FREIBURG
We came into Freiburg via France on Flexibus. We jumped into a taxi and headed towards the Hertz just south of the city to pick up our rental car. When we got there there it was closed with a sign on the door saying the address moved but no new address was provided, just a phone number. Our driver offered to call for us but no answer. Luckily a fork lift man nearby knew the new location so we jumped back in the taxi and drove to the airport location. A 40€ taxi total. Without having to get nasty the teller at Hertz offered to refund us for our full taxi and he upgraded us to a BMW 320 Diesel, Luxury Edition. Black with caramel colored leather interior. Perfect German car for Germany. A 5 day rental for $134.
We parked in Altstadt, the old section of Freiburg. We had lunch at Hausbrauerei Feierling, a recommended beer garden. Nick’s first Germany biergarten. We had the white and red sausages with a pretzel and house beer. I loved the white sausages which were simply boiled and came with a whole grain honey mustard. The beer was also exceptional.
After we walked to Freiburger Munster, which happened to have a food market going on around it. Lots of sausage stands. On the walk back to the car we went through the university campus and discovered the thousands of bicycles not chained up. A trustworthy town.
TRIBERG
We hopped in the car and drove 1 hour to Triberg, the original birth place of the Coo-coo clock. The Main Street is short with a few clock stores, including the House of 1000 Clocks. All the clocks are made locally and range from $10-20,000. There were traditional ones and modern contemporary ones. We ended up buying a small clock from a clock store nearby. Black with a green coo coo bird.
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We drove the Autobahn north and at one point clocked 155 miles per hour.
Dinner was Chinese food at Saigon Restaurant in Karlsruhe. The menu was extensive and in German only; the Asian owner did not speak English. Google translate came into play and took quite a bit of time.
LAMBRECHT (Black Forest)
We spent two nights in this small town with family friends of Nicks’. Thursday morning we had breakfast then went on a full-day hike with about 12 Germans, all friends of theirs. It was a German holiday, “Father’s Day.” A bit different in ours in that it’s just about being out with your kids.
The group left the house and walked directly into the Palatinate Mountains from Lambrecht around 11:30am and walked out of the mountains at Neustadt at 8:30pm. While trekking we took many stops to drink white wine spritzers, a traditional drink in this area. In total the group drank over 20 bottles of white wine. Three of the stops were restaurants and four were shacks or look-out points along the trek route.
To our luck the first restaurant had a traditional live band which was a rarity. We sat at long tables and the locals swayed and sang along to almost all the songs. At all the stops we ate liverwurst, blood sausages, salami and brown bread, all traditional German foods. At the second restaurant we ordered rounds of tarte flambe, German/French pizza, thin baked pizza dough topped with cream and ham bits. The cream was a bit much for me but everyone else loved it.
When we finished our hike in Neustadt we took the train one stop back to Lambrecht.
BADEN-BADEN
In the morning we drove back south to Baden-Baden, a high end town in the Black Forest often visited by presidents and princes, famous for its traditional Bath Houses. Nick and I went to Friedrichsbath, the more traditional of the two. The bath house is a historic bathing temple that has been around for over 130 years, and resembles those from Roman/Turkish bath houses. Grand in size and design. Walls of marble, ceilings of stained glass, and side walls adorned with roman sculptures and paintings.
We went on a coed nudist day where clothing is not optional. Men and women walk around freely (and together) in the nude with no hesitations or fear of body appearance, something I bet we’ll never see in the US. The bath house has 17 stages of pool/saunas. We chose the 50€ package which included the baths, a soap scrub and a cream massage. Our experience timed by stations went as follows- Shower, warm air, hot air, shower, soap body scrub, shower, steam, hot steam, full bath, whirlpool bath, exercise bath, shower, cold bath, towel down, cream massage, tea room.
After we sipped peppermint tea on the terrace in the reading room in our bath sheets we changed and headed out into the town.Pizza at Lifestyle cafe across from the bath house, then gelato from Martinelli Gelato down in the town center.
Then back in the car for a 1.5 hour drive north to Heidelberg.
HEIDELBERG
(View from dorm)
In Heidelberg we stayed at Steffi’s Hostel in a 10 bed dorm. Both got top bunks and baked in the overnight heat but overall the hostel was clean and spacious.
We were only there for one night but we had the chance to walk along the river during sunset which was lovely. We watched the locals sail, crew and socialize in the park across the river. Heidelberg is a university town so almost everyone on the streets was in their 20s.
We walked through the old town and down to Untere Strauss, the bar street. We had Italian for dinner at Pop restaurant. Great lemon-y carpaccio, overdressed arugula salad, and mediocre pasta. Not the best food but when the outdoor tables cleared for the night to begin we lucked out. The manager saved us the only 2 seat raised bench on the side of the bar; the perfect location for privacy and people watching while still being in the scene. In the morning we checked out and stopped at a bakery for bazaar pastries (a pretzel covered in dried cheese and pepitas.) We then hit the road for our 2.5 hour drive west.
NURBURGRING
I brought Nick to Nurburgring for the 24 Hour Zurich Race for his birthday present this year.
We got to town and hit the grocery store for snacks and beer. The town was packed as expected, and completely out of ice, which we should have guessed. Also turns out people can bring anything into the race, something we were unaware of. But also turns out good and drink costs are not astronomical there like they are at stadiums in the US.
The race went from Saturday at 3:30pm to Sunday at 3:30pm. We were there from 3:30pm to midnight Saturday.
We slept in our car and woke-up at 7:30am and hit the road.
FRANKFURT
Our last day/night was spent in Frankfurt. We stayed at Frankfurt Hostel hotel which is located across from the train station, and happens to be the red light district and Chinatown area. We upgraded to a private double room for 58€ versus 18€ per person for a bunk bed.
It was too early to check-in when we arrived so we headed for Chinese nearby at Jade restaurant. It was Sunday after all. Shrimp dumplings, hot and sour soup, chicken with broccoli and sweet and sour chicken. Right on queue.
We had originally planned to skip doing a night in Frankfurt but I discovered a Food & Wine festival going on over the weekend so I re-planned. Fressgass-Fest ended up being a semi-bust. We walked down Kaiserstrauss, a boulevard full of different ethnic restaurants with outdoor seating, to Fressgass street, which ended up being unpopular, at least on this Sunday. The festival was about 3 blocks long and consisted of different food vendors and bars (cocktails bars, champagne bars, and beer only bars) with picnic tables set-up in the street. I started with a mug of champagne and ended with a gin basil smash. Drinks and food were delicious but overpriced throughout the event. We only stayed a few hours but it didn’t look like it was going to pick-up as the night went on. But it was Sunday after all.
We walked home and took a brief nap in the park next to the Main Tower on our way back to the hostel.
Our last evening we met up with a friend of my brothers who is German and lives in Frankfurt. He picked us up and we walked to his favorite beer store nearby. The store was a small convenience store that has two high top tables out front for drinking. Did I mention it’s legal to drink in the street in Germany? I had the local cider which was exactly as I like it- bitter and not sweet. According to our friend it’s common for German girls to mix it with water or Fanta because it’s not sweet enough.
We were then taken on a very nice river Main and old town walking tour. We crossed the river Untermainbrucke and back on the old Eiserner Steg bridge that leads into the old town. We were on the river at sunset and had gorgeous views of the Frankfurt Cathedral. We stopped at an outdoor restaurant in the old town and downed delicious Schnitzel with green sauce, carrot soup and a grilled salmon salad under large umbrellas while it rained around us.
Our last morning in Europe we were lucky enough to find an indoor food market while walking around the old town. Prosciutto paninis, cherry tomatoes and a coke for our last meal.
On the walk back to the car we walked into a pet store (the fourth of the trip) and found some perfect toys for Coleman, including a squeaky sausage which I’d been searching for.
Perfect last morning for the perfect trip.
We flew Condor airlines direct back to Austin.
MICHAEL FAMILY 