Freiburg and Staufen, Germany - Bavaria Part II

Pictures ENLARGE if you click on them. It was lightly raining when we arrived in Freiburg Germany, but we still had a great time walking around.

This metal alligator was in a stream that ran through the middle of the town.

We always liked seeing the "Smart" cars in Europe, much smaller than the typical cars in the States.
When we leftFreiburg, we drove to Staufen, Germany and stayed at the Hotel Die Gasthaus Krone. This was the nicest hotel we stayed at in Germany. Above is a photo of our room.
The most famous inhabitant of Staufen was Johann Georg Faust, the legendary alchemist and magician whose character was depicted in Goethe’s piece “Faustus”. Faust was employed as a “goldmaker” by the lord of the castle Anton von Staufen. In 1539 Faust was found dead in his room in the hotel “Lion”, allegedly killed by a chemical explosion.
Faust (c1480 - 1539), an actual historical figure who sparked urban legends in his own day, was reputed to have sold his soul to the devil for 24 years of prosperity and magical power. He died in the town of Staufen and fuelled speculation that the devil had claimed him, body and soul, in fulfilment of his pact.

This is the view from our room.

There was a castle in ruins at the top of a hill in Staufen that you could see from our room.
The courtyard of the Staufen castle could shelter 1,000 people. The Staufen castle stems from the 11th century and was supposedly built to protect the silver mines in the adjacent Muenster valley that provided the main income for the Counts of Staufen.
Today, the land around the Staufen castle is cultivated by winegrowers who produce one of Germany’s great wines.
Use the search box at the bottom of this page to find previous postings on London, Amsterdam, Japan, Germany, Austria, Yellowstone, New York, Boston, Switzerland, Alps, Plymouth Mass., Washington DC, San Francisco, Manila, San Diego or Quebec.

Baden-Baden and Freiburg, Germany - Bavaria

Grüss Gott! Catherine and I went to Germany on a trip. We flew into Frankfurt International Airport in southern Germany in the Bavaria (Bayern) region. We rented a car and drove to Baden-Baden and spent the night.

Pictures enlarge if you click on them.

Catherine in front of our rental car.

It was nice to have the freedom of having our own car and to travel independently.

Our hotel room in Baden-Baden.

Catherine walking around Baden-Baden

Baden-Baden is located on the western foothills of the Black Forest and had beautiful parks and was very lush and green.

We enjoyed walking around Baden-Baden and it helped us recover from our jet lag.


From Baden-Baden we drove south to the Black Forest (Schwarzwald). The Black Forest is a wooded mountain range in southwestern Germany.

A hotel on a lake in the Black forest.

That afternoon we arrived in the town of Freiburg. Our first stop was for some lunch. We found this great Italian restaurant, but the Italian dishes listed on the menu in German were beyond my college German. Fortunately one of the cooks spoke English and helped us make our selection. The food was great, as it was through out our trip to Germany.

Freiburg is a beautiful small university town on the western edge of the Black forest.

Bächle (water channel in the street)

The city has a system of gutters called Bächle that run throughout its center. These Bächle, once used to provide water to fight fires and feed livestock, are constantly flowing with water diverted from the Dreisam. The Bächle were never used for sewage, as such usage could lead to harsh penalties, even in the middle ages. It is said that if you step in a Bächle, you will marry a Freiburger, or 'Bobbele'.

We discovered one thing that was especially helpful through out our trip. When ever we arrived in a town where parking was difficult, we looked for the signs to the train station (Bahnhof). There were always good signs directing you to where the train station was located, it was always near the center of town, and we always found plenty of parking. Although it was sometimes expensive.

Use the search box at the bottom of this page to find previous postings on London, Amsterdam, Japan, Germany, Austria, Yellowstone, New York, Boston, Switzerland, Alps, Plymouth Mass., Washington DC, San Francisco, Manila, San Diego or Quebec.