it in person today.

Needless to say, Loraine’s quite happy right now.

Since we hadn’t seen each other for seven years we had to sit down in a cafe and chat.  That, of course, meant eating some more, and while everyone else had what was advertised as “Bad Krozingen’s best tiramisu”--

I had the panna cotta–

It was actually my second choice for our afternoon snack.  Last Sunday night when we were at that Italian restaurant in Kaiserslautern I wanted to have a cannoli for dessert.  Sadly, they were sold out, so I had to settle for something different.  Today, I noticed cannolis were on the menu in Bad Krozingen, so I jumped at the chance to finally have one.

Of course, as in K-Town, this restaurant was sold out of their cannolis, but I was excited about the prospect of having one for 30 seconds or so.

We then drove back to Freiburg in a downpour, and just a block or so from our hotel’s parking garage Loraine noticed an Indian restaurant.  So we hiked over there, and had–

In fact, they gave us so much food that we couldn't even finish it, which led to the pledge I made at the beginning of this to never eat again.

Although, to paraphrase a great American philosopher, something sweet right about now wouldn’t be too bad…

8-)

A few more things for today, the first being the spikes that a lot of apartment dwellers put up around here to keep the birds off their window sills–

At least I’m assuming they’ve put up the spikes to keep the birds away.  Maybe they’re just trying to protect their liquor collection.

This is how they deliver the mail here in the heart of Freiburg–

This is the kind of theater they put on (it's a satire, by the way)--

And, apparently, this is one rather old school way that you could still make a phone call around here, should you so desire–

Finally, I’m starting to wonder if a certain unique thing is becoming a trend for this trip.  As Loraine and I were walking back to our hotel this morning we were waiting for a light at an intersection of a divided street.  There, a car came whipping up from one direction, did a U-turn through the intersection, and then went whipping down the other way, all without even slowing down.

Believe it or not, the car was being driven (once again) by a nun in a full habit.

I think Germany’s trying to send us a message, or something.

(jimkoskimqt@gmail.com)