Europe2012Sixth-Freiburg Kreuzblume
by furtech
The second half of our Freiburg stay.
We moved to a hotel that I had wanted to stay in from the beginning, but it was booked up until Sunday. Still, a few days would be nice. The Kreutzblume Hotel is a small (maybe a dozen rooms) hotel owned by two brothers. The personal touches they have made to the rooms is easy to see: the beds are wonderful (western style, with real pillows and sheets and stuff), the bathoom roomier than most and very nice and the room generally is clean and open. The hotel is located on a street with wisteria vines hanging over the avenue. Very romantic.
The Marketplace (and most of the town) was closed on Sunday. Fortunately the Kebab house we tried the first day was open and we got dinner there. Walking back to the hotel I was still appalled at the sight of a McD sign boldly clinging to the old city main gate. Maybe I'm the only one who feels this way, but I do feel it's things like this that give other places a sour view of the states.
Monday was a split day: Tracy went off to draw and I trekked into the Schwartzwald to go on a longer hike (about 9 miles round trip). The weather was fantastic: low 70's (F) and sunny.
There are a lot of hikes you can find via Google (just search for "Wanderweg [city/area name]" and you will find dozens of nice walks. Most have descriptions as to difficulty and things to see. The one I chose was a moderate hike of about 5 kilometers each way, plus side treks. The destination was a restaurant where the traveller could get a meal or just a cold drink.
My hike was fantastic: deep into the forest and almost no other people (it was a Monday after all). Quiet except for birdsong and quiet rustlings of mice and squirrels. This was exactly what I'd been looking forward to (well, wolves would have been nice, but they're hundreds of miles away, I think).
Back in town I saw an adorable Aussie and got my dog-fix. I also commissioned the portrait artist to do a sketch of the boys. I'll post that when I can scan it.
One small mystery: the Bächle were all dry on Monday (except the very large one). We wondered if this was for cleaning/maintenance or if they also got a day off. Tuesday morning they were merrily trickling down all the streets again.
It was sad to leave the town, but we saw and did everything we wanted to do. Much thanks to Suran for the local tour and excellent suggestions for food and beer. It was generous of him to take time out (a whole day!) and show us around.
Sad to leave Freiburg, but EF was looming and I looked forward to getting to Magdeburg.
Oh, and more photos posted to the food and dogs collection.
