Willkommen in Deutschland

Welcome to Germany indeed. This is our second day in Freiburg im Breisgau, which means we are now in Germany. Freiburg is a city around the same size as Geelong and is the main centre in Germany's Black Forest. The Black Forest is a mountainous region in southwestern Germany bordering France. It's known for its dense evergreen forests and lovely little historic towns and villages, of which Freiburg is one. Freiburg is a town of gothic origins, surrounded by lovely vineyards growing on impossibly steep slopes.

The Schwabentor, one of the two remaining city gate dating back to the Middle Ages.

Typical Freiburg street in the Altstadt (old town)

This is called a bachle. They are everywhere throughout the city and were used for supplying water in the 13th century and for fighting fires, etc. You can often see little boys and girls pulling little wooden sailing boats along in these.

Yesterday when we arrived the skies looked very black, and there was a forecast of severe thunderstorms. However, we had a brief shower, and today the sun is shining brightly and the temperature is 31 degrees. This is a good time to tell you about our weather. In short, it has been amazing; we've really lost no more than 30 minutes due to rain since we left home. Our part of Europe is experiencing an unusual heatwave for this time of the year. We have had temperatures in the low 30s, with copious amounts of sun. It has been really enjoyable, if a tad too warm for lots of walking (gosh, we're hard to please). 

The Freiburg Munster

The historic merchants' hall

They hold a market here every morning

We didn't think much of Freiburg when we first got off our bus from Zurich, but it has started to grow on us. Today, we walked to the summit of the Schlossberg, which is a tree covered hill of 456 mts, and is actually part of the Black Forest. The walk to the top was very steep (we almost felt a bit like a Mt. Pilatus cog railway) and, once there, we had to make the decision whether or not to climb the 130-odd steps to the top of the lookout tower. What decision, of course we would climb it. The view from the top was incredible, 360 degrees of incredible to be exact. The forest was also beautiful to walk through. 

The other city gatehouse

View over the city from the Schlossberg

Market day at the Munster

We had actually thought about taking the train to Titisee today, which is a tourist village right in the middle of the Black Forest, but since we are only here for two nights, we decided against it in preference to spending the day just walking around the town. To be honest, we're glad we decided against the trip because Freiburg itself has been great. We also went to the markets at the Munster this morning, which had a huge variety of cakes, cheeses, meats, flowers, fruit and, of course, every German sausage you can imagine. Because we are believers in the saying, 'when in Rome', we indulged in a couple of these huge sausages in a roll, smothered in mustard and onions; yum. We also bought half a kilo of delicious cherries, but we could have easily chosen strawberries or blueberries. 

The Munster from very high up (the tower on top on the Schlossberg)

Lovely view from up high

This afternoon we're going back to the city to try some iconic Black Forest cake, and check out a few more of the sights. We're off to Heidelberg tomorrow, so not a lot of time left here, but we're certainly enjoying what we've seen.