Departure day from our longest stay in Baiersbronn. It is quite sad as we have really settled into this place - rather like our stay in Cochem, it also has spectacular views. The main job of packing is to protect the many bottles of wine and beer and jars of mustard etc. to keep it safe whilst travelling and we are rapidly filling the strong hessian bags that Colin bought with us for precisely that purpose. A final goodbye to Helmut and we were off.
I was on driving duty again to our next stop in Freiburg which was not actually that far time wise, an hour an a half. I managed to achieve this slightly quicker as we drove on another speed limit free autobahn but with more heavier traffic and a lot of roadworks so only 109mp today.
Freiburg im Bresgau to give it its full name has the reputation of being the sunniest place in Germany. The clouds were gathering when we arrived and shortly after checking in with Ulrike (and Sylvia the puppy) and just having unpacked the car, the heavens opened with torrential rain and very loud thunder and lightning. Luckily, having cleared the fridge into the chiller bag, we were able to pull together some snacks for lunch to wait out the downpour.
After an hour or so the rain lessened and by the time we headed out onto a somewhat circuitous route to the tram stop (recommended by Ulrike), it was actually warm and sunny. We are staying in a quiet suburban area of the city with lovely gardens and the usual dozens of singing blackbirds which have accompanied us around the country on this trip or rather the singing has as not sure the blackbirds actually followed us in particular!).
There was a tram about to arrive so I rushed to try and translate the instructions on the ticket machine to buy two multi-journey tickets just un time as the tram pulled it (we are end of the line for the number 3). The journey was interesting although I was trying to track our journey as we had no idea where to get off and my mobile 5G seems to be failing me. We actually hopped off a stop too late but we’ve learned for next time.
I really like the city, it’s a university city so quite buzzy and despite serious bombing by the allies in WW2, some buildings survived and most were reconstructed. The skies darkened but with just a small shower we avoided getting too wet. We even got to hear a service in the massive Munster with a priest with a beautiful voice. Afterwards we looked for somewhere to eat as the places I had earmarked were a bit of a way out of town. We managed to find a food hall - ‘MarktHalle’ with a great choice of different cuisines. Hankering something other than chips and fried food I went for Asian duck and stir fried vegetables with rice - delicious, Colin went with an Afghan option that I may try tomorrow. There was a great atmosphere with a DJ playing songs from his laptop and crowds of people dancing to Tom Jones songs! Two great beer glasses that we have been trying to buy for our entire trip somehow didn’t make it back to the bar area. We committed a crime but got away with it and escaped back to the apartment by the tram!
