Freiburg
On our second night there during our stereotypical tourist-y stroll, we chanced upon an old Belgian couple drive into Kaiser Joseph Straße. They were lost, and were looking for directions to Colmar in France! Yes, that’s how close Freiburg is to France, and to Switzerland.
The couple asked for our help. It was about 9pm—and the street was but deserted. When we saw that they were using a road map—apparently from ANWB—we were not surprised. It’s not that ANWB’s maps aren’t good—in fact, they’re excellent, but that navigation using maps in the night is obviously difficult. What did surprise us though was that they had a Tomtom, but didn’t know how to use it! Anyhow, its presence helped us help them better—I mention this because they didn’t understand a word of English. But I digress.
Freiburg exudes a certain quiet charm—like the mosaic decorated cobblestone pavements; the medieval architecture, traditional buildings with modern signboards, street names labeled in German Gothic fonts; Bächle1—that it is hard not to fall in love with this city.
The area near the main station bustles with activity: lots of bicycles on streets, folks and tourists enjoying their coffee out on the cobblestone streets; kids trying stunts with their BMX bikes in front of Konzerthaus; Randstad trams taking people to and from the city center; college kids queuing in front of the multiplex, et al.
When we were planning our trip to the Black Forest region, Freiburg was a mere “stopover, rest, and continue point” on our radar. Now, I would beg to differ. This is a must visit place. It might even make you want to live there, forever.
Address for your GPS navigator: Konrad-Adenauer-Platz 1, 79098 Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, DE.
blackforest, ecofriendly, modelcity, tomtom
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