Boutiques and Baguettes of Freiburg

Freiburg, perched on the edge of the Black Forest in southern Germany, is an idyllic little community and university town. And a propos, I arrived in the Freiburg Hauptbanhof to visit my cousin Helen and her partner Marian (who is a man - Marian is a masculine name in Germany) who are university students there for a couple of days. Freiburg's mood was overcast and rainy for the duration of my visit but that didn't stop me from thoroughly exploring...mainly by teetering through the cobblestone streets on foot.

Helen and Marian are lovely - they are two peas in a pod, both studying to be teachers at Education University (the "PH") in Freiburg. It has been a decade since I spent time with Helen and she has become this fabulous, sophisticated (but not so much so to avoid caving in to my silly sense of humour) young woman. While Helen and Marian went duly to class, my first day alone in Freiburg was an orgy of boutique shopping and German pastries. I made a beeline for the first poppyseed cake (my all-time favorite) that I saw, and found the most fabulous red suede jacket... of course I can't wear it now but I joked with Helen that it would be my prime incentive for getting fit again after the baby. I checked out the Augustiner museum to see some religious art and a Modern Art museum, which was just weird. It wasn't so much the galleries that were impressive, it was the thrill of having no agenda and the ability to wander around decadently and spend a rainy afternoon pondering the meaning of art and life.

Overall, I am loving the German sense of bold color, form, and natural elements. Eating a brie sandwhich on great bread while sitting on a modernist block of hewn natural wood in a cafe feels so simple and yet so rich. Germans evidently have a passion for crazy frames on their glasses in wild shapes and colors, and all of them look so intelligent. Have I mentioned that I'm convinced that Germans make the best bread in the world? The Atkins program could never take off here. My stay in Freiburg came to an end too quickly, and all too soon Helen was seeing me off at the Hauptbanhof as I boarded my overnight train to Prague.