THURSDAY, 9/7:
Now I'm starting to wonder if perhaps I
should've studied Spanish for this trip instead of French.
Greetings again from Freiburg,
Germany's sunniest city, a city where the sun finally came out around
4 this afternoon. I'm starting to wonder if perhaps we owe the
people of Europe an apology. After all, in Marquette we lived
through a cold, wet, and all-around crappy summer. Here, the summer
was sunny & warm; heck, the day before we flew to Europe
Freiburg itself was sunny & 90. And then we showed up, and the
weather all of a sudden matched what we've lived through back home
all year. I mean, it's a good thing I don't believe in curses.
Otherwise, I'd think we were cursed.
All of this was brought into focus
today, the day we wanted to drive through the Black Forest, where
around every bend you see sights that make you “ooh” & “aah”.
But because we were visiting (although we're not cursed), here's
what you saw today as you rounded a corner in the Black Forest--
Don't try to adjust your monitor.
Don't think your phone is acting up. Nope; that's a picture I took
from a scenic overlook in the Black Forest, where all you can see are a
couple of trees and a whole bunch of fog. And not only was there fog
everywhere, but the temperature was 8 degrees Celsius, or a balmy 46
degrees Fahrenheit.
But we're not cursed. Really, we
aren't.
Seeing as how we couldn't see anything,
we headed for the town of Triberg, where we at least left most of the
fog
And had another piece of Schwarzwalder
Kirschtorte, or Black Forest Cake. Sure, we've eaten a lot of it
this trip, but this was a special piece. This was at a place called
the Schaefer Cafe, which has the original Black Forest Cake recipe,
direct from the guy who invented it. So this, I guess, is then an
original piece of Black Forest Cake--
It was good. One of the ingredients of
Black Forest Cake is Kirschwasser, or cherry liqueur, and they really
pile it in this recipe, so much so that the room almost starts to spin. But it was good. Really, really good.
Since I was driving and I had to clear my
head after the cake we walked around Triberg a little more, saw some
water--
And made a very interesting discovery.
When we were there, Triberg was sleepy. Very, very sleepy. It
seemed, in fact, like we were the only people there, which we thought
a bit odd seeing as how Triberg is a big tourist destination. Then
noon rolled around, and the tour buses pulled in. Within minutes the
streets were jam-packed, and tourists of all different
nationalities piled out of their buses and into the streets of the
town. I'm guessing that even the Schaefer Cafe, where we enjoyed our
Schwarzwalder Kirschtorte in solitude, was bustling.
Guess we chose the right time to visit
Triberg.
We also chose the right time to leave
because, thankfully, the fog finally started to burn off. Pretty
soon, you were able to “ooh” and “aah” around every corner
with views like this--
And this--
It was still cold, but I don't think we
noticed, especially when we drove to the top of a mountain called
Kandel, which supposedly had some great views. I'm sure that on a
clear day you can see forever, but not today. We did, however, get
to see someone jump off a perfectly good mountain--
Kandel is apparently where paragliders jump. In fact, it must be a rather famous spot for it, as there were
all kinds of people driving up just to see them jump, much in the
same way people back home drive up to Upper Harbor to see the ore
boats come in. And as we were watching more and more paragliders came driving up, pulled their rigs out, and jumped off the mountain--
You don't get to see that every day.
By the time we made it back to Freiburg
the sun had finally come out, and the temperature here hit 70, so we
went to explore the one part of the Old Town we hadn't yet
explored—the University. Almost 30,000 students call this city
home, and the University is centered around a group of historic old
buildings, all of which are made of (you guessed it) sandstone--
I know I'm a bit of a sandstone geek,
as evidenced by the 60 or so pictures I took of the buildings. For
your sake, I'll only post the one, although I will say that it's
taking great restraint on my part.
So you're welcome.
Since we were in the neighborhood, we
decided to head back to the Market Halle for dinner. You may
remember the Market Halle from yesterday; it's the giant food court
with restaurants from almost every country on the planet. Today
Loraine went Italian (mushroom risotto) while I decided to try a
Brazilian dish called Bobo de Camarao--
Then after dinner I took this picture
of two kids playing in the Bachle, those little canals that run along the streets here--
After which I put my camera away and
started to walk up the street. A minute later a man came running up
to me and asked if I spoke German, which I don't. Searching
frantically in his mind, he asked if I spoke Spanish, which I also
don't. I asked if he spoke English, which he doesn't. He tried to
get his point across in a mixture of languages, and after a few
seconds I figured out what he was trying to say, especially when he
used the word “kinder” and gestured like he was taking a picture.
As it turns out, those were his kids I photographed, and he was
wondering if I could e-mail him a copy of the picture. Loraine gave
him a pen, I gave him a napkin I had in my pocket, and when I'm
finished writing this I'll be sending this guy, who I believe is
either a Spanish tourist or a Spanish grad student, the picture I
took of his kids.
You know, I'm constantly amazed when we
travel. You have no idea what will happen from one day to the next.
Heck, you don't even know what will happen when you turn a corner and
take a picture. But that's why travel is such an incredible
experience. That's why I treasure it so much. That's why I think
everyone should get out there and see as much of the world as they
can.
And that's why I should've studied
Spanish before we came over here.
Okay; before I wrap this up, let's see
what else I have, shall we? We saw more cows today!!
Doug Mitchell, the guy who showed
around the West Wall in Belgium Saturday, thought I haven't been
seeing enough cows on this trip, and even stuck a picture of a few of
them on my Facebook page. Thanks for that, Doug. And rest assured I
got my bovine fix today.
Speaking of fixes, are you one of those people who are addicted to a certain Starbucks fall drink in the US? You're safe if you decide to travel over here--
And if you do travel, you know how it's
always prudent to go into the travel section of a store like Target
and stock up on mini-sized versions of those essentials you need,
things like toothpaste and shampoo? Well, there's apparently
something else that Germans need when they travel--
I would not kid you about a thing like this. Tiny Nutella jars are in the travel
section of the Muller Store (Germany's version of Target) attached to
our hotel. They're even small enough to fit into those quart bags
you shove all your liquids into. Germans think of EVERYTHING, don't
they?
We leave Freiburg in the morning for
Heidelberg, and I have to admit that I'm just a bit sad. I think
I've developed a little crush on Freiburg during our two days here,
and I wouldn't mind coming back to explore its little nooks &
crannies again and again.
Especially when the sun finally does
come out in Germany's sunniest city--
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