Questioning
Der Schwarzwald - Part 4: Freiburg
Posted 09-17-2008 at 05:22 PM by itSFMe
As Noreia pointed out I'm gonna forget more about this holiday with every day that passes, and as I'm procrastinating any way, here is the fourth and last part about my holiday to der Schwarzwald 
Edit Ok, not last part - I'm way too much of a
apparently and didn't manage to wrap it up in one part 
As I told before, we were in Freiburg now - a wonderful sunny
city in the south-west of Germany. Though we had plans to go walking, canoeing and cycling we first decided to go and see Freiburg 
And that is definately a city worth seeing
It is an old city, though it has been severely bombed in the Second World War. The streets are paved with bricks, in Dutch we'd say "childheads" but apperently it is cobblestones in English
I'm not sure anymore whether much of the buildings are old, but the city did give an impression of having a rich history. And most of all, it felt very free 
I could perfectly understand that this was a "free city" in the past, being independent and a place to run to for people in exile. I can't describe why though, it just felt like a save place
We saw many things whilst walking through the city. Of course, we'd bought a city route with explination as it is nice to see something and when you ask yourself "what is the story behind this" get some sort of answer
I'm not gonna play guide in this blog, but I did feel like one for a little while 
Not that I know Freiburg, but when we visited the big church (Freiburg Münster medieval cathedral) I totally surprised myself and my friends by explaining about the symbolism in there. Not that it was very difficult, as it started with my friend asking "who are all those people", meaning the many saints which were "sculptured" into the entrance. I explained them about saints and their role in the Catholic Church and they looked at me like I knew something special 
I thought that was general knowledge, at least when you've visited Rome and seen some of its churches (which I know they both have). Any how, I might have talked more that hour in the church than during our whole holiday I kept stressing that I wasn't sure about it all, but apperently I did tell some interesting stuff. Like about how rich families bought parts of the church to lay there families in and payed for windows in which they then of course wanted to be portrayed like heroes 
And how they wanted to be descendants of holy people, how in the glass windows sometimes taboos can be seen if you know the symbolism, how services were given mostly in Latin and thus images/sculptures/windows were very important to tell stories etc. I think I had them definately stunned when the asked about the little angel faces which were to be seen almost everywhere we looked. I told them those angel faces could be looked at as the little children who had died, as child death was a big issue back then - stressing though that that wasn't the only way to look at them, just one of the many I started to cite a poem of the Dutch writer Vondel:
I'm sorry that I'm
on about my guiding capacities 
It is just, I remembered again how much fun history can be, and then especially the details So for me it was a funny experience, though I was very doubtful about loads of stuff and wanted to look it up 
Of course, we also visited the (bell) tower of the cathedral. I think it is wonderful how those towers are see through
Amazing craftsmanship 
And of course, the view:
What I really liked about the streets of Freiburg were the "gutters", or as I later found out "Bächle". These are magnificantly described in wikipedia, so I'm not even gonna try to say this in my own words. I just wanna say that I did walk in them, and that I have absolutely no intention of marrying
There is also a river floating through the city, with very dangerous animals in them
What more is there to say? Well... loads and loads and loads. How a big part of the population is (cultural) students, how you see many punks on the streets, how the city comes even more to live after 22h, how you're allowed to buy beer/wine at the supermarket and drink it in great groups on for example the Augustinerplatz (outside), how we haven't seen any police, how the food is delicious and how you get loads for little money, how the drug policy seems to be the same as in the Netherlands, how art galleries are still open after midnight, how you can see a wonderful heaven full of stars if you do just one step outside the gloam of the lanterns ... etc ...
Ow my, this is way too long a story to go talking about the next couple of days in the area of Freiburg I guess we'll have a part 5
Thanks for reading and take care you all
Edit Ok, not last part - I'm way too much of a
apparently and didn't manage to wrap it up in one part As I told before, we were in Freiburg now - a wonderful sunny
city in the south-west of Germany. Though we had plans to go walking, canoeing and cycling we first decided to go and see Freiburg And that is definately a city worth seeing It is an old city, though it has been severely bombed in the Second World War. The streets are paved with bricks, in Dutch we'd say "childheads" but apperently it is cobblestones in English
I'm not sure anymore whether much of the buildings are old, but the city did give an impression of having a rich history. And most of all, it felt very free I could perfectly understand that this was a "free city" in the past, being independent and a place to run to for people in exile. I can't describe why though, it just felt like a save place We saw many things whilst walking through the city. Of course, we'd bought a city route with explination as it is nice to see something and when you ask yourself "what is the story behind this" get some sort of answer
I'm not gonna play guide in this blog, but I did feel like one for a little while Not that I know Freiburg, but when we visited the big church (Freiburg Münster medieval cathedral) I totally surprised myself and my friends by explaining about the symbolism in there. Not that it was very difficult, as it started with my friend asking "who are all those people", meaning the many saints which were "sculptured" into the entrance. I explained them about saints and their role in the Catholic Church and they looked at me like I knew something special I thought that was general knowledge, at least when you've visited Rome and seen some of its churches (which I know they both have). Any how, I might have talked more that hour in the church than during our whole holiday I kept stressing that I wasn't sure about it all, but apperently I did tell some interesting stuff. Like about how rich families bought parts of the church to lay there families in and payed for windows in which they then of course wanted to be portrayed like heroes And how they wanted to be descendants of holy people, how in the glass windows sometimes taboos can be seen if you know the symbolism, how services were given mostly in Latin and thus images/sculptures/windows were very important to tell stories etc. I think I had them definately stunned when the asked about the little angel faces which were to be seen almost everywhere we looked. I told them those angel faces could be looked at as the little children who had died, as child death was a big issue back then - stressing though that that wasn't the only way to look at them, just one of the many I started to cite a poem of the Dutch writer Vondel: Spoiler:
But I hope you get the meaning a bit... 
It probably didn't touch them as it did me I'm sorry that I'm
on about my guiding capacities It is just, I remembered again how much fun history can be, and then especially the details So for me it was a funny experience, though I was very doubtful about loads of stuff and wanted to look it up Of course, we also visited the (bell) tower of the cathedral. I think it is wonderful how those towers are see through
Amazing craftsmanship And of course, the view: Spoiler:
What I really liked about the streets of Freiburg were the "gutters", or as I later found out "Bächle". These are magnificantly described in wikipedia, so I'm not even gonna try to say this in my own words. I just wanna say that I did walk in them, and that I have absolutely no intention of marrying
Spoiler:
There is also a river floating through the city, with very dangerous animals in them
Spoiler:
What more is there to say? Well... loads and loads and loads. How a big part of the population is (cultural) students, how you see many punks on the streets, how the city comes even more to live after 22h, how you're allowed to buy beer/wine at the supermarket and drink it in great groups on for example the Augustinerplatz (outside), how we haven't seen any police, how the food is delicious and how you get loads for little money, how the drug policy seems to be the same as in the Netherlands
, how art galleries are still open after midnight, how you can see a wonderful heaven full of stars if you do just one step outside the gloam of the lanterns ... etc ... Spoiler:
Ow my, this is way too long a story to go talking about the next couple of days in the area of Freiburg
I guess we'll have a part 5 Thanks for reading and take care you all
Total Comments 6
Comments
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It sounds (so far) like it was an amazing trip, and I for one really appreciate you sharing this with all of us - especially the pictures...
Thank you!Posted 09-17-2008 at 06:34 PM by mugsy_358
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Wow I didn't expect you to post another part today, glad I could convince you to do so
Freiburg seems to be a really beautiful city! Sounds like you had a great time, thanks for sharing
PS: Yummy, Erdinger Weißbier
Posted 09-17-2008 at 07:20 PM by Noreia -
i love that last pic of you, sort of says like : oh no you didn't just pull that camera out and aimed it at me but i know the feeling . Yes looks like a lovely city to visit and again sounds like a great adventure Posted 09-17-2008 at 11:02 PM by angelstar -
that last photo it looks like you saw the camera and thought " oh great! that thing again!!"
Or you were thinking of how much you'd like to hit the camera personPosted 09-18-2008 at 12:24 AM by bg38 -
Looking forward to read more!!Posted 09-18-2008 at 01:46 AM by neija -
An interesting and informative post as usual SFM Great pics and I look forward to Part 5.Posted 09-18-2008 at 08:36 PM by sasquatch
