Rainy Freiburg

After our awesome time in Innsbruck, I traveled to Freiburg, a little university city tucked in the Swiss-German border area, with my good friend Katharina. Katharina goes to university there, so knows her way around, and also provided a place to stay and some great company after Tyler had left from Innsbruck to head back to the U.S. I really, really loved Freiburg. The city is a fun city with tons of students, loads of cafes and bars, and a cozy little character that I found a little in Innsbruck, but not as much as in Freiburg. In fact, if I could take the mountains surrounding Innsbruck and the small, university feel of Freiburg, and then combine them, that would be one hell of a little place. Unfortunately, I can’t do that, so I am stuck taking the good with the bad. Anyway, pretty much the only lousy thing about Freiburg was the weather during my time there. I thought the saying went “April showers bring May flowers.” Apparently whoever wrote that wasn’t with me in Europe during May. There are a few flowers, but a whole hell of a lot of showers. It rained almost nonstop while I was in Freiburg, making sightseeing a little difficult, but with Katharina’s constant pushing to get me to see the city, we persevered and managed to actually do quite a bit. We were wet the entire time, and also sick (I am totally blaming Ty for leaving us his cold), but still had a great time and enjoyed the constant teasing and jabbing that had continued from Innsbruck.
One weird thing that we saw during the few days I was in Freiburg was a sort of medieval game going on in the park. It is very difficult to describe this spectacle, mostly because we still have no idea what the hell was going on. If desired, I have a video of it that I can send to those who want to try to decipher this strange game. Just let me know. Anyway, we saw 5 or 6 guys hitting each other with jousting sticks, balls and chains, and other crazy weapons, while trying to steal some sort of wooden object and place it on another wooden object. I know that is a horrible description and probably does not help at all, but that is about the best I can do. Even right now, I am kind of at a loss for words. Those of you who know me also know that that is rarely the case. Anyway, trust me.
Instead of some of the usual visits to museums and churches that I normally do when I go to a new city, we only saw one church in Freiburg. However, it was really amazing, especially the size of it for such a small city. If they really tried, they could probably fit most of the people of the city in that thing. We also just enjoyed walking around, especially when the sun actually came out for a few hours, and I took a lot of pleasure in sampling some of the local sausage dishes. I don’t know why, but I remember before when I was in Germany and Poland, I was damn near addicted to sausage. Well, apparently that addiction is still alive and well, since I was always subtly hinting to Katharina that we needed to find a sausage place to eat not only lunch at, but also breakfast and dinner. Okay, a sausage with a coffee is kind of pushing it. I admit it, but not by much. Well, those Freiburgers (people from Freiburg, although they probably call themselves something else; I just couldn’t resist, especially after all this talk about sausage) do indeed make a mean sausage. What will I do when I get back to the States? I sense a catastrophe on my hands!
Well, after a lot of rain, a lot of relaxation time, and a lot of quality time with one of my best friends, it finally came time to leave Freiburg. It was hard for me. After not having traveled with anybody before, and then having my cousin and then Katharina with me for the last 3 weeks, now I am venturing back out on my usual road of solo travel. It will be a little different this time, as now I have something to compare it to. I must admit that I know I will be a little lonely. Those long bus and train rides won’t be the same for sure. I won’t have someone to constantly tease, to push me to the limits of my German pronunciation ability, and to get me sick. Hmm, well I guess there are advantages too. In either case, I am going to a place that is like a second home to me, so my loneliness will only be from not having someone around, but not from being in a strange place with no one I know around to help me. Poland is calling, and I am ready to answer. Two years of waiting will be over in about 4 hours of train rides and 2 hours of flying. Isn’t life grand?