click here: pics of titisee :: freiburgIf you ever get an opportunity to visit Germany, you definitely want to visit Freiburg. And if you like to drive, rent a convertible and purchase a navigation system. Trust me. I’ve been there twice so far and have been tickled by the beauty of this city both times. The boy in you will love driving the winding back roads within the heart of the black forest. Wimps like me will need a dramaine pill and access to a brown bag.
We rented a furnished apartment from Marko’s landlord in Titisee-Neustadt, which is about 30 minutes drive from Freiburg, for 35 Euro a night. Marko also had over old friends from Iserlohn, Ela and another Marko. Yes, it made for a confusing weekend (so I’ll call the first Marko by his last name, Kimpel). After we arrived last Thursday afternoon, we sat and drank beer on the porch and basket in the sun. Much of the conversation flew above my head at that point and Alex’s use of german slang even started to confuse me. I struggled to keep from slipping into my own little world while they spoke about people I didn’t know or jokes I couldn’t decipher even when translated. Rather frustrating but its definitely much better than say six months ago.
So Kimpel is the man to go to when you want to know what is the lastest, hippest gadgetry one really, really needs to survive in this ‘breck neaking’ world. 
tomtom one at amazon.de Seriously. Boys. Ugh. I don’t even know how it happened, I guess I was in Hezaland at the time. 300 Euro later, Alex was walking out of MediaMarkt with his new toy, tomtom, a complete GPS Auto-Navigationsystem and crazy eyes. Help me. He’s going to make use of BMWs excellent construction on these hidden mountain backroads. Actually tomtom is an excellent tool. Alex conned me into believe it will improve our relationship because I no longer have to navigate the insane german roadsystem like my life depends on it. I just have to hold my head straight and enjoy the ride. We even found an alternate route back home that shaved 1.5 hours off the travel time with this gadget and I got to see the Bodensee along the German Switzerland border for the first time.
You can check out a complete slideshow of our weekend in Freiburg here.
The problem with me not organizing a hiking trip is that I don’t really know where the heck we’re going. So sorry for the ambiguous title. I created this silent video shown below because the sky was clearing up so beautifully toward mid-afternoon. You could see for miles.
According to Erwin, the alpineverein.de website is a great source for checking out the alpine weather forecast. So far Erwin’s trust in the alpinverein has been right on the money. It was a little too warm and the beginning stretch was knees to the chest for 2 hours. We were a little too ambitious this time so we had our lunch at a newly constructed house in the middle of a valley and turned back to gracefully fall back down the mountain side. Afterwards, we enjoyed the sun on our backs as we savored the Austrian food and beer in a nearby town. Yep, life is good.
°°Hiking Pics°°
