Freiburg 1st -4th Feb:

Arrived in Freiburg (a smaller German city) in the afternoon. Again we required an iphone that had a compass! I love how Google map directions state that when you get out of the train station ‘head south east…” um yeh, sure if we knew what direction that was it would be easy. Nevertheless with initiative we managed to find the Black Forrest Hostel that was an ‘easy 5min walk’ as described on their website. We decided whoever wrote that must have had no luggage and ran there as it took us about half an hour.

Being the first hostel I had stayed in I was a little apprehensive that it may be a dungeon with no heating, but I was pleasantly surprised but how good it was. Staff were friendly (I think they formed the hostel after their son went backpacking some time ago), rooms were clean and warm, and there were really funky showers.

That afternoon we went for a walk to the famous Munster Freiburg cathedral, it was 700years old and the only surviving building on the block during WW2, and many surrounding houses were destroyed. It was huge and unfortunately under renovation so we couldn’t climb to the top, but the stain glass windows were lovely and it had a very peaceful atmosphere.

After leaving the cathedral we went for a walk and had a look at all the little shops. Freiburg was really a lovely place with so much character, the cobble stone streets and secret pathways lead us to lots of exploring. The buildings were very historic with many houses painted in all different colors that looked lovely in the snow. Photos don’t really do it justice. On our exploring we found a trendy little boutique shop in which I fell in love with a really cool jacket. Joel couldn’t understand a girls impulse purchasing power, especially since we are all on a tight budget ;) but I was extremely happy and managed to stuff it into my already busting suitcase!

The next day we had planned to go up the ski lifts to see the Black Forrest. Unfortunately after a short tram ride we were informed by the ticket man that there was very poor visibility on the top of the mountain. We were very disappointed but took a couple of photos at the bottom of the hill…not really the same. After that failed expedition we were keen to try the high speed adventure rail ride an hour’s train ride from Freiburg. All excited we jumped on the 1200 train @ €10 only to find that there were big black clouds, wind and snow waiting for us at the other end. Shit……why had we not thought to check the weather on the internet before we left!!! Our day was definitely not going as planned. So we had to sit in the little train station pub for an hour until a return train to Freiburg arrived. A cute little German man served us Mulled wine and Beer which made up for the fact we didn’t get to do our activity. That night we had a farewell dinner for Gemma as she was leaving the following afternoon to head to her new home in Germany for a year. The dinner was lovely in this very cute German restaurant, with a much needed steak on the menu we were all very satisfied.

The following day Gemma’s departure was very sad and I will miss her dearly. She has been such a great friend and I can’t imagine a year without her support and friendship. (Good luck gem if you read this, living the dream!! Remember our favorite motto, Go hard or go home hehe) So that afternoon because the weather was gloomy I decided to get my hair done…well the girl who spoke little English hacked away at it and I was wondering if I would have any hair left by the end. Well let’s just say I don’t have any split ends anymore, but it’s a bit short for my liking! That night we headed to an extremely cheap but delicious Italian restaurant for a quick bite to eat before heading back to the hostel to pack as we were venturing to Amsterdam the next morning. Exciting :)