The Sunniest Place in Germany…

Happy March to all! If you recall, last Monday we woke up to find that Nürnberg was sitting under a nice, thick, heavy snowy blanket. This week though, we had the first sunny weekend, and the first sunny Monday in… months. Add that to the fact that it’s about 6:00 in the evening, and it’s still light out, and all of a sudden the world is a much better place. 

Sunday afternoon park view.

I don’t know about you all but I spent the weekend humming “Here Comes the Sun” in my head about a million times. Thank God. I was one more gray and rainy weekend from losing it. Yesterday I actually managed to get some work done on the balcony to get ready for new flowers, and today I did the shopping, cleaned, did some laundry, and wrote lesson plans. Turns out the sun is incredibly helpful in getting me to do anything besides lay on the couch and watch ‘The Real Housewives of Whatever City I Can Stream.’ Amazing! 

But that’s not what I want to talk about. The sun making it’s long-awaited return to Germany got me thinking about the place that is rumored to be the sunniest and warmest place in Germany… Freiburg im Breisgau. BV and I got the chance to visit for an afternoon back in October, and the weather that day did not disappoint….

View over the old city and the tower of the Münster

Tucked down in the south-western corner of Germany, Freiburg (there are a few of them, but this is the best-known), is a really lovely little city. It’s a big university town, and it’s known as the bicycle capital in  Germany, so you‘ll want to keep out of the bike lanes. It’s close to the French border, but we came to check out the Schwarzwald (Black Forest), which is also right nearby.

The first thing we did in town was hike up a hill to get a great city view. We had a list of destinations from a friend of BV’s who is a Freiburg native, and she had recommended both the viewpoint and the cafe at the top for a glass of regional wine. Unfortunately the cafe was closed, so it was dry walk up and down the hill, but we did get a look at the vineyards below…

I think the orange guy is lost

  
After making our way down the hill into the old city, we swung by the Freiburg Münster (cathedral), and took a walk around the square with a sausage stop.

Courtesy BV

 
Cathedral architecture is always like a treasure hunt to me. You never quite know what you’re going to find on these things, and this cathedral did not disappoint. Take a closer look at that last photo if you don’t know what I’m talking about. I couldn’t get a better angle on it, but it is exactly what you think it is. 

Münsterplatz: Courtesy BV

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After the church and the square we hit up the friendly neighborhood sausage stand for some Rote Wurst, the Freiburg sausage specialty. I wasn’t forward-thinking enough to get a picture, but luckily this blog covers all of the German sausages. I’m hungry right now and regretting searching for that picture. That means that the Rote Wurst was delicious, and I would love to get my hands on one right now. 

We really only had the afternoon in Freiburg, so I’d love to get back there some time and check out some more of the city. We did have a good wander around, so here are some more random photos…

Martinstor

Münster  door

People just hanging out in the streets

These were all over the sidewalks. All different, all cool.

For some reason, that picture really wants to be upside-down. Sigh. Blogger.

Bikes: Courtesy BV

For dinner we planned on going to a student-y sort of restaurant that BV’s friend had recommended, but before that we decided to stop at the Alte Wache to try some of the local wines. It was a gorgeous day to sit (all the sunny tables were sadly taken), drink some wine, and do some people watching on the square. 

 

One other thing that was unusual in Freiburg were the small water channels or, Freiburg Bächle in the streets. Somehow neither of us got a picture with them, but they are definitely something you need to be aware of if you’re in town. If any of you are as clumsy as I am, water running all over the streets is something to pay attention to. 

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I’ve also been told that if you are visiting the city and fall into one of these Bächle, it means that you will fall in love with a Freiburger. The jury is still out on that one, so if anyone can confirm the story, please let me know!

How about you… been to Freiburg? Any recommendations for the next trip?