Freiburg, Germany

We want to get back into the routine of travelling again. Since Elly's been born we've just put it on the back burner because it was so much easier to stay home. Not near as interesting though. Not only that, but we want to take advantage of the opportunity we have being here in Europe. There are so many places yet that we would like to see. We know we're here for several more years, but that time will go quickly and I don't want to get to the end of our time here and have regrets that we didn't see more places.

So with that in mind, we decided to check out a town not too far from us one weekend in early September. We went to Freiburg, Germany.

Elly's stroller had been packed away for some time and she was excited to see it again. It was folded down, but she climbed right in and made herself comfortable.

We went to Freiburg on a Saturday so we were able to enjoy the local market. I think most towns in Germany (maybe even Europe wide, but I can't say for sure) have a Saturday market. It's such a nice tradition that I'm really glad they've held on to. This market was in the Munsterplatz right beside St. Martin's Cathedral. There is no better place to buy fresh produce and flowers than on open air market like this.

Such beautiful flowers!

Looking up at the bell tower from the entrance to St. Martin's Cathedral.

I would love to know what all these figurines represent. There are so many carvings. I'm always amazed at the attention to detail that was put into the old buildings here in Europe.

I knew nothing about the history of this cathedral so I looked it up in Wikipedia. The construction on it started around 1200. It was partly built on the foundation of an original church that had been there from the beginning of Freiburg in 1120.

It survived the bombing raids in November 1944, which destroyed all of the houses on the west and north sides of the market. Once again...I LOVE the rich history here in Germany!

Take a close look at the picture above. Do you see anything unusual??

Bet you never saw this on a cathedral before :) From what I understand, it was constructed to aim the bare behind directly toward the building that housed the Catholic church leaders. According to historians, it was an in-your-face "thanks for nothing" gesture from the Freiburgers, who had to build and finance St. Martin's with no financial help from the Catholic church. Interesting...



These little canals, called Freiburger Bächle, flow alongside many of the streets in Freiburg's old town. Originally, they were used for sewers and to provide craftsmen with water, but today they flow with clean water and you see lots of kids playing in them, especially on a hot day like it was when we were there.

Legend has it that if you step into one of these canals, you must return to Freiburg one day.

We had to encourage Elly to play in the water. She was reluctant at first, but once she did it she had fun with it.







Before we headed back to Stuttgart, we had lunch at a little streetside cafe. Our seats were right beside a canal, so Elly had fun cooling off in the water while we waited for our food. We had a really nice day and were glad we got out of the house and had a little adventure in a new town.