Friends in Freiburg

This weekend we drove to Freiburg, Germany (not to be confused with Friedberg, Germany, north of Frankfurt).  Freiburg is right across the border from Colmar, France in the Alsace region, and near the Black Forest.  We were paying a visit to our American friends I met online last year through their expat/travel blog.  We hosted their family in Luxembourg for a weekend back in October.

We stayed with their family of five in their cozy flat near the university where the husband/dad works.

Daphne's a bit outnumbered

Freiburg is a cycling town, and our friends scored us enough bikes to all take a ride around the city and along the rambling country bicycle paths on Saturday morning.

Pit stop.  It was extremely hot in Frieburg (and Luxembourg) this weekend.

But this was no mere joy ride.  Our excursion had a clear purpose and destination.  It's why Pete was suddenly grinning from ear to ear...

Could it be that he was about to purchase Mexican food?  Real, authentic Mexican food with ingredients sourced from actual Mexico and SoCal?!  

Yes, we're slightly obsessed with Mexican food (and even more so now that it's so hard to come by any that tastes quite right).

Holy indeed

We tried not to get our hopes up too much, but this proved difficult.  We knew our friends love Mexican food as much as we do and are always in search of authentic tasting fare on their European travels; it's part of the reason we became blogging friends in the first place!  And if they said it was good...

still grinning!

Wow.  Expectations met and exceeded.  We'll be fantasizing about those burritos for awhile.

Our tummies full and happy, we rode back home so the toddler could nap, and the rest of the boys and I set out to explore the center of Freiburg.

It's a canal town - and can you spot the stone crocodile head?

A unique feature of Freiburg is that in addition to canals, the old town streets have a network of mini canals.

Here is Wikipedia's description:

"The city has an unusual system of gutters (called Freiburg Bächle) that run throughout its centre. These Bächle, once used to provide water to fight fires and feed livestock, are constantly flowing with water diverted from the Dreisam. They were never intended to be used for sewage, and even in the Middle Ages such use could lead to harsh penalties. During the summer, the running water provides natural cooling of the air, and offers a pleasant gurgling sound. It is said that if one accidentally falls or steps into a Bächle, they will marry a Freiburger, or 'Bobbele'."

testing them out,  didn't fall in

A couple more shots from the old town...

bikes and canals

Church square with daily market selling primairly all manner of Wurst imaginable. And more bikes.

And our friends also introduced us to the Laugencroissant - a croissant on the inside and a pretzel-like coating on the outside.  Yep, tastes as good as it sounds.

definitely try one if you get the chance

On Saturday evening we headed out to the common lawn to barbecue amongst the university crowd.

They introduced us to the fun game of Kubb.  Might have to pick up a set ourselves!

bbq fondue

On Sunday we hiked out to a local castle ruin (Hochburg) for a picnic.

And back at the bottom, we cooled our toes in a stream.

ahhh

Visiting friends or family is probably our favorite way to travel; it doesn't really matter where we end up, the location is completely secondary.  And Freiburg friends, when you read this, please know that we like you more than Mexican food, and we'd have visited you, taco shack or no taco shack.  We're just mildly obsessed.  We know you understand, and that's probably part of the reason we're friends, right?

So we may be back for a burrito run-for-the-German-boarder sooner than you think!