Stadthotel Freiburg Kolping Hotels & Resorts Freiburg im Breisgau

... The first part of the climb was easy - there was a lift going up to a restaurant. From there we climbed a fairly steep path around the hill (the Rundweg our going-round way) until we came to some very steep concrete steps and made our way up all 288 of them. This brought us to the foot of a lookout tower, so we had some more steps to climb! 186 steps later, we were at the top of the tower. The GPS said we were at 509.7m high - when I checked at the bottom of the ...

We caught the wrong train and wound up in Gengenbach. While we were waiting for a train back we met a lady who told us the town had a beautiful old-town section. So we went discovering again. After a good look around we stopped at a pub while we were waiting for the next train and got talking to the owner. Turns out he'd been to Australia on holiday, so we had a good time talking to him until it was time to go.

Day trip from Villingen. Wolfach has a factory cum tourist attraction where they blow the glass manually. It was good to watch them making vases etc. in the traditional way. The highlight for me was dobbing Roz in to get up on the stage and blow her own vase. She did a good job, and we bought the vase and brought it home. A very special souvenir.

Home of the world famous Hubert Herr clock factory. Met Reinhard Herr, Hubert's great grandson, who still owns and runs the place. The clocks are still handmade and handcarved in the traditional designs. They even make their own clock movements. Spent an hour or so talking to the gentleman, and he explained ...

Stayed here a couple of nights. Just a really pretty place in the heart of the Black Forest. Got my first look at a woodcarvers shop and was blown away by the quality of the work. The fine detail has to be seen in person to be truly appreciated. Snow everywhere ...

This was what I really came to Europe for. Freiburg was just the beginning of an awesome adventure for me. The mountains and the forest and the cake. We caught a cable car up to the top of the mountain and wandered in the snow. Got some great photos. We made Freiburg our base and toured a fair bit around the region. Spent a night here and there and came back to Freiburg for the festival. Took about two hundred photos in two hours one day; they had a ...

... Though I wish I could have been home for Thanksgiving, I am thankful for the Thanksgiving that we did get to have. The weekend is to be full of studying. I have 3 more papers to write and 1 more class to prepare a presentation. Then comes Model EU at the end of the week. Busy times, busy times. However, I am not near as pessimistic about it anymore. That is definitely a good sign. 21 days to go though until I get to be home! I am so excited!

Arrived in Freiburg, Germany!! Firstly apologise fort he many spelling mistakes I made in the previous blog. I tried my best on a French keyboard, but it was a challenge to say the least... German keyboards still appear to be different but closer to the English and Dutch keyboards! DAY 5 - Chaumont to Xertigny- "Can´t get any wetter than that" (294 - 429 km´s) Honestly, it just rained and rained for the whole 135 kms we were riding, temperature ...

We finally went dancing tonight. The diskotheks are very nice here and have student nights on tuesday. We ( the americans) took over the dance floor. The music they played was sooo much fun to dance to, unfortunately the guys who came with us were not very good at dancing. A lot of the German uni students there spent a lot of time ...

... our own laundry today! yeay! It was a big step considering that we don't speak that language and we were struggling to figure out how to get the soap, where to put the coins, etc. But I think it was a success...though knowing us, I'm sure we shrunk everything we have. Oh well. We spent the other day in Lake Como, Italy which was one of the most beautiful cities that we had ever been to. The lush green ...