Europe 1987
Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan 2018
After a wonderful night’s sleep for Di (but not for me as I needed pillows) we breakfasted on a lovely spread of rolls, cheese, pâté and jam. We drove back to Bregenz to post the slide films I had used so far for processing back in the UK (and use up the excess Austrian stamps we had), and then returned to Lindau for a photo taking walk around town. Although the weather was threatening, we didn’t get too much more rain as we wandered through the town, finally leaving at about 11:15am.
We drove first to Ravensburg, getting there at lunchtime. Ravensburg is a beautiful medieval town with part of its old city wall still standing, cobble-stoned pavements and roadways, and open fountains with lots of water that seem to attract children (well, our children anyway).
After lunch, we continued our drive towards our destination for the day, Freiburg (or to give it its full name, Freiburg im Breisgau), taking little backroads most of the way – through Wilhelmsdorf and Pfrungen to Pfullendorf, then Messkirch, Neuhausen ob Eck, Tuttlingen, Geisingen and Donau Eschingen. From there we took a very back road north of Titisee which took us right through the Black Forest, with some stops at Hammereisenbach-Bregenbach, Hexenlochmühle, St Märgen and St Peter before driving to our Youth Hostel on the eastern outskirts of Freiburg at Kartäuserstrasse 151.
We had dinner at the Youth Hostel and then drove into the main city centre of Freiburg. I had stayed in Freiburg three years earlier (in August 1984) for a conference on geographical education at the Pädagogische Hochschule Freiburg, Kunzenweg 21, staying at the Hotel Rappen am Münsterplatz at that time. This hotel was right in the centre of Freiburg’s old city, almost beside the Freiburger Münster (cathedral) on the edge of the old market square, so I knew my way around fairly well. This was the area that we headed towards for our first evening walk.
We entered the old town through Schwabentor, one of the two remaining gates in Freiburg’s old city wall, passed Germany’s oldest hotel (the Gasthaus Zum Roten Bären) on our left, and walked through the narrow streets to Münsterplatz. We really enjoyed this introduction to the beautiful city of Freiburg with its old buildings, fountains, and open mini-canals carrying meltwater from the melting snows of the nearby mountains. We soon learned the valuable lesson that would endure throughout our entire visit to Freiburg – which is that wherever there is water, children are entertained and happy, but progress is painstakingly slow.
Day 37
Lindau to Freiburg
Tuesday 18 August 1987
