Freiburg, Munich and Starnberg

We spent a year in Freiburg in 2002/3 so were really excited to go back and see how the place looked ten years on.  

As we arrived, I realised we hadn't bothered to look up how to get to our camping ground. We'd been there before and had just kind of assumed that we'd be able to find our way there just by jumping on the tram and remembering as we went along. I had a wee chat with the guy in the bookstore who gave us some directions, which were nothing like how I thought you'd get to the camping ground. I realised it was the place where the owner had told us off ten years ago when we had been passing through and had dared to wheel a shopping trolley in with our groceries. He'd told us that it made the place look like we lived under a bridge. Much to our delight, the same guy was still there, prancing about like he owned the place, which, admittedly, he does. The grounds were quite full, so we ended up with a bit of an arse spot, exposed to the hot sun. Mr Prancy tried to tell us that we'd get the morning sun, and 'then the shade will come'. It was in blazing hot sunlight all day as far as we could tell.

After setting up our tent, we walked into the city and straight to Café Atlantik, our regular punk pub from when we lived there. The chips and salad plate was still there and still only 5 euro. We were pleasantly surprised to see that the menu now listed several vegan options on request. We both had a plate of fried lardy chips and a Ganter beer, the local brew. Just as we had remembered, it was nothing special. The service was as grumpy and surly as we'd remembered too - it was all so nostalgic for us.

The next morning we tried to go to the café where people have wine for breakfast, but sadly it was closed on Mondays. We wandered around the small city, through the square and the Muenster, along the pretty little gutters, through the Martinstor gate, and visited some bookshops but K had no luck with the books she was looking for.  We tried to visit the library to check out the extensive board game collection, but it was closed. In the market square we found a tofu sausage hut where we bought curry wurst as if we were German.

After a little rest (it was stiflingly hot), we walked up the hill to the biergarten where we snuck in our own food – herb flavoured vegan cheese – and bretzeln. Traditional Bavarian biergartens let you bring your own food, so we didn't feel too bad although, admittedly we weren't in Bavaria. The view from up on the hill was really beautiful. I was nice to be reminded of how pretty Freiburg is.

We headed back to Café Atlantik the next evening – last chance for the potato for maybe another ten years.

The next morning we headed back to the station, via the newly discovered 'biosk' - yes, an organic kiosk. It really epitomised our view of Freiburg as a rich little idyllic green oasis. Somewhat shockingly, we also talked vaguely about moving back there some time, before slapping ourselves.

We had booked a bus to Munich. It was  described as ‘luxury’, including a bistro. I guess that is kind of luxury, but it just seems a bit budget taking an intercity bus in a country with one of the most extensive, reliable and modern rail networks in the world. Anyhoo, the bus trip was really pretty, travelling via Titisee, Bodensee, Friedrichshafen and on to Munich.

We took a taxi from the bus station to a camping ground that was really close to the city, but set in a beautiful forested area beside a river. Our taxi driver was incredibly nice and we had a great chat about New Zealand, travelling, why we spoke German, and his favourite topic - the drunken Australian and NZ dickheads who ruin Oktoberfest. Perhaps that's a bit harsh - he didn't quite say that, but probably only because he was so nice.

After pitching our tent in the rock hard ground, we wandered about by the river waiting for our friends R and J to turn up. They'd come all the way from Africa via Paris that day, so it was a pretty wonderful effort to come out for dinner with us. We had lovely catch-ups in a traditional (grumpy) biergarten serving all the great Bavarian cuisine: racks of lamb, lumps of pig, sauerkraut with bacon. We found a salad and chips; nothing like the luxury salad and chips of Atlantik.

We spent the next couple of days in Munich with R and J, doing a bit of café hopping and sightseeing. We passed through the viktualienmarkt, then  Marienplatz and up the Rathaus tower. We were down in the square early enough to watch the funny Rathaus clock do its thing with characters spinning around in a neatly choreographed show. Next we went to Frauenkirche, then to the Pinakothek gallery for a spot of van Gogh et al. 

Once it had stopped raining we headed for Max Pett restaurant on recommendation from a girl working in a vegan clothes shop that we stumbled upon. The four of us squished onto a table for two and had a delicious meal of vegan spaetzli and the most incredible vegan desserts, including panacotta and chocolate mousse.

After such a good vegan restuarant experience, we went to a creepy vegan café for breakfast the next morning. Well, not really a café, but a tea shop. The whole thing was a bit pure. The girl working there was a gaunt, pale and kooky lady who looked and acted like a ghost. We made it out with our bodies physically intact, but our minds well and truly messed with. Why we decided to go and look at a cemetery after that experience is quite inexplicable. Nevertheless, we had a good wander around, pausing for samples at the Italian market (which was outside the cemetery - it would just be weird if it was inside), before saying goodbye to R and J and training on down to Starnberg for the main event - Horse's wedding.

We had a great time at the wedding, and it was so much fun catching up with Horse again after many years of little contact. His wife was wonderful, friendly and kind and made it all fantastic. The wedding was right on the shore of the beautiful Starnberg Lake, with the bride arriving by a small row boat, rowed in by her father. The ceremony was nice and intimate, although perhaps the celebrant talked a little too long considering the extreme heat - poor Horse almost fainted, but it didn't detract from a really beautiful event and good times. 

The next day at the wedding venue there was a Bavarian festival with many lederhosen and an oompah-loompah band. The friendly Bavarians even found some traditional vegan Bavarian food, offering us a huge plate of blaukraut, knoedel and salad. We caught up with the wedding crew, bride, groom and family again, before they left for a little Austrian holiday.

We stuck around for an extra day to take a bit of a breather. We were lucky to be there at the time of the local film festival and found ourselves at a German film about a group of women who set up an occupation of the Stasi headquarters at the end of the East German state to prevent the destruction of records. It was an interesting film, but the discussion with the Director afterwards was a bit full on. The audience was very earnest, considering such things as how to avoid the emergence of Stasi type organisations in the future. This was all in the context of the Edward Snowden leaks having made it to the press.

Jeepers, we were only in Germany for about a week, yet it seems like I have filled a month's worth of blog space. Nev' mind. Off to Scotland next.