August 7th: We drive, in the rain, south to Freiburg im Breisgau, "capital" of the Black Forest. We had booked a caravan to stay in at the Hirzberg campsite so that we were semi-camping: cheap but we didn't have to sleep on the ground.
When we arrived, they had to switch us to a "little house" because our caravan was occupied by the family of a sick little boy. The folks at the desk seemed to think this was a good deal for us, so I was excited to see our house! It turned out to be adorable and cosy! The only drawback, of course, was that we had a 5 minute walk to the communal bathrooms, but hell, for €26 a night, who could complain?!
Dinner in Freiburg, which turned out to be an adorable university town. We ate at the Ganter Brauhaus, a hearty Southern German meal with delicious dark beer--topped off by Black Forest Gateau. Satiated, we walked back to our cute little hut and snuggled in for the night.
The next day, we woke up very late (11:20!) and thus opted for a shorter walk into the Black Forest, despite the rain. We had obviously missed breakfast at our campsite, so we wandered into a random local bar before we headed up into the forest. The bar looked like it had been there for 60 years, and the owner bartending for that long, too. We ordered a simple meal with coffee--i had black forest bacon which came with bread on a wooden platter and a large, sharp knife stuck upright in the wood. The owner/bartender showed me how to slice it correctly (into little pieces) and drop it into my mouth. I proceeded in this manner for a bit, then decided to eat larger pieces with the bread. Immediately, I was reprimanded (in German) by the owner! He told me! After lunch (eaten correctly thereafter) the owner was disappointed that I didn't eat it all. He asked if there was anything wrong? When I said no, that I was full (with gestures only--language barrier), he suggested we take it with us, so of course we wrapped up the remaining bacon and bread in a bar napkin and in my backpack it went!! Not like NYC, where leaving 3/4 of your meal is worn like a badge of honor--look at me, I'm skinny and rich and don't need your food!
I come out of the bathroom at the bar and the adorable owner gives me little snack packets of Haribo gummy bears! How cute.
Went on our walk in the Forest. It was so beautiful in there--you could really see how all of those fairy tales from the Brothers Grimm came out of this place. In the middle of our walk we stopped in a restaurant for a coffee where a busload of grannies and grandpas had been dropped off for a late lunch. It was a friendly, cosy place--just what we needed to warm us from the cold, wet forest.
That evening, more hearty food and beer at Martin's Brau (yes, very excited by this) in Freiburg. I was all flushed from the cold air and exertion and Xander a bit dopey and tired and full. A great feeling to have--full and exhausted from a good day of activity. Home to bed.
The next day we actually wake up at a normal hour and have breakfast at the campsite. We sit at the chairs near the reception area and watch the hippies and the hippie kids walk by.
It's interesting that we separate ourselves from them--aren't we slightly hippie too for staying at this place, walking from our hut to the bathroom with our toilet paper in hand? Maybe not, since we hike with North Face gear on?
Still raining. Hard. But we decide to be troopers and head off for our longer, 15 KM walk to Sint Peter, a little "typical Black Forest" town.
Again, a beautiful walk through the rain, where we came upon a little wood where they were letting the trees fall and leaving them there to study the forest and its behavior. It was surreal and quietly beautiful.
At the end, all of a sudden we were out of the forest. It was really sort of dreamlike in the clouds as we walked out of the trees.
As the clouds lifted, the town was reavealed to us.
It was so quiet, and as we came to the town, we ran into a herd of goats who followed us, their little bells tinkling, and a sweet little beagle, happy to see us and walk with us a while. It all seemed like another reality somehow.
We jumped on the bus in Sint Peter, exhausted and ready for a good meal. Then to the train to get back to Freiburg, and from there it was a good walk even to our campsite. After I cursed the map, the girl at the front desk of our campsite who said the walk was "nice", the Forest, the rain, and Xander, we arrived home, showered, and hit yet another brewery in Freiburg for dinner and beer.
At which point I appreciated the hike--but not so much the skinny German student waitress who was flirting with my boyfriend as I sat there stupid and only able to say "danke". Danke, indeed, for flirting with my man, sister. I may look nice, but don't push me.
As soon as our heads hit the pillow that night we were out cold.
The next day, Xander has chosen a walk for crazy people who punish themselves for bad deeds. I don't agree that we are crazy nor have committed bad deeds, however it seems that we are taking this walk with very, very steep inclines at the beginning. I actually cry it is so painful. But then Xander tells me to suck it up, which I do. And then feel very embarrassed that I cried, just like a chick. Because shortly thereafter, we rise out of the trees to see Freiburg below, and it's actually (brace yourself) NOT RAINING. So we can see stuff! This we enjoy.
And then it starts raining again and it's all downhill from there. Literally, because we take a wrong turn which leads us downhill, far downhill, and we are enjoying ourselves going downhill of course, but then we stop and realize we are off course. And go even farther off course as we try to correct ourselves, and then my heel is very painful, and we think it is my boot rubbing on the bone, and Xander says we should go back, and I tell him that he is smoking crack and I am not walking all the way back up. And so we go down, defeated, to a small town we find. We have some soup at a litte Gäst-Haus where there is a woman dressed like Heidi and I can hardly contain myself. Still raining, and we take the bus home. Sad, but also having learned the third lesson of the trip.
Lesson #3: Look at every sign on a hike very closely so you don't get lost.
We console ourselves by going to the Ganter Brauhaus again for the biggest roast dinner ever, and strudel for dessert, and liqueur, the whole bit. The waitress gives us gummy hamburgers after we eat, I'm not sure why. Because we are little piggies? I steal the menu from this place, we love it so much. And I feel very, very naughty for doing so and Xander and I feel very exhilarated from this high life of crime we live. We're such losers.
We decide to have a drink at a bar which I thought was cosy because they had hairspray in the girl's bathroom (which I used! I'm such a product whore!) but actually turned out to be a strange place where the locals were trying to start shit with Xander, and the bartenders seemed totally drugged up. It was a strange end to a fun night of crime, and we went home feeling weird but happy to move on to the Alps the next day. See ya later, Freiburg!
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