WE LOVE FREIBURG!!!

This area has been a true treasure. Freiburg is a beautiful city that dates back to at least the 1300s. Our German is non existant, so it has been difficult to get information about history and culture, but the old town, with wilding streets and very old houses is very German, and very beautiful. Germany gets a bad rap as the place of Hitler, but it is also the homeland of Beethoven, Herman Hesse, Hannah Arendt, Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill, Ranier Maria Rilke, the White Rose and other resistance movements against the Nazis, and many other great folks. It is also home to the ancestors of a writer-naturalist you all know. We wandered all over town yesterday. The cathedral here is my favorite of the ones we have seen in Europe. Our wanderings took us along the edge of the Black Forest to a nice neighborhood where we visited a botanical garden. They had giant sequoias and coast redwoods!!!

Freiburg is a true eco city. Public transit is amaying, and there are bike and pedestrian lanes everywhere. It is also a center of the solar industry. This place demands a closer look.

Today we took a train out of town to hike in the Black Forest. We made a mistake of sitting in first class seats with second class tickets. The official who checked our tickets wanted to fine us 40 Euros each for this mistake. He was a real toughie, and would have done well in the SS, but we managed to talk our way out of the fine.

The Black Forest is unbelievable. We hiked thwough a canzon of oaks, maples, firs, alders, and infonite ferns. We passed by a stream that crashed over a mile long series of cascades. Incredible. We stopped at a small guest house on the edge of the forest, they have teriffic apricot cheesecake!

Leaving Germany is sad, it demands more time and a deeper look. We also need to speak some German... this has been a barrier, to say the least at connecting with people. But we are finding most Germans to be very warm and generous... more time here is needed.

Tomorrow we will head for Strousburg, France - this is the beginning of a slow loop towards Dublin and the flight back to the U.S.  Much more to come. Oh yes, we have many pictures and will post some when we have a computer where we can download them. Guten tag!!!