We didn't have to get up too early because our train didn't leave until a little after 1:00 p.m. We skipped breakfast and I bought food at the train station to eat on our ride. David had a delicious mozarella and tomato sandwich with pesto and olive oil that he said was very good. I had the same old ham and cheese and it was as good as always. I also bought us big cookies for dessert -- chocolate chip and chocolate chocolate chip. WONDERFUL!!! The first leg of the trip was to Offenburg where we had to change trains. The entire trip only took about an hour.
Freiburg's name means "free city" because it did not answer to a king. I thought that was an interesting tidbit. Anyway, we were feeling very brave so we decided to take the tram to our hotel instead of taking a taxi. We walked to the tram station and David approached a German couple and asked them if they spoke English. The woman said "yes," and her husband said, in German, "no you don't!" That made us laugh. She attempted to help us buy tickets but then told us the machine was broken and told David to go back to the train station to buy them. So off David goes and at the train station he has his first encounter with German Police Officers. They told him he could buy the tickets on the tram so he walks back to the tram line. By then I had discovered that the ticket machine did work and even gave instructions in English! We bought our tickets and only had to ride a few tram stops to our hotel.
The name of our hotel was Hotel Schwartzwaelder which David says means "Black Forester." It was a very quaint hotel with a small winding staircase from the lobby to the floor our room was on. Our room was small but very comfortable! And it was the least expensive hotel of the entire trip AND it included a great breakfast!
After checking in we set out to get some ice cream and explore the town. There were many cafes and stores (especially shoe stores it seemed) and we walked up and down all the little streets. The most amazing thing, tho, was you would be walking along the shopping streets and they would open onto a plaza and WOW the gorgeous, gorgeous cathedral would pop into view. It was very beautiful and we took many pictures of it. All of the churches have gargoyles on them and our favorite gargoyle was on this church. I hope the picture turns out. David says if I was a garygoyle, I would be the one with big teeth, chomping M&Ms and Heggy's chocolates.
Our hotel had a restaurant that served dinner but it was closed for two weeks for the employees to have a vacation. We asked the hotel owner where we should go for a traditional German dinner and he recommended the restaurant at The Baren (bears, plural) Hotel. It was close by so we walked over. We asked for a recommendation of a good beer and our waiter recommended a local bear named Ganter. We both loved it. It is a wheat beer -- perfect for summer -- and just had a hint of spice in it. Delish! We both had salad first. David had mozzarella and tomato towers which he had to cut gingerly so they would not topple over. There were three towers and they were pretty and he liked them. I had a Spring salad with a variety of lettuces and it had strawberries and raspberries in it with a very light dressing. Great. For dinner I had veal medallions and fried new potatoes. So, so good. David had the best meal of the trip so far -- a curry, vegetable and rice dish that was bright orange and yellow. And, believe it or not, we were too full to order dessert plus the fact that nothing on the dessert menu appealed to us.
After diner we strolled the streets and went back to our hotel and settled in.
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