The Zaringer Tower cat!
Driving in to Gundelfingen we would see this tower in the distance- we didn't know it was Zaringer!
Bier & Limette... for medicinal purposes.
Headed out for the PO for the package we went for yesterday (our main reason for going) and didn't pick up. It was from NANCY! Jane got a nice haul of Hiaasen books.
We dropped Jane's car off at the Audi dealer (this is the original home of the cookie dust. When you get them, they aren't dust, but after they ride around in your purse for a while, they become like fine crumbs. In an emergency, they work.)
The Audi dealership said to come back in 4 hours, and they gave us 4 tram tickets. We jumped on a tram and went into Freiburg. We walked over to the Münsterplatz Markt and bought 2 rolls (1 with pumpkin seeds, 1 with sunflower seeds), 2 cheese-filled mushrooms, a bunch of cheese-filled olives, some artichoke spread, and a slice of Alsace cheese. We were about a quart low on cheese at this time.
The Platz was filled with people and vendors, and there were lots of small children playing in the Bächle. The Bächle is an ancient system of fresh mountain water which flows in narrow channels on either side of the street. In the old days they were used for many purposes: to keep the streets sanitary, to fight fires, to water horses and cows. Today they still keep the streets clean, but they are also a mighty attraction to small children and there is even a legend that if you fall into the Bächle, you will marry in Freiburg. We stopped to watch one toddler make his way down the Bächle. There is a movie of it coming.
We headed over to the Galleria Kaufhof, a large department store, so I could use the bathroom. On the way through Jane lifted, I mean liberated, a knife from the cafeteria. Then we went back downstairs and found a bench at the tram stop and set up another impromptu picnic. We were feeling a little peckish, you know.
After our picnic, we went back into Kaufhof and shopped for a new rucksack for Jane.
We headed back out and shopped a little around the Münsterplatz, then happened upon a small fest set up at the Rathaus. There were tables and some food and beer kiosks. We hadn't eaten anything for about a half an hour, and Currywurst was still on our list, so we stopped and had Currywurst, Pommes and a couple of beers. Did some reading and some people watching - people watching was especially good because Friday is the day people get married at the Rathaus (Town Hall.) We saw lots of brides emerging from the Rathaus with their pretty dresses (red, navy, lavender - only one white dress) and their flowers.
As we continued to walk around Freiburg, we saw three adorable little blonde girls sitting with their legs in the Bächle. They were so cute it had gathered a crowd and we got some great pictures of that.
We finally took the train back to the Audi dealer. The car was done - Miss Brigitte Moneypenny was back! Jane and I really missed her, especially on our drive to Idar-Oberstein. She has such a cute way of making the word "route" into 3 syllables.
We went up to the Gundelfingen Markt to stock up for any emergency picnicking. We got cheese-stuffed olives (we liked these better than the ones in F'burg), stinky gooey cheese that's called "Epoisses", and blue cheese, then over to the PennyMarkt for horsey sauce, mustard and more chocolate.
When we went to put the stuff in the trunk, the pieces of the top of the trunk fell in. The guys who had worked on the car had just left everything without screwing it back together. We stopped at home to put away the food. There was no sign of Big G, then he came shooting out of the bedroom and gave us a chance to love him up.
We headed back to the car dealership. The main guy told us to drive it into the bay and he would get the mechanic over there. The mechanic nearly jumped out of his skin when he walked into the bay and Jane and I are just sitting in the car, reading our books with the top down. He told Jane he had to get into the driver's seat but I could stay, then he started pulling the GPS system out of the dash. Jane and I are still nose-deep in our books. (I'm now reading Harlen Coben, she's reading the Garry Disher book I just finished, "Snapshot".) Finally it hits Jane that it's the TRUNK that needs fixing and she tells him so! He was just stunned - apparently the other guy told him the wrong thing... go figure. It took him only a few minutes to fix the trunk and we were off again.
We drove off and up into the Black Forest, up several sharp switchbacks and to a restaurant there, where we went in and asked for the key to the Zähringen Burg. We hiked a good distance up the mountain until coming to the Burg. It is a tall tower with some ruins around it - not very large by the standards of the ruins we have visited so far. The key was a huge old skeleton key, and it admitted us to the tower. We climbed to the top of the tower where there was a beautiful view. From one side we could see Jane's village. From another side we could see most of Freiburg (but not the Münst.) From another side we had a view of the windmills that sit on the mountain top behind Jane's village. The last view was of the most beautiful, peaceful hillside farm area I've ever seen. We could even hear the occasional "moooooooo." I could hardly take my eyes away from it, it was so green and beautiful.
We climbed back down from the tower and sat for a while reading on benches around the tower. After a while we climbed back down to the restaurant. It was the Zähringer Burg Waldrestaurant (forest restaurant.) It is very old and had interesting photos, paintings and etchings on the walls inside, including photos and etchings of the tower at different times.
We sat outside in a sunny spot - it's much cooler up in the Schwarzwald) and read until our waitress arrived. We ordered a couple of beers - our first bottled beers - Freiburger beers. We had hazelnut Spätzle, a big salad with piquant turkey strips and sauteed mushrooms, potato salad, shredded radish salad, cucumber salad and shredded carrot salad, and a Rösti (shredded fried potatoes fit neatly into interesting round pie shape) with cream mushroom sauce and leeks.
We drove back home to watch Chasing Liberty for the Praha scenes and few episodes of The Office.
No comments:
Post a Comment