Saturday, December 10, 2005

The Freiburg Express

Now I think I know how Harry Potter feels when he boards the Hogwarts Express each fall. While I was not waiting on platform 9 ¾ at Kings Cross Station to go to Howarts, I eagerly waited on platform 3 at the Zoo Station yesterday afternoon for the ICE train that would carry me to the equally magical Freiburg!

My adventure began when I sat down next to a woman carrying a Trader Joe’s bag. She looked relieved when I asked her (in English) about it. As it turned out she works for USAID and just moved from DC to South Carolina. She had been in Berlin for 2 months with her husband and was returning back to the States via Frankfurt. Of all the people I could sit next to on the entire train…incredible!

The ride flew by and I felt very at peace arriving at the train station. The weather was mild, the people friendly and I knew the streetcar system already. On the way into town, I was happy to see that little had changed. There was still a swanky hotel near the train station, the concert hall and movie theater are still going strong and the main intersection in town still seemed to be the center of activity.



Schlappen is even better than ever. Of course it is best shared with friends, but the fries and garlic sauce were still AWESOME! I didn’t visit the men’s bathroom this time, due mainly to the fact that I didn’t have a cohort in crime egging me on. If you have no idea what I am talking about, all I can say is visit Freiburg;-)


I worked off the fries with a walk to the cathedral. While it is not Germany's oldest, tallest, most visited, etc... cathedral, it is glorious! It can best be described as the wise old sage of the town. It stands quietly and humbly in the middle of the Munsterplatz, imposing and welcoming at the same time.




Later in the evening I caught the end of the star-studded World Cup Soccer first round game announcement. It was quite a shindig--Heidi Klum, Pele, prancing German magicians and Angela Merkel (who looked really out of her element!)

4 Comments:

At 3:42 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

My mouth is watering looking at those fries. Erin, please do whatever you can to get the receipe for the sauce. And I mean ANYTHING! Anuradha :)

 
At 8:15 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Is that the same restroom my Dad visited? Or did Dad visit one in a different bar?

[NAME WITHHELD TO PROTECT ME FROM DAD]

 
At 8:24 AM, Blogger Erin said...

Indeed we are referring to the same bathroom. I don't really want to say anymore than that for fear of incriminating me, you or your dad. Needless to say I am currently LOL!

 
At 5:21 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

thought, I let you know that the magician was not german...greetings from leipzig :-)

alex

 

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