2026-04-11 Freiburg im Breisgau
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We are spending some time in Freiburg im Breisgau. Mostly drinking
coffee, eating cake, and then walking, hiking and jogging, trying to
lose those calories again.

A view of a city from a tower on a hill. A single trail along an
incline with the trees growing their first leaves in spring. The
cherry trees in the forest are in bloom as well, the problem is that
when you’re down below it’s hard to see. Here, we’re looking across
the cherry trees at some distant mountains and they’re white as if
miraculous snow had fallen. My wife and I, with sunglasses, grinning
the selfie-grin. A trail along the hill tops in a light forest A
trail through a forest in spring with bare trees and green grass

Things I noticed in Freibug im Breisgau: homeless people. I’m not used
to seeing them. What happens to the homeless people in Zürich, are
there option for them or is the police evicting them? And where to?

Late at night, there are mountains of trash bags to pick up at every
corner. So much trash for one or two containers per corner. The city
needs underground containers, I guess.

@galaxis@mastodon.infra.de explained that these yellow trash bags are
for the "recyclable plastics" collection. These are collected
separately from the rest because this trash collection is paid for by
the companies using plastic packaging whereas the other trash is paid
for by taxes. I'm not convinced that it's working as intended.

There are lots of bikes and lots of cargo bikes. There is no strong
separation between cars and bike lanes. Damn car culture.

Also, far fewer pedestrian crossings than I’m used to. As soon as I’m
away from the touristy zones I feel like I’m tempting fate by
recklessly crossing the road. I hate car culture.

OK, I laughed when I saw this pedestrian crossing far away from the
city centre. I guess they aren’t used to pedestrian crossings.

A one way street and a pedestrian crossing, surrounded by four (!)
signs announcing it.

There a lot of trams but they call it the “city train”.

There is some sort of election coming up and it seems that all the
popular candidates want to support education, make child care more
affordable, get rents under control, and protect the environment. I
saw one single ad for the Christian democrats that rule the country
and it said that the candidate was “good for the country”. I guess
he’s out of ideas. I saw no AFD ads.

There are a lot of birds, here.

I liked the botanical garden but the glass house is closed on Fridays!

What I don’t understand is that occasionally, I’ve seen a dozen
policemen and their van; or today: a street nearly blocked by a van
and maybe twenty policemen or more, and a tiny, tiny protest in front
of a church. What was it about? I don’t know, I didn’t want to talk to
the police. What a way to treat protest.

My wife kept saying that there were more police than in Zürich when a
“difficult” football match is about to happen. I’m not sure I buy it
but I’m the kind of guy who feels unsettled by the presence of police.
If they are necessary because of my safety, I feel unsafe. If they are
here unnecessarily, I feel unsafe, too.

What I was fascinated with is the history of Freiburg im Preisgau:
from the Zähringers, who also ruled over Zürich a few hundred years
ago, then hundreds of years with the Habsburgs, then about two dozen
years with the French, who had Vauban build formidable
fortifications, and blew it all up when they left…

The city center on the weekend is crowded! I’m happy we picked
Wednesday to Saturday for our stay. Taking the train home in a bit,
but for now drinking some lavender-grapefruit limo and eating mushroom
sandwich.

In terms of shops, I noticed more bookshops, more shoe shops and more
concept stores than I expected. Concept stores sell I don’t know what
– accessories? Furniture? Deco? It all makes for interesting window
shopping and commenting. 😄

Links:

@babelcarp@social.tchncs.de recommended Freiburger Barockorchester.

@untergrundblaettle@mastodon.world has political underground news at
Untergrund Blättle.

Economy and marketing site where all sorts of events are listed:
Veranstaltungen in Freibaurg.

@galaxis@mastodon.infra.de recommended Tacker for the non-commercial
events.

Places we went to:

* La Pariesienne: Macaronnerie for macarons and coffee;

* Markthalle Freiburg for our first dinner;

* Hotel Oberkirchs Weinstuben for our second dinner;

* Zum Roten Bären for our last dinner (apparently this restaurant is
  from 1120);

* au contraire, for coffee and cake;

* Café Norso, without a website 🤨 for coffee and cake again;

* Botanischer Garten for the plants;

* Dreisam for jogging;

* Flückigersee for a walk;

* Schlossbergturm for the view.

#Pictures #Germany #Freiburg_im_Preisgau