My next destination was Germany. I boarded a train in Marseille for Basel, Switzerland, as that is the best place from which I could catch a train to Freiburg, Germany, where my friend lives and studies as of the moment.
The train ride itself was pleasant, and I was able to get some sleep and listen to music. I had to switch trains in Geneva, Switzerland which went smoothly. When I got into Basel, I called my friend to see if she could check online when the next train into Freiburg would be running. I had to wait a few hours, but I met a couple of Brazilian backpackers to chat with in the meantime. I was glad to finally board the train to Freiburg, as I knew that it was the final leg of my trip and I was a bit tired.
I arrived in Freiburg at about 7 AM and my friend was kind enough to pick me up at the train station. We ate a little breakfast at the station of delicious croissants and then she took me back to her dorm. Upon arriving I dropped all of my luggage and we both went to bed. She set up a nice mattress and duvet on the floor for me, which was actually pretty comfortable.
I didn’t wake up the next day until around 3 PM, and my friend was working on a final paper so I decided to take it easy and watch some movies on my computer. It was actually very necessary for me to take a day off before starting the usual sight seeing and exploring so it was good things panned out the way that they did.
Over the course of the next week my friend took me around Freiburg, and we did lots of cool things. She showed me the Christmas market, which was really beautiful and full of happy Germans drinking hot mulled wine and chatting. These types of markets are really popular in Germany apparently. They sell all sorts of crafts, food, drink, and even clothing sometimes. We went to the Munster cathedral, which was very impressive. It is considered by many to be the symbol of the city, and we paid a Euro each to go up to the top of one of the towers where there was a lovely circular view of the entire city. I took tons of pictures. One of the most impressive things about Freiburg is the fact that it is surrounded by the Black Forest, which I always imagined in my head would be flat, for some reason. It is actually a series of rolling hills and small mountains, with blankets of snow covering the tallest ones. We went hiking twice in different areas of the forest throughout the week and the scenery made me feel like I was in the middle of the shooting for the Lord of the Rings films. I half expected Rivendell to pop out of a hill around the corner while walking along a mountainside path.
After spending about a week in Freiburg, one of my friend’s friends asked us if we wanted to take a trip to Cologne over the weekend. I was reluctant since my budget was very tight and I was running out of money, but she was kind enough to offer to pay for our train tickets and hostel accommodations for one night in the city. I could not pass up an offer like that. Apparently she had received a scholarship and had a little extra money on hand. I made sure that she was fine with paying for me before deciding to go. It took about 7 hours by train to get to Cologne from Freiburg, as we had to keep changing regional trains, which tend to take longer than the much faster high-speed ICE trains. We left Freiburg at about 8 AM and managed to get into Cologne at around 3 PM the same day. A great deal of the train ride was along the Rhein River, which is incredibly captivating. Jagged hills carve the river valley, and as one passes villages which seem trapped in time, the ruins of castles from centuries past line the hills above. I’ve never seen anything like it. It gives you a real rush of emotions. As for Cologne, the first thing that catches one’s eye is the giant Kölner Dom cathedral, which is the largest Gothic cathedral in the world, supposedly. It wasn’t hard to believe however, as this cathedral is one of the most beautiful and impressive pieces of architecture that I’ve ever seen in my life. Black, towering spires jut into the sky and you have to crane your neck to see the top. My fascination with churches had plenty of fodder with this cathedral, and once again I couldn’t help but imagine how much wealth and power such a structure once symbolized, and still does I suppose, for some people. It’s ironic how some of the most beautiful creations of mankind, like Christian cathedrals, are nevertheless representative of centuries of persecution, violence, and manipulation of the poor by the rich, of the ‘uncivilized’ by the ‘enlightened’.
We met up with a German whom my friend knows, who is from Cologne and was home for the holidays. He was incredibly friendly and spoke English very, very well. He took us out to a brewery/restaurant where we sampled some traditional German fare. I had a veal dumpling dish with pasta and my friends had some more typical bratwurst. The food was modestly priced and the beer was cheap, which was great. We later went out to a local bar and eventually made our way back to our hostel at about 1:30 AM. The next morning we woke up and made our way to get a closer, more intimate look at the cathedral. The inside was full of grandeur and elegant architecture, with beautiful stained glass coupled with arched ceilings and pillars. We went up one of the towers that were open to the public, although my deathly fear of heights prevented me from going up too far. I feel like that particular fear has actually gotten worse as I’ve grown older. We came back to Freiburg feeling like we had really accomplished something, although we were all in need of showers and some added sleep.
The last time I went up hiking in the Black Forest was actually only a few days before I left the country. We took a train and then a bus to the outskirts of the city and then took a lift up to a place called the Schauinsland, which literally translates to 'look into the country'. It's a small mountain with an elevation of about 3,300 ft above sea level. It was so cool! When we got the top we could look down and see the low cloud cover, and also to our south we could see the Swiss Alps! We at first tried to hike back down but the trail looked really dangerous and we decided not to risk falling to our deaths on accident. So we took another lift back down.
Germany is a very intriguing country to me. There is a sense of in-between about everything. Medieval architecture lives on in more isolated villages while BMWs fill the motorways barely miles away. There is a sense of the desire to preserve the past while embracing the future head on, something which is severely lacking in many places in the U.S. in my opinion. In the same day, one can go hiking in the Black Forest and sample traditional bratwurst with fried onions while shopping at H&M later and having döner kebabs, the Turkish specialty which I became very addicted to during my time spent in the country. The Germans must love them too, as one can’t walk more than two blocks without seeing at least one on a street corner. It’s ironic to me how I’ve noticed that some Germans criticize the Turkish population for not assimilating enough into German culture, by learning the language or having German social standards, and yet I have no doubts that Germans would be very sad to lose the presence of Turkish food in their country. I’m not saying Americans are better people, and that they aren’t racist, because they are, very much so, but it was an interesting observation for me.
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