A couple of weeks ago, I was fortunate enough to go on a trip to Schwarzwald (the Black Forest) organised by the Summer School. I wanted to write about the experience separately in a short post, but it’s taken me until now to finish the post! It’s still very clear in my memory.
I had to wake up bright and early for the trip (6am!) It took us a few hours on the bus to reach our destinations: firstly Schwarzwald, followed by a visit to its unofficial capital city, Freiburg.
But the coach journey was far from boring, however. It was possibly one of my favourite bits of the day – sitting back and relaxing, taking in all the wonderful open space before my eyes.
Our first stop was Mummelsee in the Black Forest. We stopped there for just half an hour to break the journey, but there was time to take a stroll around the lake.
It was very picturesque, and is on my long list of places to return to with more time.
Our next stop was the “Schwarzwälder Freilichtmuseum” (living museum of the Black Forest) at Vogtsbauernhof where we were able to walk inside preserved, old Black Forest houses and see objects from hundreds of years ago, including typical cuckoo clocks [pictured below]. If anyone’s been to the one of England’s Victorian living museums, it felt a bit like that!
After our trip to the museum, we had a couple of hours left to drive on to the University city of Freiburg – known for its modern, ecological transport system. Our course tutor was originally from Freiburg, and said he preferred the city to Heidelberg. I’m not sure I could make that decision – both were beautiful in their own way.
Our tour guide took us into the cathedral – both a romanesque and gothic style. I was particularly impressed by the stained glass windows and the symbolic carvings of women on the ceiling of the cathedral’s entrance.
Despite bombings in wartime, the cathedral has survived and is the oldest of its kind in Germany – a Gothic cathedral built in the Middle Ages.
After the cathedral visit we went for a stroll through the Altstadt (old city), and also had a look at the modern University campus.
The only downside of the trip was that there wasn’t much time to spend in Freiburg itself. I hope to go back some day so that I can look around properly by myself, as opposed to in a big group/tourguide situation.
More to follow soon!
Bis bald,
–misspraxic
The Misspraxic Blog 