Freiburg, Germany 4/13/07

I love a college town! Could be because until I was about 18, college towns, namely Champaign and Carbondale, were the only world I knew. With the exception of the small towns around Champaign and the occasional trip to Chicago. The Rough Guide had said Freiburg was a “University Town” but I had forgotten that fact. I was coming here because it was a good base for exploring the Black Forest but as soon as I wandered out of the train station I could immediately tell I was in a college town…and I loved it!

On the short tram ride and walk to my hostel I took note of everything; lots of cool looking cafes, bars, and shops; band and party fliers stuck to every wall, pole, or even a few trees. Add to that some old fashioned German feel; cobble stone roads, gullies of water flowing next to the streets, medieval towers and walls that the streets and tram lines now run right through. Top it all off with lots of people on bikes. There were sporty folks on new mountain bikes with full suspensions. There were old ladies on old bikes with a basket on the front. There was every walk of life all riding a bike. The bike paths and roads were busier with cyclists than they were with cars.

I’m also not sure how to describe it but there is a definite Earthy feel here too. I must have passed at least a dozen camping outfitters. I have never been to Boulder, CO but this is how I have pictured it, only German.

My time in Florence wrapped up well enough but I’ll admit I was ready to leave. I liked the city. It’s just not the kind of place that drives my passions. My last day there started off as planned. I hit the Museum de Accademia. I got there early, about 8:30 a.m. which was the published opening time of the museum. I still waited in line, outside against graffiti covered walls, for 90 minutes. When I finally got inside there was hordes of tour bus people all following different little flags. I paid my 6,50 eu and plowed through, skipping the audio tour option.

Once inside the actual museum things became a little less herd like. I meandered from one dark, dramatized, picture from the Bible after another and tried to find something “I liked” or at least appreciated but I’ll admit it didn’t happen. As for the statue of David, it was bigger than I thought it was going to be. How about that? The Mona Lisa was smaller than I imagined and the statue of David was bigger than I imagined. I guess I only have a medium sized imagination. Once I saw the little tour guide flags making their way around the corner towards David I knew it was time to keep moving.

The rest of my day didn’t go as planned. By the time I got to the Duomo and the Uffizi the lines were crazy long! We are talking 2 to 3 hours to get into the Uffizi. You can refer to my thoughts on the line at St. Peters in Rome for what I think of 3 hour long lines. Instead I headed for the Church of Santa Croce. Now that place I liked and not just because there wasn’t any lines. The church itself is beautiful just architecturally. Inside are the tombs and monuments to most of Italy’s greatest citizens like Galileo, Michelangelo, Machiavelli, etc.

The line for the Duomo and Galileo's Tomb in Santa Croce

I wrapped up my day hanging out in the gardens at the Giardino di Boboli. I wandered through the entire place, up the big hill and down. I eventually found a good spot under a tree that was shaded just enough and laid down to read for awhile. Now that’s the way to enjoy Florence in my world!

My train ride from Florence to Freiburg was my longest travel day of the trip thus far; 7 a.m. to about 7 p.m. and three different connections. For the most part it was a very enjoyable day. I love train travel, always have really. I loved taking it home from school in the SIU days. I loved taking it to Chicago, Memphis, New Orleans, basically any of the stops on the famed City of New Orleans train. Of course no train reminiscing would be complete without a second or two to remember the time MJ and I hopped a freight train. Coincidentally that was about the same length of time as the trip from Italy to Germany. The similarity probably ends there. Both were great rides but 12 hours in a first class car listening to my iPod as the gorgeous Swiss landscape rolled by is a different trip than a loud, noisy, dirty, cold night in an open box car cruising up Florida towards Georgia.

I enjoyed my Swiss section of the train ride immensely. I didn’t even break out a book or the lap top. I just stared out the window for probably 5 hours. I covered some of the same section of rail that I did going down to Italy so it was nice to recognize a certain villa or mountain. It was a nice way to spend the day. 113 of 10,719 songs shuffled through on the trusty iPod and when I arrived in Freiberg it felt like I had just left Italy.

Lazy travel days are nice but yesterday in Freiburg was really my kind of perfect day. I hiked through the Black Forest for half the day; ate lunch by a mountain lake looking up at the snow covered peak from where I started; found my way through the rolling German country side in time to catch a train back to Freiburg; wrapped up the day with a great dinner and a cold beer in a bar with posters of upcoming, and past, band performances (there was a cool picture of The Ramones standing outside the same door that I walked through). The only drawback to the day was that there was no band last night. It was soccer night.

My hike was amazing! I got some tips on places to go from the guy at the front desk of my hostel. That led me to the train station where I got more directions on how to get to where he suggested. 50 minutes later I arrived in Feldberg. From there I got the help of a bus driver that gave me a free ride 20 minutes up the road to where I could buy a map. My last bit of help came from the lady at the gift shop that sold me the map and pointed out where we were now located on the map. I bought a sandwich from the deli counter, ate half of it, and put the other half in my pack for later to go along with my trail mix, banana, and water. Off I went into the Black Forest.

The trail system in the forest is very well marked. Almost like an Interstate for mountain bikers, hikers, and, in the winter, cross country skiers. At various intersections there are sign posts that tell you the direction and distance to various other points. For the most part it’s very easy to follow. That of course doesn’t mean you can’t get lost which I managed to do a litle bit.

My helpful Bus Driver and my starting point in Feldberg

A quote I learned in Utah just popped in my head. “If you have no place to be and no time to be there you can never be lost.” I guess I wasn’t lost then… even a little.

Starting off at Feldberg, which is home to the highest peak in the Black Forest, meant there was still snow on the ground. It was a bright sunny day though so it wasn't cold and hiking at a decent pace keeps you pretty warm in addition to the sun. It’s always a treat when you can hike in a forest, through 3 inches of snow, in short sleeves.

It was mostly downhill and an easy trail to follow to get to my lunch spot, Lake Feldsee. Wow, what a gorgeous spot; almost a perfect circle of water, reflecting the cliffs and trees that surround it. There was a big flat rock sticking out of the water about 3 feet from the shore and I hopped over to it to relax. I felt like I was in a Bob Ross painting. I could hear his hypnotic voice talking as he painted my view. “Maybe a happy little hiker is going to stop on this rock and eat his lunch. Ya, maybe. It’s all up to you in your world.”

Me at Feldsee and a shot of the Black Forest from the trail.

Sitting there eating my lunch I was so happy. No lines! No audio guides! No tour group flags! No crowded sidewalks! It’s now obvious that I’ll take a mountain lake over a museum any day of the week. I tried to be cultured. It just didn’t take. I’ll keep trying of course. I’m not running off to write my own Walden just yet.

After lunch is where my hike got a little interesting. I’m not sure where I lost the trail that I thought I was on but I did. My nice intersection sign posts were nowhere to be found. Oh well! I pulled out the compass and kept following the trail that was going in the direction that I wanted to be going. At the occasional clearing I would check my location through the topographic features on the map and the landscape around me. It was just like I learned in the Boy Scouts years ago and practiced again last June at survival school in Utah. Ahhh, applied knowledge! I love it!

I even had to do a little bush whacking which is pretty easy to do in the Black Forest because it’s mostly pines and not chocked with ground foliage. The trail that I was following was suddenly closed for I think logging. I couldn’t read the sign, it was in German of course, but the temporary orange barrier fence that went across the trail with a red and white sign punctuated with exclamation points made it very clear in any language that the trail was closed. The roar of a chainsaw and falling trees in the distance quickly stopped any thought of going over or around it.

When I finally emerged about 2 km later on to the main trail I was filled with a great sense of pride. I was actually even a kilometer closer to my destination than I thought I would be. Eventually the forest ended and I walked the final 3 km on rolling country roads, through small farms with cows looking at me, and chickens behind little wire cages. When I saw the town of Hinterzarten at the bottom of a big green hill I stopped for one last break to finish off my food. According to my map I had hiked around 15 km. My legs were sore but I felt great. It’s odd to be physically tired yet feel great. I love that feeling. I sang JT’s “Country Road” in my head as I strolled into town and hopped the train back to Freiburg.

It’s time to move on again. Today I head to Frankfurt and meet up with my friend Manuel. I’m staying with him and his girlfriend for the weekend and I’m pretty excited about it. (I have a free place to stay in Germany from a guy I met in Thailand! How did I get here? I’m a long way from Philo now….but I still know how to get back.)

MJF