There was free coffee and tea in the morning and my big plan for the day was to hang around the hostel and be productive. It wasn’t too easy because there was a series of distractions at the table and in the room I was trying to work. Eventually I headed out into town to have a look around. I found the other old gate–Martinstor–which now houses a McDonald’s, a number of fountains, and the Ratshausplatz where an enticing Eiscafe reminded me of lunch. I was thinking of heading back to a (half off) pizza restaurant until I stumbled on the farmers market at the Muensterplatz, where it seemed that there was a type of special local sausage to try. The “long red” was nice and when paired off with two scoops of gelato, made a decent lunch. The ice cream was really good and I was impressed by the sheer volume of selections at the “Mona Lisa” shop. There is a lot of gelato around town, all of which is in the 1-1.2 euro per scoop range… Maybe that’s why I like Freiburg so much.
While roaming around with my gelato and trying to find a good cafe to visit later, I discovered a free wifi spot, which I would return to several times to update my podcasts.
I grabbed my computer from the hostel and after reading a bit on one of the couches, went out to get a coffee. I picked a very popular cafe and paid the premium for table service so I could order a black forest cake with the cappuccino. It was…okay. Though I could get a wifi signal, I felt weird about pulling out my laptop and just did some light internetting through my mobile. I honestly don’t mind a bit of an internet diet, but I have to keep up with my Duolingo and podcasts.
I did a bit of window shopping after the coffee and found myself in the Aldi again buying ingredients to make shakshuka for dinner. I figured that would be a good way to use up the half bulb of garlic and bell pepper I had on hand.
I brought everything back to the hostel and changed from jeans to trekking pants because it was getting kind of warm and I wanted to climb the Schlossberg hill. It is just a hill and takes no more than 10 minutes to get up…yet there is a cable car. There were some good views of the city and I could imagine one would have an enjoyable time watching the sunset from one of the several beer gardens on the hill. There was even a rickety metal tower one could climb for unobstructed panoramic views. I could have spent a bit more time hiking around up there, but my food was calling, so I returned to make dinner.
There were two people chatting in English in the kitchen when I arrived. I joined them with a glass of water. It turns out that the two solo travelers both happened to be from the same part of Australia. I cracked open a bottle of wine, but they decided to go out to find a restaurant. It was rather desolate in the hostel while I was cooking over the stove, but I had a book and a South African red to keep me company.
The Australians returned after I had finished eating and was lounging in the hammock. I still had an open bottle of wine on the table so I offered them some and we sat around talking for a couple hours.
| Lange Rote | 3.5 |
| Eis | 2.2 |
| Black Forest Cake & Coffee | 8.6 |
| Aldi Groceries | 10.71 |
| Total: | 25.01 EUR (195.08 RMB) (USD 27.40) |
Running Total: 32995.4 RMB (USD 4634.7)
Daily Average: 366.62 RMB (USD 51.50)