Travel Day Thursday

Not grand and glorious things to report for Thursday as we took the train from Freiburg to Koblenz. It was Corpus Christi here so everything was pretty much closed except for transportation and the stores at the train station.

On the brighter side, the train followed the Rhine closely from Mainz up to Koblenz so we got to see all of the beautiful wine plants along the hillsides, as well as the numerous castles. We thought better of trying to get good pictures from the train since they likely would not have turned out very well anyway. We also figured that we would do a Rhine boat tour over the couple of days we are here. After some discussion in the afternoon we also figured we should try to rent bikes and ride along the Rhine as well since apparently the Rhine bike trails go all the way from Switzerland to the Netherlands. Now it is all just a matter of getting the weather to cooperate and that isn't looking promising at the moment.

Our hotel is on the Mosel river in Koblenz and from near the hotel you can get nice views of the city.

Freiburger Langes Rot Day

Wednesday ended up to be just what Tuesday left off as, a rainy, overcast, and cool day and it started inauspiciously with the case of the missing coffee. In true mystery form we were asked about coffee, yet 10 minutes later it had not arrived, truly not what we have come to rely on from the hotel. The rest of the breakfast was wonderful as usual,  it the coffee had disappeared. When some finally came it had some of the same intensity to the flavor, but we noticed about an hour later that it had lacked the same caffeinated boldness as the previous two days. The conversation on our walk in the rain turned to it being Nescafé or Sanka, just like the MacDonald house in Kinlochleven a few years ago.

First order of business, finally get our tickets for Koblenz since we are headed there tomorrow. Easy enough done and the automated machines worked just fine for us, not sure why I had previously waited in line. Think we will try and get the tickets for Amsterdam prior to our departure tomorrow. We decided to just take the train directly to Koblenz and get the lay of the land and where we are staying, giving us time over the next couple of days to determine which Rhine boat tour we are thinking of taking down toward Mainz.

The rest of the day was sprinkled with trips to the museums since the weather had not remained our friend this day. Since we had been at the train station, our initial stop was the Colombischossle archeological museum. It is a great little museum in a wonderful setting on its own hill. It is small enough to not be overwhelming but has objects dating back nearly 10,000 years from this immediate area, very cool. The next wander was further into the altstadt again and the Augustinermuseum of religious antiquity, much of which came from the Munster in town. The religious history of Freiburg is quite intense, and not just from the Munster and other churches, the monasteries, seminary, and other religious facilities.

After wandering our way through the Augustinermuseum it was time to finally get down to what we hadn't been hungry enough for on previous days, the Freiburger Langes Rot sausage from the market. Steph went to Lichts' and I went to Hassler's, and needless to say, our decision was that Lichts' wurst was the better of the two. It was fun because the owner served Steph and decided she was not worthy of having it broken in half so it fit the bun, but was rather extended on both ends. The other person in the booth was being kind enough to break it in half before serving it. We just figured it was a tourist test, eat the sides down to the bun or take the moment to break it so it fits, which is what Steph did. Hassler's was more of a knockwurst and didn't have the same flavor I had come to expect of the Langes Rot. Oh well we have one more day to give it a try and plenty of other options to choose from at the market before heading north.

All this left two more minor shopping stop after going to the Museum for Modern Art. The modern art changed their upstairs exhibit, so no more launching yourself off a platform to make your own smashed box art form, this time it was an ecology and art exhibit playing on the idea of Freiburg as green city. Together I think er both agreed that the slave city exhibit was disturbing and ingenious, but we wanted to see even more about it. 

After the museum we wandered over to finally get Steph a slice of Schwartzwald Sacher torte from Kolben Kaffee Patisserie under the shadow of the Martinstor. We got it to go so that it could be savored as desert later in the evening. It was then time to track down a baschle duck for Steph, and not just to take back, it needed a good ride down a baschle or two first. We were able to find an SC Freiburg baschle duck and then took the short walk down to Rufs bakery for the ritual of afternoon coffee. This time we had a companion for the coffee.

The little duck seemed to enjoy a bit of Steph's cafe au lait. 

We relaxed back at the hotel a bit before final y wandering out for the duck's initiation to the open water streams throughout the old town and what better place for a first time that the ones around the Munster. Appropriate pictures of that will be added later when I am able to download it from the camera.

We returned to Martinsbrau tonight as we weren't overly hungry and wanted an adult beverage instead. The Freierling brewery was packed to the gills already, so we headed to the first hausbraureri of Freiburg for a nice relaxing drink and a nosh. We then wandered a bit more through the university campus and around a bit more before returning to the hotel to finally have the Black Forest cake. Makes for a nice end to another full day and has left is feeling there will be another trip back here and this time we will start going a bit further afield into the smaller alpine towns in the Black Forest.

Hiking in the Schwartzwald

Right after breakfast Tuesday we got hiking stuff together for a wander up to the top of Rosskopf. It was about a 5km walk up the hillside, which Steph did a great job reminding me was continually going uphill. At one relatively early point we came across four senior aged ladies hiking down the hillside. All of them were in schnazzy track suits and well perfumed as they wielded their trekking poles down the hillside, meaning they were probably even more heavily perfumed to start since they had to get up that far to be coming down at that point.

We continued up to the top, where there was both a fire/lookout tower, four wind turbines and of course a cell tower. The cell tower made sense as there was a couple with a tween son who was on his mobile phone as we were wandering our way to the top. It was bright and sunny and I took the extra few minutes to go up the tower which provided great views of the entire area. The top of the tower it was 767m, and stable as could be for a steel girder construction from the late 1800s. There were a number of hikers that made it up there after us and there were quite a few mountain bikers headed up and back. On the way down we headed south-east and made our way to the chapels of St. Wendolin and St. Odelein, the first had room for about 10 people inside. The second had a restaurant and beer garden next door so we did the proper Schwartzwald hiking thing and stopped for a beer before heading down the mountainside.

Once down we got a glimpse of the hostel, which is much more hidden since everything has leafed out and the field is uncut grasses. We decided that before heading back to town we should stop for a coffee at Ambrosia, which is in the neighborhood near to the hostel and was a nice stopping point in March.

We made it back to the hotel and the sky opened up and it started pouring about 15 minutes after we got back, so we really could not have timed it better. It continued to rain all evening and finally we decided it was time for dinner and ate at the wonderfully quaint Gasthaus Zumba Kranz. It is a bit more out of the way and only a couple of tables really available in the whole place, but it was well worth the walk up to find. 

All in all a very full day and two days in a row with enough sun and warmth to truly enjoy outdoor activities up in the Schwartzwald.

Monday's Lessons In Patience

Monday morning we were awoken at about 4am by some very noisy and persistent birds. Sleep was a bit disruptive until about 6.30, when the alarm went off. From then on it was easy to sleep a bit more probably because of the earlier disruption. The Alleehaus has a great breakfast and good, well needed, coffee. After breakfast we wandered up to the information center and then to the post office for post card stamps. From there we wandered through the market and finally bought some apples and very juicy oranges.

After stopping for another coffee, au fresco on the Munsterplatz, we decided to take the cable car up Schauinsland to the top. The true source of patience was that on the way up the car stopped about 3/4 of the way up for about 15 minutes. I was so proud that Steph dealt with the time suspended up on the line so very well. Up at the top we wandered up toward the tower, which I climbed and Steph made a wise decision not to do. It wasn't overly high up there, but there were shadowy areas that still had little bits of snow trying to hang on, as well as on the higher peaks. We had a great walk up there, especially the time following the young boy with the intense crocodile tears. It was truly surprising that he was able to keep it up so continuously without taking deeper breaths. The hope was to go back to the restaurant at the cable car facility at the top, but it was undergoing intensive renovations and thus we were unable to have anything there. It was hoped that we could enjoy a drink while overlooking the western valley in front of us - too bad, so sad. On the way down the car stopped again, this time for only 5 minutes or so, but it just seemed par for the course Monday.

Upon coming back from Ruf's bakery, such a great place to be based on where the hotel is.   We looked at scarves for Steph again, picked up a wee nipper of scotch and then went to dinner at Martinsbrau, which is more varied in beer choices. We enjoyed sitting au fresco for dinner and some nice dark and light weizen biers. After dinner the next step was to go for a long walk up to the small botanical garden and then along the shoulder of the Black Forest without climbing into the higher reaches of it.

The Weather Ain't So Different, But So Much Else Is

After quite a long day of travel we have finally reached Freiburg and have settled into the hotel. The temperature isn't much different here than back home, maybe even a few degrees cooler. There is a nice light rain welcoming us to town as well.

The trip here was nicely uneventful. We got to the airport early yesterday and had a relaxing time in the Delta Sky Club or whatever they are calling it. It felt good to just take it easy for a bit before the flight. We arrived in Amsterdam ahead of schedule, leaving us plenty of time to just wander a little and stretch our legs before the flight to Basel. Nothing especially interesting in Amsterdam's airport on this occasion, then again there seldom is. The flight to Basel was nice and quick by comparison, only an hour in the air, but with the smaller plane it took about 15 minutes of taxiing to get to our runway. An hour wait and the we took the bus up to Freiburg, it was about a 50 minute journey in the rain.

What was especially nice was wandering from the bus station to the hotel in the light rain with Steph. It feels absolutely wonderful to be in this city again, and so shortly from March. It is all starting to leaf out and show signs of blooms, so it will be exciting to see how it all differs in a new season. We are off for a wee wander and then some dinner, or vice versa to make for a good end to a long travel day.

We ended up at Feierling Brauerei, maybe unsurpringling the fist night, but it is also just a couple of blocks from the hotel. It was very good, as I have come to expect, but can't say I was a major fan of the house tap, Inselhopf. It reminded me a lot of a recently manure spread field mixed with a hefeweizen. After dinner it was back to the hotel in search of a good night's sleep.