FREIBURG, GERMANY

Germany trip!!  Raf's brother moved to Germany last August and over the winter we planned a trip with his parents to visit this summer.  We went in June, and feel so fortunate to have had the chance to visit his new home with his partner and to meet her family in Freiburg, Germany.  Freiburg is beautiful and so very special.  I love that it is such a sustainable, environmentally conscious city.  It isn't touristy, and has the perfect mix of old city and new.  There is so much nearby and plenty to do for both the city lover and the outdoor adventurer.  We flew into Frankfort from San Francisco, and then took a train to Freiburg (I think it was about two hours, but I was TIRED).  After a delay and missing our connecting train, we finally arrived.  We had a bit of a difficult time finding our people once we were there, but after finding a Starbucks with wifi in the train station, we were finally able to meet up.  After settling into our apartment we were staying at, our host took us to have dinner with her family at a wonderful restaurant way up in the forest at a place called St. Ottilien!  The food was SO GOOD.  And seriously, it was way up in the forest.  Also, I must say, every single salad I had in Germany was perfectly and deliciously dressed.  I don't know what the secret is, but I keep attempting to recreate it at home...

This is what we ate at St. Ottilien, along with a really, really good salad:

Pfifferling (chanterelle) and brown mushroom  knodel (dumpling made from stale bread).  SO delicious!

Spinach and ricotta tortellini with arugula.

Raf in the Old City.

Old city.

The family walking through the old city gate with our new friend, Werner.

Pretty side streets.

On our second day we biked around the city and stumbled upon the most lovely cemetery:

Raf's mom biking along in the cemetery.

We also took a cable car up into the mountains of the Black Forest.  It was so beautiful.  Once at the top, we took a hike up to a lookout tower.  When we hiked back down, we stopped at the cafe that was located in the cable car building.  Our tickets included a hot beverage and a slice of cake.  Between the six of us, we tried 5 different cakes and split them (we double up on the black forest cake! :).  All of the cakes were DELICIOUS, and my cappuccino was perfect.  We happily took the cable car back down to the city to continue on with the day's adventure.  Which of course included watching the World Cup.  We got to watch a German game while we there and it was a lot of fun!

Going up!

Looking down from the car.

View from the lookout tower at the top.

Another view.

Yep, another view.  It was so serene.

Some silly (okay, lame) graffiti near our apartment.

One very cool place to go is the Münsterplatz, which is the plaza around the cathedral in the old city. There is an open air market there (I believe every day except Sunday) where you can shop for produce, baked goods, and specialty items (herbs, soaps, etc.).  You can also eat lunch at one of the many wurst stands.  We ate tofuwurst (from a German company called Taifun) twice and it was ridiculously good.  We also went up to the top of the munster (cathedral) for a nice view of the city:

We did a lot of traveling in between our time in Freiburg (in Germany, France, and Switzerland), but more on that soon.   On our last night before heading home we ate at a yummy restaurant in a nearby city called Ihringen, Germany.  I don't remember the name of the restaurant, but their food was really good (and plentiful) and everything was garnished so beautifully.  Also (of course), the salad was delicious -- not too oily, not too vinegary.  Just perfect and maybe a little bit of lemon juice?  The soup below belonged to Raf's brother, but I had to get a photo of its loveliness!

The prettiest tomato soup.

It was awesome to have been able to travel, be with family, and to have such amazing tour guides who have now become our friends.  The best way to see a new place (especially in a foreign country) is with locals, and off the beaten (tourist) path.  I always, always prefer going to the places the locals go, whether that is a restaurant, a special hike, or for the best local beer.  What a wonderful, magical trip it was!

The view from one of the balconies in our apartment.