Freiburg (in Breisgau) is a small town in the southwest corner of Germany, and like pretty much every small town in Germany, is home to a university. More importantly, it sits amid the foothills of the Black Forest and has a well preserved, picturesque old town with a number of canals (basically gutters) with streams of cool water flowing amidst the sidewalks and streets. Those streams are a good way to cool your feet in the summer, but a life threatening danger if one is walking while texting. Freiburg might be my favorite spot in Germany so far…, but I am getting ahead of myself.
Volume 2, Days 89-90
My Flixbus from Stuttgart to Freiburg was not set to leave until 2pm, and though it was far out of the center of town, it was easily reachable through the S-bahn. More importantly, I had no rush to leave the hostel, where I tried to get as much work as possible done before noon, when I had to check out and throw my luggage in the basement for two hours while I made lunch and continued working. I was able to turn the remaining taco meat, single tortilla, lettuce, bell pepper, and tomato into a hearty taco salad, but since there was large surplus of left over baked goods from the breakfast, still slipped a brotchen into my bag for on the road.
Other than sitting around on my computer all morning/early afternoon, I made one trip to the supermarket to return my collection of bottles.
The bus ride was uneventful and I tried to continue cramming German, though I’m wondering what the point is with an imminent expiration date my by presence in the Deutsch-speaking land. It didn’t help that the bus ride was rather nauseating. Strange how every bus in Europe is such a white knuckle experience when I find no complaints with the buses in China.
After a stop in Karlsruhe (which I was skipping, but is apparently the model for Washington DC with a circular layout), we cut south into the Black Forest. We pulled into Freiburg a little after 5 pm, dropping off right in front of the so small train station there isn’t even a visible station. Though the hostel would have been a 15-20 minute walk under normal circumstance, I took the S-Bahn to save effort. The ticket machine on my side of the tracks was cash-disabled, but with a ticking clock of the soon to arrive tram, I was able to cross the tracks and buy my ticket from the other side. Of course, the trams were equipped with on-board ticketing machines so it was kind of pointless.
The hostel was on the other side of the town, just outside of old town, as hostels are wont to be. The hostel has a feel of an old farm house with high ceilings and a view of the vineyards on the steep hill behind it. I checked into the the big dorm, scoped out the kitchen facilities then went to find an Aldi. Since it was located in the old town, I was able to get a brief look around including the painted Schwabentor.
Having had a large lunch, I kept it simple with dinner, eating a light salad and taking a day off from the alcohol. I finished up my computer work and tried to study a bit before giving up and reading in the hammock. One unfortunate (or is it?) thing about the hostel is that they intentionally do not have Wi-Fi.
There were a lot of people around the hostel, mostly individuals who quietly kept to themselves and one large group of teenagers. I wasn’t completely antisocial my first day and struck up a conversation with a Taiwanese girl hunched over a German textbook. It would be nice to do a program where one is just a student for a couple weeks or couple months focused on language classes.
| Pfand return | -0.9 |
| Ubahn | 2.5 |
| Flixbus | 10.16 |
| Tram | 2.4 |
| Hostel (4 nights w/ bedding) | 80 |
| Groceries | 10.17 |
| Total: | 104.33 EUR (813.8 RMB) (USD 114.31) |
Running Total: 32800.3 RMB (USD 4607.29)
Daily Average: 368.5 RMB (USD 51.77)