Freiburg

For reasons that were completely beyond my control I had to leave my beloved London, and move to a much smaller town (technically, it’s actually a city, according to Iest’s definition of a cathedral presence) of Freiburg in southwest Germany.

Having spent my first few weeks here, I think it’s time to list the things I like about it.

1) Freiburg has a very friendly feel to it, people are generally very nice and helpful. The city is very green, not only thanks to its awesome location just on the foothills of the Black Forest, but also in lifestyle – it’s the most bike friendly city I’ve ever lived in. (And my bike is awesome too, and probably will deserve a post on his own.) Also, it is the sunniest city in the whole of Germany, and is right by the French and Swiss borders.

This is the view from my balcony.

My view

2) Freiburg has a really nice historical centre, complete with a cathedral, small cobblestone streets, churches, old town walls and towers, convents and monasteries, little waterways (Bächlen) on the sides of the streets, and farmers’ markets.

The old City Hall

There’s an oriel on the new City Hall showing a virgin and a unicorn, an allegory based upon the immaculate conception, according to my guidebook. (Seriously, very subtle, using a unicorn as an allegory for conception, the author must have put some hard thinking into that.)

Oriel on the New City Hall

Isfahan is a partner city to Freiburg! (along with some eight others, that is)

Isfahan coat of arms

3) There is plenty of haute art opportunities, which are still waiting to be explored. I am especially looking forward to making a proper visit to the cathedral, to the museum in the Augustinian monastery, the archaeological museum in the Colombischlössle, and the museum of modern art. Will report on those.

Colombischlössle

A boy on a snail

4) Even though it is not a large city, the shopping opportunities are endless. For example, this selection of fine penguins, pigs and pugs was a total steal!

Penguins, pigs and pugs

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